Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway: Illuminate by Tracy Clark

Crushed on by Sara Meadows, on September 28, 2015, in Blog Tour, Giveaways, Reviews / 1 Comment

Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway:
Illuminate by Tracy Clark

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BookCrushin is thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for the third & final book in the Light Key Trilogy, Illuminate by Tracy Clark. In this post you will find all the series information, my review, as well as tour-wide giveaway.

Oh, Tracy Clark, I love you. I love Cora, I love Finn, I love Giovanni, I love The Light Key Trilogy, and I love you. The books you’ve written for this series are beautiful works of art and any review I write is going to pale in comparison and fail to convey the emotion I felt as I turned the last page in Illuminate. For three books, you have let me into the lives of these wonderful characters, and you have taken me on a journey around the world. You have let me feel frustration, hope, happiness, sadness, and adoration. I thank you for that privilege.

illuminateIlluminate by Tracy Clark

Series: The Light Key Trilogy #3
Category: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publication: October 6th, 2015; Entangled Teen
Pages: 320 pages
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Entangled

Can one girl be the light in a world spiraling toward darkness? 

Haunted by the loss of her loved ones, Cora Sandoval, one of the remaining few of an extraordinary race known as Scintilla, holds the key to disentangling the biggest conspiracy in human history…and its link to the fate of the human race. As Cora follows a trail of centuries-old clues and secrets, she collides with a truth not only shocking, but dangerous. 

With enemies both known and unknown hot on her trail, Cora must locate each of the ancient clues hidden in the art, religions, and mythologies of humankind. And through it all, she must keep her heart from being torn apart by the two boys she loves most. One is Scintilla, one is Arazzi. 

Save herself. Save the Scintilla. Save the world.

Or die trying…

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Illuminate Teaser

Review:

[book rating=5/5]
There is no home for the hunted.

Illuminate by Tracy Clark is the final installment of the Light Key Trilogy and finds our heroine Cora Sandoval journeying from Ireland to Italy to Chile in her quest to find out who and what she is, and how her people, the Scintilla, figure into history. As she is traveling, she is also running from the Arazzi, the mortal enemy of the Scintilla who are capable of killing them by sucking out the Scintilla’s energy. This book picks up immediately where its predecessor, Deviate, ended, and throws us immediately back into the action.

I mentioned in a previous review that the series reminds me a bit of The DaVinci Code, and this feel continues in Illuminate. I pretty much geeked out over this book, because it combines all of my favorite elements: history, religion, geography, magical powers, and sarcasm. I loved the hunt for historical and religious clues, and the fact that Ms. Clark understands that history and religion are not independent of one another. I loved how she touched upon duality and what it means to be part of humanity – we are all connected, intertwined with one another through our actions. The search for connection has been a prominent theme of this series, and one that resonates with me personally.

And the love? The love is abundant. But make no mistake: this is not a typical YA romance book. Romance isn’t forefront on Cora’s mind; survival is. She understands that she loves both Finn and Giovanni, but she understands that she first has a duty to protect the Scintilla and find out the truth.

The characters in Illuminate continue to be dimensional, loving, funny, and loyal. Cora, Finn, and Giovanni would all sacrifice themselves for one another in an instant, regardless of their history. Cora is strong and, when I think about who she was in the first book and who she is now, I can’t believe how much she has grown.

The entire series is all about the balance of light and dark, and how light and dark aren’t opposing forces, but necessary halves that, when combined, result in a beautifully complete wholeness. That is how I felt when I finished Illuminate: these books combined to create a beautiful and fulfilling experience. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Oh, and make no mistake: that ending? It’s not an ending. It’s a beginning.

Illuminate: 10 out of 5 stars. For real. The feels in this book. Layered, kind, funny, descriptive, vivid, intelligent, and hopeful.

Quotes:

The two boys in the car with me had my love, but my love for them was a receding wave that had swept my heart out to sea. One was a liar. One was a killer. – Cora

People feared those who roam many rooms of the mind when most are wedged into just one. – Giovanni

Of all the taxi drivers in Italy, I got the one from India who thought he could rap. The drive through Rome was enough to convert me to a lifelong pedestrianism. – Cora

“The world loves to exalt people before they shoot them down.”
“Or nail them to a cross,” Dun said, oh so helpfully.

I looked around me at those faces, especially at the faces of the people I loved. I loved them enough to do this. – Cora

“Your eyes remind me of home,” Finn whispered then.

 

Series:

scintillateBook One: Scintillate

Publication: February 4th, 2015
Purchase: AmazonBarnes & NobleiBooks

 A mighty flame follows a tiny spark.

Cora Sandoval’s mother disappeared when she was five and they were living in Ireland. Since then, her dad has been more than overprotective and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines. But even more troubling is the colorful light she suddenly sees around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.

As she realizes the danger associated with these strange auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves, and Finn’s mother orders him home to Ireland upon hearing he’s fallen in love. After a fight with her father, Cora flees to Ireland, both to follow Finn and to look for her missing mother.

There she meets another silver-haloed person and discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—one that could change mankind forever…and end her life.

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deviateBook Two: Deviate

Publication: March 3rd, 2015
Purchase: AmazonBarnes & Noble
Review

Tormented after a daring escape, Cora Sandoval must find a way to stop the Arrazi from murdering innocent people and from violating, using, and killing the Scintilla for their powers. She must also accept one bitter betrayal: Finn Doyle—the Irish boy who has both a piece of Cora’s heart and soul—is Arrazi…

On the verge of extinction and sought by those who would either consume or destroy them, Cora and the remaining Scintilla survivors must solve the mystery of The Light Key. If they fail, the truth will stay buried forever and mankind will pay the ultimate price.

No longer will she hide.

No longer will her loved ones be hunted.

And she will have her vengeance…even if she shatters her heart in the process.

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Author Bio: Tracy Clark tracyclark

Tracy Clark is a young-adult writer because she believes teens deserve to know how much they matter and that regardless of what they’re going through, they aren’t alone. In other words, she writes books for her teen self.

She grew up a “Valley Girl” in Southern California but now lives in her home state of Nevada, in a small town at the base of the Sierra Foothills. Her two children teach her the art of distraction and are a continuous source of great dialogue. She’s an unapologetic dog person who is currently owned by a cat.

Tracy was the recipient of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Work in Progress Grant. A two-time participant in the prestigious Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program where she was lucky enough to be mentored by bestselling author, Ellen Hopkins, who taught her so much about the art of writing and cured her of her ellipsis addiction.
Her debut novel was inspired by her enchantment with metaphysics as a teen, seeing it as the real magic in life. Tracy is a part-time college student, a private pilot, and an irredeemable dreamer.

Author Links:

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GIVEAWAY:

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Book Tour Organized by:

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