Book Review: Awoken

 Summary: Around the world humans are hallucinating after sleepless nights. 
 In a sterile, underground institute the forecasters keep reporting the same events.
 And in the backwoods of Texas, a sixteen-year-old girl is about to be caught up in a fierce, ethereal battle.
 Meet Roya Stark. She drowns every night in her dreams, spends her hours reading classic literature to avoid her family’s ridicule, and is prone to premonitions—which are becoming more frequent. And now her dreams are filled with strangers offering to reveal what she has always wanted to know: Who is she? That’s the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. But will Roya live to regret learning the truth?

Thoughts: Ok, so remember Keeper of the Lost Cities? Basically, the same plot: a secret society, a special girl who's misunderstood, a group of kids with special powers...you've probably heard it before right?  
Maybe; you just haven't heard it like Awoken. 
I was honestly not expecting much when I picked up the book but it was free and had a nice cover so I thought 'why not?' This is usually a hit-and-miss tactic for me (usually a miss) but I was pleasantly surprised this time. This book was amazing! Characters who had believable character traits, beliefs, and reactions to their past, present and future. A plot that held together and carried through well. And great writing to top it all off!
But, I've got to be honest, it was the characters that really grabbed and held me. I'm a big sucker for tight knit groups and a focus on broken people finding healing in those around them. Awoken held everything I could have hoped for (plus some...but I won't tell you because it's a spoiler) and I had a tough time stopping myself whenever I had to put it down. Needless to say, it kept me captivated the entire time. 
Now, two things that might be seen as a problem: 
1. yes there is a love triangle which I wasn't crazy about. Because of the other books I've read in this genre I was expecting the plot to eventually take a step back from this but it didn't, it never did. Sarah Noffke sees her characters as people who need to grow, learn, and focus and don't have time to ignore the end of the world to settle their own problems. And this was greatly appreciated (plus I actually did like both guys more or less). 
2. The villain. After all the build up we get, the amazing development of the characters, the training and hard work, some may find the villain to be a little disappointing, stereotypical even. I know I did. But as the book went on I realized, he was just 'The Villain'. In other words, he was just the goal, the end, the means. The book itself wasn't about him, it wasn't about the battle or about the end of the world. It was about the characters, the people who were facing him and who were going to stop him. Where they came from, was important. What they wanted was important. What they were going to do was important. Who they were fighting, was not important. It really hit pretty deep and, to be honest made me enjoy the story even more. This is not to say the ending was anticlimactic or disappointing, quite the contrary. 

Content: Nothing sexual though SPOILER a kissing scene does get a little intense. There is a fair amount of profanity and swearing in this book, from c*** to sh** and a few others in between, but all around the same level. There is also a homosexual couple, whether you have a problem with this or not, this should not deter you from the book as they were clean and very pleasant characters.
Overall, a great read for it's intended age audience and highly recommended if the content doesn't bother you.

(Wow, this is one of the longest posts I've written in awhile...also, second post of the month, yay! I'm very sorry for not writing in so long but I am definitely coming back and reading a lot more which means more posts! Though I might not be rereading much as much as I hoped due to the way my new books just keep piling up...)