Tour Review: Lumière by Jacqueline Garlick

Synopsis:

Even in a land of eternal twilight, secrets can’t stay hidden forever.

Seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth is no stranger to living in the dark. She’s hidden her secret affliction all of her life—a life that would be in danger if superstitious townspeople ever guessed the truth. After her mother is accused and executed for a crime that she didn’t commit, the now-orphaned Eyelet has no choice but to track down the machine—her last hope for a cure. But Eyelet’s late father’s most prized invention, the Illuminator, has been missing since the day of the mysterious flash—a day that saw the sun wiped out over Brethren forever.

Alone and on the run, she finds the Illuminator—only to witness a young man hauling it away. Determined to follow the thief and recover the machine, she ventures into the deepest, darkest, most dangerous part of her twisted world.

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AUTHOR BIO:

I'm Jacqueline Garlick, author of young adult and new adult fiction. I love strong heroines, despise whiny sidekicks, and adore a good story about a triumphant underdog. (Don't you?) 

I love to read, write, paint (walls and paper). I have a love/hate relationship with chocolate, grammar, and technology and would rather hang out with a dog, than a cat. I prefer creating things to cleaning things, and believe laughter is a one-stop-shop solution to all that ails you. You will always find a purple wall (or two) in my house (currently in my writing room), and there may or may not be a hidden passageway that leads to a mystery room. (Okay, so you won't find a hidden passageway, but a girl can dream, can't she?) Oh, and tea. There will always be tea.

My writing style has been described as edgy and rule-breaking, and by some--a touch Tim Burton-esque. Because of this, I am often referred to as the Quentin Tarantino of YA among writing friends.

In my former life, I was a teacher (both grade school and college-don't ask), but more recently I've been a graduate of Ellen Hopkin's Nevada Mentor Program and a student of James Scott Bell, Christopher Vogler and Don Maass. An excerpt from Lumière earned me the 2012 Don Maass Break Out Novel Intensive Scholarship.

Lumière--A Romantic Steampunk Fantasy--my debut novel, is the recipient of an indieBRAG Medallion!!! B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree October 15, 2014) I am so proud! (LUMIERE by Jacqueline E. Garlick is a B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree. This tells a reader that this book is well worth their time and money!) Book II of the ILLUMINATION PARADOX SERIES, is out January 26th, now on pre-order.

Also, check out my young adult contemporary romantic/mystery serial, IF ONLY, where reluctant telepathic sleuth Kyla Cooper must embrace her powers and risks all to solve the mystery of what happened to her boyfriend Denver Munro, becoming his voice of truth, before he has no voice at all...

I love hearing from READERS! Please contact me, either at my website: www.jacquelinegarlick.com, or catch up with me on twitter @garlick books, or on facebook: http://bit.ly/jegarlickfb

I'm open to reviews and interview, requests for skype visits, guest blogs, pod casts and book club meetings! I LOVE TO HEAR FROM READERS!

You can also find me here:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jackiegp/lumiere-by-jacqueline-garlick/
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/jgarlickgr
Blog: http://garlickbooks.blogspot.ca

Review:

Series: The Illumination Paradox #1

Release Date: 12 December, 2013

Publisher: Skyscape

Genre: Steampunk, Young Adult

• ASIN: B00VSF8MDI

Edition: eBook

Rating: ★★★★★

Review Written: 9 November, 2015

It is really difficult for me to find a good novel in the Steampunk gene sometimes that doesn't end up completely overrun by fantasy elements. Thus when I found Lumiere, I was a bit skeptical at first. Once I picked it up however, I couldn't put it down.

Lumiere follows the life of Eyelet, a seventeen year old student with a serious secret. In a world that labels any disability as madness and locks up the disabled, she has to try very hard not to let this disability show. Still, it's not easy in a world where there's no sunlight. After the night of the Great Illumination, Eyelet's life takes a turn for the worst at the loss of her father and the feeling of being betrayed by him. For nearly a decade she struggles to understand why he 'betrayed' her and sold his invention that was supposed to heal her of her seizures. And then things get worse when her mother is accused of being a Valkyrie, witches who could take the form of ravens and steal the lives of the innocent. By association, Eyelet is threatened with the same fate, to be killed publicly and made an example of.

Her only hope is to find the invention that her father sold and to perhaps save the world from the permanent darkness. Forced out into the wilds, she meets the son of a fellow professor and is forced to trust him in order to stay alive. But when everyone's after you, how do you hide for long? Ms. Garlick's writing is superbly draws readers into the narrative, writing a fantastic story. I look forward to getting my hands onto the next book as soon as I have a chance. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway - Ends November 19th!