Have You Heard of Lauren DeStefano's The Glass Spare?

The first in a new fantasy duology, The Glass Spare (HarperCollins Publishers / 9780062491282 / 10/24/2017/ $17.99 /Ages 13 and up) is a gorgeously told tale of love, loss, and deadly power from Lauren DeStefano, the bestselling author of the Chemical Garden series. Perfect for fans of Shannon Hale and Renee Ahdieh.

Wilhelmina Heidle, the fourth child and only daughter of the king of the world’s wealthiest nation, has grown up in the shadows. Kept hidden from the world in order to serve as a spy for her father—whose obsession with building his empire is causing a war—Wil wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond her kingdom, if only her father would give her the chance. Until one night Wil is attacked, and she discovers a dangerous secret. Her touch turns people into gemstone. At first Wil is horrified—but as she tests its limits, she’s drawn more and more to the strange and volatile ability. When it leads to tragedy, though, Wil is forced to face the destructive power within her and finally leave her home to seek the truth and a cure. But finding the key to her redemption puts her in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas for what to do with Wil’s power. With a world on the brink of war and a power of ultimate destruction, can Wil find a way to help the kingdom that’s turned its back on her, or will she betray her past and her family forever?

Lauren DeStefano earned her BA in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing from Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut in 2007. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Wither, Fever, Sever, The Internment Chronicles, and A Curious Tale of the In-Between. You can find her online at http://www.laurendestefano.com/.

“This is the setup for a longer series, and it leaves off with tantalizing hints of what’s to come. Readers will be eager to reenter this world of scheming kings and banished heirs, where nothing is quite as it seems.”

— The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

Book Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever
The Chemical Garden #2
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Dystopian
Release Date February 21st 2012
Review Source: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Available: Amazon
Review: Wither (book 1)

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

Fever was one of the books this year I was looking forward to reading as soon as I acquired a copy. If you read my Wither review (click link above) and know this series, then you can guess I'm a huge fan of Lauren DeStefano's work. The excitement started as soon as they released the cover for Fever. What a cover it was. I can't make up my mind which one I love more, if the Fever or Wither cover. They are works of art, they can be framed and use as wall art. You know what else I ADORE about this series? It uses a flow chart to highlight certain areas and fonts. I don't think Ive read any other book that uses this technique. If the cover doesn't pull you in then their flow chart design will. 

As far as sequels go Fever didn't fall short. Lauren's writing is as poetic as ever and the details are so livid. I will even admit I had 2 nights of nightmares that this story brought. Now I say nightmares because I was somehow part of the heart-aching story, not because the story itself was bad. On the contrary the nightmares are proof of great story-telling. Fever gets you immersed in such a way, its hard to step out of the the world Lauren has created. The pace of the events that take place are very well-balanced. Now some new scenarios or events were a bit tough for me, but the story needed it to flow. I think my one but, was just that I wanted Rhine to have more fight. In my opinion if she would have in the beginning or at the end, I would have given this review 5 trees. Maybe what I'm asking for could not work or fit well with the story, but I saw my self imaging at times her doing the opposite of what was written. Make sense?

Fever continues right where Wither left off. You have Rhine and Gabriel on the run. They escaped and hope to be able to find Rhine's twin brother Rowan. This journey will take them from Florida all the way to the streets of Manhattan, NY. Too bad in this world, you just can't grab a cab or train and bam your there. Fever deals with Rhine outside in the real world and this opens up so many dangerous situations and extreme dilemmas. How bad you ask do they have it at times, well its makes Rhine question her escaping the mansion and her husband. We meet new characters such as Maddie the malformed child, Maddie's mother Lilac, Madame, Silas and a few more secondary characters. So will everything that Rhine and Gabriel have put on the line to find Rowan and live a peaceful free life, pay out in the end? Will they finally be able to begin a new life with each other before the dreaded disease takes their lives. Has a cure been found? Fever will answer and create new questions for everyone. Then don't think you got off easy with the ending again, be prepared for another WHOA ending. 

Fever is a great title for this book, because now I admit it has given me a fever that only the next book in the series can cure. Not familiar with the series or Lauren, then listen to me when I say you will thank me if you do get familiarized. 

Book Review: Wither

Wither
The Chemical Garden Trilogy #1
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Pages: 356 Hardcover
Reading Level: YA
Published: March 22nd 2011
Review Source: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Available: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Borders 

Summary: (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.

So here we have another book that is Dystopian. You have to wander what else can they create for this genre. Well Lauren was able to bring in Wither a whole new idea and what a idea. Wither is centered around polygamy. It is definitely a new take to young adult Dystopian. The culture Lauren has written in this novel is miserable but oh so addicting to read about. The author gave us pain and beauty at the same time. This book from cover to finish is astounding.

We meet Rhine, she is kidnapped and chosen to becomes one of the brides for Linden. We feel Rhine's pain and misery throughout the book and her hopes of escaping and returning to her brother in New York. In this world science altered the duration of how long people live after they made the perfect human. Well now their offspring's are the exact opposite, the females die at the age of 20 and the males at the age of 25. So the males either buys or steals women for brides, while a cure is trying to be made. Rhine is such a strong character, you fall in love with her immediately. So then she meets the other 2 brides that will become her sister brides and begins her new life. Her husband's father is a doctor and well lets just say their only purpose is not to be a bride but more and it takes place in the basement. 

This is enough to wet your appetites to make you go out and buy this book when it is released. You won't be disappointed. The ending will leave you crying because you wished you had the next book in the series to read, THAT GOOD! Now here comes my warning, this book is for the mature YA audience or adults. I don't encourage the book to be read for anyone Middle grade type audience at all. There is references to sex, polygamy, minor pregnancy and death.