Awhile on the Pile #11: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Awhile on the Pile/From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday but was also inspired by Rachel at My Reading Pile/Fiktshun. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review -- or any book that you own and really want to read/review -- but haven't yet got around to reading in order to give the book some extra publicity.

Here's the book I chose to give some extra love this week:

Title:  Fever
Author:  Lauren DeStefano
Series:  The Chemical Garden trilogy, Book #2
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date:  February 21, 2012

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.

This is another one of those that I was dying to get my hands on but once I did, I got behind and never got to.  I loved Wither when I read it last year and I'm really excited to continue Rhine's story and see if she ever reunites with Rowan.  I may end up listening to this one so I can get to it sooner rather than later.  Thank goodness for Audible!  :D

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Labels: awhile on the pile, chemical garden trilogy, dystopian, lauren destefano, post-apocalyptic, simon schuster

In My Mailbox #20

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  It's a weekly meme where we all get to brag about the books and swag we got in the mail, for review, won in contests, etc.






For Review:

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (His Fair Assassin, Book 1), ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/HMH Kids -- sooo excited for this one

Purchased:

Fever by Lauren DeStefano
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories by Lewis Carroll (part of the B&N Leatherbound Classics series)
Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead (audiobook)
Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead (audiobook)

I bought that leatherbound copy of Alice for a friend's birthday because she's a HUGE Alice-nut, but after seeing all of the offerings in this B&N series, I may have to get them all for myself.  Or, ya know, someone could get them for me since my own birthday is coming up.  And it's a big one.  And everyone always says they don't know what to get me because they can't pick books for me.  Well, here's the solution.  :D

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Labels: audiobooks, chemical garden trilogy, his fair assassin, in my mailbox (imm)

Teasers, Pleasers & Other Fun Stuffs...#3

All the things I found on the internet this week that made me swoon, giggle, or just wish I had a time machine so I could travel to the future. Enjoy!

First off, I'm just about through with the audiobooks for the Vampire Academy series.  I should actually finish Last Sacrifice today.  Which is all the more reason to be excited for Bloodlines, due out later this month.  In anticipation, here are a few teaser trailers for the first book in the Bloodlines series.  (I haven't watched them yet for fear of spoilers but as soon as I'm done with VA #6 today, you can bet I'll be playing these over and over and over.)

I love getting my hands on extras, excerpts, deleted scenes and the like.  In the last week or so, several authors have released these little extras, much to my delight:




From Andrea Cremer, we have a deleted scene from Nightshade.








Thanks to HarperTeen, you can browse the first few chapters of Supernaturally by Kiersten White.







Author Josephine Angelini offers up an excerpt from the second chapter of Dreamless, the forthcoming sequel to her mythology-laiden Starcrossed.





 
In honor of Ash's win against Patch in the very close match-up in the YA Crush Tourney, Julie Kagawa is giving us a deleted scene from the The Iron Queen.






And from Richelle Mead, we get the original first chapter of Bloodlines, told from Adrian's POV.

Lauren DeStefano, author of The Chemical Garden trilogy, may be taking a brief hiatus from the internets to work on book three in the series, but she left us with this beautiful image of the cover jacket for Fever, book two in the series, due out in February of next year.

Lastly, we have some awesome trailers for some recently or soon-to-be released novels that I can't wait to get my hands on, even more so after having viewed these trailers!

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Labels: bloodlines, book trailers, chemical garden trilogy, nightshade, paranormalcy, starcrossed, teasers, the iron fey series

Feature: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Okay, if you've already read my review of Wither, you already know how much I loved the first installment of the The Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano.  Well, now's your chance to win not only a personalized ARC of Wither, but also one for Fever, which hasn't even been printed yet!  Interested, you say?  Well, go check out the author's blog for all the details.  And help spread the word.  This is one of my top 5 picks of the year!  Everyone should read it!!!






And in case you still aren't convinced, here's the trailer for Wither:

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Labels: book trailers, chemical garden trilogy, features, giveaways

Review: Wither (Chemical Garden #1) by Lauren DeStefano

Title:  Wither

Author:  Lauren DeStefano

Series:  Chemical Garden Trilogy

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Publication Date:  March 22, 2011

Links:  Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 

From Goodreads:

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 limited time she has left.

Review:

Word of mouth travels fast...it seems that all of my online buddies have already read this novel and steadfastly approve, myself included. What a brilliant debut! When you envision your own novel, you only dare hope that it comes out half as amazing as Lauren DeStefano's futuristic vision of our world. If you haven't heard great things about this book, you must be holed up in a cave. I cannot recommend reading this book enough!

The characterization in 'Wither' is absolutely phenomenal. The characters are captivating and completely human in their exploits. Every new thing you learn about them is a kick in the pants, pulling you into the story that much further. The polygamy aspect of the story really intrigued me, in the same way that you have to look at an accident on the highway as you pass...you know it's disturbing, but somehow seeing the devastation will help you understand it. DeStefano really delves into the subject and how it affects the sister wives, though her concentration is on Rhine, the main character.

I adore Rhine's character. She's strong and oh-so-stubborn, her focus only on escaping this sham of a marriage and getting back to her brother Rowan, though she's distracted by the handsome and sympathetic Gabriel. Gabriel's character was the yin to Rhine's yang, but I still felt myself begrudgingly sympathetic towards Linden, despite his actions; I suppose that's just a testament to the writer's abilities.  She's just able to give such depth to the characters, as well as the world she's created for them.

I am in love with this novel. It's my #1 read for this year, and it was unexpected. I love the dystopian genre, so I knew I would like it, but wow, I like it like I like the hunger games. It's unique and sets itself completely apart from the rest of the genre. It's defiant and it asks questions that some would be afraid to answer. But it's unequivocally fearless and courageously tests the waters, and it has found an audience waiting to tread those waters unafraid.  I cannot wait to read more of Rhine's story!

*I won a copy of this novel thru a giveaway from Beth Revis: http://networkedblogs.com/fRaG6*

Next up for review: 

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Labels: chemical garden trilogy, reviews