Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither
(The Chemical Garden Trilogy, #1)
by Lauren DeStefano
Released |March 22nd 2011 by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers|
Edition |Audio book, 9 discs|

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. 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. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Wow! I don't know why I procrastinated in reading this amazing story :) It was awesome! I'm so glad I already have book 2! 4.5 stars to Wither. But I must say, I think this book is for mature teens and up. 
I really really liked this story! At the beginning of the book, it took a chapter or two before I really got into the story. I don't know why but it just took a minute. But once I got REALLY into the story, it was amazing :)

I really loved the whole story line to it. Rhine was an amazing female lead :) She was smart, but also, she was patient. She was different from the other two girls. Cecily with her...I don't know how to describe her. She was like a kid in a candy store. And there was Jenna, quiet and stand offish. 

I don't know who I choose, Linden or Gabriel. I actually think I have come to like Linden a little bit more. He was so sweet to Rhine and so clueless at times it hurt to see. I just didn't like how he went back and forth between the girls. I thought that was gross. *shivers* I thought his relationship with the other two girls was creepy and weird lol But, I wonder will he find out all the secrets that have been kept from him.

This book had so much suspense. I was about to say it was a page turner, but considering I listened to the audio book, I went through all 9 disc and about 2 and a half days :) It was that good!

The issue with Jenna was so sad. I don't think I cared for Cecily. She was annoying to me throughout the whole book with her jealousy, selfish and whinny demeanor. And what she did, I wouldn't be able to forgive her either. But then again, she's young, but still. That's was her selfish way. *Just my opinion*

I definitely recommend this book! And can't wait to dig into Fever :) Awesome, awesome book!