Review of Wide Awake-Academy of the Fallen Series by Daniele Lanzarotta

Author: Daniele Lanzarotta

Date Published: May 25, 2011

Publisher: Rocket Science Productions

ASIN: B0052TMTE4

 

 

Kayla is a 16-year-old girl who was adopted when she was little. She lives a normal life, with great friends, loving adoptive parents, and well... a not-so-great boyfriend. But the reason why she was given up for adoption was far from any usual reason. She was meant to be kept away from the Academy and anything else related to the supernatural beings that could hurt her.

Unfortunately for Kayla, it was only a matter of time before she encountered the creatures from the Otherworld, and there is just no running away from the beings that she can now see.

In trying to protect Kayla by keeping her away from the Academy, she may have just been put in even more danger.

This is one of those stories that I had a lot of hopes for, and it just didn't deliver to my expectations. The story started off good, and the characters were well-developed. I hated her boyfriend from the second he pulled her aside at the museum, and I loved Kayla what she jumped to cut him off at the pass. The girl has guts. Only, when she starts being followed by "ghosts," not so much.

The whole story started off with this creepy vibe, and the fact that Kayla is haunted really made me want to stick with it. Add to that the outcast hero, Hunter, who holds a considerable amount of mystery himself, and the story moved along in the same direction any teenage romance would, which is good. However, for all we do learn about what is really going on, we are left in the dark on so much more. What is the secret surrounding Hunter, exactly? That is the biggest question for me, and I feel like I was running around in circles, close but never able to figure it out. And there were other things I took issue with.

One problem for me was the considerable amount of typos and grammatical errors. No book is perfect, and I have made this clear in any review I have ever written where I run into this problem. Only if they are plentiful does it ever really bother me. Fact is, I was surprised that the author had an editor or was even traditionally published. The language the characters used was not how people really talk. There was a huge lack of contractions, which would have made it so much easier to read instead of jerky as it was. Punctuation was also a major problem, which affected readability. Finally, the so called cliffhanger was weak. Instead of, say, revealing Hunter's secret, we were left with *SPOILER ALERT* a confession that he "might" be in love with Kayla. Somehow, that is just not enough make me desperate to find out what happens next, which is disappointing, because I really wanted to love this story. I don't know if I will be reading the next in the series yet, but if I do, it will be somewhere down the line. I'm in no hurry. This is a good YA book for a rainy day.

Wide Awake has a 4.8/5 star overall rating and is available on Amazon. 

Teaser Tuesday!

We're back this week with Teaser Tuesday!

 Brace yourselves, this week's teaser comes from John Matthews Blind School.

 

Ryan Lorimar and Jessica Werner have a special gift: they can see ‘fallen angel’ apparitions within other people. But as the fallen angels in turn know that they’ve been ‘viewed’, it’s a gift that will get him killed. They need protection. They need to enter ‘Blind School’.

Their only hope is Ellis Kendell and his team of agents. Day in, day out, Kendell’s team trawl through street-cam images from across the nation to pick up that tell-tale eye light-refraction of ‘viewers’. Can Kendell’s team get to the viewers before the fallen angels and get them to safety in ‘Blind School’? But there’s also an added agenda: Kendell’s department want the ‘viewers’ help in tracking down more ‘fallen angels’.

Yet is Kendell deluding himself? Setting this small group of teens against a legion fifty-times their number of the most cunning and vicious murderers and criminal masterminds the nation has to offer – is he simply throwing them to the wolves? Fated to watch them one-by-one die. The odds are against them.

 Teaser 1

"It's okay. I know your secret. You don't have to keep it to yourself any more." 
"What?" A sharp jolt ran through her as she pulled back and stared at Ben. 
But her mom was approaching, she couldn't pursue it. Her eyes shifted uncomfortably between Ben and her mom, then a quick forced smile to hopefully cover, she headed out. 
"Bye y'all." 

Teaser 2

Her thoughts pounded in time with her step: surely he couldn't have found out. And if he had, how?  She'd been so careful to keep everything from him. 
She knew that she should wait until after the doctor's appointment to talk to Ben, could do without the agitation beforehand-but in the end it was burning too hot through her mind. At the next cross- street, she memory-dialed her home number. 
After three rings her mother answered: "Hello."
"Mom. Is Ben still there?" 

Blind School has a 4.5/5 star rating and is available for purchase on Amazon. 

NEW! Teaser Tuesdays

This is something new to the blog. Since I am always reading something, every Tuesday I will share a few lines (teasers) designed to entice you.

Want to play along?

• Pick up whatever book you are currently reading and open it to the page you left off at (If you haven't started it yet, open it to a random page). 
• Without giving anything away, share a few lines that you find particularly great. 
• So everyone knows where to pick up this great new read, don't forget to include the title and author name.

That's it!

Now, my teasers of the week have been taken from Gena Showalter's latest release, Wicked Nights, the first book in the Angels of the Dark series.

Teaser #1

"Humans fail to realize how easy demons are to welcome. The negative words you speak, the detestable things you do. Utter a lie, meditate on hate, entertain the urge to commit violence, and you might as well sound the dinner bell."  

Teaser #2

"But how can a person stop feeling fear?"
It is not what you fear that truly matters but what you say and how you act while feeling that way."