Sequel to Falling Under
Publisher: New American Library (NAL)
Date published: January 3rd, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-451-23554-1
Young Adult Paranormal
Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmai.com)
Obtained by Publisher
For Theia Alderson, her life changed when Haden Black came into her dreams. And when she made a deal to save Haden, Theia never imagined how dangerous that was or the repercussions it would have. Now Theia is dealing not only with the dark hungers Haden has tried to control for years but also danger that is looming on the horizon against her. For someone is determined to destroy Theia any way they can and it will take all Theia is to survive it and live another day.
Ok let me first say I read the first book, Falling Under, and fell in love with the world this author created. It was lush, imaginative and very engrossing. In the sequel, DREAMING AWAKE, well let’s just say this is a bit darker than I anticipated. It continues Theia’s story as she and Haden return to Serendipity Falls and try to put their lives back together. But of course you know the path to forever never runs smoothly. In this case we have nightmares happening...really nasty nightmares and this author delivers the creepiness a little too much for me to fully enjoy this follow up book in the Falling Under Series. What I missed in this one was Haden’s point of view. He just doesn’t come across as the character I fell in love with in Falling Under. In DREAMING AWAKE, he felt a little too sneaky for me to fully enjoy him and I wondered what the author was thinking in lessening this character’s voice.
The writing was a little dated at times as I caught myself thinking ‘no teenager talks like that’ whenever a line by some of the teenager characters had me do a double take. I think Ms. Hayes has created a remarkable world but it kind of got lost in this second book. The writing was good though I have to admit the story starts off slow-almost to the point of me putting the book down and leaving it alone for days on end-till I got to the middle of the book. Then the action kicks in which delighted me. But overall, this sophomore book didn’t quite meet my expectations after the debut of Falling Under. Don’t get me wrong, this was a very well written story but for the life of me, I couldn’t understand where the romance, the lightness that was in the first book was in DREAMING AWAKE. At times it felt really depressing to read of these wonderful characters facing nightmare after nightmare. I kept asking myself will they ever get a break from it?
DREAMING AWAKE has more of a gothic feel than a paranormal one in my opinion and that alone had me shaking a little since I don’t do gothic stories very well. But overall, this follow up to an acclaimed debut book was good-just not that great. If you are looking for a young adult paranormal/Horror/Gothic story, then you might enjoy this series. But I recommend reading Falling Under first as you might get confused if you start reading this one first. It will be interesting to see how this author delivers the next book and to see if Theia and Haden as well as their friends survive their nightmares and more.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.
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