The Escape Club team is on the hunt for cute gear you can buy online. In our interwebbing we found two super sweet RCVA dresses that we like! What do you think?
Our favourite teen mentor Lauren M. Galley has a new article up on the Huffington Post. Read it and tell Lauren what you think.
Also Lauren has a new video out that inspires us all to try new things! Ignore the haters!
A lush and gorgeously written debut, packed with action, intrigue, and a thrilling love triangle.
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king’s army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince’s guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can’t prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard, and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.
The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she’s sworn to protect?
Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Published January 7th 2014 by Scholastic Press
When her parents are murdered and the twins are to be taken to the castle, Alexa’s brother decides to chop off her hair and have the captors believe she is a boy. As a young female, she would otherwise be sent directly to the breeding house, a place where young girls are abused to produce more children for the kingdom.
Alex loves and hates her situation; she enjoys fighting and residing in one of the better positions at the castle. She is better off there with her brother than either outside among the people, or in the breeding house. Her brother is a fierce competitor and stands by her side until she must face her life alone.
She is placed in a precarious situation when she is appointed the direct guard for the Prince himself, but when they are kidnapped her whole world starts to crumble.
The initial story set-up is perfect. It got me interested in Alex, her dangerous position as part of the guard, and the fact that her secret could be found out at any moment. One misplaced wound during a fight or a simple slip of the tongue could do her in. There is an obvious hostility that she holds for the Prince, the King, and the King’s staff. She is always having to watch what she says. This world has different lands with different people and we don’t get to meet all of them. There are wizards and magic and a focus on good versus evil.
There is some travelling during the novel where the pace slows a little. The drama intensifies as the characters get a lot of one-on-one time and reveal their true personalities. The plot develops and plot twists takes hold. During these periods of travel we see a different side of Alexa, one that experiences emotional turmoil and is very different from the one we have known.
I was pleasantly surprised by the twists that this story took. It kept me intrigued and guessing how it would end. Despite this, there was a small section in the middle of the novel that kept me from absolutely loving the story. I would still recommend this book for the main character and her strength and abilities. Through most of the novel Alexa was very much a heroine that I could root for; I just loved her. She has to fight through her own insecurities and shows the true meaning of the word heroine.
Before getting started on Sever, I wasn’t sure how this trilogy could get any better, but once again Lauren DeStefano has done it. She blew me away, broke me, and absolutely amazed me!
Sever was an explosive ending!
After spending months drugged and passed out in the basement of Vaughn’s mansion, Rhine has been rescued and taken to the hospital. Thanks to her sister wife Cecily and partially thanks to Linden. It’s about time Cecily stepped up to the plate and took charge!
After going through checkups, Rhine, Linden, and Cecily learn that Vaughn put trackers in each of the sister wives thighs, to ensure that if one of them ran away, like Rhine, they could easily be tracked and brought back. Even with so much evidence, Linden still doesn’t believe that his father isn’t who he thinks he is. Linden doesn’t want to believe it, even when Rhine and Cecily are crying for his help.
Lying in the hospital in recovery, Rhine catches a glimpse of the news on TV and she can’t believe her eyes when she sees her brother. Her brother, is still living, breathing, and walking this earth, but also running a rebellion…
After being released from her stay in the hospital, Rhine doesn’t want to go back to the mansion with Linden and Cecily, and I don’t blame her! So instead, Linden suggests his Uncle Reed’s house. Unsure of how to respond or how to feel about the offer to stay with Vaughn’s brother, Rhine is a bit hesitant. But she decides that she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.
Reed turns out to be nothing like his brother; in fact, Reed hasn’t even talked to Vaughn in years, but has become a safe haven for Linden when he can’t deal with Vaughn. At first Reed does come off as a bit standoffish and rough, but Rhine quickly learns that all he expects her to do is do her chores and pull her own weight.
Things are good, but Rhine still wants to find her brother and Gabriel.
Time is running out. Rhine needs to hurry and find her brother, and Linden and Cecily offer to come with her, leaving their baby in Reed’s care. On their journey, things seem to run smoothly, but all that quickly changes, when the three run into the same carnival from the second book.
The first time Rhine sets her eyes on her brother in real life, Rowan is trying to bomb a building. Rhine can’t seem to get his attention at first because there are so many people shouting, chanting, and moving, but once she does, Rowan has to do a double-take to make sure his eyes aren’t fooling him.
Rowan wants to introduce Rhine to a very good friend of his, who has the ability to end this epidemic of dying at a young age. Rowan reassures her that his friend knows what he is doing. But Rhine can’t believe what she hears, when her brother tells her that his name is Vaughn…
I don’t know about Rhine, but my heart definitely stopped when I read this.
I made a bulletin list when I reviewed Sever for my blog, and even after a few weeks I still can’t review this book in any other way, so here it is.
- Gabriel, Where Are You? Where the heck was he? I ADORED him in Wither, and fell in love with him in Fever…but where was he in Sever?! I understand that he made a small appearance towards the end of the book, but come on! I was expecting so much more from him. AND so much more from Rhine. When she finally sees him at the end of the book, I felt like Rhine just brushed him off, like he wasn’t there for her throughout the entire struggle of the first two books. Ugh! I missed Gabriel and I was hoping to see a lot more of him in Sever.
- Linden, Why!? Why Him? Why Did It Have To Happen This Way? My feelings for Linden were back and forth throughout this entire trilogy. He was so oblivious to everything his dad was doing to his wives right in front of him, in the same house! But in Sever I was almost rooting for him. I was almost even wishing that Rhine would go back to him and ask if she could be with him again. I LIKED Linden in Sever, and that’s why my heart was completely crushed when he died. He died in the most useless way, completely randomly, and had no meaning at all. I was so heartbroken.”
Some of the things that I enjoyed, gushed over, loved, and reread a million times.
- Vaughn, You! With all the evil things he’s said and done, you naturally hate him. But he was the perfect villain! He was smart, he did it for science, and even out of love for his son. He wanted to end this epidemic and wants his son and grandson to live normal lives, and not die at such a young age. Vaughn was complex and had real reasoning behind what he was doing, and I liked that about him.
- Cecily. She was still the young naive girl we meet in the first book but now has a child and one more on the way. But she grew up in this book, granted, not enough, but she did. She took initiative and even told Linden what to do sometimes.
- Rhine and Rowan, For The Win! In Sever we finally get the opportunity to meet Rowan! After three books of stories and Rhine’s memories, we finally meet her twin brother. You have no idea how excited I was. Just like Rhine, Rowan is head-strong and he has a great love for his sister.
- The Ending…WHAT?! I thought the endings to Wither and Fever were completely crazy, but those two combined are nothing compared to Sever’s ending. I don’t want to give away what happened, but WOW is all I can say. I would never have expected it, and I never saw it coming.
Sever was intense, and I hope that each and every one of you gives this trilogy a read! Awesome story, awesome characters and crazy crazy endings!
