Fever by Lauren DeStefano

The 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.

My Thoughts:
Just recently, I had read the first book to the series, Wither, and I wasn't exactly impressed by it, but I thought the story had a lot of potential that could have been used.  Using my philosophy of always giving a book a chance, I picked up Fever at my local library.  The synopsis really didn't grab my attention, but I was curious to see how the story continues, what with Rhine and Gabriel free of Housemaster Vaughn's grubby-handed grasp.  I needed to know.

I enjoyed Rhine more in this book than I did in the first.  I still don't exactly have the close connection with her as I do with other characters in other books, but I agreed more with her decisions and understood her feelings more than I did in Wither.  Her determination and raw hope for escape was admirable.  Still though, I found some of her decisions infuriating and made me impatient.

Readers got to see more of Gabriel in this book.  At first, I was rooting for Linden in Wither, but now that I really got to meet the true Gabriel, not the servant sneaking around the mansion, I changed my mind.  Now, I won't say much for those who have still yet to read this book, but I much rather prefer Gabriel's personality to Linden's cowardice.  I pitied Linden.  He was like that poor, innocent, homeless puppy that wound up on your doorstep.  Not that little puppied wind up on my doorstep all the time or anything, but you catch my drift.  I cared for Gabriel.  He certainly became my favorite character.

In Wither, not much of anything happened.  Rhine was locked up in the swanky mansion under the supervision of the Creeper 2,000 Housemaster Vaughn.  In Fever, however, there is much adventure.  In the beginning, Rhine and Gabriel get caught up in the Scarlet district and are forced to 'perform' in this carnival-type place.  The first half of the book I thought was slow and boring.  I wanted for things to pick up or for things to get a little scandalous and heated.  I mean, they were in the Scarlet district after all.  Luckily, the story progresses and there is some adventure involved.  The second half of the book is what brought this book from me being okay with the story to me kind of liking it.

Will I read Sever, the final book to the series?  Yes.  Am I excited about it?  No.  Like I've said, the overall story has a lot of potential and I am hoping that things will pick up.  Most likely, things will be resolved by the end of the last book, but I would like to see how things play out.