Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium

Series: Delirium #2

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publication Date: February 28, 2012

Rating: 2 Stars
Amazon - Goodreads - Shelfari

Book Blurb

I’m pushing aside
the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana
and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

My Thoughts

Right now I am thoroughly hating this book with a fierce passion. I had to keep telling my self to just breathe! In. Out. Deep breaths. 

Starting from the Table of Contents I already knew I was going to have problems, what with how the title of all the chapters were then and now. I would get all invested in one story line just to get wrenched out into the other. Then I would be too pissed off at the book for making me read something I don't care about for like half the chapter till then I'm finally getting the hang of the second plot line and once I'm invested again I get wrenched out AGAIN. And this goes on for like the WHOLE book. It was so bloody exasperating! 

Plot wise, I saw everything coming. It wasn't anything new, but like always what kept me going was the writing. I would just keep getting sucked in Every. Time. It was a vicious torture cycle. And the sad part is that at the end I don't know if it was even worth the torture.

*Slight Spoilers Ahead*

It wasn't even just the whole going back and forth that was bad. It was that I knew where it was going. I always knew Alex wasn't dead and that she was going to end up falling in love with another guy and Alex would show up and therefore have the dreaded love triangle. I'll be honest. I was kind of hoping for something different when I read Delirium but once this one started I just knew. I don't even know why I put myself through that. At this point in time I might not even bother with Requiem.

You might be wondering, how could I not finish a trilogy with, not only is it just one more book but with that ending? Simply cause I don't give a crap anymore. Lena is going to end with Alex and I can't take Julian being left behind. I like Alex, but he just doesn't do it for me. Their relationship has always elicited an 'oh how nice' reaction from me. It was whatevers. But with Julian, I actually ended up being invested. He is so innocent and sweet and I know given half the chance he would be one hell of a guy. At one point Julian and Lena's relationship felt like Delirium all over again only Julian was playing Lena and Lena was playing Alex. But Julian is so much better than Lena. I still find Lena as that brainwashed person as before at times. While Julian living with that father of his and all the crap he went through, he was much more willing to accept change than Lena ever was.

So yeah I will most likely end up not reading Requiem and just end with the self induced torture now than carry it over for one more book.

***

Other books in the series:

1. Delirium (August 2, 2011) 
2. Pandemonium
3. Requiem (March 5, 2013)

Novellas in the series:

1. Annabel (December 26, 2012)
2. Hanna (February 28, 2012)
3. Raven (March 5, 2013)

Teaser Tuesday - The Genesis

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm actually not currently reading anything, so instead I picked a book that I finished recently and reallly liked.

~| So, here is the teaser for this week! |~

"Before all the Agents had even entered, someone on the vampires’ side fired a shot. Whether it was out of panic or agitation was unclear, but a shower of bullets followed, and the standoff turned to battle in an instant."

- K. L. Kerr. The Genesis (Blood of Ages, Book One) (Kindle Locations 1938-1939). Penrefe Publications. 

Cover Reveal: Descendant by Nichole Giles

I am excited to be a part of the cover reveal of Descendant by Nichole Giles!

Isn't it beautiful?!

Expected Publication: May 1st 2013

Seventeen-year-old Abigail Johnson is Gifted.

Blessed—or cursed—with Sight and Healing, Abby lives an unsettled life, moving from place to place and staying one step ahead of the darkness that hunts her. When she arrives in Jackson, Wyoming, she is desperate to maintain the illusion of normalcy, but she is plagued with visions of past lives mixed with frightening glimpses of her future. Then she meets Kye, a mysterious boy who seems so achingly familiar that Abby is drawn to him like he’s a missing piece of her own soul.

Before Abby can discover the reason for her feelings toward Kye, the darkness catches up to her and she is forced to flee again. But this time she’s not just running. She is fighting back with Kye at her side, and it’s not just Abby’s life at stake.

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About the Author

Nichole Giles had early career plans of becoming an actress or a rock star, but she decided instead to have a family and then become a writer. Writing is her passion, but she also loves to spend time with her husband and children, travel to tropical and exotic destinations, drive in the rain with the convertible top down, and play music at full volume so she can sing along.

Goodreads † Twitter † Blog † Facebook

Releases of the Week #14

Here are the releases for the week of March 4 - March 10, 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Friday March 8, 2013

Unraveling Sundays

I'll be posting about what happened this week and what you might expect next week and anything else that has caught my attention.

This week + last week

If you would like to know why I wasn't absent for most of last week, you can read about it here.

Reviewed

• Mind Games (Mind Games #1) by Kiersten White - 4 Stars - Hit/Miss kind of book
• Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver - 4.5 Stars - Waited much too long to read this
• [DNF] Concealed (Concealed) by Sang Kromah - Good concept, but way too convoluted
• [ARC] Trickster (Ustari Cycle #1) by Jeff Somers - 3 Stars - Good, but not great
• Dominion (Guardian Angels #1) by Melody Manful - 3 Stars - Cliffhanger Ending...

Memes

• Releases of the Week #12
• Teaser Tuesday - [ARC] The Murmurings
• Releases of the Week #13
• Teaser Tuesday - And All The Stars
• Feature & Follow #8

Featured Posts

• Cover Reveal + Giveaway of Unbroken by Melody Grace
• Book Blitz + Giveaway of Radiant by Chrsitina Daley
• Book Tour + Giveaway of Hell's Mercenary by Luke West
• More Cover Love!
• Cover Reveal + Giveaway: Ghost Light by E.J. Stevens
• Book Trailer + Trying Something New - Discussion on book trailers and a new challenge
• Book Tour: Forged in Grace by Jordan E. Rosenfeld
• February Recap
• Book Tour + Giveaway of The Murmurings by Carly Anne West

Next Week

Reviews:

• Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger
• The Genesis by K.L. Kerr
• The Last Keeper's Daughter by Rebecca Torgner
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Memes

• Releases of the Week #14
• Teaser Tuesday
• Feature and Follow

Featured Posts

• Cover Reveal: Descendant by Nichole Giles
• Book Tour + Giveaway: The Genesis by K.L. Kerr
• Book Tour + Giveaway: The Last Keeper's Daughter by Rebecca Trogner

Make sure to check out the Giveaways and the new Covers they are beaultiful!

Book Tour + Giveaway: The Murmurings by Carly Anne West

The Murmurings
by Carly Anne West

Genre: YA Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: March 5, 2013

Blurb

A teen girl starts hearing the same voices that drove her sister to commit suicide in this creepy, suspenseful novel.

Everyone thinks Sophie’s sister, Nell, went crazy. After all, she heard strange voices that drove her to commit suicide. But Sophie doesn’t believe that Nell would take her own life, and she’s convinced that Nell’s doctor knows more than he’s letting on.

As Sophie starts to piece together Nell’s last days, every lead ends in a web of lies. And the deeper Sophie digs, the more danger she’s in—because now she’s hearing the same haunting whispers. Sophie’s starting to think she’s going crazy too. Or worse, that maybe she’s not….

Goodreads | Shelfari | Amazon

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Excerpt

Nell David

October 11

My wrist doesn't burn anymore. I remember feeling pain, then no pain at all, then pain again. The doctors stitched me up in a hurry, then gave me some time to get settled (that's how they put it) before bringing in some shrink. The shrink seems to be the top guy around here. He had a concerned look, as if he practiced furrowing his brow. Too small of a crease in his forehead implies he's cold. Too much tells me how crazy I really am. But the right crease says it all: It's not my fault.

Apparently there's not much hope for me, but he's going to give me a chance at getting back to normal. Only he doesn't use the word ‘I’.  He says 'We'. We're going to try this or that. We're going to take this slowly. I don't know - remember what day that was. Yesterday maybe. They're letting me keep a journal. I guess they figure it's hard for someone to hurt themselves writing, assuming the pencil is dull enough. I still hear the murmurs, like someone's cupping their hand against my ear, but like always, I can't make out what the voice is saying. I can't tell if I'm supposed to. The pills don't do much to stop it. None of it really matters though. The voice didn't make me cut myself. The thing in the mirror did. And what's worse is that the doctors and nurses here believe me. Not a single person has denied that what I saw-that what I've been hearing-is true.

***

About the Author

Carly Anne West is a freelance writer with an MFA in English and Creative Writing from Mills College. She lives with her husband and son in Seattle, Washington. Visit her at:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads 








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Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feature & Follow [8]

This is a meme hosted every Friday by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, where book bloggers answer a question each week and check out how others answered it. It's a cool way for bloggers and viewers to connect and learn more about each other!

If you can't follow via GFC, then please follow via NetworkedBlogs or e-mail! :)

Q: Confess your blogger sins! Is there anything as a newbie blogger that you've done, that as you gained more experience you were like -- oops?

Frist off, since I wasn't here last week I hadn't seen the new button and would just like to say it looks awesome. Now to answer the question: I'm still a newbie. I've only been blogging for 4 months now. My biggest oops moment came to cover reveals. I had nooo clue about being blog hosts and tours and such, so when I saw a pretty cover I titled it the same way. Couple of days later I realized what was going on, was so embarrassed to say the least. I am glad to say it has never happened again :P I'm still learning and now trying to adjust between book reviews and my uni work load and still figuring out what I really want from my blog, but it's a fun experience :)