Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Author: Lauren DeStefano
Edition: HarperVoyager Paperback
First Published: February 16th 2012
Pages: 341
Notes: The Chemical Garden Trilogy #2
Rating: 3/5

Synopsis contains spoilers for first book but review is spoiler free.

Running away from her forced polygamous marriage leads 17-year-old Rhine Ellery straight into a trap: a twisted carnival whose ringmistress desires the beautiful and unusual Rhine as her star attraction. But with Gabriel - her lover and fellow escapee - Rhine remains determined to reach Manhattan, find her twin brother, Rowan, and start a life far from the gilded prisons that have confined her.
The road to freedom is long and perilous - and in a world where women only live to age 20 and men die at 25 - time is very precious. And worse still, Rhine's sinister father-in-law, Vaughn, is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion... by any means necessary.

Before I had even opened this book I had high expectations. I loved the prequel, Wither, and was hoping to find Fever just as enjoyable. Unfortunetly, even though I still liked the book, it just didn't do it for me.

There were quite a few storylines in this book so definetly something worth reading about in every chapter. It did, however, feel like something was missing - but I'm not quite sure what. It didn't affect my view on it too much but there could of been more... of something.

At times throughout the book it did get a little slow. Not super slow, but attention-flickering slow. The one thing that kept me reading (and was also my favourite part of the whole book) was DeStefano's writing style. Her words work together so easily and are just descriptive enough to keep the reader reading but not so much as to think they're reading a descriptive essay. She has an almost old-fashioned but modern quality to her writing. I doubt that makes any sense but if you have read this or are planning to read this then you will understand what I mean.

The characters were also likeable. The main character Rhine I could empathise with. She had just enough determination and vulnerability to make her perfect for this type of story. Her love for her brother, Rowan, really shines through in this book and you can't help but admire the strengths she goes to, to try and find him. Rhine's love interest Gabriel appeared much stronger in this book than he did in Wither so I warmed up to him and liked him better than before. There were also some great supporting characters. Brave, little Maddie and mysterious, secretive Silas to name a few.

Overall, Fever just wasn't what I was hoping for. It was still likeable enough with great characters and a brilliant writing style but at times it was too slow and seemed to be missing that little spark. I would still recommend reading this series. The ending for Fever definetly has me wanting to read the next book - it could go in any direction!


Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo

PS: No IMM today. :)