Wild Awake

When I think summer read, I think of this book. This book takes place in the summer with Kiri's adventures that all begin with the mysterious call about a guy that has her sister's stuff. When she goes to pick up the stuff, she discovers a secret about her sister's death and it changes her in ways that she can't always control. She begins to learn who she is and she falls in love in the process.

I loved Kiri and her free spirit. She was wild as the title suggests, but I really enjoyed reading about it. There were some points in the story that I was shaking my head at her decisions (mostly those that seemed to be the same decisions her sister made that got her into trouble) and I was worried that the story would take a turn for the worst, but I began to accept her decisions as I learned more about her. I don't know if it's because I'm older and a mother, but I felt that the decisions she was making needed to be made in order for her to make bigger decisions and have the experience to move forward - more of a "you live, you learn" type of attitude. This book was exactly that, a "you live, you learn" type of book.

I really enjoyed the romance in this book. It was pure, passionate, honest. Kiri and Skunk accepted each other for who they were and there weren't any secrets, I loved the beauty of this type of relationship. They fit together so well- two broken people that help each other put the pieces back together. I would read another book about these two!

I really enjoyed the music in this book. I loved that Kiri was a piano player and in a band with a synthesizer. I loved that most of the characters in this book played music. It was really cool that there was a variety of music rather than just the band music that Kiri and Lukas play. It's been awhile since I read a book with such a huge musical presence and this book did good.

I am really glad I read this book when I did. It was the perfect summer read and I loved the uniqueness of the story and characters. I found myself having a crazy adventure through Kiri's antics that I didn't want to end. I was living and learning through Kiri and having fun doing it. This book was fun to read, it was entertaining, it was wild, it was crazy, and above all this book came alive for me and left me wanting more.

This was an interesting book. I avoided reading any reviews prior to opening this one as I didn’t want them to impact what I thought. I have heard from a number of people that they either really liked it or really disliked it. I have to say, I am more middle of the road on this one. The main reason for that is that I have to enjoy not only the story but the characters and I just didn’t get this here.

First, the story – I honestly liked it and it kept me turning the pages as I wanted to see what was going to happen to these characters…not so much because I liked them but because I was curious. The story itself is beautifully written and I was interested because with a blurb that included the words, love, loss, chaos, and murder in it I was intrigued.

Kiri is the main character. She is 17 years old and home alone for 6 weeks. She has a list of things to do but her main focus is practicing her piano for her showcase and also winning Battle of the Bands with her BFF Lukas. Kiri gets a phone call one night that throws everything off track and ultimately changes her plans for the next 6 weeks. That call is from a man named Doug who says he knew Kiri’s sister Sukey when she was alive and he tells her that if she wants Sukey’s things, she needs to come get them. The rest of the story is about Kiri coming to terms with what happened to her sister as her parents and brother never told her the truth about how she died as well as dealing with the impact of what she learns. I liked seeing the relationship and friendship develop between Kiri and Skunk but I honestly wasn't invested. Here’s why….I thought Kiri was a bit annoying and made some really stupid decisions.

So the characters….First let me talk about Kiri. As I mentioned, Kiri made some (really) stupid decisions – which happens at 17 but seriously – who is going to make the decision late at night to ride their bike through a shady part of town to meet someone they don’t know??? Then, I understand Skunk was being nice, but based on the initial description of him, I would never go off with someone I don’t know in the middle of (again) a shady area of town because he says he will fix my bike tire.

As the story progressed, it was clear that Kiri was acting oddly and she had no support system in place to help address her issues. Her brother wasn't consistently around and her parents are gone.

I did like Skunk and once his back story was revealed, I liked him more. He still struggled with everything going on in his head and clearly his aunt thought Kiri wasn't the best thing for him. Despite that he was trying to get through each day the best he could. Ultimately I was happy to see Kiri come through despite her manic approach to getting him to face his fear.

Lukas was a tool and I was so glad that Kiri finally realized it. The only thing I wish would have happened between him and Kiri is that she had the opportunity to tell him off. He knew she had feelings for him (before the embarrassing movie night) and didn't really do anything to discourage her….the “we should focus on the music” conversation was lame. Maybe it's me but I would most likely have taken the chance to let Lukas know exactly what I thought of him and his inability to do anything but focus on what he wanted.

I honestly have no words for the parents – other than I found it somewhat unbelievable that any parents would leave their teenage daughter home by herself for 6 weeks. Yes, Kiri may have given them the impression that she had it together but that timeframe is not realistic…Forget the fact that their eldest daughter was brutally murdered 4 years ago, she is 17. That is all I have to say about that.

Overall I can’t say that I loved this but I also didn't hate it. I rate this between 2.5 – 3 stars as I enjoyed the story – just disliked most of the characters.

Reading this book felt like I was in a hazy dream. I even listened to Magic Wand’s Aloha Moon album while reading to add to the effect and I tell you, it was effective. I spent time thinking about what to write about this and until now, I honestly don’t know. I don’t know what I feel about it. I requested this because it involved music but I never expected it to be a wild and crazy roller coaster ride with Kiri.

Everything about this book screams grief. Here, we get to meet Kiri, who tried to be the perfect daughter with perfect grades and perfect piano skills after her sister died 5 years ago. When a stranger called their house and told her to pick up her sister’s stuff, that’s where the whole craziness started.

This book was one of the few most unpredictable books I’ve ever read. Each time I turn the page, I can’t help to anticipate something crazy. Though Kiri’s adventure started with the truth about how Sukey died, the whole ride was so much more than that. Through that, she learned to discover herself, accept some truth, helped others find themselves and eventually made peace with her sister’s death.

Aside from the part about her parents leaving her alone for 6 weeks, everything else feels so real. Even the unpredictable turn of events felt real. It somehow shows how crazy life really is and how you’ll obviously screw up some things and make really bad decisions, but it’s how feeling alive is. Smith really did a good job in writing Kiri’s character and how she reacted with everything that happened to her. She really captured how a teenager would probably react that it made her silliness real.

On the romance part, at first I had a hard time believing that Kiri and Skunk would be serious. Although it was quite obvious, I really didn't pegged him as a boyfriend material at first. But the thing about him surely blown my mind. Some might think these two are the cliche scarred-people-completing-each-other but it's not. Both of them grew up individually and although the other might also be part of that reason, they obviously did it for themselves.

Although I’m still lost on what I should feel about this book, I’m quite sure that it left something in me. This story sure felt like meeting a kindred spirit. To those who are in doubt about this book, give it a try. You might surprise yourself and fall in love with this book.