Synopsis: 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.

Review: I was such a fan of Wither, and so when Fever was released I promised myself I’d read it as soon as I could. It definitely did not disappoint! I think in some ways I may have even loved it more than I loved Wither.

Unlike Wither, which is set really in the confines of a mansion, Fever is pretty much the opposite. Rhine and Gabriel are on the run. They find this bizaare creepy carnival style brothel in the middle of nowhere run by Madame. I absolutely LOVED this part of the book. I have this fear of all things carny, and so the fact that this was set there and was kinda evil actually reinforced my fear and really had this amazing effect on me. The characters were so defined and all had their own backstories and histories. Lauren De Stefano truly put so much thought into these characters… she made it easy for us to have a bond to them, whether we loved or hated them, you can’t help but feel SOMETHING for them.

From the carnival they find themselves on the run once again but this time they’re on their way back to New York. Rhine is determined to find and reunite with her twin brother Rowan, and so they go on a road trip, which is filled with action the whole way. I really admire the strength and determination that Rhine shows in this book. No one can deny she is one tough cookie!

Poor Gabriel really cops it in this book. I felt so bad for him. Firstly he spends most of his time being injected with addictive sedatives. Then he spends the next part trying to withdraw from the drugs as he finds himself having a hard time coming off them, and pretty much gets neglected for the rest of the time! Am I the only one wanting things to work out in Gabriel’s favour for once? lol

I loved the character progression in general in this book. And honestly, the story line itself was amazing. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, guess again! The story had SO many twists and turns, and you honestly cannot guess what happens at each bend. There were at least 4 times in the book where I thought I knew where this was going and I was wrong. But I wasn’t at all let down. In fact, I loved it. I really felt like I’d been taken on a ride!

The ending was fantastic…. cruel perhaps, because there’s now another years wait for the third book!! Argh! haha But honestly, the ending really sets the scene for the next book in the trilogy and I am JUST as excited to read this as I was for Fever.

Defintiely a surprise package! I know so many people were looking forward to this - myself included. But the story took us in such a different direction to Wither! I loved it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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