Always YA at Heart: Blog Tour: Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas from Entangled Teen

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas, from Entangled Publishing. The tour is hosted by Shane at Itching for Books. You can check out the rest of the stops on the tour here. There is also a great giveaway going on with the tour, which includes a signed copy of Luminosity and some great swag, so be sure to enter that below. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Luminosity

by Stephanie Thomas

Release date: November 2012

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Source: eARC provided by publisher for review.

Book Blurb: My name is Beatrice. When I was born, I was blessed with the Sight. I was immediately removed from my parents and enrolled in the Institution. At the age of twelve, I had my first true vision, earning my raven’s wings. And when I turned seventeen, one of my visions came true. Things haven’t been the same since.

The Institution depends on me to keep the City safe from our enemy, the Dreamcatchers, but I’m finding it harder to do while keeping a secret from everyone, including my best friend Gabe. It is a secret that could put us all in danger. A secret that could kill me and everyone close to me.

But the enemy has been coming to me in my dreams, and I think I’m falling in love with him. He says they’re coming. He says they’re angry. And I think I’ve already helped them win.

My Thoughts: In this futuristic world there are those that are destined to be the protectors of the people. They are the Seers, and Beatrice is the most gifted of them all. They are distinguished at birth by the appearance of their violet colored eyes, and are taken to be raised in The Institution, trained for a life of servitude, ruled over by "The Keeper." Their enemy, the ones they protect the citizens from, are the Dreamcatchers. Where Seers see the future, Dreamcatchers see the past through the dreams of others. The life of the Seer is very controlled and regimented, everything they do, everything they learn, everything they are allowed to know, every vision they have, is dictated and recorded by "The Keeper."

When Beatrice foresees the threat of war and invasion by the Dreamcatchers, everything begins to change. Security is strengthened, the training sessions at the Institution are more intense, and as the threat of war escalates, they become more deadly. Beatrice also finds herself having romantic feelings for her life-long best friend Gabe, who she trusts more than anyone, but when her visions and her dreams change, and someone appears to her, someone who she shouldn't see, she is forced to keep a secret, a secret that changes everything, and could possibly cost her her best friend, the boy she cannot bear to lose.

Is everything she and the other Seers been told true, or has it all been a lie? What is the Keepers true agenda? As Beatrice, Gabe, and her friends come face-to-face with these questions, she is forced to decide who she will believe, and she must choose the path she will have to take to save herself, the boy she loves, and possibly an entire race of people.

I really enjoyed this book. I love science fiction, romance, and dystopian novels, and when these elements are all combined into one, it is even better. The premise of this story was unique and fresh. I liked Beatrice’s character. Though she struggled with her emotions and choices, she also was very loyal to those she loved, and very determined to find the truth and do what was right, even though she didn’t always make the best decisions. I really loved Gabe’s character. He is a born leader, quite the hottie, headstrong, and funny. Then there is Echo. I loved Echo and I can’t wait to get to know him better in the next book of the series. This is quite an intense book and has some serious action-packed battle scenes. There is a love triangle, though not everyone in the triangle is aware of it, and I enjoyed the romantic component of the story. I also felt the story ended well, leaving me hungry for more, yet not feeling like I was dangling off a cliff either. If you are a science fiction lover, a romance lover, and a lover of dystopian novels, then Luminosity is a book you will want to check out.

Author Spotlight: Stephanie Thomas has been writing ever since she could put letters together to form words. When she was a small child, she would present her mother and father with self-made newspapers filled up with make believe stories and pictures. Her love for writing followed her all throughout her schooling, where she entered and won writing contests of all sorts. Stephanie decided to become an English teacher and completed her B.A. at The Pennsylvania State University. While teaching, she later went on to get her Master’s in writing from The Johns Hopkins University. She completed her very first manuscript during her graduate studies, and by the end of the program, she had completed two more.

Stephanie is quick to tell anyone that she’s a born and raised Philadelphian, and her heart will always belong there. She moved to Baltimore with her husband, and they’ve been living there for the last five years with their doggie, Sailor, and their rabbit, Buns (aka “T Sizzle).

Official site: www.stephaniethomasbooks.com

twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stephthomasbook