Fever by Lauren DeStefano review

Be forewarned, Wither was an incredibly action-packed novel, so this WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS if you haven't read it. Read on at your own risk & be sure to check out my review of Wither if you're curious.

____________________________________________________________________


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.

From Goodreads

As you see in the summary, a lot is going on in this next installment. Rhine only thought her fight was over once she got out of the mansion, when really it was just beginning. And poor Gabriel is shocked that the world of his beloved atlases doesn't exist anymore & the present world is on a shadow of the glory promised by Rhine.

Once they (barely) escape the mansion, these two find themselves in a new nightmare of a scarlet district run by a madwoman with no sense of shame. They make new acquaintances who help them on their beleaguered journey to Manhattan. And if that isn't bad enough, housemaster Vaughn (her nefarious father-in-law) is tracking them like the bloodhound he is. Throughout all of this turmoil though, there is a sense of hope, however fleeting. Rhine begins to understand just how well off she was at the mansion despite all its perils & Gabriel comes to terms with his role outside of the mansion.

Lauren DeStefano has brought us back to a hobbled world where women die at 20 & men die at 25, so there is little in the way of moral order. While society is not exactly in a state of chaos, there is a sense of foreboding in the air & the dread of unknown things to come. I really enjoyed picking up Rhine's familial story arc. We learn more about her deceased parents & her twin brother, all of which give us a glimpse not just into her character, but also into the society as a whole. Even Housemaster Vaughn exemplifies certain characteristics of the rich in this world & how some things (like power & influence) never change.

There is plenty enough action & intrigue to keep you going, but this one didn't have me on the edge of my seat (as the first one did) until the last few chapters. They totally made it worth it! Not a quick read, but definitely a good one, you simply must read Fever!

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Life can be lived a thousand different ways over the course of a summer. No one knows the truth of that more than Chase McGill. His family has spent every summer of his childhood at their beach house. We meet the family during Chase’s 14th summer and his family is as such: Noah, the eldest son, is constantly on the run from everything he never wants to face. Chase really should have been the eldest son as he takes primary responsibility for the care of the younger siblings. Claudia is a young girl dying to be a grown woman who spends a predominant amount of time signing for Gideon, the rambunctious deaf fourth child. Mom & Dad are constantly bickering, despite the soon arrival of Newbaby.

Over the course of four summers spanning Chase’s 15-18th birthdays, we watch this family change, grow, break apart, reform & interact with their next-door neighbors the Hathaways. The three children in the Hathaway household actually interject depth to this family. Melinda brings Camus, Shannon brings the hope of the future, & Bella is sweet innocence. What becomes of these summers is something unexpected & raw that you must read to believe.

That was one roller coaster ride of a book. I ran the gamut of emotions while reading Invincible Summer. There were so many things going on, especially in regards to relationships, that I am truly amazed that I didn’t need a flow chart to follow it all. This book is very complicated, but in a good way. The actions & events of this book really challenge your perception of time. They allow you to view the progression of relationships (marital, romantic, friendships, etc) as they evolve over time based on the participants’ maturity level & what is going on in their lives.

Chase is the narrator of this story & we see everyone through his eyes. In a way this can cause some bias in how the other characters are viewed because we never really get to hear their side of the story; but at the same time, Chase’s point of view about these characters changes as he discovers more about them over time. I believe that each of the McGill children represents a certain characteristic or pattern of behavior that we all experience at some point in our lives. They embodied those different entities in their entirety.

I must say that this book is not for the faint of heart. There is A LOT of cussing in this book. I was amused when I realized how annoying a habit it is to use a curse word every other sentence in real life. Also, while not usually a fan of books with a strong literary basis (meaning the heavy use of a piece of literature inside the novel itself) I really enjoyed the Camus quotes throughout the book. There was a quote for most difficult situations & even for some of the lighter ones & I found that to be really refreshing. I strongly recommend this for those who enjoy time-centric books & a plethora of intense, but gratifying interactions.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Rhine has been taken by the Gatherers. These roving bands of thieves steal their world's most valuable resource: young girls. In a world where men die at 25 and women die at 20, the Gatherers are making a profit off stealing young girls & selling them into prostitution, workhouses, or (potentially one of the worst) into a loveless marriage where they're forced to give birth to the next generation. The latter is what has happened to Rhine & while she is constantly worried about her twin brother & what he's doing, she's determined to get back to him.

Rhine, Jenna, & Cecily were all married to a semi-famous architect named Linden Ashby. While they each have their own room & their own attendant, they are confined to the wife floor of an expansive mansion. Rhine manages to quickly bond with the current wife Rose, who is in the throes of death. Rose warns Rhine not to underestimate Linden's father, he's a ruthless doctor that will protect his work & his son, at any cost. After Rose's death, Rhine inherits her status as the "first wife," a more public role than that of the other wives, and sets about earning Linden's trust so she can make a break for it at the earliest moment.

But Rhine didn't expect to actually grow fond of her sister wives, being to care for her husband & she certainly never expected Gabriel.

This is an attention-grabbing first novel in a new series by a debut author! I must say that I am quite impressed with this book. It manages to be set in a future, semi-apocalyptic world where everyone is dying from an unknown virus & yet seem so currently. I feel like it draws several parallels to present-day situations where young girls are treated like products to be distributed rather than the human being that they are.

Rhine is such an amiable character. Her story really draws you in & also gives you a picture of what's happened in the world. Her memories of her parents really helped flesh out what was going on in the rest of the world while she was stuck under Linden's house arrest. The "sister wife" concept was a first for me outside of a "religious-polygamy" setting, but it fit quite well with the "we need to make lots of babies quickly to find an antidote to what's killing us" scenario. I think it really added depth to the multitude of experiences by young girls in this society.

While I felt the writing was a bit repetitive at times (as in using the same phrase to covey the same emotion/memory), overall it was very metered & perfectly timed. The word choice really made a difference as well. There's not an adequate way to really describe it without giving away certain situations, but suffice it to say that this is a book that you won't want to miss.

On a side note, I must say that this book inspired me to create a playlist to listen to. The words of each song really convey the actions taking place. Listen, enjoy, & let me know what you think!

Runaway by Meg Cabot

Runaway by Meg Cabot was graciously provided by Around the World Tours and is set to be released April 20, 2010. WARNING: This is the final book in a trilogy, so there are MAJOR spoilers below. I have already reviewed the first two books, Airhead and Being Nikki, and you are more than welcome to read those reviews to get caught up!

The insanity has got to end!! Who knew that having your brain transplanted into the body of the most important teenage model would be such a pain? Well, that should have been obvious, but anyway. Em Watts has been parading around as Nikki Howard for a few months now and has kind of gotten into a routine. Unfortunately, the truth about what really happened to Nikki, and the fact that she's still alive and in someone else's body, has thrown a kink into the routine.

Nikki learned the truth about what Robert Stark, the evil patriarch of the Stark Coporation, was doing with his new line of Stark Quark laptops. A secret that almost got her completely killed. Brandon Stark, the father-hating son of Robert Stark, is determined to find out this secret is and so he steals everyone away to his South Carolina villa to try bribing them into telling him what he wants to hear. Little did he expect a kidnap/rescue by Em's little sister with the help of Em/Nikki's BFF Lulu, and Em's sometimes boyfriend Christopher.

When the truth is revealed about what the Quarks are capable of and how Robert Stark will use their capability, everything begins to crumble. Em has to find a way to save everyone she loves while trying not to get herself killed in the process. Yeah, because that's the easiest thing ever when you've already died once.

This was a GREAT conclusion to this series. I gotta say that it had me worried at times with where it was going because I could feel it sliding off track, but it tied up the loose ends quite nicely. Watching Em grow into her new skin and learn to work with her new body, instead of constantly fighting it, was gratifying to watch. The same held true for Nikki, who we only discovered alive in the last book! I found that the true characters and personalities of all the major players really shined through in this final novel. Everyone seemed to surprise me in some way and it was quite refreshing.

The only things that irked me about the book were how smoothly everything worked out (although this is fiction, so I'm already suspending belief with the brain transplant) and the fact that there were things repeated over and over again, like the reader needed to be reminded about the previous action in the storyline to understand why this event was happening. My theory has always been that if you're reading the books, you should know the story so that the author doesn't have to waste word space on reminding you. That's just my theory though.

A fabulous book and a wonderful ending to a fun series, this book is a quick read that is most enjoyable. Hard to believe, but these were the first books by Meg Cabot I had read. I'm excited to read some of her other works now. Good luck!

Numbers by Rachel Ward

12152010. This is just one of a myriad of numbers that haunts 15 year old Jem. She has seen them since she was a child, but never put it together what those numbers meant until her mother died of an overdose and she watched the coroner put her death date down as the number she has seen her whole life in her mother's eyes. Since that time Jem has bounced from foster home to foster home, avoiding any kind of contact with anyone.

Until she met Spider. Just as his name suggests, this gangly and lanky guy is all arms and pure energy. She had seen him in class and around town, but a chance run-in gives them the opportunity to become better acquainted. Both of them have survived difficult upbringings, but their fortunes seem to stop there when both are suspended from school on related charges. As a result, these two find themselves with a day of togetherness. They decide to take a tour of London; lunch, minor shopping, and then a ride on the famous London Eye. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be because Jem sees that everyone is line to ride has the same number, today's date. She instinctively knows that something's going to go horribly wrong. In the nick of time, she manages to convince Spider to run with her and then they never stop running.

They leave London that night because the police are looking for them. They are wanted for questioning in the terrorist attack on the Eye. Their escape is ill-fated as well, although they do manage to find each other along the way. Where they end up is nothing like either of them expected.

This books was absolutely riveting! I honestly couldn't put it down. Jem and Spider both have this magnetism that just drew me in right away. Jem was a really well-defined character. Her history and her "gift" explain a lot about her without the author having to spend too much time explaining the workings of her. Spider on the other hand is kind of a mystery; I'm guessing that's part of his allure. He's not nearly as defined, and pardon me if I read too much into this, but I think that is really displayed in the fact that he is almost always a physical blur from how much he moves. As the reader, we don't really need to know all that much about him, just the basics.

The plotline was very interesting. I could actually see a lot of it happening in real-life to these types of kids. There is a lot of cynicism from kids who have been in the system and I could totally see the desire to run from the police because there's no way that they would believe the young trouble-makers. Also, the fact that they never really thought much further ahead than the next few hours is a classic indicator of runaways. These bouts of reality grounded the story when it started going astray with more far-fetched ideas. It wasn't like anything in the story was hard to believe, it was just kind of obvious what was going to happen in certain points because it was the only way the story could go.

Overall I must say that I really enjoyed this book and was very intrigued by Jem's "gift" which is never really explained. I think it's better that way, because then there's no way to be "wrong" about explaining it. If you liked Graceling for the adventure, romance, and small amount of magic, then this book would be a great next step. After reading this review, what book comes to your mind?

Waiting on Wednesday: Bleeding Violet

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Today's book, Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves, is set to be released January 5, 2010.

Love can be a dangerous thing....

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

From Goodreads

This book sounds very interesting. A girl with hallucinations that is being drugged to repress her gift? I'm there! I'm hoping that Hanna will be an in dependent kind of girl who faces down the "crazy" that she comes up against in the town of Portero. It kind of reminds me of the back story in My Soul to Take where she was locked up in the mental ward because she couldn't stop screaming (bean sidhes tend to do that). What really intrigues me about this little snippet is: a) What in her home life drives her to run? & b) Why does she run to Portero? Here's hoping it lives up to it's hype!