Review Detail

/Awaken/ left me feeling luke-warm. I didn't hate it, but it didn't pull me in and leave me wanting for the sequel either.

I'm starting to think I've become a cynic when it comes to the whole "young love" thing. I scoff when a girl goes "my heart beats faster and my palms get sweaty when I'm around him, why is that?" Hello, it means he gives you the happy tinglies. Just because you haven't experienced it before doesn't mean you're ignorant. I roll my eyes whenever she (I'm pretty sure I've never gotten this from a male POV) goes on about how "he is my air, my everything! I can't live without him!" Now, I've totally been there before, but I could still pick myself up out of bed on the days I knew I wouldn't get to see him.This isn't all on /Awaken/, though. It's mostly just the one that pushed me over the edge.

I really wasn't a big fan of Justin, either. I really can't get down with the whole I-love-you-but-I-shouldn't-and-you-deserve-better thing. "You deserve better" is a line that should only be used once, in my opinion. Either you say it and the person walks away with a "yeah, I do" or you say it and they say "no I don't, because there's nothing wrong with you." If it's the first, there's obviously no reason it'll come up again, but if it's the second then you should graciously accept and not insult your loved one by trying to convince them otherwise. And it seriously drove me nuts how Justin would continuously talk about how the cause was his life and basically not listen to anything Maddie said on the subject. She never once asked him to give it up, just tried to reason with him.

Finally, there's the dystopian world. The backstory and setup was interesting, but I kept poking holes in it quite easily. If everyone relies so completely on technology, how do regular jobs get done? Do people work in grocery stores? Who grows the food? Ships the food? What about doctors? Who delivers a baby?

The Nutshell: I know my review is basically one big rant, but I promise /Awaken/ isn't a terrible book. I think my disappointment can be largely attributed to my mood and cynicism. If you already wanted to read /Awaken/ then you might still want to give it a try, but I can't put my recommendation stamp on it.

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