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Wake by Lisa McMann
Wake Trilogy, Book 1

Pages: 210
First Published: Mar 4, 2008
Genre: YA, magical realism
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

Janie Hannagan’s math book slips from her fingers.
Comments: Seventeen-year-old Janie gets sucked into other people’s dreams. It’s been happening since she was eight. Now that she is getting older things are getting worse. More and more students in high school fall asleep at their desks and Janie blacks out and enters the dreams more frequently. She blacks out at school, on the job at a seniors home, and shortly after buying her first car, while driving. This is getting out of hand and she must learn how to take control of the episodes. So far all she knows is that distance or a closed door will prevent the dreams.

I’m going to say it straight off. I loved this book so much, I could gush about it on and on. Page one and I was hooked! With an absolutely unique plot and characters that appeal to you from the first; I could not put this book down. The world around me stood still as I entered this fabulous plot.

It is a quick read, compelling and moves at a fast pace. Written in a journal type format, yet in the third person, there are no chapters but only short dated entries that make it so easy to keep saying “just a few more pages” well into the wee hours of the morning.

This is a book that is going to appeal to older teens and adults, equally. The story is very realistic; dealing with issues of abusive and negligent parents. This will haunt me for quite some time and is most certainly my most favourite book read this month.

Lisa McMann
210 pages

Janie Hanagan has problems. Her mom is a drunk and it really seems that she couldn’t care less what Janie does.  She also has a secret. She gets sucked into other people’s dreams if they fall asleep near her.

Janie is determined to make a better life for herself. She works all the hours she can get at a nursing home and she studies hard because she wants to go to college. But being considered “white trash” by your peers and the secret of being a dream catcher don’t exactly make life easy. Then Janie meets Cabel Strumheller and life gets really complicated.

I saw this book at the bookstore last weekend when I was browsing the YA section. Lately, I have just really been in the mood for some pure escapism and this seemed to fit the bill. I’m glad I chose this one. It reminded me a bit of A Nightmare on Elm Street without the gore. Anyone who knows me knows that, as a rule, I hate horror flicks. However, I loved the premise of dreams and the boogey man. It worked really well for this book only on a much tamer level. Still, I found it to be a fast-paced page-turner that kept my interest right up until the end.  I didn’t really have a guess as to where the story was going and I like that. I did find it hard to suspend disbelief in a couple of places but to say where would risk spoiling the plot for others.

Overall, I really enjoyed Wake. If you’re looking for a quick read and you enjoy YA fiction, you can’t go wrong with this one. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Fade, as soon as my library gets a copy. I’ve heard it’s even better than this one. (4.5/5)