Delirium - Lauren Oliver

 I first heard about Delirium after stumbling across a fan blog on Tumblr and was immediately engaged by the concept. I then stumbled across it in W H Smiths last weekend and it was the last copy and of course I determined that it was fate for me to bring it home. 

I then spent the next week in severe emotional trauma at the hands of Lauren Oliver. 

I haven't cried while reading a book since first reading The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices (Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones now available on Blu Ray and DVD) however I was up until the early hours of the morning several times this week with tears running down my face while reading this stunning story of love, freedom and determination to beat the odds.

I have heard rumours that Delirium has been commissioned for a TV series in the USA, and therefore I don't want to give too much of the story away, however I will give a brief synopsis for those wishing to read the book. 

Lena is a young girl growing up in the city of Portland, USA. The book is set in a future where love has been identified as a disease, fences surround cities to keep out the infected, while those inside undergo a procedure to cure themselves of love after their high school education is finished. They are then matched with a partner and sent off to begin their lives together. 

Until the cure, girls and boys remain segregated from one another, contact of any kind with an uncured is illegal, and love is punishable by death. Lena and her friend Hana live their lives within in the rules until the summer of their cure, when Lena meets Alex. 

I found the story both heartwarming and emotional. Lena and Alex were characters I could really get behind, their fight for freedom and what they believe in was inspiring and since finishing the book although I was a crying wreck for a while after putting it down it's left me in a weirdly positive mindset for the last few days. 

This is without doubt the best book I've read so far in 2014. I know we're only at the start of the year but I definitely think that it will be a hard one to top.