Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

title: Liesl & Po
written by: Lauren Oliver
genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
page count: 307
publication date: October 4th, 2011
rating: 5/5 stars!

Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice,until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.


That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable.


Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

Liesl & Po is one of the cutest books I have read in a while! Lauren Oliver is one of my favorite authors, and I absolutely love all of her books. Delirium is great, Before I fall is one of my favorites of all time, and Liesl & Po can be added to that list of all-time favorites. 

The story starts when Liesl meets Po, a ghost that just appears in her 'bedroom' together with its cat/dog. Po has forgotten about his/her former life. Even if it was a boy or girl! Po's stuck between life and death, unable to move on. Then we get to know about Liesl's life. She lives alone in a tower, imprisoned by her stephmother (this reminded me of 'the cupboard under the stairs') and is never allowed to go outside. Her father died and Liesl wasn't even allowed to see him when he was dying. After meeting the 2 title characters you meet Will, the alchemist's apprentice. He is a cute, brave boy who is always looking at the mysterious girl in the tower.


When the story really started I found myself mesmerized by it. It was so cute, all characters were extremely funny and very likeable, and the writing style was amazing. As the reader you already knew what happened before the characters found out. It was kind of special, as usually you find out what happens when the character finds out what's happening. 


As the story proceeded I started to like it even more. I could really relate to Liesl, and Po was such a cute ghost. It contained lots of things my inner younger me thoroughly enjoyed. It felt like the first time I was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone! 


Altogether I would recommend this book to everyone! This book fits every age group! The story is uncomplicated, hilarious and touching. The characters are all relateable and cute and all of it was amazing. I give this book 5 stars and I added it to my list of all-time favorites!


Love,
Mar

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

book: Pandemonium
written by: Lauren Oliver
genres: young adult, dystopian, romance
pages: 375
own / library / borrowed
release date: February 28th, 2012
series? Delirium #2
publisher: HarperCollins


note: I have reviewed Delirium. click HERE for the review. Don't read the blurb or review if you haven't read it, because it'll be very spoilery if you haven't read Delirium. I will try to review it spoiler free, but it seems like a impossible thing to do... *sigh*


the book:

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.

(via GoodReads)

my review:

Oh. My. God! This book is awesome! 

1. The characters developed a lot. There were new characters, and old ones disappeared... Sometimes I missed them, it seemed like I wasn't reading Delirium #2 but Pandemonium #1... Still, the new characters were as good as the 'old' characters.

2. The story was great. It was told in Now-Then style. I had to get used to that, because you were reading 2 stories at once, but once I got used to it, it was easy to read, and it kept the stories interesting. 

3. The writing style is great. In all of Oliver's books you can see that her writing style is great. It's easy to read, but it doesn't make you feel like you're reading a MG book. There weren't lots of mistakes and editing errors it in, which was super because they always keep on annoying me...

4. The ending is torture! I need to read Requiem NOW! This is the worst type of cliffhanger, the time I have to wait is so long. I might need to invent a time machine...

5. the cover is gorgeous! It represents the book very well. But I can't really explain it, because that'd be too spoilery
6. page was superb! It wasn't too quick so I did not have to re-read parts of the book, but it wasn't too slow either. 


It's not easy to find a book you love as much as this one! A page-turner filled with romance, action, friendship and lots of problems. 

I will stop reviewing this book right now, because I just can't really tell you about it without spoiling... *sigh*

Go read this book now. It's worth your time!!

rating:

5 stars!

xo Mar

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

book: Delirium
written by: Lauren Oliver
genres: dystiopian, romance, young adult
pages: 394
own / library / borrowed
release date: February 1st, 2011
series?: Delirium #1
publisher: HarperTeen


note: Omigod why did I wait this long to read this book. I fell in love with it while reading the synopsis. Which is very early, even for me O.o But I was not disappointed, at all! And I love this cover. It displays the book as it is!


The book: What if love were a disease? In the future it is! Life without this horrible disease is way better, but you cannot be cured until your 18th birthday. Lena's mother died due the illness, and Lena doesn't want to be infected. She is counting off the days until she gets cured. But then she does the uthinkable, and becomes infected. And the strangest thing about that is that she does not mind it. At all. He is all she can think about. The pain this disease brings is like everyone said. But the pain is good pain, pain she does not mind. Only now the date of the cure is approaching way to quick. There is no way to continue living without being cured, is there?


my review:
The future displayed in this book is in one word horrible. People are made to believe love is a disease. People stay away from the people that are 'infected' and the government matches you with the man you have to spend the rest of your life with. And to make it all worse, there also are the people from outside the city, who are attacking the government from the inside. 
I loved this book so much because of the strong characters, the great 'quotes' out of the kind of Bible of the future  government and the story in general. The characters were so good because they were really thinking as if it was not a book but just real life. I think that if it all really happened, there must have been people behaving exactely like Lena. I loved this quotes because they fitted each chapter very well. It must be difficult to make up a whole amout of quotes like that.
And above all, I loved the story! The story was influenced by other YA books and series like Uglies, The Hunger Games and Matched. But still, the author made it her own story, which I think was a perfect mix of the series and herself.
Lauren Oliver's writing stile is great, I love the way she makes her characters think, and the way you can relate to the characters she creates. Also, I love the creativity of this story. I have never read anything like this. Love is a disease. Wow...


total:
5/5 stars, shining in the sky!


one more thing:
Are you saying you haven't read this book yet?! Run towards the bookshop/go to amazon/whatever and get this book. Read this book. Love this book!


xo Mar