Seers of Light by Jennifer DeLucy - Review by Rissa

Lillian Hunt has never truly lived. Always sensing more to the world than is easily perceived, she fears that her instincts are stubborn flights of fancy, or worse, mental instability. But some things—disappearing strangers, tangible dreams, and visits from malevolent creatures—cannot be ignored. Before it's too late, Lillian is ripped from the only existence she’s ever known and thrust into a reality that she always suspected, but could scarcely believe. She must learn the truth about who she is, the powerful beings that wish to destroy her, and the two men who would die to protect her.





Once upon a time I opened up the blog's email, and found a new message containing an ebook copy of SEERS OF LIGHT by Jennifer DeLucy. I downloaded it to my iPod Touch, just to see what it was about, and proceeded to spend the rest of the day wrapped up in the world of Sentients, vampires, and a story I couldn't put down. As it happens, Ana had requested the book and intended to read it, but was kind enough to turn it over to me when I admitted my addiction (she also may have suggested I join an Anonymous group, but that's besides the point).

Originality

The main character of the book finds out that she is a Sentient which, according to Google, is a person who is "endowed with feeling and...consciousness." So there you have it, I walked into a book featuring characters with powers unlike anything I had ever heard of before. Original? Incredibly so! Each individual Sentient has their own gift, or endowment, such as memory, or the ability to hear thoughts, or the incredibly special endowment of being an empath. As it is explained, empaths attract energies (living and astral) to themselves, and they help the energies to progress forward and let go of any pain tying them to the world of the living. The author also ties in more familiar beings, and by that, I mean vampires. However, before anyone jumps up and screams, "TWILIGHT!" let me tell you, these vampires do not sparkle! They are, quite literally, out for blood (no pun intended) and are the Sentient's worst enemies.



Cover


The cover is mystically beautiful, it entices you in. In fact, as Lucy feels so attracted to the woods in the very beginning, the reader may feel the pull to open this book and never put it down!


Characters

Let me start with the main character of Lucy. I thought she was a very relatable heroine/protagonist, and I liked that she was not your typical wishy-washy female lead. She reacted to situations in ways that I feel I would (such as flipping out and worrying over the strange things happening to her!) and was not willing to simply go along with everything she was told. I was especially impressed when she made her own judgement of William, but I think you should read to know more about him ;)

Next up, Christian and William, although they'd probably kill me for even putting their names in the same sentence! I was very impressed that Ms. DeLucy was able to write so that I was totally in love with Christian, and then did a total 180 to Team William! I really respect when an author can give reasons to both like and dislike a character, Christian was a charmer, a gentleman, but he had a chip on his shoulders that made him very undesirable in many instances.
Every character, even down to the minor (check out my friend Paul for an example!), added a spice and different feeling to the story with enhanced it and made the reader feel very much in touch with each of them individually. Overall, I will make the observation that the characters seemed a little younger than their given ages. It was a little hard to wrap my head around, as I usually expect the characters in such novels to be teenagers, but I think the older characters gave it an edge that many YA books don't have.

Plot

The story begins with the main character Lillian living a monotonous life in the small town of her youth. Monotonous, except for that she has been noticing some pretty crazy things happening around her, things only she can see, accompanied by these mysterious dreams that just won't quit. She gets thrown into a tailspin when she gets cornered by a creature she learns is a vampire, and then saved by a mysterious blonde boy, Christian. Only explaining a little (to Lily's immense disgust), Christian pulls her away from her life into a world a magic and powers and vampires (oh, my!). The people harboring these powers are called Sentients, and each one has a different gift. Lily learns that her seeminly odd feelings and dreams are, in fact, normal for a Sentient, and she just needs to learn to control her powers. In fact, with a threat looming overhead, her powers are needed to aid the Sentients in the impending battle.

~WILLIAM; ENTER STAGE LEFT~

Hehe :) This is where William comes in. A pale, handsome boy hiding a dark secret, he is chosen to teach Lily to harness her powers. Influenced by Christian, Lily goes into her lessons with a horrible attitude, and being generally unpleasant towards her teacher. However, as their lessons progress she learns there is much more to him that what meets the eye, along with a lesson in second chances.

Here comes the part where I have to be careful with the plot! Let me just say, Lily's powers quickly mature beyong anyone's expectations, and as the final battle approaches the Sentients they must put aside their differences to defeat the evil vampires that pose a theat to all involved.

Ending

I'm not going to lie, the ending of this book had me on the edge of my seat, especially when an unexpected revelation makes Lily throw every ounce of her powers into saving the one she loves. And the epilogue? Get out your tissues, my friends. It's an unexpected tearjerker (in the most emotionally touching way possible!).

FINAL NOTE; The young adult genre ranges in ages so for the younger readers I will include a slight warning that about some issues,

-There is a lesbian couple, and while I enjoyed both characters individually, I know this to be a sensitive issue among some readers.
-The characters drop the f-bomb, in fact, I will point out that this is one aspect I truly did not like. Slight cursing (while I don't like it) doesn't usually phase me, but I felt like the characters used it a lot, and in situations that could have been better described.
-Alright, this last part is most definitely a shout out to younger readers, there were sex scenes, and whether or not you read them is up to what you think you can maturely handle. It feel it might be slightly TMI for a one of the "youngers" among the young adults.

That being said, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and I give it a rating of;

♥♥♥♥