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.
I reviewed this book Nov/ 2012 Wither Review
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.
While it has been quite a while since I read the first book in the series, I had no problem popping right back into this world and settling in for a healthy does of crazy. When Rhine and Gabriel escape the mansion the don't formulate a plan much past their escape, they find themselves trapped in a crazy carnival where they are drugged and end up as side show acts. Upon their escape from the carnival, the pair make their way back to New York only to find things worse than Rhine suspected, her brother has moved on and they now have no where to go and no means to support themselves. And to top it all off the are now caring for a child with disabilities and Rhine is severely ill and is only getting worse by the day.
I knew it was almost to easy to get out and while it made for an interesting back drop I knew there has to be more to the carnival than meets the eye. Once you are in Vaughn's grasps you will never truly be free, you had to know that he would have some kind of crazy tracking device implanted in her/them I was surprised he didn't get to her sooner.
With Linden denouncing her as his wife Vaughn now has complete control to do what ever he pleases.
While I like the premise of this book I found it very interesting I almost found it too drawn out in places and I found myself over the carnival and wanting them to hurry up and escape or get down to the back story, something, I was craving a little more action and felt a little hazy myself for a while. I love to hate Vaughn he is ubber creepy and has no line of distinction from right and wrong when it comes to finding a cure for his son and will do anything to accomplish his goal.
I gave this book a 3 out of 5 star review
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.
I have to say this is probably my favorite book of the three! Was totally worth the wait, although I wish I had time to read it sooner than I did.
Rhine is trapped in a world of crazy, once she escape Vaughn's lab she is introduced to his eccentric brother Reed. Cecily not yet ready to let her go, drags Linden and the baby to Reeds dilapidated old house to help her out before she leaves to find her brother, who has become a radical in an underground resistance movement that has been blowing up labs across the country.
This book is steadily paces all through out and once you think you have stuff figured out you are promply put back in your place and told to buckle up. Its definitely one thing after another revelation after revelation. Yeah finally Linden puts his big boy pants on and joins the rest of the world in knowing that his dad is a crazy bastard and steps up to the plate. I have been waiting for this forever. And Cecily little sister wife has some major balls towards the end and I was like wow insert several expletives here, I was thrilled with how Lauren DeStefano wrapped up this series, I think she did a great job giving everybody what they wanted while still carrying it through to its proper end. I was suprised to be saddened by the loss of a major character but I think it made the whole experience bitter sweet and that much better. Great job.
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 star rating
you can purchase all three of the chemical garden trilogy at all major book retailers online and in store