Description: Being at the bottom of the barrel is hard to fight up from. "Revealing Eden" is set in a far flung post apocalyptic future where darker skin proved to be a boon, and people of the lighter skin dwindled in number and found themselves on the bottom of the social ladder. Seventeen year old Eden is doomed to be outcast from her society if she does not find a mate before her eighteenth birthday, but the currents are hard to fight against. The kindness of a stranger may give her a chance to fight back yet, even as the world crushes down around her. "Revealing Eden" has plenty to consider on the issues of race and romance, very much recommended reading from acclaimed writer of novel and screenplay Victoria Foyt. - Midwest Book Review I was actually surprised by how political this books was. It''s very race centred with the "coals" being the ruling race and looking down on the lowest-of-the-low "pearls". "Pearls" have a special section on public transport and they work mainly as lowly servants to the "coals", it''s all like a reverse of the real racism that used to happen and, unfortunately, is still going about. In this post apocalyptic world, the sun''s radiation is too high for people to go outside in the daylight hours. The lighter your skin, the more danger you''re in. This means that "pearls" are low in number while "coals" are rising up. You must mate by your 18th birthday or you''re cut off from all resources and "pearls" also have to cover up their white skin so they don''t offend the "coals", and also so they don''t get killed. Eden has a job in a research lab purely because of her dad''s genius, a pearl would never have such a high job otherwise. She unwittingly brings about the downfall of her dad''s experiment and she and her father must escape along with her father''s newest test subject. Eden''s views change drastically while stuck in the jungle with Bramford, her former boss and father''s current test subject. I think Eden is a relatable lead, although there are times when her immaturity and misplaced anger make you shout at her. She thinks Bramford hates her and aims her anger at him, not knowing the real reason for the way Bramford acts to her. I really enjoyed Bramford as a character, yes he was egotistical but he was also very centred and down to earth at the same time. I don''t think this book is for everyone but if you like dystopian/post-apocalyptic books that are different from the others? This is the one for you. Julie-Anne Harrison NetGalley On Beauty In the Age of Gloss Huffington Post Victorica Foyt Tell me the truth, Sister, on a scale of one to ten, how do you rate your beauty? Hmmm. I perceive your disdain, even through the nebulous reaches of the Internet. That''s a guy thing, you say. Women don''t do that. Really? Perhaps, when you look in the mirror, you don''t slap across your chest an invisible beauty pageant banner that rates your visible assets. But I bet you rate, not only yourself, but every woman that comes onto your radar, and all the time, too. You have your own system, or particular symbology for rating beauty, I imagine. Like my Italian mother who passes judgment on films with a number of meatballs, the higher the better, your cultural identity probably informs your ratings. In fact, we all do it, my dear. Honestly, how can we avoid it when a constant barrage of images conspires to create insecurity about our looks? Have you noticed how quickly your self-imposed rating plummets after flipping through a fashion magazine? I''d like to see what would happen to their sales if those same high glossies advertised average-looking people. Perhaps, the magazine editors know how much we despise ourselves and therefore, figure we would never buy their products unless we felt duly punished. Sadly, too many of us inwardly feel like Groucho Marx: "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." The day I caught myself comparing my grade-school daughter''s looks to the other girls in her class, I thought, this must stop! I understood that, on a subtle level, I would pass on to her the same limiting behavior with which I had been conditioned. In my heart, I only wanted to send a message that each girl was beautiful in her own way. No doubt, beauty is power, often as formidable as a genius IQ. In the evolution of humanity, it has served a purpose with the selection of genes, just as in all species. I strongly suspect, however, that our obsession with beauty has deprived us of something of equal value, if not greater. When I set out to write my new fantasy romance novel, Revealing Eden (Save The Pearls Part One) , I found myself facing twin fears that, at the time, seemed thematically unrelated, but ultimately, came together in a perfect way. Eden Newman lives in a post-apocalyptic world where the ability to withstand extreme solar radiation defines beauty and class. The more melanin in your skin, and therefore, the darker it is, the better your chance of survival, the higher your beauty rating. Eden''s blond, blue-eyed looks brand her as an ugly, oppressed Pearl. She''s desperate to find a mate, and doomed if she doesn''t. All she really wants is for some guy to see past her obvious defects and admire the Real Eden, the one on the inside. Honestly, isn''t that what we all want? Then why are we so quick to judge each other based on appearance? One day in grade school, as I stood at the front of the school waiting for my mother, a boy leaned out of the window of a departing bus and hurled a racial slur at me. It wasn''t even about my race! But it stung all the same. With my wildly curly hair and prominent features, I didn''t look like the other girls, and I guess that frightened him. Perhaps because of that moment, I never felt beautiful. I focused on developing my mind and told myself I didn''t care about looks. Years later, when I starred in several indie films, I was flabbergasted to read reviews that praised my beauty. To this day, I never have understood why appearance often matters more than character or intelligence. Call me over-imaginative, but I fear that our fixation on external beauty is now as useless and as cumbersome to our survival as if we had reptilian tails. We vote on leaders, not based on intelligence or soulful qualities, but by the style of their clothes or haircut. We ignore the real reasons for deep problems like unemployment, economic disparity or the continuing destruction of our environment because solutions like better education or higher taxes or cap and trade require a deep change in how we look at the world, and at ourselves. We want quick fixes. We''re like the patient who only treats the symptoms, never approaching illness from a holistic point of view, body and soul. We''d rather take the next miracle cure that promises to fix all our ills. Or better, yet, get a facelift in the hope of erasing more than wrinkles. As Audrey Hepburn famously and generously said, "For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry." Can we learn to see who we are and where we are going before it''s too late? I hope so. Next time you look in the mirror, tell yourself you are uniquely beautiful, just as you are, and send that message to the next person you meet. Wow! What a way to start off the year! The story was fast-paced, action-packed, and caused me to officially fall in love with this book! (If you''re wondering what happens when you fall in love with a book, it''s quite simple: 1) Commence to Facebook and Twitter stalking the author, 2) Commence to adding all of author''s works, but especially the sequel, as a to-read, and 3) Commence to writing a review with a lot of fangirling!) Revealing Eden has earned an honorary place on my favorites shelf because the story and characters were awesome! Eden is an inspiration to always be yourself and Bramford was beastly.... in a good way. I zipped through this book in two days! (It would have been one day, but when I had gotten past the half way mark it was already very late and I had to wake up early the next morning.) The story starts off with Eden working at the lab where her scientist father is conducting a huge, life-changing experiment. Now before I move on, I need to explain a little something about this dystopian world- it is ruled by coals (slang for black people); and pearls (slang for white people) are the hated lower-class minority. This is because the sun''s radiation waves started penetrating through our atmosphere layers and it killed off most of the pearls because their light skin couldn''t protect them as well as the coal''s dark skin. So, Eden is a pearl and is turning eighteen soon, which is the deadline for when females have to be mated. Unfortunately, Eden''s mate rate is only 15% which has been causing her a huge amount of worry. That is until something bigger happens; this is where the story really gets going and it pulled me in and wouldn''t let go! I am dying to get the sequel and find out what else will happen between Eden and Bramford! And I can''t praise Victoria Foyt enough for thinking up this beautifully unique story and sharing it with the rest of us!

Please Wait