Wake

Reader reviewed by Tasha

Usually when parents tuck their kids in at night they tell them to have sweet dreams, right? According to Janie that's wrong. She can't remember ever having a dream. Instead she falls into other people's dreams. Some may think this is really neat, but for Janie it's horrible. Janie can't spend the night at other people's house, and when people fall asleep at school she's also sucked into their dreams. Janie's been having this problem since she was eight years old. Now she's seventeen and a senior in high school, and the whole dream thing is getting very old. The worst thing is she can't tell anybody in fear that they'll think she's crazy. Lately it seems all the dreams are the same, being naked in front of a crowd or falling into an endless pit. Then she starts falling into the same dream, actually more of a nightmare that hits way to close to home. She can't really make sense of it, but she hopes it will soon stop. Aside from the dreams though her life seems to be looking up. Her grades are good, she has an amazing boyfriend who understands her and knows her secret, and her alcoholic mother mother has started to be a little more motherly. Just as life is looking up, a cloud comes and rains on Janie's happiness. Her and her boyfriend Cabel have an unofficial break up, and her favorite patient at the nursing home she works at, Ms. Stubin, dies. Then Cable is all of a sudden dating rich girl Shay and Janie doesn't understand this at all, and it seems that everything else is confusing her. Will Janie find some answers to her confusion, or will she plummet into darkness with only other people's dreams to keep her company?


I. Loved. This. Book. Wake gives the term "page-turner" a whole new meaning. From the moment I opened the book it was glued to my hands and I was on the edge of my seat, anxious to read what happened next. The story was completely original and was absolutely fascinating. There were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very last sentence. Even then it wasn't enough, there are still so many questions buzzing around my head. It is so not fair that the book had to end! The characters were also amazing. Janie was great and I am so jealous of her relationship with Cabel, for the most part! To me all the characters had their own unique personality which made the book have great depth. What stunned me even more about this book is that Lisa McMann is a first time author. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next, especially the sequel to Wake, Fade which comes out next year.

Reader reviewed by David

I read the book Wake by Lisa McMann. In the book the main character experiences other peoples dreams. She is sucked into the void of the mind that thinks while you sleep. Throughout the book, Janie (the main character) struggles to find out what is wrong with her while also struggling with her love life. Lisa McMann did an excellent job portraying the real life of some high school students. We get to see the side of some students that are rarely portrayed. It is a graphic book, but by writing these scenes in the book, Lisa shows the everyday life of a high school student. She provides an in look of the different people in society and how were all connected. But at the same time, she shows how were separated by a barrier. How we exclude and include people in our daily lives. She also shows consequences of our day to day actions. Lisa McMann shows the way the world is through her writing. I think by having Janie fall into her piers dreams, it shows a connection we all have but often choose to ignore. With her ability, Janie tries to change and make peoples dreams better hoping that it will change their actual lives. By the end of the book, Janie finally finds her calling and her life seems good. McMann shows the relationships of friends and people alike. She connects her writing with the inner self of people while including the hopes and dreams of people today. McMann shows that some adult figures are weak and take no charge in their childrens lives. Janies mother is a drunk who doesnt exactly care where Janie goes. She just leads her own life at home, so in a sense Janie is her own adult figure. In Janies character, McMann shows the working class people and how hard they work to make a living. Janie works at a nursing home and she still manages to keep her grades up in school. Janie is a determined individual who plans on not becoming her mother and making her life into something great. Through her hard work, she does well for herself. Lisa McMann did an excellent job on portraying students of today by showing choices some students choose to make. With drugs and peer pressure of the people around her, Janie still manages to fall with the crowd. I believe teenagers would love to read this book and take a look into the supernatural life of Janies life. But also to see the life real students lead. Over all, Lisa McMann does an excellent job with this book. To know what happens to Janie you would need to read the next two books Fade and Gone.       

Reader reviewed by Kristin

At first glance and the excerpt on the back, I was a bit skeptical and kind of scared, to be honest, but as usual, I was proved wrong.

This book is like no other. The chapter headings, plot, characters, etc. Everything was short and concise, which made the book very powerful. I really liked the main character Janie because she is the girl I want to be--hard-working, strong. However, one attribute I wanted to change was she would not wait for an explanation of events that seemed weird or messed up. I know it's probably something I would do, but her relationship with Gabe kept going back and forth for a very long time, which got me a little bored.

Although I predicted Janie and Gabe's relationship, the rest of the book was quite unpredictable, which kept me on my toes.

I really enjoyed this book, but I read it in one day, which made me lose some sleep. Ironic, much?

Reader reviewed by Lizzie

Janie doesnt dream. Well not exactly anyway. When someone around her falls asleep, she is sucked into their dream. She cant control it and its getting annoying. When one of her favorite residents at the nursing home she works at dies and leaves her a mysterious note, Janies life is turned up-side down. Janie goes on a school trip to Canada and has a seizure on the bus. This forces her to reveal her secret to her crush, Cabel, who then admits that knew she was in his dream. Janie then goes on an adventure to discover her true powers and take hold of her life. But can she juggle being a catcher, her crush Cabel who is apparently selling drugs, and getting into college all at once?


At first I thought Wake was the perfect YA novel. It wasnt scared of swearing, and tackling hard subjects. It was fast-paced and fun. But at the end it got really corny. The sex scenes were unbearably cliché, and the story-line became even more unrealistic than it already was. The author definitely did her research on dreams, but it didnt have that paranormal feel I was hoping for. It was an OK quick read, and Ill probably pick up the sequel at the library when it comes out, but I wouldnt recommend it.

Reader reviewed by Sab H. (Crystal Reviews)

I'm so glad I read this! I absolutely adored it. I guess its my type of
book. Its so amazing the way she writes, she doesn't tell you
everything just enough. I did feel a little bit confused with dates, I
kept going back, to see what day it was. But its so refreshing and
original the way she writes you just keep turning pages non stop.

The
story is amazing, I've always felt intrigued by dreams, I think people
don't really know the power they have. So reading -fiction- about the
subject was delightful. The characters are simply marvelous. This is
one of the best debuts I've read, a mesmerizing plot that will stay in
my mind for long. And the cover is one of my favorite, I'm somehow
discovering I'm definitely a fan of black covers. If you like dream
mystery and troubled romance you will most likely fall in love with
this book just as I did. I highly recommend it!

Reader reviewed by MaddyV

The novel Wake, by Lisa McMann, is a story about a seventeen year old girl named Janie, who gets sucked into peoples dreams unwillingly. Janie has been living with this power since she first discovered it, and always having the burden of carrying it around, and has never been able to tell anyone about it, afraid that people would think she was a freak or just plain crazy in the head. All Janie has ever wanted was to be normal like everyone else. Cursed with a power that she never wanted in the first place, which she cant even control, and having to work long hours even on holidays, to save for college, living in a poor neighborhood, being teased at school by the popular students, and also having to live with a mother who drinks all day and night, and who barely even knows that her own daughter even exists most of the time. Janie thinks her life is officially over. Until Cabel, a boy at school steps into her life, and changes everything for her that she never thought could happen. She discovers new information and details about her powers, and now Janie gets sucked into strange nightmares that could get her caught up into events that she never planned to be in. When I got this book I thought I wouldnt like it because I havent read this type of story before. But I was really surprised when I read it. The characters in the story were very believable, and you could feel what they felt at moments, and could relate to at least one of them in your own life. Also the characters in the book were very likable, I was able to understand them, and thinking that there could be kids just like them out there, and it made me want to read it to learn more about them and to get to know what situations and life they lived and had. I was really surprised on how fast I read this book, I was flipping through page, after page, to see what would happen next, not wanting to put it down for a second, wanting to know more about the story, and trying to put everything together as I read. Once finished, I was very satisfied on how the story ended. McMann was able to make the events in the story flow very nice and smooth, and have everything come all together at the end of the book perfectly. Which I didnt feel like I was left hanging there, and I didnt feel all confused on what had just happened. In all I find this book to be great read, and will be continuing to read the rest of the series. I would recommend this book to any teenager to pick it up and start reading it, and I guaranty that you wont be disappointed once you open up this book up and start reading it, you will be flipping through pages, without even knowing it, and you wont be able to put the book down.

Reader reviewed by veronica

                           

                                                             Wake         

              

                    

                  

                

            A young girl that gets trapped in other peoples dreams falls into a nightmare like no other she has never experienced before. Young Janie alone, and scared in other peoples dreams can not take it anymore. Another thing that just doesnt help with the situation is that Janie can not tell anybody about her problem because they would think that she must be crazy and making up lies which arent good for her at all .Wake is the type of book that you can not put it down for one second. It has mystery in it, which most people enjoy because it keeps you thinking, about whats going to happen next.  

            The way this book was formatted was another thing that made me enjoy it even more. The set-up of it being in diary formation made it more interesting, even by putting the times, dates, and places because it wasnt set-up to be like any other type of book. Because its set-up like this it makes the young readers more interested because its not set up like a normal boring book would be like. But sometimes the format of the book could be kind of confusing because it would switch from different times in the story either its from the past or the present time, which was confusing because sometimes you would have to re read what happened from what you red previous to what you just read.  So in this book you would have to pay really close attention to because its the type of book you would get lost on because of the time of book changes constantly through out the story. 

            Wake leaves you with confusion after every chapter, making you want to keep reading to know what happens next and then so on, it leaves a mystery behind, which makes the book so much more interesting. The story line in this book is so unique and different which makes the book perfect for young teenage readers. Her writing style had a good flow as well that just kept them interested every bit of the story. She made the storyline of the book as interesting as the main character in it. Janie was a unique and interesting character; she was a good representation for a teenager, which made it seem realistic.  

            I recommend this book to many young teenage readers because it has tons of mystery and excitement in the book. I think young girl readers would appreciate this book a bit more than boys would because it has more of a girl background to it. I also like how they put a sequel to this book, so that you could read on to what happened. Get ready for some more excitement coming your way!!!!

Reader reviewed by The Book Girl

Janie gets sucked into peoples dreams. It's a real setback when she's in class or driving home seeing as the worse the dream the harder it is for her not to shake and seizure. The thing is, there's nothing she can do about it. And nobody she can tell who can help her. That is, until Cabel came along. But then again, Cabels got some secrets of him own.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. The idea is so unique, and it's so well written, you can't help but be drawn in. The romance between Janie and Cabel is sweet. Janie herself is sarcastic and funny. There are so many memorable scenes that will pop into your head at the most random times and make you smile. An overall amazing book that anybody can get into.

Reader reviewed by the book muncher

Ever since she was eight years old, Jamie Hannagan has been falling into other peoples dreams. She cant help it; no matter what she tries, she cant escape them. Now that shes a senior in high school, shes starting to get sick of experiencing other peoples dreams and nightmares. But since a lot of people sleep in school, its a challenge for Jamie to not get sucked into dreams.

All Jamie wants to focus on is completing high school and working her job to fund college. But things get harder when she falls into Cabel Strumhellers nightmares. These are more terrifying than all the others shes experienced. And whats even more surprising is that Cabel sees her in his dreams seeing him. Soon, they develop a relationship, but it is plagued with arguments and misunderstandings over trust.

Wake was truly everything I was expecting in a good novel and more. The idea behind the story was extremely unique. I also liked how the plot was never quite what I was expecting. But mostly, I thought it was amazing how Lisa McMann could create so much emotion with only a few words. That takes a lot of talent. Lastly, Cabel is probably my new crush. Besides the physical attributes and sexiness, he was willing to give up his job because he didnt want to lose Jamie. Many times throughout the book, I found myself being jealous of Jamies relationship with Cabel. She is such a lucky girl.

I highly recommend this incredible novel to all eager readers, and even to the reluctant ones. It is seriously one of my new favorite books. Everyone should immediately go out and pick up a copy for themselves before theyre sold out.

reposted from thebookmuncher.blogspot.com

Reader reviewed by KJ

"Your dreams are not your own," Wake by Lisa McMann

Janie, at age seventeen, has a unique power. She goes inside other people's dreams. As soon as someone falls asleep in the same room as her *poof* Janie's inside, experiencing their dream with them. Unfortunately, not all dreams are happy. One dream in particular, frightens Janie out of her mind, not only because it's terrifying, but because she's not just in the dream, she's a participant...

Wake is one of the best books I've read this year. I finished it in one day, not only because it was relatively short, but because I was hooked from page one. Janie was a likable main character and the plot was one of a kind. I can't wait to read the sequel, Fade to find out what happens to Janie next. Fans of The Summoning, Evermore, and Need will definitely enjoy this book.