Fever, by Lauren DeStefano

Series: The Chemical Garden, #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: February 21, 2012
Hardcover: 341 pages
Genre: YA - Dystopian
Read it in: 3 days
Source: Bought
Challenges: Dystopian, Sophomore
Rating: ★★★★★

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.
Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.
The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.
In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

So some of you may know that I read Wither pretty late. I didn't read it until May! I instantly fell in love though.  I quickly ordered Fever after finishing, but sadly I didn't start it right away! Other books got in the way and I started it twice I think, but then had to read other books again and it drove me nuts!

Fever picks up where Wither left off, with Rhine and Gabriel on the run, but as soon as they think they are safe they fall into another place they will need to escape. Not going to go into too much detail as I don't want to give anything away. But that frustrated me to no end! It was seriously a *headdesk* kind of moment.

I had very high hopes for this sequel. And I was right, never had any doubts about it. Lauren's writing is just one that you know won't let you down. And this world is so awful, but so interesting and real. It's really scary to think this could be the future one day! What will happen if something like this is what is going to become our future? Our children's future? It's just so scary to think about.

And the writing is just so beautiful as always. You fly through the pages so fast and the descriptions are perfect and so detailed and you picture everything. EVERYTHING. It's amazing. And the characters....gosh.

Rhine is so unbelievably strong and brave. She doesn't give up! She keeps going no matter what obstacle falls in front of her. She keeps fighting. I admire that SO much about her. She's such a great character and even though she's a fictional character in a dystopian novel, she's REAL.

And Gabriel, oh Gosh, Gabriel. I'm so happy he's in this book every moment. I loved him so much in Wither and couldn't get enough of him. You learn more about him in here and he goes through a lot too and you just get to see Rhine and Gabriel's relationship blossom and see them take care of each other and I was always going, "Awwwww" at them because they are seriously cute and I just wanted to hug them!

Overall, I loved this book. I'm dying to read Sever, ESPECIALLY after that last sentence of the book. I mean WHAT?! I was late reading Wither, so I didn't have to really wait for Fever, but Sever is 4 months and some days away. I'm DYING for Sever so bad. If you haven't read this series, you need to. Hopefully you aren't reading this if you haven't read Wither, but READ. NOW. I HIGHLY recommend it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Author Info: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr 
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads | Shelfari

The third book in this series is called Sever. It will be releasing on February 12th, 2013. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Read my other reviews for this series: 

* Wither

Wither, by Lauren DeStefano

Wither, by Lauren DeStefano
(The Chemical Garden, #1)
Author Info: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 22, 2011
Hardcover: 358 pages
Genre: Young Adult - Dystopian
Buy: Amazon
Read it in: 8 days
Source: Own
Challenge: Dystopian, TBR Pile, Book Blogger Recommendation, ABC Reading
Rating: ★★★★★
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By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

I can't believe it took me this long to read this book. I've wanted to read it since I first heard about it before it even had a cover! But no matter how much I checked at my library's website for it after it came out, it just wasn't there. Finally MONTHS after it came out, it appeared, but I never put it on hold.

Finally, I got my own copy as payment for a layout I made for the lovely Michelle. I was excited, but it still just sat there on my TBR pile under my nightstand. FINALLY got to read it and I'm completely blown away. Sometimes, I worry when a book has too much hype. I'm worried hearing it all will give it very high expectations and then it won't live up to it in my eyes and ruin it for me. But that wasn't the case with this book. It lived up to EVERY great thing that everyone has said about this book.

I was sucked in from the very first chapter by all the amazing detail and writing. Lauren, you've definitely made a lifetime fan out of me! You're writing is beautiful! When you're reading this book, you feel as if you're really there. I felt everything Rhine felt. (LOVE her unique name.) All the pain, and anger, and longing to escape. Everything.

All the characters were vivid and real. Even the ones that I hated. Rhine and Gabriel were my favorites, of course. Which reminds me to let you all know that I am 100% team Gabriel. Yes, Linden was nice at times and you learn a lot about him. But he's not for Rhine! And who would want to share a man with two other women?

This book made me think--as all Dystopians do--what if the world is really like this in 100 years? 50 years? Maybe even 20 years from now? That is VERY scary. Girls being kidnapped out of no where and married off to a man along with a couple of other women? And being locked inside a mansion with no freedom at all? And basically only being there to continue the human races? Really freaking scary.

But overall, this was an amazing book. I'm dying to get my hands on a copy of Fever. I'm dying to see what happens, definitely after that ending! It's driving me nuts! At least one great thing came out of me waiting so long; I don't have to wait a year for the sequel. It's already out!

The sequel is called Fever. It was released on February 21, 2012.