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Review: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2) by Lauren DeStefano

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Title: Fever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher/Year: Simon & Schuster 2/12/13
Length:   328 Pages
Series:  The Chemical Garden #2

Overview

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they ran away from. Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.

The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this 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.

My Thoughts

This 2nd installment takes us on a really tough route with Rhine and Gabriel now that they’ve managed to get out of the mansion and have ‘escaped’.  There’s so much uncertainty out there in the world especially for Gabriel who has almost no memory of outside the house.  We’re hoping that Rhine’s quest for freedom and her goal of finding her brother back home in Manhattan will prove to be something good.

So when we left them, they had escaped and found a boat to sail up the coast.  They end up getting as far as about South Carolina from what i’ve gathered, and when they make landfall, they are hoping for the best.  Sadly, they are nabbed quickly upon getting on land and this is where their first bit of trouble comes.

From what we knew of Jennas life before she was a bride, she worked by selling her body, and it’s one of those camps that we see Rhine and Gabriel taken to.  Rhine of course is deemed to be quite special because of her eyes and that’s probably her only saving grace because instead of being thrown to the wolves to be tasted and sampled, the Madame has loftier goals for her in having people ‘watch but don’t touch’.  So, we see that little reprive and hope that it means that they’ll be able to get to a place that’s safe but of course that doesn’t happen.

Gabriel is beaten and wounded and then hooked on a drug that literally renders him useless and that means that things will have to get even worse.  Vaugh (Linden’s dad) shows up and has found Rhine some how spurring them to go on the run again.  This time though, it’s not just the 2 of them, they have Maddie, the daughter of one of the women at the camp, and Maddie is malformed, she doesn’t talk but we see that she’s incredibly intuitive and helps them as they try to escape and make their way up to new york.

Things continue to go wrong for this group as they make their way up north, they find Rhine’s house but it’s burned out, Gabriel is still suffering from withdrawl, Rhine is molested by someone on the route north, and the moment they find part of what they’re looking for, Rhine starts to get so sick that she fears that the virus is taking her years early, and deems Vaughn some how responsible.

The moment you think Vaughn, he pops up, and well, we end up back at the mansion at the end of this installment.  It’s a complete roller coaster, still with little insight as to what’s causing the virus and early death of their generation, and we can only hope that we get that resolution when we get through the final installment.  Cecily comes back into the mix as does Linden and we see that there’s so much eye opening that has to happen and so much faith that has to be placed in places you’ never expect that it leaves us wondering if there’s going to be a happy ending for anyone.

We’re on a journey of really trying to figure out what’s right and who’s behind it.  There’s a relationship growing between Rhine and Gabriel, but given where they are in life and time, you don’t even know if it’ll be worth it.  We also learn more about Linden and his feelings and i think that we’ll see him become someone quite key in the mix since he’s really been lied to his whole life.  So all that tied together leaves us set up for a really great finale i think.  Son v. Father, and Society v. Medicine.  who will win?

ARC Review: Fever (Club Inferno #3) by Jamie K Schmidt

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Title:  Fever
Author: Jamie K Schmidt
Publisher/Year: Random House 4/17/15
Length: 167
Series: Club Inferno #3

Overview

Deep in the shadows of her exclusive fashion resort, Couture, Colleen Bryant presides over a much more intimate world: Club Inferno. The successful businesswoman and sex instructor has built an empire that caters to the BDSM elite, but now she finds herself longing for something a bit more ordinary: a man to love. She’s not sure how to find someone who will accept what she does for a living—or the kinks that drive her wild—until her old flame, ex-pro football player Chase Fairwood, comes back in her life.

There’s no woman as hot, sexy, or exciting as Colleen—and Chase knows it. He also knows he’s man enough to play her games, and to give as good as he gets. His return to Club Inferno reignites Colleen’s scorching demands, along with a new determination to test his resolve. Soon he’s competing against a rival Dom to brand Colleen as his own. But Chase has a secret weapon: the burning desire to offer his body—and his heart—in sweet surrender.

My Thoughts

I should start off and say thank you to the folks at NetGalley for allowing me to get the early read of this 3rd installment to the Club Inferno series.  I think that it’s fair to say that we all wanted to see what was up for Colleen – Mallory’s sister and the owner and Head Domme of Couture.  There were teasers throughout the series so far that there was something coming back up again with Chase – the love of her life prior to her husband as well as there being something out there with Dante – one of the other Doms in the club.

So that’s what we get in this story – we really do see that there’s a bit of a triangle going on – not a love triangle per-say but really something that’s adding heat and chemistry and angst into the mix of things.

Colleen is trying to build on her empire – after a bunch of less than amazing deals she’s trying to launch her line with Anya – at the same time that Max is trying to launch his line and uses Chases star a bit to get things moving. This adds complications to Colleen’s life and if we know nothing else, we know that complications are GREAT in this genre.

The path that we go down is one where Colleen is completely confident in her role within the BDSM world, while Chase is really against it all.  (he had a taste of seeing Colleen in it back in Vegas and ran in the other direction).  While Chase seems to think that he can dabble in it, he’s in for a rude awakening, and Colleen has to learn to adjust in order to keep him from running scared.  All the while, Dante continues to try to push and prod and make his move in the hopes that he can get under Colleen’s skin and achieve what…..i’m not quite sure.

The great thing about this series is that we get an education.  We continue to learn more and more about the BDSM world and about what it is that makes some couples tick.  That’s something that Colleen’s character does well.  The other bit is that we continue to get some HOT sceneing…the passion and chemistry between Colleen and Chase is palpable, as is the chemistry and tension between Colleen and Dante.  There’s something to be said about trying to find the right dynamic and knowing what gets you off, and our author clearly knows how to write to that bit.

So….the journey is one that’s really round about – we find that Chase and Colleen resort to old habits while Dante uses cockiness and self assuredness to get what he wants.  It’s interesting to say the least and it makes you want to keep reading.  So….if you’re not able to get your hands on the ARC, at least it’s only a bit over a month that you have to wait to read it, and it’ll be worth it.  Now i’m just curious if there will be a book 4 and which of our favs will be the lead in that story.  I have my ideas…..so….Enjoy!

Review: Fever (The Breathless Trilogy Book #2) by Maya Banks

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Title: Fever 
Author: Maya Banks
Publisher/Year: Penguin Group (USA), 4/2/13
Length: 416 pages
Series: The Breathless Trilogy #2

the slightly awaited 2nd installment in the Breathless Trilogy has arrived and i have to admit that i was waiting to see what was next for the 3 sexiest men in the city.  Knowing that we had Gabe’s story all wrapped up in Rush, next on the docket was Jace…mia’s brother.

so we open into the engagement party for Gabe and Mia where everyone’s excited for the happy couple that managed to sort things out in book 2, meaning that we get to see what the future lies with the other 2 boys who everyone knows are majorly into threesomes.  So true to form, Ash notices that Jace is checking out a particularly attractive woman who happens to be working at the party and makes his intentions known.  this is how we meet Bethany.  She’s working for the caterer and upon meeting Ash and Jace who are polar opposites, decides to take them up on their offer for a threesome mostly because it means that she’ll have somewhere warm to stay that night.  see the thing with Bethany is that she’s homeless and she’s been on the streets for about 4 years now trying to survive.

Unlike all other encounters that Ash and Jace have shared, Jace finds himself very possessive of Bethany and doesn’t really want to share her with Ash.  throughout the fun that night, he is very particular about what he’ll allow Ash to do and doesn’t want to even share her.

That begins the torrent romance that they begin and we get to see a harder/dominating side to Jace which is a nice little kink.  Of course though, things are never cut and dry.  while Jace is trying to give Bethany everything in the world (a place to stay, food, clothes the works), Bethany has a ‘brother’ that has been on the streets with her and he’s managed to get himself involved in some less than savory things that some how manage to keep Bethany entwined.

So this is a story of a developing relationship and romance that’s new for both (jace has never been a one woman guy and never been in love) and bethany hasn’t had anything her entire life.  Bethany’s brother Jack is a wild card and there’s just so much that can go wrong.

all in all not a ‘bad’ story – but what i always get frustrated with is when we’re given a glimpse into a character that’s clearly a dom, and in this case Jace even goes as far to say that he wants a ‘slave’ – a full submissive in and out of bed – but we don’t really get into too many scenes with him in that role.  he does a little basic paddle work or spanking, some tying up and all that, but really the best sex scenes are just some less than vanilla things, nothing really BDSM.  i think that the book could have pushed a little farther given that there’s a lot of set up to Jace being all dark and dangerous.

regardless – i’m looking forward to August when Burn, the final book in the trilogy comes out.