Waiting on Wednesday: “Illuminate” by Aimee Agresti

Waiting on Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we just can’t wait for. 🙂

 Title: Illuminate

  by Aimee Agresti

  Due out March 6th, 2012

  From Goodreads:

  Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

Thoughts and Impressions: I, for one, am always keen on the shy-girl-finds-her-voice plot for obvious reasons. I also like improbably beautiful and luxurious settings with a lot of darkness running under the surface. Also, frankly, the cover on this is so lovely, I would probably buy it just to stroke the book jacket and stare. Overall, this looks like it’s going to be a solid offering for YA in March– I probably won’t preorder it, but I will definitely see if I can pick it up at my local bookstore.