Review: Awakening

 

Title: Awakening
Author: Karice Bolton

Book Summary:

"Alone in snowy, remote Whistler village, Ana tries to build a new life since losing her parents. With a cozy condo, a sweet-faced bulldog and an evening job to leave the days free for the slopes, life slips into a great routine. If only she could shake the guilt for not remembering anything about her parents and banish the night terrors that haunt her every dream.

On a whim, Ana goes out with Athen, a guy she's just met in the Grizzly Pub... The only problem is that she feels like she already knows him.

Within 48 hours of meeting Athen and his family, Ana's world implodes. She falls for Athen quickly and before she knows it, a past life begins to resurface. As thrilling as the revelations appear at first, she fights against the chilling information that Athen is from the underworld. Soon she begins to struggle as her own supernatural gifts are slowly unveiled, and she realizes that the nightmares she's been having might be premonitions and not dreams at all.
It is up to Ana to decipher between fact and fiction before it is too late, and her new love, Athen, follows in her same fate - one that is lost between two worlds."

            One of the first things that sticks out to me when I read the premise is how fast the timeline in the book must move... 48 hours is NOT a lot of time!!  I am a little concerned about how fast it \ her relationship with Athen and family seems to develops and I hope it seems plausible.  It is interesting that Ana has been having night terrors and cannot remember anything about her parents... sounds like a mystery to me. 

            Ana's life is pretty uncomplicated until she meets Athen and his mysterious, alluring family.  Ever since that fated meeting everything she knows will change... and FAST.  For reasons unknown to her Ana knows that she can trust them all with her life and instantly feels safe in their presence.  Her fears are put to rest and they always know how to sooth her ruffled feathers.  In fact they all start to seem a little too familiar and now Ana wants answers... but is she prepared for the trouble the answers will bring?

            I really liked Ana's character from the beginning.  She seemed normal enough with just the right amount of tragedy and fear to make you want something good to happen for her, and it does.  I will admit I really didn't like the whole: "Oh, I'm going to fall all over myself and drool all over everyone because we all have this insane connection" thing that seemed to be going on.  I get it They know each other from a past life but really? WHY does she have to turn into a pile of mush?  After Ana meets Athen and his family she starts to become a bad employee and, at the very beginning, admits to herself that she starts to neglect her friend and her dog.  I was really glad she noticed even if she didn't do a whole lot to change it. 

            I think the background story on the the connection between Athen, his family and Ana is really creative and well thought out.  I did get a little confused at times about the details but by the end i had a really good grasp on the concepts.  Something that annoyed me while reading was how much I knew going into the story... I found that the premise given gave away many things that the story set up as "mysteries" so those things seemed pretty anticlimactic.

            Overall I thought Awakening had a really unique plotline and it was easy enough to follow along with the explanations.  I found the insta-love to be a bit overbearing but the rest of the interactions between Ana and Athen were sweet and completely heartwarming!  The end of the book does leave me clamoring for book two because really you CAN NOT just leave it like that.  I will definitely pick up book two and continue the series...hopefully they got all the inst love gooeyness completely out of their systems by now!

The Cover

            I love the font the title is written in, it's really beautiful!  The girl's dress is simply gorgeous and I love the wings... but it gives the book a more "fairy" vibe which is NOT accurate.  I do like how the forest in front of the girl smudges out so it looks more mysterious! 

I give Awakened 3 out of 5 hearts: Worth Reading!