Wake by Lisa McMann

Janie has a gift.
Or a curse.

She is pretty sure it's the latter.

Since childhood, she's been forced to witness the fears, hopes, and stresses of others. Through their dreams. As the dreams begin to take a physical and mental toll on Janie, she finds there is someone she can turn to after all-- Cabel, the boy down the street who has suddenly entered her life. Then there is the woman at the nursing home, who Janie suspects may know what she's going through.

I'm bracing myself for this, because this book was not pretty, especially at the beginning. The writing threw me off right at the start, which seems to have happened to a lot of readers. It was choppy and simplistic, which matched the mind of young Janie, but it should have matured more with her. Instead, there were just more curse words, like a toddler putting on big-girl shoes. I thought there was an unwritten rule: if a book is in present tense, it should be in first person. I don't know why I thought this. I always thought a third-person book would be weird in the present tense. I was right! It took a long time to get used to.

On the plus side, the book read very very quickly. The short sentences and chapters meant that there was not a lot of content to process, and I finished the book within a few hours. I think that redeemed the book a little, because I didn't feel like I had wasted time or had to force myself to read.

I liked Janie. She was strong and cool and mature. I even liked Cabe, although I thought his story was out-of-nowhere. I did like the story. I wanted to know what would happen, and even though about 1/4 of the way through I thought about quitting, I was glad I finished.

The profanity annoyed me, it happened too often and it was unnatural at times. I've never read a book with "Jesus" used in vain so often!

So, in conclusion, this book did not change my life. It wasn't great, or absolutely horrible. It was just pretty bad. I know a lot of people liked it, and it does have some redeeming qualities. Overall, it just didn't do it for me.

2/5

Shay-la