Kindred Reads {12}

Kindred Reads is my weekly feature highlighting YA book recommendations based on their similarities to each other. Each week a theme or idea is chosen, and a few books will be highlighted for dealing with that theme.
This week's theme: Revolutionary dystopian heroines
I LITERALLY mean revolutionary for this one. These girls all end up breaking out of society's expectations for them and end up fighting against the society for what they believe in.

Eve (Eve #1) by Anna Carey
The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

My review for Eve.

Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver
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.

My review for the audiobook of Delirium.

Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My review for Crossed (Matched #2).

All three of these books have strong lead female protaganists who ultimately make a decision that will not only change thier lives, but the future of their society altogether. If you're a fan of stories like this, then make sure to check out all three for more! (Although I have to say that Delirium is my favourite by far!) So, so good.

Let me know what you think of any or all of these books if you've read them!

Eve

Eve by Anna Carey
Release Date: October 4, 2011
HarperCollins (HarperTeen)

2.5/5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

I'm afraid that my expectations for Eve may have been too high- it's just that the description sounded so promising! But it just did not end up being as good as I had hoped. It kind of sounded like a Delirium-Wither hybrid, and maybe that was part of the problem: I loved those two books so MUCH and Eve just wasn't up there with them.

My biggest problem was that I felt like I was launched into the story so quickly and it felt jarring to me. Everything happened so quickly in the first few chapters, and I could not understand Eve as a character. At all. I was far more intrigued by the secondary characters (Arden and Caleb especially) but Even drove me crazy. None of her actions seemed logical or even seemed to match her personality; for example, within the first few chapters she's established as the wonderful little valedictorian who follows all of the rules and doesn't question things. So why is it so easy for her to question the School all of a sudden? What is it that draws her out of her room in the middle of the night to sneak away, nearly risk everything she has, all to go exploring? And this continues for the rest of the book.

And her big discovery of the truth of what happens to the female students felt like it came out too early. A bit more set up would have been better, perhaps so it would have felt more shocking instead of a climax that came too early.

But I also didn't hate the book, there were things I liked. Caleb was a bit flat as a romantic interest, and I wasn't swooning over him but I do want to know more about him. I actually really liked Arden by the end of the book- I'd probably like this series more if it was focused on her instead of Eve. And there were parts that broke my heart a little bit. It was interesting enough for me to keep my eye on it and see where it goes in the next book.

e-galley received from publisher via netGalley in exchange for my honest review; no other compensation was received.

Kindred Reads {7}

Kindred Reads is my weekly feature where I recommend similar books. There's a mix of popular books, and fairly unknown authors and indie books as well. This is something that I personally wish I saw more of; after reading a book I enjoy, I often want to read similar books but they can be hard to discover!

These books contain similar elements, whether it's content, writing style, or other themes found in the stories. They are always books which I have read, and clicking on the title of the book will take you to my review of that book.

If you like... Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Then you might want to read...

Matched by Ally Condie

I want to make it clear that I was really hesitant to compare any books to Delirium, simply because of how much I love it and how I really don't think there's anything quite like it. But I can say that about any books I truly, deeply love (including the Hunger Games) and sometimes that just doesn't feel like a fair comparison.

But I do think that some books out there share similar charactersitics, and I found Matched and Delirium to be two books like that. At a very basic level, and on the surface as well, they're similar books although their exexcution is very different. These are stories of literally forbidden love; a dysoptian world where the government controls everything right down to their conception of love. It isn't fair, and it's up to the characters to decide how much their willing to fight for it.

Eve by Anna Carey

As soon as my review goes up, you'll see that I didn't love Eve. But I didn't hate it either. To me, it really felt like a Delirium story that just fell... flat. There wasn't quite as much passion, but it's the same idea of overprotected girl meets rebellious boy, but it just really isn't done as well. But if you're as much of a fan as I am of these kinds of stories, then it's worth a read even just to satisfy your hunger for more of it (and while you're anxiously awaiting Pandemonium... ahem).