Mini-Reviews: A Beautiful Dark and Fever

Since I haven't been able to write many reviews lately, I've gotten quite behind, but I decided now was the perfect time to work on some more mini-reviews! In the first set are two books I read a few months ago, A Beautiful Dark and Fever: two very different books!

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A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies 

On the night of Skye's seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites--like fire and ice--Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye's life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move--only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.
In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can't help falling for, and Devin, who she can't stay away from, the consequences of Skye's choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

Mini-Review: 

A Beautiful Dark was an intriguing debut that took a unique spin on the idea of angels, but it did not completely live up to my expectations. After Skye's seventeenth birthday things begin to get a little weird, especially when two mystery boys show up in town. I liked how normal Skye was, but I never could completely connect with her. Skye had some incredible opportunities, but she never became the person I hoped she would be. She let people make decisions for her and was way too indecisive. Especially when Devin and Asher entered the scene. The love triangle, unfortunately, made certain aspects of the book extremely cliched. It was frustrating to see Skye waffle back and forth between the two of them. Plot wise,  I very much enjoyed A Beautiful Dark. Things were very fast-paced and it did keep me reading. I also liked how  Davies worked her mythology into the book. There were some intriguing twists in the story and the ending was one hell of a cliffhanger. I will be picking up the sequel because I am interested in seeing what happens next and hopefully A Fractured Light will not be as cliched. Overall, this is worth a read if you can get past some of the obvious comparisons to other works out there and focus instead on the unique take on angels and the variety of mysterious plot twists.

Overall: 3 out of 5 stars

September 27, 2011/HarperTeen/390 Pages/Book One

Source: BEA (ARC)

Other books in this series: A Fractured Light 

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Fever by Lauren DeStefano 

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.

Mini-Review:

Wither is one of my all-time favorite books and Fever had a lot to live up to. While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did Wither, it was still an exciting and well-written sequel that left me eager for book three! Fever picks up soon after Wither left off and we are once again caught up in Rhine and Gabriel's world. I have to say Lauren DeStefano has an amazing imagination and has developed an incredible, but frightening, world in this series. Rhine is such a strong and admirable protagonist and she experienced even more horrible things in this addition to the series. There were so many edge-of-your seat moments in Fever, but some parts were a little slow. I still had a hard time putting this down and felt like I was experiencing everything right alongside Rhine. All of the characters were developed even more in Fever and we got to see a different side of both Gabriel and Rhine. Overall, Fever was a solid sequel to Wither and while I didn't get the same wow spark I did from Wither, I enjoyed this book and am counting down the days until Sever is released. 

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

February 21, 2012/Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/341 Pages/Young Adult/Book Two

Source: Purchased (Hardcover)

Other books in this series: Wither (Book 1), Sever (Book 3- 2013)

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Look for more mini-reviews soon!

Waiting on Wednesday (75)

Sever (The Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano 

**may contain spoilers for the first two books in the series**

What if you knew exactly when you would die? In the not-too-distant future, genetic engineering has turned every newborn into a ticking time bomb—males only live to age 25 and females only live to age 20.
In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out. When 16-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by "the Gatherers" to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Rhine has only one purpose after she has been married to her new husband, Linden: to escape and find her twin brother.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant to whom she is dangerously attracted, Rhine is desperate to learn the truth and protect those closest to her. But, as her sister wife Cecily keeps insisting, her role may be much bigger than that.
In the first two books of the Chemical Garden trilogy, Wither and Fever, Rhine struggles to escape the mansion and then to navigate the brutal world outside. Now in Sever, the third and final book, Rhine uncovers some shattering truths about the past that her parents never had the chance to tell her and the alarming implications regarding her own genes. She may be the one who can save the human race. 

Release date: February 12, 2013 (Simon & Schuster BFYR) 

I loved, loved, loved the first book in this series (Wither) and while I didn't enjoy Fever quite as much, I am still so excited to see what will happen in Sever! 

What are you waiting for?

Waiting on Wednesday Is Hosted By: Breaking the Spine

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither (Chemical Gardens #1) by Lauren DeStefano

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

Review:

I read Wither awhile back and it's taken me weeks to write up a review. Mainly because this book impacted me so much and I just couldn't put into words how I felt about it. Wither was intense, beautifully written, and I wasn't able to put it down until I turned the last page. Lauren DeStefano blew me away with her debut and I cannot wait to see what's next for her.

To begin with, Rhine was a fantastically done protagonist. From the day she is kidnapped, taken to a futuristic Florida, and married to a man with two other teenage girls, her life changes forever. She is locked inside a huge mansion, doomed to live her days married to a man she doesn't love, until the day she dies- which is only a few short years away, since women die at age 20 in Rhine's world. But Rhine stayed strong throughout the ordeal and never gave up hope.

While Rhine was the main character, I got to really know the other characters as well. Particularly Rhine's sister wives. Cecily and Jenna. Two young girls that couldn't be more different from each other and Rhine, but the three formed a friendship unlike any other. My heart broke for the trio as each was dealing with their situation differently and had their own pasts to haunt them. Throughout the story Rhine looks back on her own tragic past and thinks of her twin brother, wondering how he is now that she is gone. Rhine also befriends a young guy who works in the mansion, Gabriel, and I am eager to see what's next for them in the sequel. Another key character is Linden- the girls' husband. While at first I expected to hate him, I couldn't. He was as controlled and locked up as the girls. The real danger was another man.

There was no shortage of action and mysteries, as Rhine and her sister wives navigated their new life and learned that danger still lurked around every bend. This was a dystopian novel like no other, and Lauren DeStefano introduced a variety of horrifying twists in this dystopian society. Rhine had to make some difficult decisions throughout the novel and my heart went out to her. I was constantly wondering- what would I do if I was in her shoes? Could I be half the person she was?

Wither was a captivating and heart breaking novel that doesn't hold back. Lauren DeStefano is one amazing author and I recommend picking up Wither as soon as possible. I am anxious to find out more about the sequel!

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

March 22, 2011/Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/356 Pages/Young Adult/Book One

Source: Publisher (ARC)