Fever by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #2)

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Romance
My Rating: 3 out of 5

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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.

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Although not a lot happened in this book, I enjoyed it more than Wither. After Rhine and Gabriel escape they travel from place to place, looking for Rhine's brother and never staying anywhere long. Nothing of much significance happened until the end. But I enjoyed it more than Wither anyway because I found Wither really disturbing. I hated the idea of the Brides and being forced into that life is as bad as prostitution. I am glad that it wasn't covered much in this book.

I also enjoyed it because there was so much more Gabriel and so much less Linden. Despite the dark subject matter, the romance in this book is really sweet and innocent, like in Matched or Origin. Actually, its more like Origin because they are both very heavy, but still sweet with the romance. They both even discuss scientific experimentation on humans. Rhine and Gabriel spent a lot of time together and went through a lot together, and they are good for each other. But I am really disappointed in how Rhine reacted in the end. She seemed to give up too easily, and is still more worried about her brother than anything (and why did she not throw that ring away at the first opportunity?). But I think that Gabriel knows her, and knows what she will do next and will be able to find her.

Linden is revolting. They tried to make him seem all sympathetic at the end in the hospital. "Poor naive Linden. Mistreated and manipulated by his father." But all I have to do is remember Cecily. He impregnated a 13 year-old! Enough said. He's sick.

I am really hoping for a HEA in Sever. They don't even have to solve all their problems. I just want them to find safety somewhere. Even if Rowan ends up to be crazy. Even if there's no cure and we know Rhine will die in a few years. I just want her to be free until then.