Wake by Lisa McMann

Since she was 8 years old Janie has been dragged into other peoples dreams when they sleep, a pull that is too strong for her to resist.  The normal dreams aren't too bad, but the nightmares really get to her - physically as well as emotionally.  It is a secret she has kept for years, a secret that has crippled her social life and earned her a "freak" badge of honour with the mean set at her high school.  It is a secret that she keeps at all costs, even from her bestfriend Carrie, but when she approaches the end of high school Janie makes some startling discoveries about what she can do with her gift.  Already going through an awkward stage (that has lasted nearly ten years and counting) the last thing Janie needs to do it get tangled up with a boy, especially one smart enough to figure out that something serious is going on in her life, something mysterious.

Wake is the first book in a fast paced series that starts with a bang and keeps up the frantic pace for the entire novel.  This is not a well fleshed novel with loads of detail to weigh you down, it is a fast paced thriller and fantasy that almost dares you to keep up with the action.  Janie is a fantastic character grappling with one of the most innovative gifts I have come across in fantasy for a long time, and her world seems so real that you can picture a Janie living round the corner.  As regular readers of this blog will now I am a big believer in sound mythologies, and from what appears in this first novel real thought has gone into how Janie's gift works and what she can do.

Fun and quick read that kept me hooked from the first page to the last - can't wait to read the sequels Fade and Gone.

If you like this book then try:

• Fade by Lisa McMann
• Gone by Lisa McMann
• Sleeper code by Tom Sniegoski
• Out of sight, out of mind by Marilyn Kaye
• Better late than never by Marilyn Kaye
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• Born at midnight by C.C. Hunter
• The pledge by Kimberly Derting
• When lightning strikes by Meg Cabot
• Shadowland by Meg Cabot

Reviewed by Brilla