Title: Sever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Chemical Garden series
Pages: 371 pages hardcover/paperback, 384 ebook
Rating: ★★★★

I wasn’t incredibly impressed with the first two books of this series. Pieces didn’t feel right and some felt a little forced. I wasn’t really a fan of the Rhine and Gabriel romance and I wasn’t sure DeStefano would be able to wrap things up in a way I liked.

Sever was nothing like I expected. I thought I knew how I felt about everyone and every situation Rhine had gone through. DeStefano completely turned it all over and had me feeling things I never thought I would. She expertly wrote a story that shows that most people are not completely good, nor are they completely evil. Motivations can cloud judgements and what one person views as right, another can view as wrong.

Sever is not a book that focuses on romance, and I’m thankful for that. It focuses on character and looking at life in different ways. It looks at love and how it helps and hurts, how love can be different things to different people, and how love can move people to do things they wouldn’t do before.

So much happens in Sever, there is so much revealed, that as I got closer and closer to the end, I wasn’t sure how the story would be able to resolve. The last pages are touching, reflective and perfect.

The Chemical Garden series started out a little shaky for me. It felt disjointed and a little rough. Sever is by far the best book of the series. It is heart-wrenching at times, full of hope in the darkest times, and every other page has a new revelation. I’m glad the focus was on the characters instead of the romance. It wrapped the series up the only way it could have ended. I’m looking forward to reading more of DeStefano’s writings in the future.

If Sever sounds like your kind of book, you can purchase it here:
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