July Book Wrap-Up!

Hello everyone! The month of July, was kind of a lazy reading month for me, but I am absolutely obsessed with the books I did read, and thus we have the July Book Wrap-Up! I dove into the Chemical Gardens trilogy, and when I say dove in, I mean completely and utterly became obsessed with and couldn't think about anything else except for these books.

The first book in the series is Wither, and I actually borrowed this book from my friend because I had seen an ad in Seventeen magazine about it a year or so ago. I had made no progress in reading, but I decided to take this book with me in case I got the chance to read on my mission trip. I decided to risk reading it on the bus, knowing full well that I could get sick, and I was hooked instantly. 

This world is so creepy and messed up, and I absolutely love it! If you haven't read this book, read it now. I honestly am so impressed with how easily Lauren DeStefano weaves Rhine's world and makes you fall in love with her.

Wither is the story of Rhine Ellery and the world that she lives in, where woman die at twenty and men die at twenty five. As you can imagine, this leaves America in a panic and crime is abundant. Now I will say, the book does have polygamy in it, and my friend's mom had a problem with that, so that may hinder your experience. However, DeStefano clearly sets this apart as another one of the crazy things that the world has turned to in an attempt to save itself, so if you do not agree with polygamy, you could always just view it as another oddity in this strange future world.

Rhine is such a beautiful character, and I love how Lauren tackled her. She is unaware of how unimportant she is, but it is handled in a way that makes it not annoying, if that makes sense. Characters like Tris from Divergent and Bella from Twilight always bothered me slightly, because their ignorance to their importance always seemed to be shoved in my face, like that made them a great person or something. Lauren doesn't focus on this lack of observation, but she is able to point it out in a way that seems more human than I believe those other two writers did.

Also, she is reckless like Tris, but it seems to me that she acts with just a little bit more thought. Not much, but her recklessness didn't seem as unjustified, maybe? Not really sure what word I'm looking for here, but my point is, that while Rhine and Tris are similiar, I love Rhine so much more. (Somehow this turned into bag on the Divergent series, so I am taking this time to say that I love Divergent as well, I just never liked Tris... Sorry...)

Fever is the second book, and I was just as in love with this book as I was with the first, which is rare. This book was basically one big foreshadowing for the third book, and as a English nerd, I was freaking out! I am obsessed with all of the imagery and the thought that went into placing these events, and I can't say anymore because I don't want to spoil anything, but everything is so well placed and flows so fantastically!

Thanks to the public library for caring the last two books. I appreciate it.

The last book in the series is Sever, and this was probably my least favorite of the three. I was just as in love and obsessed with this book as the other two, until the very end... I felt like a lot of new information was added towards the end, and then I didn't get all of the answers or as much as an explanation as I wanted. I felt like I was missing a lot, and that bothered me. Both deaths, (not saying who), at the end didn't satisfy me in the slightest, and I was left more confused than I think the author meant. One of them was totally upsetting, and the other just didn't give me the satisfaction I wanted. I feel like they just sort of happened, and then that was it. 

Never the less, I would still give this book a 4.5 out of 5, because it really was great for the most part.

I am in love with this series, and I can't say that enough. I ship Linden and Rhine so hard, and I know that may be unpopular with some people, but I just can't help it. Gabriel and Rhine just don't do it for me.

And because I am obsessed beyond belief, I did my best to channel my inner Rhine, and tried to duplicate the cover look.

I've never done the down-trodden look very well, so I added a smile for good measure.

Dress: Kohls

My hair wouldn't keep the unkempt look, but overall I was pretty impressed with my replication. Also, I'm really loving the pink eye shadow. My camera doesn't do it justice, but I felt pretty good in it. A little daring if you will.

That's it for my July Book Wrap-Up! If you've read this series, please fangirl with me below in the comments. I really would love to hear other people's take on them.