Waterfall

Author: Lisa Tawn Bergen

Series: River of Time # 1

Genres: Time Travel, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance

Publisher: David C. Cook

Released: 1 February 2011

Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world? Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaelogist parents. Stuck among the rubble of the medieval castles in rural Tuscany, on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.  Suddenly Gabi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.

For Fans Of: Timeline, Saving Juliet, Half-Blood, and Romeo and Juliet

My Review: I love time travel books.  Really really love them.  Basically, I think that time travel is the coolest thing ever.  And Lisa T. Bergen does an excellent job with these time travel books.  Waterfall is one of those books that is just fun.  Time travel books are hard, because the actual act of time traveling can either be over or under explained.  Some become too science-fiction-y and then they are boring, whereas others are more of a dream-like state.  I loved that this book (series) made time travel seem real and simple. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Onto the good stuff: Gabi and Marcello have that smoldering look, forbidden love about them.  It’s awesome, but kind of predictable.  Gabi and Lia is the relationship that I liked best.  Coming from a family with a lot of sisters I feel that sometimes authors have a hard time getting the sister dynamic right.  They either love each other or hate each other, but with Gabi and Lia you get a deep sense of affection, and you feel that they would go through anything for the other.

There are so many colorful characters in this and the rest of the River of Time series, and they read really quickly.  If you’re a guy there is a lot of hand to hand combat and action sequences (old school action sequences with medieval weaponry) and you can skim the lovey dovey stuff, and if you’re a girl there is a lot of lovey dovey and you can skim the action sequences.  Bergen sticks close to the time period, and puts her characters through a lot of things that are appropriate and accurate which I also admired.  1350’s Italy was not the gorgeous lovely place that the world today imagines it to be and Bergen addresses that in a really subtle way.  I definitely recommend if your looking for a fun, time travel read that has just about everything in it.

Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Series: Delirium # 1

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Romance, Adventure

Publisher: HarperTeen

Released: 1 February 2011

Summary: courtesy goodreads.com 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 government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway 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.

For Fans of: Under the Never Sky, Shatter Me, and Inside Out

My Review: Delirium was one of those books that sort of stuck with me.  I’m not sure why, I like to think it is because Delirium is one of my first experiences with dystopia, but really, who knows?  Lena and Alex really tugged at my heart strings from the beginning, they were both such wonderfully complex and yet simple characters and you really feel like they were made for each other.  The only thing that I did have a hard time with was how vaguely things were described.  Though, in honesty this could have very well been because for the first half of the book I kept thinking Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine (being from the West coast, I tend to think that way) and all I could think was, “wow, this version of Portland is really different from the current version of Portland.”  It wasn’t until about the half-way point I realized they were actually in Portland, Maine so that was slightly confusing.

The ending was also kind of irking.  Let’s just say it’s a cliff hanger (Pandemonium ends in a cliff hanger too, just so you know) I felt that the pacing of this book of lovely, it felt like a final summer of love for me, easily moving forward towards the inevitable, but they’re teenagers so really they’re living in the moment more than adults would, and you can feel that in Delirium, the hope of first love, and the demise and knowledge that it will someday end, that is: until the end.  The end kind of slaps you in the face out of no where and keeps your heart racing to the point where you can’t help but think, “did I get a faulty copy, because I swear it doesn’t end there!”