Helpful Score: 5
I am a sucker for cover art and this one really got my attention. I absolutely loved the font. I guess that's really besides the point, though.
After reading the little blurb on the back, I really wanted to enjoy this book. Janie isn't your normal 17-year old high school senior. When she is around people that fall asleep and dream, she is pulled along for the ride. The other characters that we met were somewhat interesting and all have their own little secrets. Of course, Janie knows them because they dream about them. There was even a little romance added with Cabel.
Like I said, I wanted to love it. However, it was just okay for me, I rated it at 3 stars. The concept is great and had a lot of potential. It was really hard to get into due to all the choppiness. It read more like a pre-teen's diary than anything else. It was also extremely short and took maybe a hour to read. Plus, there were several things that weren't even touched upon. Like the situation with her mother, her gift, etc. And the ending? Really? Too easily tied up for my liking.
I have the second book in the series and will read it with slightly lower expectations. Maybe it will answer some of my questions.
After reading the little blurb on the back, I really wanted to enjoy this book. Janie isn't your normal 17-year old high school senior. When she is around people that fall asleep and dream, she is pulled along for the ride. The other characters that we met were somewhat interesting and all have their own little secrets. Of course, Janie knows them because they dream about them. There was even a little romance added with Cabel.
Like I said, I wanted to love it. However, it was just okay for me, I rated it at 3 stars. The concept is great and had a lot of potential. It was really hard to get into due to all the choppiness. It read more like a pre-teen's diary than anything else. It was also extremely short and took maybe a hour to read. Plus, there were several things that weren't even touched upon. Like the situation with her mother, her gift, etc. And the ending? Really? Too easily tied up for my liking.
I have the second book in the series and will read it with slightly lower expectations. Maybe it will answer some of my questions.
Helpful Score: 4
this book is the first and setups the series great. how would you like being sucked into other people dreams? well thats what happens to Janie when others fall asleep around her. When she falls into one person's dream she not only watches (which is the norm) she feels likes she is participating and its not a good dream but a nightmare for them both. She has to learn to control before its too late. Couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 4
I thought this book had an interesting premise and ended up being a pretty good book. It was very engaging and intriguing and a little bit spooky.
Janie has a odd problem; she gets sucked into other peoples dreams. And not when she is sleeping. If someone falls asleep near her during school or at work she blacks out and is propelled into their dream. Needless to say it is making her life a mess and, with an alcoholic mother who doesn't even acknowledge Janie's existence as her only parent, Janie's life is screwed up enough. Enter Cabel the stoner at school, he always falls asleep in study hall and Janie knows what he dreams about sometimes...her. But maybe Janie has more control over other people's dreams than she knows, maybe she can help them and help others.
This book is written in an interesting style. It is broken down by date and time, starting when Janie is a little girl with large breaks in time. As the book continues and Janie enters high school the breaks in time are only hours or minutes apart.
Overall it is an interesting idea and the characters are very engaging. You feel for all these poor teens stuck in crappy home situations. You feel for Janie who is trying to work so that she can go to college. She works in a nursing home, where sometimes people fall asleep...making Janie collapse on the job. The characterization is really the strongest part of this book, that and the creative idea of Janie's problem.
The story is complete, and this could be a stand alone book. Except it isn't...there are supposed to be two more books about Janie and Caleb (Fade and Gone). The story does hint at the end that there could be more to Janie's dream problem and she could have powers she doesn't grasp yet.
While the story is suspenseful and griping and a page-turner...it is painfully short. Almost more of a novella; it took me just over an hour to read the book.
I am excited to read the next book and I love McMann's writing and characterization. I hope that the next book has a bit more elaborate storyline to it and that the book is a bit longer. Very creative overall and a writer to watch.
Janie has a odd problem; she gets sucked into other peoples dreams. And not when she is sleeping. If someone falls asleep near her during school or at work she blacks out and is propelled into their dream. Needless to say it is making her life a mess and, with an alcoholic mother who doesn't even acknowledge Janie's existence as her only parent, Janie's life is screwed up enough. Enter Cabel the stoner at school, he always falls asleep in study hall and Janie knows what he dreams about sometimes...her. But maybe Janie has more control over other people's dreams than she knows, maybe she can help them and help others.
This book is written in an interesting style. It is broken down by date and time, starting when Janie is a little girl with large breaks in time. As the book continues and Janie enters high school the breaks in time are only hours or minutes apart.
Overall it is an interesting idea and the characters are very engaging. You feel for all these poor teens stuck in crappy home situations. You feel for Janie who is trying to work so that she can go to college. She works in a nursing home, where sometimes people fall asleep...making Janie collapse on the job. The characterization is really the strongest part of this book, that and the creative idea of Janie's problem.
The story is complete, and this could be a stand alone book. Except it isn't...there are supposed to be two more books about Janie and Caleb (Fade and Gone). The story does hint at the end that there could be more to Janie's dream problem and she could have powers she doesn't grasp yet.
While the story is suspenseful and griping and a page-turner...it is painfully short. Almost more of a novella; it took me just over an hour to read the book.
I am excited to read the next book and I love McMann's writing and characterization. I hope that the next book has a bit more elaborate storyline to it and that the book is a bit longer. Very creative overall and a writer to watch.
Helpful Score: 3
Every time someone near her falls asleep, Janie Hannagan gets sucked into their dreams. This is hardly fun at all, as most people's dreams consist of falling, nudity, or sex, and, while Janie is technically awake through these experiences, she's blind to the real world. Talk about an uncomfortable lifestyle.
Janie's troubles only continue to escalate when she starts to fall into the once troubled, now sexy Cabel Strumheller's dreams...and finds that she appears in them as well, and that he, too, is aware of her presence in his dreams. There may be more to her ability to fall into people's dreams than Janie realizes, more power than she realizes she has. So begins a new chapter of Janie's life, one where she learns to control her abilities and use them for good.
What WAKE lacks in good writing and interesting characters, it makes up in a stunning story idea. McMann's writing style is straightforward and succinct in an almost ethereal manner. This, while effective in exposition, does not work as well when the plot really needs to get going, and I felt like I was missing what was going on between Janie and Cabel as their relationship developed.
WAKE works fairly well as a stand-alone novel, but thanks to its fascinating premise, I think I am going to pick up the next book in the series, FADE, and see if Janie, Cabel, and the situation they're in become clearer to me over time.
Janie's troubles only continue to escalate when she starts to fall into the once troubled, now sexy Cabel Strumheller's dreams...and finds that she appears in them as well, and that he, too, is aware of her presence in his dreams. There may be more to her ability to fall into people's dreams than Janie realizes, more power than she realizes she has. So begins a new chapter of Janie's life, one where she learns to control her abilities and use them for good.
What WAKE lacks in good writing and interesting characters, it makes up in a stunning story idea. McMann's writing style is straightforward and succinct in an almost ethereal manner. This, while effective in exposition, does not work as well when the plot really needs to get going, and I felt like I was missing what was going on between Janie and Cabel as their relationship developed.
WAKE works fairly well as a stand-alone novel, but thanks to its fascinating premise, I think I am going to pick up the next book in the series, FADE, and see if Janie, Cabel, and the situation they're in become clearer to me over time.
Helpful Score: 2
Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com
Dreams can usually be categorized as our source of entertainment while we are sleeping. Although we sometimes may not remember them, they often take us on a journey that we may (or may not) want to happen. For Janie Hannagan, though, dreams are her worst nightmares.
Not like any other normal teenage girl, Janie witnesses the dreams that anyone within close proximity is dreaming. Of course, she doesn't really want this to happen, but it has been going on ever since she was eight. Janie is able to see the ordinary dreams, from falling to drowning to going to work without wearing any pants. Along with that, she is able to see people's secrets and what they desire the most.
There is nothing Janie can do about this but to just keep the knowledge to herself. That all changes when Cable, the guy who everyone thought was a pothead and a dealer, enters her life as she enters his dreams. Half the time, the dreams are somewhat sweet and romantic, but then other times she witnesses the nightmares that have been haunting him.
As Janie tries to sort out not only his dreams but her own feelings for Cable, she learns that the only way to survive her reactions towards other people's dreams is to control them -- and to help the people complete the tasks that they so desperately want to accomplish.
Every now and then a novel gets published and becomes a work of art that we all will long remember. WAKE is one of those novels that is not only unique but also mesmerizing and exhilarating. With her debut novel, Lisa McMann creates something that will be on our minds and change the way we think about what we read.
Dreams can usually be categorized as our source of entertainment while we are sleeping. Although we sometimes may not remember them, they often take us on a journey that we may (or may not) want to happen. For Janie Hannagan, though, dreams are her worst nightmares.
Not like any other normal teenage girl, Janie witnesses the dreams that anyone within close proximity is dreaming. Of course, she doesn't really want this to happen, but it has been going on ever since she was eight. Janie is able to see the ordinary dreams, from falling to drowning to going to work without wearing any pants. Along with that, she is able to see people's secrets and what they desire the most.
There is nothing Janie can do about this but to just keep the knowledge to herself. That all changes when Cable, the guy who everyone thought was a pothead and a dealer, enters her life as she enters his dreams. Half the time, the dreams are somewhat sweet and romantic, but then other times she witnesses the nightmares that have been haunting him.
As Janie tries to sort out not only his dreams but her own feelings for Cable, she learns that the only way to survive her reactions towards other people's dreams is to control them -- and to help the people complete the tasks that they so desperately want to accomplish.
Every now and then a novel gets published and becomes a work of art that we all will long remember. WAKE is one of those novels that is not only unique but also mesmerizing and exhilarating. With her debut novel, Lisa McMann creates something that will be on our minds and change the way we think about what we read.
