Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: February 21, 2012

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion but haven't outrun the danger. On the outside, they encounter a landscape as mysterious and threatening as the one they left behind. Despite the perils, the two are determined to get to Manhattan and to relative safety with Rhine's twin brother, Rowan. But in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men to age twenty-five, time is precious. Even worse, 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 this 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.

I had been waiting for Fever ever since I read the last page of Wither last year. So you can imagine that I had very high expectations going in to the book. And those expectations were beyond surpassed. Fever was possibly even better than Wither.

Having escaped from her polygamous marriage, Rhine is on her way to Manhattan hoping to be able to be reunited with her twin brother. Except it might not be as easy as she originally thought. Now Rhine and Gabriel find themselves prisoners once again, this time of a sick and twisted carnival, trying once more to escape eventual death. But even after they escape the carnival, things aren't easier. With Vaughn hot on their trail, Rhine and Gabriel can only keep hiding for so long. And it seems the further they get from Florida and the mansion, the more Rhine is getting sick. From the looks of things, Rhine may never be able to fully escape the year she spent at the mansion being Linden's bride.

Fever was an incredible read. I'll admit that I may have liked it even more than Wither. With this book, the action starts almost right from page one and it doesn't stop until the last page. Not only that, but the book also took me on and incredible journey, both physically and emotionally. Fever is definitely an emotional roller coaster. One minute I was happy to see there may be hope for Rhine and Gabriel, and the next I would be in a state of total despair. And then if the story wasn't enough, the ending definitely left me hanging. With it, Lauren DeStefano made sure that her readers would be eagerly awaiting the final book in her Chemical Gardens trilogy. 

I was very happy to be back with Rhine and Gabriel, both of whom I had come to love in the first book. I was happy to see they wer still the same people, despite everything they have gone through. Rhine was as determined as ever and still worried more about everyone around her's lives than she did about her own. And Gabriel was still the same boy, though he was definitely hardened by everything he saw and went through in the word outside of the mansion. While I was happy to see Rhine and Gabriel again, I also really liked the addition of all the new characters. My favorites were definitely Maddie and Silas. Despite not talking, Maddie was a great addition to the story. And Silas was more than he appeared to be. I'm hoping to see more of him in the future.

With Fever, Lauren DeStefano delivered an incredible sequel. This is a book that will take you on an emotional roller coaster. And once it's over, you're just going to want even more.