Book Review (69).

Wither (The Chemical Garden #1)

by Lauren DeStefano

Publication: 22nd March 2011

Publisher: Simon And Schuster Books

Pages: 358

Genre: Dystopian

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

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 Thoughts.

What first drew me to this book was the cover it's gorgeous and I congratulate whoever came up with it, it's beautiful and after reading the book I understand the bird in the cage which is on the front cover.

I was a bit weary at first of reading this book, polygamous marriages don't really do it for me and the fact that Rhine was forced into it didn't exactly want to make me rush out a procure a copy straight away, so I did buy it and it sat on my bookshelf for a very long time before I decided to give it a go after reading quite a lot of positive reviews, and you know what? I absolutely loved it!

Rhine and her twin brother Rohan live in a world where females die at the age of twenty and males at twenty-five after the cure for cancer was discovered and then messed up the life span expectancy of the generations born after them, so that is why polygamous marriages are happening (even the President has nine wives), Rhine is taken by a group of Gatherer's who's job it is to find young girls to be sold to the highest bidder (those girls not chosen either get sold into prostitution or killed), Rhine gets taken and is sold with two other girls to Linden Ashby a rich man who wants to replace his one and only dying wife with them.

When they arrive they are locked in their rooms, Rhine finds her door unlocked one day and finds her way to Linden's dying wife Rose's  bedroom and she notices how alike they look and they become friends until she ultimately dies.

Linden marries Rhine and the two other girls Jenna and Cecily who is only too eager to consummate the marriage the only problem with this? Linden is twenty-one and Cecily only thirteen I had a lot of trouble with that especially when she ends up pregnant soon after that, Rhine manages in the year she's there to never consummate the marriage which I also find unbelievable as her being there to procreate was the reason of being taken in the first place.

Rhine takes a shine to one of the servants Gabriel who's job it is to bring Rhine her meals and they soon both fall for each other and she tells him her plans of escape and how she wants him to go with her.

Of course every story has to have an evil person in it and that role belongs to Linden's father Vaughn a doctor who has a lab down in the basement where he likes to experiment and dissect dead people including Rose, of course all of this is unknown to Linden who is under control of his father and does whatever he says.

It's about Rhine's desperate struggle to escape and reunite with her brother that's the main part of the storyline while outwitting the cunning Vaughn who seems to know her every move.

This is one of my favourite books so far this year, I can't say enough good things about it, so I'm now off to see what the sequel will bring hopefully a happier storyline.

I give this 5/5.

Feature And Follow Friday (21).

Q: Do you read one book at a time or do you switch back and forth between two or more?

I definitely read only one book at a time because otherwise I confuse myself and I'd rather pay all my attention to one book at a time and I find I enjoy it more.

Waiting On Wednesday.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on....

Etiquette & Espionage (The Finishing School #1)

                                  by Gail Carriger

February 2013

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school. 

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. 

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school. 

First in a four book YA series set 25 years before the Parasol Protectorate but in the same universe.

The Darkest Minds

by Alexandra Bracken

18th December 2012 Disney Hyperion

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have been cursed with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control. 

Now sixteen, Ruby has spent nearly half her life desperately trying to hide the fact that she’s outwitted the camp’s sorting system—that she isn’t powerless, or safe. She’s one of the dangerous ones… and everyone knows what happens to them. 

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of teens who escaped their own camp, pursued along the way by terrifying bounty hunters. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close to him. Not after what happened to her parents. 

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Before the end, Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living

Crewel (Crewel World #1)

by Gennifer Albin

16th October 2012 Farrar Strauss & Giroux

Incapable. Awkward. Artless. 

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail. 

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested. 

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight. 

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape. 

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

Beta (Beta #1)

by Rachel Cohn

16th October 2012 Disney Hyperion

In a world constructed to absolute perfection, imperfection is difficult to understand—and impossible to hide. 

Elysia is a clone, created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen year old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of teenaged clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to be created. 

Elysia's purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection. Even the air there induces a strange, euphoric high that only the island's workers—soulless clones like Elysia—are immune to. 

At first, Elysia's new life on this island paradise is idyllic and pampered. But she soon sees that Demesne's human residents, the most privileged people in the world who should want for nothing, yearn. And, she comes to realize that beneath its flawless exterior, there is an undercurrent of discontent amongst Demesne's worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care—so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia's mind? 

If anyone discovers that Elysia isn't the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When Elysia's one chance at happiness is ripped away from her with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she's always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive.

Velveteen (Velveteen #1)

by Daniel Marks

9th October 2012 Random House Cildren's Books

Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that's not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it's not a fiery inferno, it's certainly no heaven. It's gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn't leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what's really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she's figured out just how to do it. She'll haunt him for the rest of his days. 
It'll be brutal . . . and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen's obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she's willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can't help herself when it comes to breaking rules . . . or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her. 

Luminosity (Luminosity #1)

by Stephanie Thomas

13th November 2012 Entangled Publishing

My name is Beatrice. When I was born, I was blessed with the Sight. I was immediately removed from my parents and enrolled in the Institution. At the age of twelve, I had my first true vision, earning my raven’s wings. And when I turned seventeen, one of my visions came true. Things haven’t been the same since. 

The Institution depends on me to keep the City safe from our enemy, the Dreamcatchers, but I’m finding it harder to do while keeping a secret from everyone, including my best friend Gabe. It is a secret that could put us all in danger. A secret that could kill me and everyone close to me. 

The enemy has been coming to me in my dreams, and I think I'm falling in love with him. He says they're coming. He says they're angry. And I think I've already helped them win.

10 Book Covers With.....

Fangs.

In My Mailbox (20).

In My Mailbox Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Kristi The Story Siren.

Review.

Titanic Death On The Water - Tom & Tony Bradman (Bloomsbury Australia)

The National Archives: Titanic Unclassified - Alex Stewart (Bloomsbury Australia)

Brought.

Spell Bound (Hex Hall #3) - Rachel Hawkins

The Savage Grace (The Dark Divine #3) - Bree Despain

Moonsong (The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters #2) - L.J Smith

The Compelled (The Vampire Diaries:Stefan's Diaries #6) - L.J Smith

Out Of Sight, Out Of Time (Gallagher Girls #5) - Ally Carter

Bear Meets Girl (Pride #7) - Shelly Laurenston

Red-Headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane #1) - Jaye Wells

The Mage In Black (Sabina Kane #2) - Jaye Wells

Green-Eyed Demon (Sabina Kane #3) - Jaye Wells

Silver-Tongued Devil (Sabina Kane #4) - Jaye Wells

The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire #1) - Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

The Rift Walker (Vampire Empire #2) - Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

The Name Of The Star (Shades Of London #1) - Maureen Johnson

Soul Thief (The Demon Trappers #2) - Jana Oliver

First Kill (The Slayer Chronicles #1) - Heather Brewer

She Smells The Dead (Spirit Guide #1) - E.J Stevens

Spirit Storm (Spirit Guide #2) - E.J Stevens

Legend Of Witchtrot Road (Spirit Guide #3) - E.J Stevens

Witch Song - Amber Argyle

Book Review (68).

The Catastrophic History of You and Me

by Jess Rothenberg

Publication: 28th March 2012
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Pages:375
Genre: Fantasy
Age Appropriate: Young Adult

 Dying of a broken heart is just the beginning.... Welcome to forever. 

BRIE'S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally. 

But now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after. 

With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

My Thoughts.

Wow I don't even know how to start describing this book, heartbreaking comes to mind as does the power of forgiveness and acceptance that life moves on after you die and while you'll never ever forget your life, you'll never be forgotten either.

Which begs the question if you were to die tomorrow could you accept it? Or would you not be able to let go of your life?

Brie has this problem after dying of a broken heart (her heart actually broke in half) after her boyfriend told her he doesn't love her, Brie in her afterlife finds herself at her favourite pizza place, with a strange assortment of people, one of who is Patrick an eighteen year old boy who died in the eighties  and is dressed the part who helps her get through the grieving process of the end of her life.

But you see Brie is angry she's upset her life is over and she wants revenge on Jacob her boyfriend whom she blames for killing her, so she convinces Patrick to help her and it's when she goes back and is checking up on her family and friends she discovers that the people she left behind aren't handling it very well at all, her boyfriend Jacob was keeping a huge secret from her which was why he broke up with her, her best friend was also keeping something from her but it's the betrayal from her Dad that she discovers which hurts most of all, her Dad who is a well known heart surgeon is obsessed with discovering why Brie's heart broke the way it did and in the process has pushed his family away.

Patrick who seemed familiar to Brie when she first met him has some secrets too in fact a big one that may just involve Brie, and the way he died is part of the secret.

I loved the banter between these too and the various names he came up with for cheese (her name's Brie, get it?).

The way the book was separated into the five stages of grief was fantastically done, and the struggle Brie had to finally let go of her life and move on had me in tears, actually throughout the books I shed a tear or two which isn't good when you're in a food court at your local shopping centre or eating lunch in the tea room at work.

I loved the ending and while towards the end I sort of guessed what the connection was between Brie and Patrick it still made me happy when it was revealed.

A fantastic read which I highly recommend and I definitely look forward to seeing what the author has planned next.

I give this 5/5.

A Big Thanks To Penguin Australia.

Feature And Follow Friday (20).

Q: What is the longest book you’ve read? What are your favorite 600+ page reads?

The longest book I've read would have to be Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer.

And my favourite reads over 600+ pages are:

The Host - Stephenie Meyer

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix - J.K Rowling

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince - J.K Rowling

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - J.K Rowling