Michigan: Wake by Lisa McMann

Finally, at long last, a post about my Reading Across United States of YA challenge. It has been months (September!) since I read a book in the realm of this challenge I designed more than a year ago. Here is my review and thoughts on Wake by Lisa McMann.

Book Summary via GoodReads. For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can’t control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant.

This is the first in a series (can’t quite decide if I will continue) where a teen has an ability to be sucked into dreams of those around her.  The paranormal mystery behind Janie’s strange ability is intriguing to the reader and definitely kept me interested throughout the book. There is also a little romance between Janie and Caleb that isn’t the focus, but still helps to keep a teen’s interest. Definitely helps broaden the audience, making this a general crowd pleaser.

This isn’t necessarily a standout work of art for me, but I think with its smaller size (225 pages) and action-packed plot, this book is perfect for a reluctant teen reader. Recommend this title to those who love Rosemary Clement-Moore’s The Splendour Falls (AKA the Alabama Read) as it has the paranormal mystery surrounding the main protagonist.

Keeping it short! That’s 20 down, 30 more to go!