Review: Wake by Amanda Hocking

Wake by Amanda Hocking

Watersong #1

Release Date: August 7^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 309

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Source: ARC from Raincoast Books

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.

Wake was an interesting book, despites its flaws. When I first heard of the book, I thought is sounded intriguing, and I really liked the concept. Yet, there was a little something missing for me to really like it. One of the things I did enjoy about the book was the romance. People, rejoice: There is no love triangle in this book. That’s one of the thing I really found fun. Both sisters have their own love interest, and only one.

The thing with this book is that I just couldn’t get into the story, there was something stopping me from being captivated by the world Amanda Hocking created. I can’t really define what this was, because most of the things that annoyed me with this book aren’t aspects that usually stop me from being captivated if the story is addicting. Another flaw that got slightly on my nerves is the narration. I found it to be sometimes confusing. It is third person, but it still changes between both sisters through the novel, even sometimes really in the middle of everything. I had trouble knowing who was thinking what.  It made it harder for me to follow the story easily.

If we talk about the characters, I have to say I can’t really tell you much about them. They were slightly flat, and a little unmemorable for me. Sometimes characters make a really big impression on you, but with this book, none of them did. I find it hard to really remember more than just who they were in the story. I actually needed to lock back in the book and in my notes to really be able to do this review, and even then, I don’t have much to say.

I do hope the book will go through some editing before being release, because there are a few things that could make it easier to read for me. Overall, I guess it simply wasn’t the book for me. It was a great concept that simply didn’t catch my attention well enough.