Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.
As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?
Illuminate is an exciting saga of a teen’s first taste of independence, her experience in the lap of luxury, and her discovery she may possess strength greater than she ever knew.
Review:
Let's just talk about the cover for a moment. First, the word in 'Illuminate' in glowing and slightly neon colour is bordered with this fancy pattern of swirls. The title gives this book a very luxurious feel to it, while the background had this mysterious gloom about the book. Lastly, to top it all off, right next to Haven you can see the slight shadow of a wing. I had high hopes for this book!When I first got this book, I saw that it was around 500 pages. 500 pages isn't terribly long, but when you look inside, the font is particularly small. I had some trouble making it to just half the book. There were a few things that kept me hopeful that this book would get better. First, the passage at the back:
Remember what Aurelia and the Prince had said. But I didn't want to believe them. I wanted to believe that Lucian really could like me, that this wasn't some strange game that I still didn't understand.I wanted to reach that part of the book and see the betrayal from Lucian. Secondly, I wanted to see what the mysterious book would guide Haven to do. Basically, I wanted to see some action! Unfortunately, this book did not even get close to that passage by the middle of the book (about 250 pages in).
Lucian keeps blowing off Haven at the beginning of the book. I found it slightly annoying that Haven kept giving Lucian another chance. However, I'm so glad that this wasn't another book about a damsel in distress. Haven can take care of herself, and doesn't whine over everything.
I can't decide if I want to finish this book or not. If I don't finish, I would have raised the number of unfinished books/series to 5. Just keep in mind, if you start this book, you've got to be really patient or read really fast.
Find Illuminate on: Goodreads | Amazon.com
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