REVIEW: Sever by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #3)

Synopsis: 

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered

My Rating: 5/5 stars 

I love the way Lauren brings to life the story she tells in this amazing conclusion to Rhine's story. The way she starts off the book isn't ordinary, she goes right into where she left off without all the back story nonsense many end-of-trilogy-books have. Rhine is struggling in her relationship with her husband, sister wife and evil father-in-law. Linden, her husband, doesn't want to believe anything she says about his father. Cecily is pregnant (again) and she's more arrogant and selfish than ever. Vaughn won't give up on finding a cure and he'll do so at any cost. Rhine doesn't know where Gabriel is or if he's even alive and she STILL hasn't found her brother. Now they're at Linden's uncle Reeds house, and he couldn't be more different than his brother. Basically, Rhine has to be in a million places at once to fix everything. 

There's many plot twists, I threw my book across the room and yes I'm crying, there called FEELS look it up moments throughout reading this. Despite this, its still a very well written book, with quite possibly the most well wrapped up in a bow ending.  The way the author writes this story makes you want to keep reading. Its basically impossible to loose interest. There's  so many genres in one, its like a old fashioned/dystopian/sci-fi/survival story had a baby. Another thing I enjoyed  so much is the ammount of figurative language Lauren uses, it reminds me of Tahereh Mafi's (Shatter Me) style of writing in many ways. Some of the quotes are deep too like, "Hope, that risky, illustrious thing. It should have gone extinct by now, but we keep it alive...We hope for things we may not get to see, and we hold on with both hands because its one of the few things that can't be stolen from us. " I swear I just got teary from typing that, she's the master of making you FEEL things! 

Now, Lauren DeStefano has taken something away from me that I don't appreciate. I won't say what it is but I cried forever about it. (I STILL CRY) For that I will forever be sad. I must say that Sever is the most perfect title for this book because my heart sure is severed. *cries* This is quite possibly the best, most well written, heartbreaking conclusion I've ever read. You think you know feels?? HA sure, try reading this story. 

*current emotion* 

With that I must say it READ IT!!! Read the entire trilogy, trust me you love it. 

About the Author: 

Lauren DeStefano 

Lauren DeStefano (pronounced: de STEFF ano) is a lawn gnome enthusiast and New York Times bestselling author of some books, which you can find listed below this bio. For the first six years of her life, she thought she was a mermaid and still has her suspicions. When she isn't writing, she is often composing tweets that make as little sense as possible. They can be found here: https://twitter.com/LaurenDeStefano 

Visit her here: http://www.laurendestefano.com/

(Azelyn) 

REVIEW: Wither by Lauren DeSefano

Synopsis: 

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?

My Rating: 4/5 stars 

So, I had been waiting to read Wither for quite some time now and I had heard such great things about it that I am happy to say I didn't disapoint. Granted it started it off a bit slow, but not "how on earth am I supposed to finish this first page" slow which is good. The way Lauren did world building in the beginning was great, she didn't start off in a usual way I mean the story opens when the main character, Rhine, has awoken from being kidnapped so she has to go back and fill in the details. I do like Rhine as a Character she wasn't to whinney or stubborn, and she wasn't too stereotypically pretty. 

Now for the things I didn't enjoy to much. I honestly think that this is not a meaty you have to pay attention to every detail type of book. There wasn't very shocking plot twists (except maybe one) and I kind of felt like "why am I reading this??" But that's escapist literature for you, sometimes you honestly don't know why your reading it but it makes you feel good. I think in the end the positive out weighs the negative in this book. 

I do have to say this story concept was very interesting. It's not like anything I've read before. Basically, its in the future when scientists have figured out how to have disease proof babies but there's a catch. Males die at 25 and Females at 20, so its very sombering. The whole time I was reading this I was thinking, "Would I want to live in a world where there are no diseases but you know your death date?" Uhhhh NO. I feel like I would be depressed all the time. So I think this world is up there in my top fictional worlds I'd pass up on. 

Overall, I'd say read it! Wither is a very different type of story that will pull you in and leave you wanting more. 

About Lauren DeSefano: 

Lauren DeStefano (pronounced: de STEFF ano) is a lawn gnome enthusiast and New York Times bestselling author of some books, which you can find listed below this bio. For the first six years of her life, she thought she was a mermaid and still has her suspicions. When she isn't writing, she is often composing tweets that make as little sense as possible. They can be found here: https://twitter.com/LaurenDeStefano 

Visit her online at: http://www.laurendestefano.com

(Azelyn)