A Review for The Awakening by Emma Jones

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: December 6th, 2013
Finished Date: December 19th, 2013

Publishers: Self Published
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Source: For Review

Format: eARC
Pages: 176

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

Do you believe in vampires? Ghosts? The supernatural world?
Meet Lauren who instantly clicks with Gavin at a friend’s BBQ. Everything goes well until Lauren starts to experience strange things and hears a weird voice. It seems like a warning but from what? Lauren eventually makes the startling discovery that Gavin is a vampire and it has profound consequences for herself. The arrival of Daniel makes things even more confusing for Lauren as she is warned he is bad news from a ghostly source. Laurens life is turned upside down as things she thought were myths and legends become real and she struggles to cope with everything she has discovered.
Will Lauren and Gavin’s relationship survive and what about the mysterious Daniel?

The Review: 3.5 Flowers!

The Awakening tells us the story of Lauren, a young woman just about to meet someone very special and fall in love. Gavin, the boy she will meet is everything she thought she wanted in a man but when they get close, strange things begin to happen…..migraines, strange voices & the dreams all tell her one thing – beware! What is happening to her, why is this happening to her? Is she going crazy? One thing is certain, it all centres around Gavin and when the pieces click into place, Gavin is revealed to be a vampire…..but the discoveries don’t end there for there is more and it involves Lauren herself. However, just as Lauren is coming to terms with what is happening in her life another man arrives on the scene  – Daniel, Gavin’s cousin – and the warnings begin anew…. But what does it mean this time? Can she cope with any more surprises? And with the electricity & excitement she feels around him, how will Daniel impact her deepening relationship with Gavin?

So, I enjoyed this story…. I thought all of the characters were likable particularly our main character Lauren, she’s just a young woman wanting to have fun, have a laugh with her friends & find love, as we all do at that age and then Gavin enters her life and rocks it in more ways than one. I liked their relationship, they made a sweet couple but I did wish for more time together and more depth to them because for all I liked them, I didn’t ‘connect’ with them emotionally, yet I connected slightly with the stolen moments she had with another. I thought Lauren was very realistic in her reactions to some of the discoveries, she struggled & didn’t want to believe what was happening but was willing to ‘see where things would lead’ and I appreciated that about her character.

As I said, I enjoyed the story – I always like the vampire genre and I especially liked the authors take on vampires and how they have evolved, it was nice getting some of the history too as Lauren starts delving into it in an attempt to accept what is happening to her and I like how her history entwines with it. I love how Lauren is forewarned about people/situations that may bring her harm, the way in which it was done gave the book a spooky feel and amped up the curiosity factor. I also liked reading about Lauren’s ‘education’ (I can’t really say much in case its spoilery) but that also adds to her character. I was very interested in the overall storyline and it steadily got better & better throughout and culminated in a really surprising, but good ending that does leave you wanting a sequel. So to sum it up, The Awakening was a good story based on a romance between two people with unsuspecting secrets between them, a nice dose of the supernatural and it held my interest but it was very much a getting to know you and your world book, hopefully in a sequel we can get some enemies or the mentioned vampire council will make and appearance & become a problem? Who knows but I liked where it went and definitely left it up in the air for a sequel.