Book Tour: daynight by Megan Thomason

daynight
by Megan Thomason
Published November 2012
Publisher: CreateSpace
Genre: YA science fiction/dystopian/romance
Editions: kindle, print
Length: 314 pages

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance™. Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.

 Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.

 Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.

 Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan’s forced to do his SCI elite family’s bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs. Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is Megan Thomason’s debut young adult dystopian novel and first in the daynight series.

A_TiffyFit's Review:

clean slate complex: a daynight novella: This is a stand-alone story in the daynight universe and is currently a free offering during this tour!  (follow the link to smashwords).

I actually read this novella first before reading "daynight" and would highly recommend doing it this way. It isn't that "clean slate complex" fills in information of "daynight," but that it's a great introduction to the world of The Second Chance Institute and an interesting facet of Second Chancers.

I was a bit confused at first at why the word dystopia has been bandied about for this book as well as "daynight" in descriptions and a few reviews I skimmed. I think I've become so accustomed to people misusing the term as a synonym for "post-apocalyptic earth" that I forgot its true definition. dystopia - (noun) an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. I don't want to say too much about the novella as it is a short, excellent story that I highly recommend. It's a short, 50 pages and really packs a punch. It revved me up to read "daynight."

As to daynight: How do I write a review for this book without giving away a single thing? I want to tell you my every thought and emotion as I read this story. As always, when dealing with government, there are rules, regulations, and in a dystopia, harsh severe punishments. As always when dealing with people there are complications: human greed for power, the tendency towards evil to get their way, etc., the crazy lengths people will go to for their "ideals" are all exemplified in this book. The romantic entanglement is just that: entangled. It is a hot mess. I do NOT mean the writing; the writing of this book is superb and really draws the reader in. I mean the situation our three main characters find themselves in is precarious, twisted and tangled, and messy with the uncovering of information, emotional upheavals, constant plotting, the beats of their hearts, etc.
If you can't tell just yet, this was a five star read. Many of my notes in my kindle are highlights that say "HOLY CRAP" or "OMG!" or "ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME?!" My poor kindle probably has bruises from me punching the screen with my finger to get to the next page as quickly as I could. This is a page-turning novel of endless scheming, power plays, fraught with tension scenes of possible discovery, and a love triangle where you're absolutely torn between wanting Kira to choose BOTH guys. It's not that I don't wish for monogamy and happiness; I am a full supporter of such things. It's that I didn't want any of them to hurt and no matter who she ended up with/chose, she would hurt and the leftover guy would hurt. I don't think I've ever felt this way about a love triangle; I usually pick one partner fairly easily over the other. What made it even more difficult is that you start to weigh the options, the future, the possible outcome, and are just as invested in the move that would best assist the outcome we want; not just matters of the heart. Love is romantic and all, but sometimes practicality must trump true love. An entire planet, possibly two planets, depend on it!
And then there's Jax. You have met Jax if you read "clean slate complex". He's in this one, too. Briefly, but he's there. And he is still a whole chunk of mysteriousness that I cannot wait to read more about.
More you say? Yes, more. There has to be more. There will be more. This is just the beginning. We've met the future Mother of Thera, and the Father of Thera...but now that we know what is what, who the players are, what life on Thera is like, and what the grand plans are, what is going to happen?

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