Wake -Lisa McMann

So I kept real busy on this blog the first few months, huh?

Anyway.
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Published: March 2008
224 Pages

Most would assume Janie is your average 17 year old girl. Most would be wrong. Janie has the "ability" to get sucked into other's dreams. But for her, this "gift" is uncontrollable, and is seriously beginning to affect her life. She can't tell anyone, and she can't stop watching the crazed naked-in-school dreams, sex dreams, and nightmares of her fellow classmates. Worse yet, she can't help anyone either. She can't say anything to her best friend to console her after her nightmares, or to the old folks at the home she works at.

Though her ability had always been a problem, a new nightmare is scaring her to death. And this monster is more than even Janie can handle, especially since the dreams are starting to include her.


The Wake Trilogy, consisting of Wake, and its sequels Fade(Feb 2009) and Gone(TBA), is much better than my little summary makes it out to be. It's spiced up with a conflicted romance between Janie and nightmare-ridden Cabel, and plot twists that seep out of every corner. The beginning starts off a little slow, mostly because of the flashbacks that provide key insight into Janie's past, but after the first few chapters it really picks up. Janie is very relatable, and makes a for great, strong heroine who, like the rest of, messes up every now and then. Also, the book is written in third person present! When is the last time you saw that?

My main fault with the book is that it's short. Really short. But It's not short in a 'there's so little detail and movement, why did they even waste the paper' sense, but in an 'how can you only give us this little taste of Janie's story?!' way. Once I learned there were more books, which are also longer than the first, I was content, because while Wake could be a standalone, it is much too good to leave after one book.

Did I mention it made the NYT Bestsellers list? Yeah, it's that good.

Don't Die Dragonfly -Linda Joy Singleton

Published: September 2004
288 pages

Sabine isn't your normal teen-aged girl: she was kicked out of her last high school and home, and now resides in a small town with her match-making, "gift" wielding grandmother. She wasn't even your normal teen-aged delinquent: she was kick out for predicting the death of the star football player. And now she spends her days at Sheridan High, blending in with the regular kids through her job on the school paper and her best friend status with Cheerleader Penny-Love, and she even managed to catch the eye of a certain Josh DeMarco. Everything seemed to be going fine until her visions took a frightening turn, spelling out danger for a girl with a peculiar tattoo. Worse yet, Sabine is being framed for a crime she didn't commit, and her trusty spirit guide Opal is giving her more trouble then advice.

The Seer series follows Sabine through her new life in Sheridan, where she tries to relinquish her past and become a normal girl, but her past just refuses to let her go. It is a wonderful start to an amazing series(5 books in all), one which I have read about 7 times, and it has never grown old. The characters are realistic and likable, and the plot will never let you down. Though it is definitely a girl's read, never fear boys, since Singleton has an earlier series called Regeneration that is just as good, and can easily be enjoyed by either gender.