Saturday, January 25, 2014

Book Review: Scintillate by Tracy Clark

I received this book as an eARC on NetGalley. This is the first book in Tracy Clark's The Light Key trilogy, and it comes out February 4th.











Scintillate is about Cora, a girl who's in love with Ireland, her birthplace and the place her mom went missing 12 years ago. The book starts off and Cora is sent to the hospital because of a high fever, and when she wakes up she can see auras. In the hospital, Cora meets the Irish exchange student Finn, and there seems to be an instant connection. Finn's aura shines all colors of the rainbow except for one ball of dark yellow curled up in his stomach at all times. When Cora sees her aura for the first time she is surprised to find that unlike everyone else, her aura is a single color: silver. And then there's the man with a pure white aura, and death seems to follow him wherever he goes. Cora goes on a quest to find her mother, and her answers about her mysterious aura, but will she like everything she finds?

I thought this book was very interesting, the premise definitely intrigued me. A girl who can see auras, when is that not cool? I really liked that her parents play a role in the book, they're a constant thought in Cora's mind, not just forgotten about half-way through so the plot can continue. 

One thing that did fall flat for me was Cora and Finn's romance, it was pretty much intsa-love. And in a way that's what it's supposed to be, but I'm not sure how that might play into future books in the series. 

The descriptive language in the book is beautiful, and the way Tracy Clark describes Ireland is truly magical. This was a great book, I'll definitely be looking for it in stores, and I plan to continue this series. I recommend this book to all YA lovers, and I gave it four stars for enjoyment level. Comment below if you think you'll get this book in February.



One of my favorite quotes from this book is the opening line, because it's so descriptive and haunting. "I was kindling for the fire raging in my body. Whole one moment, but soon reduced to ash. And the world would forget I had ever existed when the wind scattered me to the stars."

"When the final chord of the last song reverberated through the coffeehouse, the audience jumped to its feet and applauded wildly. The force of the energy from the crowd knocked the breath out of me, making me dizzy. I dared a look at the people in the room. The colors were unbelievable! Such power. It rolled toward Finn in a wave, a tsunami in slow motion. I had the impulse to leap in front of him, to protect him from it."

"A mighty flame follows a tiny spark"

"His words came out like a puff of black smoke. The gray-black hovered over his mouth a moment, curled around his lips and throat, then slowly dissipated. His lie lie was a cannon shot in the mist. It struck me in the gut. A condensed ball of yellow rolled from him floating like a polyp, an enormous cystic secret. He was lying to protect that secret."

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