Revealing Eden (Save the Pearls #1) byVictoria Foyt
Eden Newman must mate before her 18th birthday in six months or she'll be left outside to die in a burning world. But who will pick up her mate-option when she's cursed with white skin and a tragically low mate-rate of 15%? In a post-apocalyptic, totalitarian, underground world where class and beauty are defined by resistance to an overheated environment, Eden's coloring brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. If only she can mate with a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class, she'll be safe. Just maybe one Coal sees the Real Eden and will be her salvation her co-worker Jamal has begun secretly dating her. But when Eden unwittingly compromises her father's secret biological experiment, she finds herself in the eye of a storm and thrown into the last area of rainforest, a strange and dangerous land. Eden must fight to save her father, who may be humanity's last hope, while standing up to a powerful beast-man she believes is her enemy, despite her overwhelming attraction. Eden must change to survive but only if she can redefine her ideas of beauty and of love, along with a little help from her "adopted aunt" Emily Dickinson
Victoria was nice enough to spare a guest post on my blog.
Eden Newman’s Favorite Reads
Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like in the Old World to hold a book in your hands and quietly read, all by yourself, with no voice in your head. I can’t imagine it, really. Somehow, though, I think it must have been nice.
During the Great Meltdown, almost all of the electronic data on books was wiped out. Solar flares caused catastrophic fires and electric shortages. When heavy pollution finally wiped out the last bit of ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, life changed forever.
Most of my kind was wiped out, too. I’m a Pearl, you see. My white skin doesn’t provide enough melanin to protect me from the deadly levels of solar radiation that burn the earth. So like the rest of humanity, I live underground.
All I really want is to find a mate before I turn 18. If I fail to meet my cut off date, I’ll be turned outside and left to die. The odds are slim—I’ve only got a 15% mate-rate. The dark-skinned majority that rules my world, the Coals, will be only too happy to cut me off when that sad day comes.
I’ve got my eye on one male, a Coal with a decent rating! He says he likes me—can you believe it? Sometimes I wonder why. But maybe, just maybe, he’ll save me.
Sometimes when the pressure is so great I feel like I’ll burst, I imagine that I’m living in the old world, curled up by a fire with a good book. Silly, I know, but this little fantasy calms me down.
Of course, I can only listen to books. The sensor planted in my head at birth receives all incoming data. One of my favorite books is 1994 by George Orwell. He had the right idea about the direction in which the world was heading.
I often wonder why no one was listening to the truth.
Our Uni-Gov that censors all information is pretty much like Big Brother, only worse. And of course, everyone must take a daily dose of oxy, kind of like ---. Believe me, without it, you’d go crazy from the screaming and violence and the claustrophobia of living in tunnels.
I also really like Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. The fighting between the Yankees and the Confederates reminds me of the devastating racial wars between the Coals and Pearls. Each side has a dreaded terrorist arm, sworn to destroy the other.
I’ll tell you a secret, too. Rhett Butler kind of reminds me of my super wealthy Coal boss, Ronson Bramford. He’s arrogant and way too handsome for his own good. He’s also mysterious, which is terrifying. In a world where every bit of information about you is known, Bramford remains a cipher.
One thing I know: he hates me. He always avoids looking at me whenever we happen to meet at his lab where I work. He only took me on because my father, who is a genius scientist, works there. With just a word, Bramford can make me feel small.
Okay, another confession. In my wildest fantasy, a powerful Coal like him takes me away from my world to someplace better. Someplace safe and beautiful, where the color of my skin won’t matter.
I know I shouldn’t torture myself this way. But hey, if happy endings exist, then why not for me?
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