Ruby's Fire: A Fireseed book

If everything about you changes, what remains? Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the Fireseed desert cult, escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn. Arriving at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running. Or can she? The Greening is not what it seems. Students are rampaging out of control and as she cares for the secret Fireseed crop, she experiences frightening physical changes. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk. She’s long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. And how is she to stop her dependence on Oblivion to find a real beauty within, using her talent as a maker of salves, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it? When George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea offers a huge cash prize for the winner of a student contest, Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult. But when Stiles comes to reclaim her, and Thorn sickens after creating the most astonishing contest project of all, the world Ruby knows is changed forever. This romantic fantasy set in 2099 on earth has a crafty heroine in Ruby, and a swoonworthy cast, which will surely appeal to the YA and new adult audience. “Gripping and addictive, Ruby has imagination packed into every page and scene! Unexpected and original.” -M. Pax, author of The Backworlds series “A heart-pounding tale of deception and danger set in a futuristic world teetering perilously between metamorphosis and destruction.” -Ciara Knight, author of Amazon bestsellers Weighted and Escapement "With an astounding creativity and unique world-building, Catherine Stine created a futuristic adventure that will surely keep you turning the pages until you beg for more." -Books for YA! “A thrilling adventure led by an exciting cast of characters, and the romance is really well handled.” -YA’s The Word “What’s revealed is even creepier than expected in a world already steeped in exotic technology and bioengineered strangeness. Great science fiction imaginatively told, Ruby’s Fire is a wonderfully crafted story that will make you think.” –Susan Kaye Quinn, author of The Mindjack trilogy