“Eventually I realize I am holding onto him just as tightly as he holds on to me. And here we are: two small dying things, as the world ends around us like falling autumn leaves.”
It’s no secret that PLL has a few favorite YA authors named Lauren: Lauren Oliver, Lauren Kate, Lauren Myracle, and Lauren Morrill, just to name a few. Well here’s another Lauren to add to our hall of fame. Lauren DeStefano’s debut, WITHER, the first in a trilogy called THE CHEMICAL GARDEN, is one of the best books of the year so far. Reading it is like floating down a stream—at times you want to hurry ahead to find out what’s around the next bend; at other times you get caught up in the swirling beauty of the moment, and just want to linger there.
In a future world ravaged by a virus that kills women at the age of twenty and men at the age of twenty-five, sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery’s life changes overnight when she becomes a captive bride. One minute, Rhine is living in a decrepit basement with her twin brother, Rowen, fending off rats and starving orphan thieves. The next, she is being hustled into a dark van with a bunch of other girls—only three of whom will ever see the light of day again. Rhine and her two chosen “sister wives” are then delivered to their new home: a gigantic mansion in Florida, full of beautiful holograms meant to simulate the old world. They are pampered and primped and given everything a girl could possibly want in her very short lifespan. Except one thing: freedom.
Rhine’s old life may have been dangerous and terrifying, but it was her own, where she was free to choose how to live and who to love. Now, with the help of cute kitchen staffer Gabriel and the unlikely support of her sister wives, Rhine must make the ultimate decision—to die slowly among beautiful illusions, or to escape with her freedom, into the unknown.
At turns terrifying and disturbing, elegant and touching, exciting and sexy, Wither is NOT to be missed! Don’t let your life wither away without reading this book. We can’t say enough good things about it!
Want to win a free copy from us? Check out all the ways to win!
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Do all three and you’ll be entered three times. Easy peasy! Contest ends 11:59pm May 11 and a winner will be announced May 12. Good luck!
