GUEST REVIEW BY STACIE: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.

And I've always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed.

Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love. (Via Goodreads)
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Description (from Shelfari):

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Haloway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy. But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable. She falls in love.

My Review (5 Stars)

Delirium is a teen romance novel than rises above the same old love story normally found YA Romance. Oliver's writing is vivid and beautiful and chock full of descriptive prose. The story advances quickly without constant repetition. Her characters are well developed and full of personality It's a love story, yes, but it is oh so much more. It is about self discovery, about defining yourself when the world around you believes you should fit a certain mold, about the fear that comes with going against the masses and choosing your own path. Breaking away from your parents ways takes a certain about of courage but breaking away from society, everything you know, your peers...that is where true courage and bravery lie.

The story catches you from the get go but it isn't just about love, it also is about sacrifice, and pain, and the price you pay for love. Whether you have lost a lover, a parent, a child, a friend, you will sometimes wonder - wouldn't life be better without the delirium? Without love? There would be no great pain that always comes with great love. In the world of Delirium you are cured of love. Once you are treated you aren't heartbroken when you lose a husband or even a child. Lena struggles with this. She struggles because she has felt that raw pain of loss and sometimes feels as though the procedure would cure all her pain. She could start over. Other times she feels as though "the pain only makes it better more intense, more worth it."

Lena meets a boy and the boys changes her BUT it isn't the instant perfect attraction. She is hesitant. She is real. She wants him but also wants the comforts of the life she knows. Lena feels as if she is two whole different people and that "I could rip apart any second." Which will she choose? Well I'm not going to tell you but I will say this is a book that kept me guessing. It surprised me several times and also dredged up a lot of emotion and feeling and any book that does that is an amazing read in my opinion.  

 

STACIE