daynight by Megan Thomason
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.
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.
My Review
5 of 5 daynight
daynight is a book for all Dystopian fans. I have never read a world that was created so smoothly and put together. I mean right from the opening line you are hooked. You read the prologue and you are entered into this world and the minds of three people that will have to make choices and decisions that can make or break them. The world is in a state of chaos and The Second Chance Institute offers things some can not refuse but at the same time what they offer has it's own price to pay. Some are willing to pay it and others are not.
Kira, Blake, and Ethan all join the institute with different goals. Kira wants no needs to go to college and she will do whatever it takes to get a full ride scholarship to college. The SCI offers her that opportunity and she will take it. She wants a different life from her friends and family and in order for her to have that she knows she needs to go to college.
Blake joins The SCI because he is going to take them down. He lost his mother and he has lived in Exile ever since. To say he is bitter and pissed is an understatement and he will do whatever it takes to take down The SCI because he knows there is something wrong with the Institute.
Ethan is forced into the Institute by his family. He knows he has to do his families bidding but he is not happy about it. He is already fighting the stereo type that was placed on him because he has a heart defect. The only reason why he agreed to go to The SCI was because he knew he really did not have a choice and he knows in order to survive in this new world you have to do things you don't like. SO he sucks it up and he joins.
As the three of them explore the Institute they find themselves in a love triangle. Ethan and Blake both love Kira and will stop at nothing to win her. May the best man win is their attitude and this love triangle is anything but normal. They know where each other stands and both fight for Kira but who will she chose? What will she do? Is college more important than love?
Interview With Megan
Today we have a very special guest on A Diary Of A Book Addict. Please join me in welcoming Megan Thomason author of Daynight. I have to say that I loved loved loved Daynight and could not get enough. I loved the descriptions of the world and how it was and the caste system that they lived by.
Aww, thank you! And thanks for hosting daynight! I really appreciate it!
What inspired you to write a Dystopian story?
I’ve always been a huge fan of dystopias, from classics like 1984, The Giver, Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale, to newer young adult fiction like The Hunger Games, Divergent, Delirium, and The Knife of Never Letting Go. I had just finished a teen romantic comedy trilogy when I was hiking the canyons of San Diego on a particularly hot day. I pondered what would happen if temperatures were so extreme that days and nights had to be switched. This became Thera, the setting fordaynight. The concept quickly grew from there. The dystopia, The Second Chance Institute, arose as I thought about what kind of government would rule the night.
How did you decide to use The Second Chance Institute as the main part of the story?
I knew that I didn’t want to write a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Instead, I wanted a parallel society who infringed upon our own. The Second Chance Institute, fully a product of my imagination, fit the bill perfectly. On Earth, the SCI is a benevolent non-profit, purportedly all about giving people second chances at life. They actively recruit do-gooders into their organization and have an impeccable reputation. On Thera, the SCI rules the Second Chancers with an iron fist, compelling them to societal and moral extremes… all to test potential politically motivated agendas the SCI can lobby back on Earth.
It also didn’t seem realistic to have a single protagonist combat an entire dystopian government. So, early in my thought process, the SCI used Exile as a means of ridding itself of the disobedient… thus setting up a group of natural adversaries.
Is there any significance too the title Daynight?
daynight is all about contrast and extremes: the worlds, the names, light vs. dark, the governments, the moral issues… all involve opposing views. I named the bookdaynight because SCI is the benevolent non-profit on Earth by day, and totalitarian ruler on Thera by night.
Did you do any research for this new dystopian world?
Lots. Since Thera’s an inverse earth (land where sea and vice versa; direction of sun shifted) with extreme temperature variations and weather, I did a lot of research to see what the Therans would have to do to sustain life under the circumstances. I also heavily researched test subjects and focus groups to properly develop the SCI and their agendas with regard to the Second Chancers.
You have three main characters Kira, Blake, and Ethan can you give us a little insight to their pre institute days? What was it like for them before they attended the institute?
Kira: junior at a California high school, cheerleader, dating a popular football player for a year, lots of friends, one brother a year younger. Her parents travel a lot without their kids, expect them to pay for college on their own. Mom taught her to always plaster on a smile, no matter what she’s feeling internally. Her life is very normal until she decides to take the SCI Recruit test.
Ethan: 2nd year in law school, lives with his politician uncle and forced to attend a lot of fundraisers, spends summers with his parents helping out in the family business. Born with a heart defect, he spends his early years in sterilized isolation and being indoctrinated into the family business alongside his childhood friend, Jax Christo.
Blake: born and raised in the harsh conditions of SCI exile, his father trains him from a young age to infiltrate and exact revenge on the SCI. At 8, his father finds a way out of exile and to the more pleasant conditions of Southern California, but Blake’s training continues. Blake intentionally isolates himself from the other kids at his high school, and when not training, he spends his time skateboarding.
How many books are going to be in this series?
I currently have material for at least three books. I’ll continue to write until the entire story is told, but won’t stretch the material just to have more books in the series. Each book has to have a substantive plot and twists and turns to be worth writing.
When is the next one coming out?
I’m targeting a summer 2013 release.
What are you currently working on?
I’m simultaneously promoting daynight and writing the sequel, arbitrate. In addition, I’m writing B*Lies, the story of a girl who makes the decision to run from her abusive father. If I ever get any spare time I will do re-writes of my original romantic comedy trilogy, the thin veil, the thin line, and thin skin and publish them.
In an ideal dystopian world what would it be like for you?
Is there an ideal dystopian world? If I had to pick and choose, I’d prefer the mental torture of strict controls and societal/moral extremes to post-apocalyptic conditions where supplies were scarce and competition for them brutal. I don’t think starvation or hand to hand combat would be my thing, but (comparatively) I’d be up for the mind games. Honestly though, I’d probably be toast in short order in any dystopia. I’m not complicit enough to become one of the brain-dead masses, so I’d invariably push against the grain and be tortured or killed.
Thank you stopping by and sharing the gang with us and for all you dystopian readers this series is the one to read next!
Purchase
Praise
“Sure to win over YA readers looking for a dangerous, dystopian adventure story” —Kirkus Reviews
“Gripping young adult dystopian novel; compelling conflicts; high stakes; powerful narrative; surprises keep coming; strong writing; page-turner; engaging characters; Readers will be hungry for the sequels.”—BlueInk Review (starred review)
“The writing is impressive and the story is a real page-turner. So many twists and turns… I’m hooked… I can’t wait for the next installment to come out…4.5 out of 5 stars”—Self-Publishing Review
“Delicious humor, intelligence, and sparkling dialogue” —Amazon reviewer
“Strangely brilliant and imaginative”—Amazon reviewer
“Grips you from the first page and keeps you wanting more”—Amazon reviewer
“Plot twists kept me reading till late at night”—Amazon reviewer
“Every page a thrilling experience”—Amazon reviewer
“Hooked from the first chapter and could not put it down”—Amazon reviewer
“It's like a CW fantasy TV show in a book with a really interesting environment.”—Amazon reviewer
“I'm a little tired of dystopian novels, but Daynight has a unique and fresh story line that didn't have any trouble keeping my interest.”—Amazon reviewer
Author Megan Thomason
Megan Thomason lives in paradise aka San Diego, CA with her husband and five children. A former software manager, Megan vastly prefers writing twisted tales to business, product, and marketing plans. When she isn't typing away on her laptop, she's reading books on her phone—over 600 in the last year—or attending to the needs of her family. Megan’s fluent in sarcasm, could potentially benefit from a 12-step program for road rage, struggles with a Hot Tamales addiction, loves world travel & fast cars and hates paperwork & being an insomniac. Daynight is Megan's first published novel, but fourth written one.
Blog Tour Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card
Signed copy of Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Signed copy of daynight
Ends 2/7/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
1 comment:
Hi there! We have nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award! You can see our blog for the details
http://readinginthewindowseat.blogspot.com/2013/01/leibster-blog-award.html
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