Review: Avow by Chelsea Fine

Avow
The Archers of Avalon #3

Author: Chelsea Fine

Publication Date: December 11, 2012

Publisher: Firefall Publishing

Genre: Fantasy

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Synopsis:

Scarlet remembers. Everything. Her past lives, Tristan, Gabriel, Nate: she remembers it all--including how to get to the Fountain of Youth. But time is running out.

Heather and Gabriel have been kidnapped by Raven, while the curse that has plagued Scarlet and Tristan for centuries has shifted, putting the star-crossed lovers in more danger than ever before. Water from the Fountain of Youth is the only thing that can save Scarlet and her loved ones. But the water comes at a price.

With lives--and hearts--at stake, Scarlet leads her friends on a dangerous journey to the Fountain of Youth. Where eternal life is possible, but death is certain.

My Thoughts: This is a series that I bought as eBooks by chance on my Kobo and I am so glad that I did! This has turned into one of my top series and I love it to death, in fact I almost wish it hadn't ended.  I am so attached to these characters that I feel like they are going to stick with me for a long, long time.

In Avow, the final book in the series, Scarlet finally remembers her past lives.  Which means she finally remembers where the Fountain of Youth is, and why she was so secretive and ran away in her last life in the 80s.  Everything in this book that has been building up finally comes to an head and the only question that remains is who will make it through the dangerous journey to the Fountain and back?

There is something about forbidden love that gets me every time. Tristan and Scarlet are something much more intense than that.  Cursed, just touching each other can kill one and not being near each other kills the other.  It is very heart tugging at every moment they are in the room together.  It is surreal.  Normally, I am holding on for my favourite book couples to kiss and be together - with Scarlet and Tristan I was giddy if their hands touched.  It is really amazing how involved I got with them, they are truly an electrifying power couple.

I wasn't a fan of half of the book being in italics as flashbacks into Scarlet's past lives, but I really liked finally getting the whole story instead of Tristan, Gabriel and Nate constantly referring to things and being as lost about them as Scarlet was.  It was also satisfying to find out why she had taken off in her last life with an arsenal of weapons (Tristan's weapons, I might add).

This was a wonderful series, everything was wrapped up pretty neatly and I was satisfied with the ending.  I enjoyed this series so much that I read a book a day and it took me only three days to get through them.  I would have taken me a lot less too if I hadn't had to work all three of those days as well as I could hardly bare to put my eReader down for the duration of it.  Well done, Chelsea Fine.

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither
The Chemical Garden #1

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publication Date: March 22, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: Dystopian

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Synopsis:

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: This is one of those books that I wasn't sure about until I picked it up and opened up to the first page.  After that, I was hooked.  This is one I did not put down and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading and thinking: "Just one more chapter!".

The summary above does very well in summarizing, basically, the whole book.  Rhine is kidnapped off of the streets on her way home from work, shoved into the back of a dark van and driven across the country to be sold as one of three brides for Linden.  Despite Linden being horribly naive and not as bad as she would have thought, Rhine's sole thought is of escape and living the last four years of life she has left her own way.

It was weird to imagine a world full of only young people.  There are the much older first generation people who age normally, but other than that every man was under twenty-five and ever woman under twenty.  There are orphans running rampant around and most people who are working are really young.  There were so many things that I found abhorrent in this novel and gave me such a shock (for instance, a thirteen year old girl being married off and getting pregnant and not many thought twice about it).  When I sat down and absorbed the world it made sense that things like that would be routine in a world where the young died young.  It really made the world seem real and painted a picture of what it had become.  But it was nevertheless disturbing.

Rhine Ellery was sold into a polygamous marriage after being kidnapped.  It was one of the many things that could happen in the world she lives in but never one she considered.  So, at the ripe age of sixteen she was married with two sister wives - one older and one younger.  Not to mention the existing first wife, Rose, who at the age of twenty was succumbing to the disease they would all eventually fall prey to.  Rhine's other sister wives all seem to accept their fate one way or another. Rhine, on the other hand, does everything within her power to make sure that she escapes - even if that means pretending to be in love with her husband and calling him "sweetheart".

Gabriel is the man who serves the sister wives their food and tends to their needs.  He is the only servant other than the wives' own personal servant permitted on their floor (which has no stairs and an elevator that can only be accessed with a key card).  He and Rhine form a companionship that could certainly turn into something else - if they weren't constantly worried about someone walking in on them or finding them out.  Gabriel is a sweet guy who barely remembers life outside of the confines of the mansion in which he serves.

Linden, the husband of Rhine and her sister wives, is so sweet and naive.  He and Rhine do get along and under any other circumstances they could have been at least sincere friends, I believe.  Linden is horribly in the dark about how his new wives have been brought to him and even what happens in his own home.  Everything in Linden's home is overseen and ruled by his cold, calculating and uncaring father - Vaughn.  Vaughn is a scientist who is laboring for a cure to the disease that is killing off humanity by any means possible.

Overall, I really, really liked this book.  Some of the things that happened or were mentioned through me off guard and left me reeling and unbelieving but the fact that I had a reaction so intense really speaks for the writing and the author of this series.  I honestly can't wait to start the next one.

Review: Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto

Heaven
Halo Series #4

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Publication Date: August 21st, 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Genre: Paranormal

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Synopsis:

Bethany, an angel sent to Earth, and her mortal boyfriend, Xavier, have been to Hell and back. But now their love will be put to its highest test yet, as they defy Heavenly law and marry. They don’t tell Beth’s archangel siblings, Gabriel and Ivy, but the angels know soon enough, and punishment comes in a terrifying form: the Sevens, who are rogue angels bent on keeping Beth and Xavier apart, destroying Gabriel and Ivy, and darkening angelic power in the heavens. The only way Bethany and can elude the Sevens is to hide in the open, and blend in with other mortals their own age. Gabriel and Ivy set them up at college, where they can’t reveal their relationship, and where there is still danger around each corner. Will Bethany be called back to Heaven – forever – and face leaving the love of her life?

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed reading Heaven and wrapping up this series.  It tied up most of the loose ends, there was only one thing that left me unsatisfied and that was the ever-turbulent sort-of relationship between Bethany's best friend Molly and the Archangel Gabriel.  Other than that, I think that Heaven did an extraordinary job at tying up.
I enjoyed the change in dynamic after Bethany and Xavier got married.  Too bad their honeymoon involved college and them pretending to be brother and sister!  Their college life really got a few good laughs out of me and really put into perspective how much Bethany and Xavier have given up to be with each other.  If they hadn't fallen in love they would have both been able to have a regular college experience after high school with their peers.
Bethany grew up.  After being in Hell in the last book, she has certainly come into her own.  No longer the little angel we first got to know, Beth gets a bit more bite in Heaven.  Xavier is still a quick-tongued smart ass who is nothing but protective and tender to Beth and that is one of the things I love most about him.  
Oh, and we get to see another side of Gabriel.  He certainly comes out of his shell in this book.
All-in-all, I think Heaven was pretty great.  I could totally see a spin-off series around Gabriel though, which I would pick up in an instant since he was one of my favourite characters.  If you haven't read Heaven yet, you should pick it up.  If you haven't read the series yet, I encourage you to look into it!