Awaken was a really intense and kind of powerful read. There is a lot going on. There is mystery mixed with paranormal mixed with romance and action, plus characters you love and characters you want to die a slow and painful death. I haven't read a book that had this much going on and where it worked so well in a long time. Sometimes it can feel like a cluster you know what when a book tries to do too much, but not with Awaken. I can already tell that this is bound to be a favorite series of mine.

Bre is unique because she isn't just a straight tough girl kitt butt character but she isn't overly weak either. She is a mixture of both, and because of this she was very realistic. People aren't just tough all the time or wimpy all the time. Bre had a hard time letting go of her D-bag boyfriend Josh. Who, by the way I wanted to stab in the eye every single time he opened his jerky mouth. I couldn't stand him. But eventually she kicked him to the curb and I may have cheered in my head when that happened. Ok, fine, I totally did let out some woot woots! (I really hated josh)

But who needs Josh when there are also Austin and Collin around, who are actually great guys. I thought for sure that I would be team Austin because he was just so nice to Bre and he was so there for her and compared to Josh, Austin is guy gold! But then Collin showed up. And he didn't show up until at least half way through the book, which was a little strange to me, but as soon as he was there I couldn't look at anyone else. Collin just seems so right for Bre. Austin is a great friend to her but I had a hard time seeing him as anything else.

What was great about Awaken is that there is always something going on. Between the paranormal premonitions, which was done really cool by the way, there was also this mystery that kind of surrounded everything. And at the heart of the mystery for me was Eve. I just wanted to figure out what was going on with that girl. The next book is going to be just as epic as this one was, I can just tell. Sometimes you just know when a book is going to work for you, and Awaken just clicked for me. The writing is awesomely detailed and flows perfectly. I never thought the pacing was too fast or too slow, the characters were all developed and the plot was so intriguing. I need the second book right now.