Lena Haloway has spent the past 17 years believing that love is a disease, a delirium that will drive you to the point of insanity. This delirium has caused the government to go to drastic measures to ensure that everyone will experience a life without love, pleasure, or feeling. The government has come up with a cure for this delirium, implemented for everyone on their eighteenth birthday, that erases all hope of ever falling in love.

Lena is looking forward to the day she is cured and is able to live a safe, unsurprising life. Then Alex, a boy who is both charming and furtive, steps into her life and unexpectedly starts to change the way she sees the world. Lena knows that if she continues talking to Alex, she could succumb to the delirium and fall in love with this boy who she never expected to plummet into her safe, secure life.

The moment I read the first sentence of Delirium, I could not put the book down. It had me wanting more with every twist and turn. Throughout the book, I was holding my breath, and my heart would speed up when it started to get really interesting. Reading it from Lena's point of view, I felt as though I was suctioned to her; I was breathing the air she breathed and living the life she lived. She is a strong character I can relate to, and is like me – strong-headed, smart, and fierce – in many ways that surprised me. And Alex had me falling for him right away. His robust personality is another exciting addition that brings the book to life.

The characters experience every emotion that can surround one in a dystopian world. This is by far one of my favorite stories. Delirium has found a spot in my large collection of books.

Lauren Oliver's idea for Delirium came after she read an essay by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that focused on two main themes: love and death. When Oliver saw a news post about disease, the three ideas collided, and Delirium, one of the best books I have ever read, was created. I would award it ten out of ten stars, not only for outstanding development of plot and characters, but also for magnificent, incomparable writing.