Dreaming Awake

I was a bit hesitant to read this book as often sequels are far worse than the original novels. Too many sequels or 'middle' stories in a series of novels reach that point of being dull and boring and border on making one wonder why we bother to read them. Boy, this book defeats all those worries within minutes!!! By page 14 I was captivated and remembering just why I loved Falling Under so much!!! I was worried the sequel would spend too much time undoing everything the first book created (and there were moments where it began to happen) but in the end, it took the original and it's own story to another level! The descriptions Gwen Hayes gives of Under and of the feelings/emotions/settings of the characters are just breath taking! She show more manages to capture the beauty of love, the fear of loss and evil, and the enchanting horror of the Under in just the amount of description and words needed. Under is so vivid in my mind and I can picture it with ease- something not easily done in books these days. The plot and storyline are nothing too original- guessable even- but it still managed to surprise me! I don't think I can say enough about how great these books are. Of all the YA series out there, I think this one is flying under the radar and needs LOTS more attention! Haden and Theia are worthy characters with lots of depth and development. I never once found them to be average or plain characters and I 'felt' their emotions. The supporting cast is also worthy of mention and perhaps my favorite cast of characters in a novel by far. Donny, Ame, Varnie, and Gabe all play important roles in the story and are intergral rather than filler. The creepy world of Under that Hayes creates and describes comes alive with ease and any fan of paranormal/fantasy stories (YA or not) needs to read these. They're THAT good. I truly hope there is another story to be told at the end of this one and by the way it ends (much like Falling Under) it could go either way. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

This has not been a good year for sequels. Some of my least favorite reads this year were follow ups to books I loved. For various reasons, the magic had been snuffed out, and I unfortunately have to add DREAMING AWAKE to that list. DREAMING AWAKE is all the more disappointing when compared to the dark and delightful FALLING UNDER. There were only two chapters in this entire book that I liked, two of the three chapters not written from the protagonist’s POV. Not a good sign.

The three words that kept coming to mind while reading this book are what I like to refer to as my holy trinity of bad read qualities: boring, cliché, and predictable. Nothing happened for the first two hundred pages. show more Theia worried about everything it was possible to fret about. Her sassy friends quipped and offered platitudes to her at every opportunity. Haden smoldered and leered on every page, attempting to wield his supposedly lethal sexuality until all the characters (and the reader) were choking on it. He was a far cry from the dark and dangerous character in the previous book. He was possessive and jealous and if Theia had been a more interesting character, I might have said he didn’t deserve her.

Even beyond Theia and Haden’s flat romance, the actual plot involving Haden’s demon queen mother Mara showing up and slinking around town wreaking havoc doesn’t start until the last third of the book. The two interesting chapters I mentioned occur even later. Theia’s BFFs Donny and Amelia each have to face the dangers of their own hearts and their chapters are both well written and moving (especially Amelia’s), but the same can’t be said for the rest of the book. As much as I loved FALLING UNDER, since I liked only two chapters out of the couple dozen in DREAMING AWAKE, I can’t recommend this.

Sexual Content:
Kissing. References to sex. show less

I just want to scream out to the world how much I loved this book! There is so much more to the story now that it just fills me with great joy! So the book picks up where the first book left off and the reader is off to Under. The plot line is so much more intense as more secrets, betrayals unfold before the reader. It didn't take long for me to fall into the plot of this book. I loved the way everything is strained in the book that it keeps the reader entice to read more.

The love interest is strained. I love it when the love between characters becomes strained cause it gives a much greater affect when they finally fall into each other arms. I think I scream for delight when Haden put his foot down. I loved that their love has conquered show more so much already!! Ms. Hayes created amazing characters with an dynamic plot giving the reader one amazing ride!

What I also enjoyed about this book are the great surprises! There were a few plot twist that left my mouth hanging. I LOVE it when an author can take me by surprise! Some were good others where bad but in the end, Ms. Hayes crossed all her t's and dotted her i's well. Nothing is confusing and if anything Dreaming Awake leave you begging for more!

So GO and pick up this book! It's will give you biog smile on your face! With great writing and an enticing plot, Dreaming Awake is an fantastic read! show less

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A well written dark young adult paranormal. An interesting world of nightmares that that will keep you reading to find out what will happen next.

Opening Sentence: Danger doesn’t always greet with bared fangs.

The Review:

Dreaming Awake begins one week after Theia returns from Under. Theia is trying to readjust to life like it was before she lived in the world of nightmares. She loves Haden and her friends but she just wants to go back to Under. Something about the place just felt right to her. She was comfortable there. Her best friends Donny and Amelia are just glad to have her back. Theia and her dad’s relationship is even more strained than before she disappeared. She begins to show more dress differently and hang out with the “sneetches” (the jock crowd).

Haden is a Prince in the world of Under. His mother is the Queen of Nightmares. Haden is in love with Theia but he doesn’t want to condemn her to a fate of living in a demon realm. Haden visits with Theia often in her dreams in the beginning before Theia begins visiting on her own. Theia is changing and Haden seems oblivious to it. Students at school begin to get sick and only in the way that someone has to be feeding off of their energy. Theia thinks it is Haden. Haden thinks it is Theia. Then Mara shows up in town. Mara will stop at nothing to return Theia back to Under. A series of unfortunate events begin pile up into an all-out war in Under, a fight for peoples’ lives.

Theia has definitely grown since Falling Under. She is not the shy, sheltered girl she used to be. She has seen the evil that brings nightmares and that shapes her to come out of her shell but she still lacks one thing, communication. She won’t tell anyone her problems, not even Haden. At one point Haden tells her something she should have seen coming, something that she should have figured out after being at school day one but she doesn’t believe him at first. I kind of wanted to thump her on the side of the head for not catching that sooner.

Even though most of the story is told from Theia’s point of view, she really isn’t my favorite character in this series. This doesn’t mean I didn’t like her at all. I just really loved the supporting characters. Theia’s friends are really loyal to her even though there are times she leaves them out of the loop and even acts a little bitchy to them. I probably shouldn’t have but I also invested in Donny and Amelia’s relationships too with Gabe and Varnie. Unfortunately because of this I really wanted to throw this book against a wall (but since I was surrounded by expensive equipment at the time I decided that wasn’t a good idea, I didn’t want to break anything). I think my favorite parts of the whole book were the scenes told by Amelia and Donny.

Since so little of the book it told from Haden’s point of view he does seem to come off a bit shady at times with his intentions towards Theia. I can’t go into too much of it because it will ruin some things important to the story. I will say that even though Haden is a demon he really is a good guy. He wasn’t quite so hot/cold like he was in Falling Under (there are still a few times in the middle when he gets a little hot tempered). He now knows what he wants and he would rather die than let Under taint Theia.

The world of Under is very imaginative, filled with walking skeletons, sewn together maids, strange flowers with faces, a castle whose rooms move around. Although most of everything you see in Under is from the first book but Theia’s dreams expand to the land surrounding the castle. The pacing is a little intense because there is a lot of stuff going on and it does keep you hooked to find out what will happen next.

I would recommend reading Falling Under before reading Dreaming Awake. The events in Under are not really recapped so Theia’s time in Under wasn’t revealed. In another scene, a “flashback” per se or new memory that plays out from Falling Under is portrayed differently and the way Theia reacts to it is telling. It’s not that important in the end result but knowing how it played out to begin with won’t make it so confusing to the reader.

Overall, Dreaming Awake is a nice, dark book about the good girl who doesn’t want to make safe decisions. This sequel just expounds on the relationship started in Falling Under, it is not the same read that Falling Under was, it is about a girl who is already in love with a boy but she no longer fits in with her normal life. She is changing in ways that make it not safe for her to be around people. She wants to protect those she loves by not telling them anything even though it ends up putting them in harm’s way in the end. It was refreshing to read something about a world of nightmares instead of the standard fare of vampires and werewolves.

Notable Scene:

“Theia!” Donny charged into the room, grabbing me before I could respond. “We need to talk.” She said something to the girl that made her run off–scurrying like her life depended on it. Donny had that effect on people. She then turned me to face her. “Where’s Haden?”

All I could do was shrug while burning tears threatened. I was upset and I was angry. I forced myself to speak. “I don’t know. We broke up.”

“Yeah, I heard. Thanks for sharing with your best friends.”

My emotions were swirling in a soup of ugliness in my stomach. Kids were filtering back into class for second period. Auras became more pronounced as my emotions became more confused. This couldn’t be a good thing. I really didn’t want to become aware of my unnatural hungers in the middle of a classroom full of students.

Donny didn’t realize my dilemma, though. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shone a royal blue color today. It was lovely. I wanted to touch the color and wrap it around—“Earth to Theia,” she said, exasperated, as she waved her hand in front of my face. “So the rumors might be true? Everyone is saying he took a very drunk Brittany home Saturday night and neither of them has been seen since.”

My thoughts began to jumble and my body temperature rose uncomfortably. In between spikes of anger and confusion, pangs of hunger stabbed me from the inside out. I clutched her arm fiercely. “Get me out of here, Donny.”

“Jesus, Theia. Your eyes are black.”

She pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her purse and pushed them haphazardly onto my face. When we got to the hall, the sensory overload was worse. With the sunglasses covering my eyes, the hall seemed so dark, and yet the darkness seemed to move, as if it was gathering into a shadow. Whispers assailed me from every direction, mocking and disorienting me. Some were the kids in the hall, but some—some came from someplace dark and evil, someplace inside me.

“Make them stop,” I whispered.

“Make who stop?” she asked. “Thei, you’re scaring the crap out of me. Are you about to get all wear-a-hockey-mask-and-kill-my-classmates?”

I was sucking in air, but it wasn’t going to my lungs. People were staring at me—I could feel their eyes on me. I was scaring them—I was scaring Donny too. That much I could smell.

The Falling Under Series:

1. Falling Under

2. Dreaming Awake

FTC Advisory: Penguin/NAL provided me with a copy of Dreaming Awake. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

Library Summary: "Having returned to Serendipity Falls, Theia finds herself struggling with the same deadly hungers that have tortured Haden, and when students at their high school fall prey to a mysterious illness, she wonders whether Haden's control is slipping--and how much longer she'll have a grip on her own."

I absolutely LOVED this book!!!!!! It was even better than Falling Under!

I love the plot of the book. I like how you think that there troubles are over but no, more troubles await them. Now I know that that's the case with all sequels, but it's used so often because it's a good continuation of all plots like this. And honestly, what's the problem with that?

And I love the fact that you see Theia lose a bit of control of her show more demon side at some parts in the book. It would be a bit unrealistic if she kept perfect control throughout the whole book. No one has that much control over themselves. So it is understandable that she almost gives in to her demon side.

I recommend this book to all fans of Gwen Hayes. show less

MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT

*** possible slight spoilers***

Theia is miraculously recalled from Under by her besties, Ame, Donny, Gabe and Miss Varney. Varney is a psychic and plays a larger roll in this installment. He helps bring her back tthrough the efforts of Ame's newly discovered spell casting talents. Back in Serendipity Falls, Theia tries to resume her teen life, but finds her remote father even more distracted and she finds that the deal she made with Haden's mother may have even deeper repercussions than she thought possible. While the blood following through her now includes a bit from Mara (Haden's nightmare of a mother), it also includes a bit of her power. This leads to some interesting plot twists later in the story.

Welcome to my show more Nightmare should have been the title of this book since all of Theia's friends are now involved in her life for better or worse and they are all exposed to Haden's mother just by being her friend. Theia finds herself with a need to feed on souls like Haden and doesn't realize she is doing it until Haden discovers her unwittingly drawing upon others. Some of her classmates are suffering from some weird illness that Theia believes Haden has something to do with, while the fact that Mara has come calling on her father makes the situation even more dire. It is a severe test of time to see if Theia and her friends can help the others at school while they are all pulled Under to face their fears.

I think I actually liked this one better than the first one which surprised me a great deal since I really loved the first one. It was so nice to see Theia really come into her own after her mousiness in the Falling Under. There was less of a romance and a lot more action, some of it a little horrifying. There is a lot more Ame and Donny in this one which helps quicken the pace and add more comical elements. I really don't think I can wait for the next installlment since this one left me hanging a bit. There are some sexual situations, alcohol use and some horrifying moments, so it is best suited to teens. show less

I loved the ending of this book when we got to see things from the other characters view instead of just Theia's. I hope there is another book to show how she's going to rule Under with Haden I think that would definatly be interesting.