Legend

This book (the first of a trilogy) is worth reading. Legend by Marie Lu is a well written captivating story. It's futuristic America where the flooded West Coast is in a war against the East Coast. One of the protagonists is a brilliant rich girl who is in the government and is tracking a brilliant poor boy who killed her brother.

This book is fantastic. It is full of subtle foreshadowing. Full of conspiracy. Full of suspense. And full of beauty. I can't wait to read the next in the trilogy, Prodigy, which comes out the end of January 2013.

This series is set up to be better than The Hunger Games, just as good as Delirium, but not quite as good as Divergent. It's worth the read if you have enjoyed any of the above.

Before I Fall

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a book I wouldn't recommend. Unless you're a secular teenage girl. I really liked Oliver's other books, Delirium and Pandemonium so I thought I'd give this one a try. Mistake. It's basically about a teenage girl who is a popular bitch. I don't think any of my friends will ever read this book, but just because I said I would give warning - here's a spoiler alert.

So, the teenager ends up dying in a car accident and has to relive her last day over and over and over again. For 6 or 7 days. Until she figures out how to fix what she needs to fix.

Basically, it's a dumb book. Written okay, but certainly not worth reading.

Under the Never Sky

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi is yet another dystopian, futuristic novel. It's a little different from what I've been reading in the sense that it's more Sci-Fi. Very similar in style to The Matrix in that it's virtual reality. But dystopian as well because the government engineers the realities including genetic make-up of the people.

This book is the first in a yup. You guessed it - a trilogy. I'm not exactly sure why trilogies are the hot thing. The Hunger Games. Divergent. Delirium. Legend. And the film industry is even turning the movie The Hobbit into a trilogy. Sheesh.

Anyway, back from my tangent. This movie was good enough to read if you're into this genre. There's good and bad. Love. Death. A crazy kid. And cannibals.  Sounds lovely, right? I think I've just discovered why I like this genre of book: redemption. I love stories that seem impossibly hopeless, but are redemptive in the end. And while Under the Never Sky is just the first installment, I'm guessing all will end well in the end. Otherwise, no one will make a movie out of it and the author doesn't become as rich.

This book is good enough to read if you like Sci-Fi, but if not, probably don't read it.

Delirium and Pandemonium

I am apparently on a dysopian/futuristic book kick; I've read the first two books in yet another trilogy that is dystopian. The Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver, which is along the same lines as The Hunger Games trilogy and the Divergent trilogy, has occupied my life the past week.

Delirium is about a society in which the government has declared love as a sickness. There's a cure for it, but that procedure can only be done when people turn 18. So, they separate boys and girls until then. And of course, there are some who do not want to be "cured". Enter the Resistance. And book 2 in the series, Pandemonium.

This book follows the lives of the Resistance and by the end of the book, the reader can sense the beginning of a revolution.

That's all I can say without giving away too much.

Here's what I think about this series:
* I'd recommend them, especially if you liked The Hunger Games.
* Out of the other dystopian trilogies (The Hunger Games, Divergent), this one is the weakest in the story line and the writing.
* These books start off a little more juvenile and soft, but end up better. So, if you start the book and don't love it, keep reading. It gets better. Especially by the end of book two.
* The last book in the trilogy, Requiem comes out in March 2013 and I. Can't. Wait.

Divergent and Insurgent

Easily my favorite book of the year and it made it on my list of favorite books. Divergent by Veronica Roth is a dystopian, futuristic novel that is similar in nature to (and better than) The Hunger Games. There is more political depth in Divergent than in The Hunger Games, which I appreciate. It gives me more to think about as I read.

I got this book from the library, read it over 2 days, and had to order the 2nd in the trilogy from Amazon.com because I'm not patient enough to wait to come up in the queue at the library for Insurgent. The 3rd book is not out yet (have to wait for Oct 2013. Oh dear.), so I'll have to be patient for that one at least.

Next in the trilogy is Insurgent.

Just when I thought the story line of Divergent can't get better, it does. Insurgent is better than the first book in so many ways. Revolution is beginning, couples in love get in fights that may break them up, prominent characters from the first book die, and government conspiracies are coming out. Roth sets up her last book in the trilogy, which is unnamed, very well.

What I love about the heroine in these books is that she's real. Unlike Katniss in The Hunger Games, she doesn't always know what to do. She has moments of pure immobility which would have killed her, were it not for another who saves her. She's a real person who is struggling to keep up with the image of bad ass. I like that about her. Katniss was always a bad ass. Tris needs to learn how to be and it makes her likable.

If you enjoyed The Hunger Games, read these. Promise you will love it. There's also a movie in the making, which will be FANTASTIC.

Bloom

My background is psychology and child/family studies. So, I love books about how families relate to one another, especially in the midst of a diagnosis such as Down Syndrome. Kelle Hampton's book Bloom is an amazing insight into the mind and actions of a family who gets a surprising diagnosis when her little girl was born. Down Syndrome. She tells her story beautifully. She is open, real, and honest as she writes about her daughter's first several months of life and how their family adjusts to having a child with Down Syndrome.

If you enjoy reading memoirs about families, this is a good one.

Love Anthony

I have a favorite author - Lisa Genova. She's newish to the fiction novel scene; she just released her third book, Love Anthony. What I love about her is that she's actually a scientist. She has a lot of letters behind her name, which makes her very qualified to write about the subjects she writes about: Early Onset Alzheimer's, Left Neglect, and now Autism.

Love Anthony is about a mother with a child with Autism. And another mother who's husband is having an affair. And how their lives intersect. I loved it up until the end. It then became a little too spiritual hokey. I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil it for others. I'll just say this: being a Christian changes the way I read things. If I don't believe in something, it's hard to love the book because it's lost some authenticity for me.

That being said: I recommend the book. Lisa Genova is a fantastic writer. If you've never read any of her novels, find Left Neglected or Still Alice and read one both. And Love Anthony was just as well written. The way she gets into the head of a child with Autism is astonishing. It gives the child a voice and whether it's accurate or not, it touches your heart.

All-in-all, I enjoyed it enough. I love how Genova intertwines the lives of the women together. And most of all, I love the redemption throughout it.