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Luminata: Book 1 in the Meclauks Kingdom Series
Behind castle walls, Jessi Kleinfield dreams of adventure outside her quiet kingdom. But the once-peaceful realm falls into chaos when an evil sorceress stirs up ancient rivalries and banishes her palace home to an underwater prison. After narrowly escaping the rising tide, Jessi and her trusty dog can only watch helplessly as the waves swallow her family. In her quest to lift the watery curse, she soon learns there’s more to her kingdom than meets the eye. Hidden in plain sight, she discovers the entrance to an enchanted faerie realm. As she learns that her canine companion is hiding secrets of his own, a surprising magic stirs deep within her. With help from her new faerie friend, Jessi must learn to harness her powers before the dark spell wears off and steals her loved ones’ last breath. Luminata is the first book in the enchanting Meclauks Kingdom Young Adult fantasy series. If you like powerful sorcery, unique magical cultures, and faery folklore, then you’ll love Yvonne Carder’s captivating quest.
308 pages, Paperback
Published December 6, 2018
3 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Yvonne Carder
4 books13 followersYvonne Carder is a Young Adult Fantasy Author that has published 'Luminata: Book 1 in the Meclauks Kingdom Series' and 'Star Flame: A Story from the Meclauks Kingdom'. She is currently working on book two in the series.
Yvonne lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Kevin, and her 2 cats, Princess Pumpkin Doodle, and Nichademus. Yvonne has a love for animals that she strives to show in her work.
She has lived in California since 1982 when she and her parents emigrated from Germany. Most of her family is still in Germany with the exception of some of her Dad's family in the Midwest. Her roots in Germany are something that she is very proud of and it influences her writing.
Yvonne is a proud member of The Alliance of Independent Authors, An Alliance of Young Adult Authors, California Writers Club, Tri-Valley Writers Club, and 20Booksto50k, where she continues to work on her craft and elevate Independent Publishers. A rising tide lifts all ships.
Find LUMINATA here: Buy Here
Yvonne lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Kevin, and her 2 cats, Princess Pumpkin Doodle, and Nichademus. Yvonne has a love for animals that she strives to show in her work.
She has lived in California since 1982 when she and her parents emigrated from Germany. Most of her family is still in Germany with the exception of some of her Dad's family in the Midwest. Her roots in Germany are something that she is very proud of and it influences her writing.
Yvonne is a proud member of The Alliance of Independent Authors, An Alliance of Young Adult Authors, California Writers Club, Tri-Valley Writers Club, and 20Booksto50k, where she continues to work on her craft and elevate Independent Publishers. A rising tide lifts all ships.
Find LUMINATA here: Buy Here
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 19, 2018
Luminata is a great fantasy adventure for young adults and those of us who are young at heart. Yvonne Carder writes rounded characters brought together to save Jessica, the main character's home, family, and neighbours from a magical curse. There are many twists and turns in the story as well as a number of obstacles the characters must overcome during their expedition into the unknown. If you love magic and a different type of shifter, then you'll enjoy Luminata.
March 11, 2019
Ok so this book was very imaginative and not your general run of the mill fairy, other wordly best compilation. There were some good characters, I liked the idea of the Kynafyl and the Gypsy people and all of the unique powers that they had.
There were however a lot of issues with the story telling. There were grammatical errors, sorry to be one of those people but when a grammatical error messes up the flow of the story - it sucks. I felt like the story was very drawn out, probably could have been shortened, I suppose the author was trying to build the world but what was written didn't really contribute to that. The timeline of this story is very confusing, Jessica aka Luminata is around 11 or 16 when it starts, still not sure and I don't know how old she is at the end of the story. There was a lot of vagueness within the story.
I like that the author was mysterious about Hansi's character that threw in a twist but the battles were definitely underwhelming.
I also felt that the magic for Jessica came to easy, it was just like unimaginative. Also there are times in this story when Jessica just gets on your nerves with her self-doubt.
This is not one of those stories that you can read straight threw, and that's how I like to read a book, I like when I don't want to put it down. This was not it for me, I had to get myself in the mood for it, am I excited about the next book - ehh? I can wait on it, which for me is a big thing. I normally try to read a series all the way through, but I will read it down the road.
Would I recommend? It's decent, there are definitely more intriguing stories out there but give it a try.
There were however a lot of issues with the story telling. There were grammatical errors, sorry to be one of those people but when a grammatical error messes up the flow of the story - it sucks. I felt like the story was very drawn out, probably could have been shortened, I suppose the author was trying to build the world but what was written didn't really contribute to that. The timeline of this story is very confusing, Jessica aka Luminata is around 11 or 16 when it starts, still not sure and I don't know how old she is at the end of the story. There was a lot of vagueness within the story.
I like that the author was mysterious about Hansi's character that threw in a twist but the battles were definitely underwhelming.
I also felt that the magic for Jessica came to easy, it was just like unimaginative. Also there are times in this story when Jessica just gets on your nerves with her self-doubt.
This is not one of those stories that you can read straight threw, and that's how I like to read a book, I like when I don't want to put it down. This was not it for me, I had to get myself in the mood for it, am I excited about the next book - ehh? I can wait on it, which for me is a big thing. I normally try to read a series all the way through, but I will read it down the road.
Would I recommend? It's decent, there are definitely more intriguing stories out there but give it a try.
September 18, 2018
First, this cover is absolutely stunning! If I ever am able to get the moon tattoo I’ve been trying to plan on getting for the last three years, the design would definitely based on the artwork on her shoulder! Beautiful!
Now to the review, we meet Jessi trying to recover from watching her friend drown in the river. Anytime she goes by water, she immediately has flashbacks and panic attacks. One day she finally is able to go into the water except it immediately seems to become alive and try to swallow her up. That is until she is saved by a mysterious dog who becomes her companion for the rest of the novel.
But how could a river suddenly seem alive like that? According to Jessi’s grandmother, the gods need to be appeased and so they choose their victims and suck them down to drown. Jessi’s grandmother made a bargain with the gods in exchange to take her instead of Jessi into the water. But why does this have to happen? Enter in an evil sorceress who is bent on drowning the kingdom under the rising waters.
Jessi embarks on a long journey of discovery, magic, and secrets to which she never could imagine. This YA fantasy stands out to me from all of the ones I have read lately. It’s fresh, exciting, and left me hanging on till the last page. This is definitely one you should add to your fantasy collection!
Now to the review, we meet Jessi trying to recover from watching her friend drown in the river. Anytime she goes by water, she immediately has flashbacks and panic attacks. One day she finally is able to go into the water except it immediately seems to become alive and try to swallow her up. That is until she is saved by a mysterious dog who becomes her companion for the rest of the novel.
But how could a river suddenly seem alive like that? According to Jessi’s grandmother, the gods need to be appeased and so they choose their victims and suck them down to drown. Jessi’s grandmother made a bargain with the gods in exchange to take her instead of Jessi into the water. But why does this have to happen? Enter in an evil sorceress who is bent on drowning the kingdom under the rising waters.
Jessi embarks on a long journey of discovery, magic, and secrets to which she never could imagine. This YA fantasy stands out to me from all of the ones I have read lately. It’s fresh, exciting, and left me hanging on till the last page. This is definitely one you should add to your fantasy collection!
November 17, 2018
I really enjoyed this story, especially all of the different characters and their backgrounds. The author did a good job of describing the different people groups in ways that made them each stand out from each other. I also enjoyed how the use of magic was described throughout.
June 23, 2018
Outstanding story as always by this superb author. Couldn’t put it down
September 13, 2018
Luminata has a 'old' fantasy vibe to it and reminded me of fantasy I used to read years ago, I am thinking Eddings etc, it's made me remember how much I loved those stories and so I have plans to reread them.
The story follows a young girl on a quest to save her family, as she plunges in to the Fae world and meets lots of friends. The protagonist Jessica is a fairly passive character, she seemed to be so easily convinced and I can't help but feel it would have been nicer to get to know more of Jessica a little earlier in the book. Towards the end of the book it was so nice to see that Jessica started to believe in herself and as the book drew to a close I actually found myself liking Jessica more.
I did feel that the other character reactions to her panic or anxiety was a little rough and unsympathetic at times.
Luminata is set in an interesting fantasy world and the book contained a wonderful array of characters. I found myself really liking Jacob and Opal. It will be interesting to see where to story goes in the next book and I hope that we get to find out more about the characters I liked.
The story follows a young girl on a quest to save her family, as she plunges in to the Fae world and meets lots of friends. The protagonist Jessica is a fairly passive character, she seemed to be so easily convinced and I can't help but feel it would have been nicer to get to know more of Jessica a little earlier in the book. Towards the end of the book it was so nice to see that Jessica started to believe in herself and as the book drew to a close I actually found myself liking Jessica more.
I did feel that the other character reactions to her panic or anxiety was a little rough and unsympathetic at times.
Luminata is set in an interesting fantasy world and the book contained a wonderful array of characters. I found myself really liking Jacob and Opal. It will be interesting to see where to story goes in the next book and I hope that we get to find out more about the characters I liked.
June 27, 2018
Loved it, it's starts out slow but once it gets going it's full of twists and turns. Was completely surprised by the ending!! Can't wait to rread the next book when it comes out! Definitely recommend reading this book.
July 15, 2018
I got this book through facebook as an arc and was really surprised. I always like books with a fairy aspect and this book did not disappoint. Really great read. Can’t wait for the sequel!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews