Also, Rhine is married to a wealthy man, so she is living in the lap of luxury. Maybe it had to do with young girls (13-18 years old) being brides, having babies, and living on sprawling estates, but sometimes I forgot that it took place in the future. I may be remembering incorrectly.) However, at times, and I can’t even articulate why, I felt like I was reading a historical fiction. Rhine mentions the 21st century a lot, and says that the First Generations were born around the turn of the century. I could be off by a decade or so, but that’s where I figured it to be. First, this book takes place in Florida, in what I assume is around the 2160s. I found myself constantly forgetting certain aspects of the book. I was confused, in the best of ways, throughout most of the book. Honestly, it kept me sucked in mostly because I just didn’t know how to feel or what to expect. It was slower than I usually like, but at no point did I find it boring. I found the writing style really interesting in Wither. I liked that we were thrown into the middle of this situation. The first chapter was fairly short, but I just loved it. She is chosen, along with two other girls, and led to the back of a limo. Next thing she knows, she’s in a line-up, being examined by a wealthy young man. It picks up with Rhine in the dark, which we quickly find out is the back of a van. I felt like Wither started off with a bang. I’ve had Wither on my TBR list for a while, but I recently started following Lauren DeStefano on Twitter, and after seeing all of the angry tweets regarding Sever (the final book in the trilogy), I knew I had to move this series to the top of my list so I could find out what everyone’s talking about!

This review is also posted on Mommy's Reading Break With the help of Gabriel, a servant she is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in what little time she has left. Even though he is kind to her, Rhine is desperate to escape her gilded cage – and Linden’s cruel father. Young girls are being abducted and forced to breed in a desperate attempt to keep humanity ahead of the disease that threatens to eradicate it.ġ6-year-old Rhine Ellery is kidnapped and sold as a bride to Linden, a rich young man with a dying wife. In our brave new future, DNA engineering has resulted in a terrible genetic flaw. What if you knew you exactly when you would die?

Now she has one purpose: to escape, find her twin brother, and go home – before her time runs out forever. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery has only four years left to live when she is kidnapped by the Gatherers and forced into a polygamous marriage.

A stunning debut YA novel, destined to blow the dystopian genre wide open – The Handmaid’s Tale for a new generation.

Wither lauren destefano series