Waiting On Wednesday: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

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A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano
Pram #1
September 1st 2015 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

 

Pram Bellamy is special—she can talk to ghosts. She doesn’t have too many friends amongst the living, but that’s all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.

Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram’s power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Lauren DeStefano is beloved by critics and readers alike, and her middle grade debut is lyrical, evocative and not to be missed.

I'm a huge fan of Lauren DeStefano so I can't wait to see how her middle grade book is. I wish I could get my hands on it already!

What's your WOW pick of the week?

Leave me the link to your post so I can stop by!

Review: Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Perfect Ruin
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Internment Chronicles #1
Publication: October 3rd 2013 by HarperVoyager 
Genre: Young Adult ~ Dystopia
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD
Cover Rating: 5/5 (so pretty!)
Overall Rating: 5/5

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy: On the floating city of Internment, you can be anything you dream. Unless you approach the edge.

Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find – or whom she will lose.

My Thoughts:

Being a huge fan of Lauren DeStefano and her Chemical Garden trilogy, I didn't know quite what to expect of Perfect Ruin. It could be either just as amazing or a huge disappointment. But, really... can Lauren write bad books? I think not. She's a brilliant writer. I absolutely loved Perfect Ruin. I loved every single beautifully written word of it.

Perfect Ruin introduces a whole new world to us. Internment, a floating city in the clouds, where people are betrothed before they are born, worship a sky god and sometimes get lured by the edge and jump from it. This world? It was nothing like I've ever seen before and I read my fair share of dystopian books. 
We also get introduced to Morgan Stockhour who lives there. Her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper but even so she's always been fascinated with the edge of Interntment. Life seems to go on as always until the unthinkable happens. The first murder in a generation of a girl from her academy. This one event makes the city go into chaos. Fires happen, more deaths occur and before Morgan knows it she's in the middle of it all.

I really liked the main character, Morgan, though it took me a couple of chapter to really get a grasp on her. I found her a bit too naive in the beginning but as everything she knows started crumbling around her, the real her was starting to show. I loved it. 
I also love her relationship with her betrothed, Basil. I liked how they were already together and even though their betrothal was set up for a long time, they do have great feelings for one another. Basil, as a character I also liked. I was very much impressed when he chose Morgan and left everything behind for her.

There were a lot of other very interesting characters. My favorite has to be Morgan's brother, Lex. I don't know if it's just me feeling this way but I felt very fascinated with him. I wanted to know more about his experience when he jumped off the edge. I also loved his wife, Alice. She was so sweet and caring for both him and Morgan. I felt absolutely awful when I read about what they made her do when she got pregnant. That was so sad to read.
Aside from Lex and Alice there was also Morgan's best friend Pen and her betrothed Thomas. I'm not so sure I like Pen. I mean, sometimes I liked her spirit, other times she kinda freaked me out. So, eh, I don't know. Thomas was a total different story. I really liked that guy. You can clearly see he adores Pen. I wish she'd treat him better though. 
And less but not least there's Judas and Amy making an appearance. Both of them are intriguing in their own way. I won't say too much as to not spoiler the story but they were pretty awesome. 

I didn't expect at all where this story was going. There were also some serious shocking twists. Where I was throwing my book away and trying to put distance between it and me. Seriously, I did this. But, oh, I love unexpectedness like this. It only makes me want to read faster.
As for world building and character building, it was perfect. Not that I would expect any less. I absolutely loved the scenes where Pen or Morgan would recall a story from the history book which had some remnants of stories even we know. Lauren DeStefano is a genius, people, and oh she can write such awfully gorgeous things!
The ending was pretty unexpected, too. I was so nervous for it and what was going to happen and I didn't see what did happen coming at all. And now I'm wondering how the story will continue. What will happen to them all? It just drives me nut!

Overall, Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano was a stunning and exquisite book. It's definitely a worthy successor to The Chemical Garden trilogy. Gorgeous writing, a brilliant story that's just screaming originality and astonishing twists that rocked this book. Just... wow!

Favorite Quotes:

“So many of the things I've wanted are the things I've been taught to fear.”

“He gathers me up and I'm weightless before he sets me on the railing. He's the only thing keeping me from falling back, out of the reach of daylight. I'm not afraid of falling. I don't fear the sky beyond the train tracks like I did before. I can go anywhere just so long as it's with him.”

“I wonder if the people of the ground ever feel that their children are too big for their world, too.”

“He knows that I'm not like the other girls--the normal ones--that a part of me is slipping off this floating city, and he doesn't care. He doesn't care. Maybe we're both beyond saving.”

About The Author:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Lauren DeStefano was born in New Haven, Connecticut and has never traveled far from the east coast. She received a BA in English from Albertus Magnus College, and has been writing since childhood. She made her authorial debut by writing on the back of children's menus at restaurants and filling up the notepads in her mom's purse. Her very first manuscript was written on a yellow legal pad with red pen, and it was about a haunted shed that ate small children.

Now that she is all grown up (for the most part), she writes fiction for young adults. Her failed career aspirations include: world's worst receptionist, coffee house barista, sympathetic tax collector, and English tutor. When she isn't writing, she's screaming obscenities at her Nintendo DS, freaking her cats out with the laser pen, or rescuing thrift store finds and reconstructing them into killer new outfits.

Review: Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Sever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Chemical Garden #3
Publication: February 12th 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Genre: Young Adul ~ Dystopian
Format: Paperback, 371 pages
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overal Rating: 4/5

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

~My thoughts:

I'm a huge fan of Wither. It'll always be close to my heart because it was one of my first dystopian books that I read and loved. I must say that the second and previous book, Fever, wasn't as good as the first one. But it seems to me that whatever lacked in Fever, (I say whatever because I can't quite put my finger to what exactly was lacking) Lauren DeStefano absolutely made up for it with Sever.

I was dying to get my hands on this book because I wanted to see how it all would go on. It started out with Rhine still being in the hospital, about to be released. Things are kind of awkward with her and Linden but even so he helps her get a place to stay with his uncle Reed. Once there, Rhine starts trying to figure out, once she's ready to go, how to find Gabriel and her brother Rowan.

I love Lauren DeStefano's writing. I really do. And even more than that I love Rhine's voice. There's something different about it than other YA heroines. She has that thing that makes for an awesome one. This series is definitely different than other dystopians because mostly they have a lot of action like The Hunger Games or Divergent, and no I'm not comparing, I'm just saying, and to me it seems that with hasn't got much of that. But it really doesn't have to. I like it the way it is.

My favorite character is Linden. He has grown up quite a bit in this book. He's always been kind of a pushover and let's face it, naive to what was going out in the world. He has a hard time with what Rhine told him about his father but slowly he comes to terms with what she said was the truth. He struggles a lot with it and on top of that something terrible happens which is so sad for him (and Cecily). My heart really ached for him. Speaking of Cecily... I've never been her biggest fan because in my eyes she was such a spoiler brat. But she also has grown up a lot. Also went through a lot. Poor girl. So now I kind of like her. One of my new favorite characters is Linden's uncle Reed. He is SO different from his brother Vaughn. It's unbelievable they're related. I liked him a lot, yes. He was so kind to Rhine and even Cecily in the end. 

Now, Lauren DeStefano did say that Sever was going to be a kick to the heart. But, damn, it's so much worse than that! This book left my heart broken into a thousand, no, a million broken pieces in all sizes and shapes. I don't think I'll ever be able to pick them all up again. I am not kidding. I cried. And I never ever cry with books but I did with Sever so it says a lot. Even now I have a hard time with it. I can't quite believe what happened yet. It's so sad and that person and the people around didn't deserve what happened. 

Another thing I'm not quite happy about is how Gabriel wasn't in it until the end. It's weird, I actually missed him. I also wasn't his biggest fan but books can get weird feelings out of you, I have noticed. So, yeah, I wished I'd seen more of him but what I've seen was pretty darn cute at least.

The end, I thought it was all very well written and done. Finally a book that gives clossure at least. And leaves a little bit open for suggestions. Overall it was actually so surprising. Many twists I didn't expect. But I aprrove of this end.

I don't know how to sum Sever up. I liked the book, I even thought it was amazing up until the terrible, terrible thing happened. But I feel it's not fair to rate a book solely on that so I have it an amazing 4 stars. After all I went through this book so damn fast. And it actually brought up emotions in me that I could barely control. Thank you, Lauren, for this amazing series but damn you for what happened! You know what I'm talking about! 

Overall an emotional but brilliant and amazing conclusion to The Chemical Garden trilogy. Lauren DeStefano is an amazing storyteller and she'll make Rhine's story always be with me. Bravo!

~Quotes:

He looks at me, and I don't know what he sees. I used to think it was Rose. But she's not here with us now, in this room. It's just him and me, and the books. I feel like our lives are in those books. I feel like all the words on the pages are for us.

It's quiet for a while, and then Rowan says; "We could talk now. We're alone out here. No walls." "There are always walls." I say.

When we're alive, life consumes us. But when we die, all of the color and the motion is gone so quickly, it's as though it can no longer stand to be wasted on us.

~About the author:

Lauren DeStefano was born in New Haven, Connecticut and has never traveled far from the east coast. She received a BA in English from Albertus Magnus College, and has been writing since childhood. She made her authorial debut by writing on the back of children's menus at restaurants and filling up the notepads in her mom's purse. Her very first manuscript was written on a yellow legal pad with red pen, and it was about a haunted shed that ate small children.

Now that she is all grown up (for the most part), she writes fiction for young adults. Her failed career aspirations include: world's worst receptionist, coffee house barista, sympathetic tax collector, and English tutor. When she isn't writing, she's screaming obscenities at her Nintendo DS, freaking her cats out with the laser pen, or rescuing thrift store finds and reconstructing them into killer new outfits.

Find her also on:

Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Website

Purchase Sever on:

The Book Depository | Amazon | Fishpond | Barnes & Noble

Book Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Fever

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Series: The Chemical Garden

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Format: Paperback, 341 pages

Published: February 21st 2012

My rating: 5/5

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.




My thoughts: I was sooo excited when I finally received this book. I've been waiting for the sequel to Wither for about 8 months. Yeah, I was counting the days. I was afraid I'd be disappointed, but I wasn't, luckily! I can't say that Fever was better than Wither though and I missed some of the characters there were in Wither also. But we got a bunch of new characters in the meantime so that's good. I liked how we got to spend more time with Gabriel and really see how he cares for Rhine. Obviously there wasn't much Linden in it until the end. The story in general was very different from the first book but also great! I was sad when it ended. Lauren DeStefano's writing is so beautiful. I kept wanting to turn the pages faster and faster. At the end I was almost pulling my own hairs out. I'm actually very sad it ended and I can't wait for the final book in the series. It can't come fast enough for me! Now about the two guys; Gabriel and Linden. In Wither I didn't know who I liked better. Most people seem to like Gabriel more. Now after reading Fever I'm definitely team Linden. I can't help but have a soft spot for him. The new characters were very interesting. Madame for one I thought was a peculiar character. I also liked Silas a lot. My favorite character from Wither was Rhine and it still is. She's not one of those annoying whiny female maincharacters like there are a lot of them out there lately. I wished Rowan would've come into this one, but I suppose that's for the next book. Vaughn as always was very creepy and evil and it saddens me how Rhine had to tell him about his father. Cecily... She seems to have matured a little, but on the other hand she doesn't seem to changed a lot. Also there must be something about Rhine that's special. It kept coming back to that. So I can't wait to find out what exactly is going on.
I just love The Chemical Garden world so much. It's dark, mysterious and unexpected. Lauren DeStefano has once again written a beautiful book that kept my attention through all of it!