Review: Wake by Amanda Hocking

Wake (Watersong #1)

by Amanda Hocking

 Fall under the spell of Wake—the first book in an achingly beautiful new series by celebrated author Amanda Hocking—and lose yourself to the Watersong.

Gorgeous. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Lexi and Thea have caught everyone's attention—but it’s Gemma who’s attracted theirs. She’s the one they’ve chosen to be part of their group.

Gemma seems to have it all—she’s carefree, pretty, and falling in love with Alex, the boy next door. He’s always been just a friend, but this summer they’ve taken their relationship to the next level, and now there’s no going back. Then one night, Gemma’s ordinary life changes forever. She’s taking a late night swim under the stars when she finds Penn, Lexi and Thea partying on the cove. They invite her to join them, and the next morning she wakes up on the beach feeling groggy and sick, knowing something is different.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. But her new powers come with a terrifying price. And as she uncovers the truth, she’s is forced to choose between staying with those she loves—or entering a new world brimming with dark hungers and unimaginable secrets.

Source: Publisher (Thanks PanMacmillan!)

My Thoughts:

Let me be blunt I'm not a huge fan of this novel.

I'm going to write a different review for this one because I feel like it ...



The Positives

1. Harper :  I loved Harper! She's Gemma's sister and some chapters are from her point of view. She's a practical and responsible character that I could connect  to easily.My main problem is the fact that she wasn't the main character! Harper had so much more spark than Gemma that I was waiting to read her point of view (POV)
2. Harper and Daniel's relationship: I loved their friendship or should I call it a flirtation? Gemma and Alex's relationship was awkward but Harper and Daniel's relationship had spark and I wanted more!
3. Mythology: In my opinion the mythology was interesting and engaging. I wanted to know more about the history and the mythology.
4. Keeps you interested:There were a lot of times that I was seriously considering just abandoning this book and marking it as  DNF(Did Not Finish) but the author managed to maintain my interest somehow.I'm still surprised I managed to finish this book.

The Negatives


Gemma: I did not like the main character. Gemma irritated me.The fact that she figured out a lot of stuff so quickly really surprised me because I thought she was too dumb .One thing I couldn't get over is the fact that Gemma took a LIFE CHANGING decision after taking advice from her MENTALLY unstable mother.

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Gemma and Alex's relationship: Their relationship was just plain WEIRD. I can think of no better explanation.I felt no spark.The romance was so flat.

They had a conversation which went like this:

Boy:You're pretty
Girl:Did you just call me pretty?
Boy:It kind of slipped out
Girl:...I think you're pretty too!
(*Excuse me for not swooning in delight over the romance *) 

At first I thought that maybe the author is not able to write a proper romance but she is very capable of it. Harper and Daniel barely had a relationship but their friendship/flirtation had spark.I wanted Harper and Daniel to be the main  characters and not Gemma and Alex.

Pace/Story is so slow....: It felt as if for almost 75% of the novel NOTHING was happening and if anything did happen it didn't hold my interest for more than 10 pages..Half the time I was thinking to myself "When will the good part start??" By the time the good part started I was just glad that there was a good part (I hope I'm making sense!)

Voice:I had a little bit of difficulty in understanding whose point of view the story was told from for the first few chapters.I thought it was from Gemma's POV and then there would be two paragraphs from Alex's point of view. Then the next chapter was from Harper's POV and so on. This really confused me.

Overall,I don't think I will be picking up the sequel but if I do pick it up it will be for Harper and Daniel.If you're dying to read this my advice would be to borrow it from the library or a friend.

My Rating:

2/5