Title: Wake
Author: Amanda Hocking
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Series: Watersong, #1
Release Date: August 7th, 2012
Pages: 309 (Paperback)
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Gorgeous. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Lexi and Thea have caught everyone's attention—but it’s Gemma who’s attracted theirs. She’s the one they’ve chosen to be part of their group. Gemma seems to have it all—she’s carefree, pretty, and falling in love with Alex, the boy next door. He’s always been just a friend, but this summer they’ve taken their relationship to the next level, and now there’s no going back. Then one night, Gemma’s ordinary life changes forever. She’s taking a late night swim under the stars when she finds Penn, Lexi and Thea partying on the cove. They invite her to join them, and the next morning she wakes up on the beach feeling groggy and sick, knowing something is different. Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. But her new powers come with a terrifying price. And as she uncovers the truth, she’s is forced to choose between staying with those she loves—or entering a new world brimming with dark hungers and unimaginable secrets.
Thoughts: Actual rating is 3.5 stars.
So this book is round three of my Mermaid Marathon (even though this is a book about sirens, but still). Starting it, I expected the worst, after seeing quite a few negative reviews for it. And also because Hocking's other novel that i read, Switched, was painfully bad. I had low hopes for this book, but I read it anyway because I do like siren YA books. Imagine my surprise when I actually ended up enjoying this book.
Harper and Gemma are sisters that live in the town of Capri, where there are three new mysterious girls visiting that has caught the attention of everyone in town. Penn, Thea and Lexi seemed to have set their sights on Gemma, and one night they lure her into the cove that they hang out in, and next thing you know Gemma ends up waking up on the beach feeling like something is wrong with her. She soon realizes how that one night changed her, made her stronger, faster, and more beautiful. But the three girls expect Gemma to leave her whole life and everything she's ever known to join their dark world, or else.
The book is told in third person and has multiple points of views, but mainly Harper and Gemma. Being the older sister, Harper acts as a mother figure to Gemma, since their mother became mentally ill after a car accident. I liked the two sisters, even though sometimes they may annoy me. Harper can be a tad too overprotective and Gemma can be just plain annoying, but I can't say they were completely unlikable.
There are two love interests in this book, one for each sister. Gemma's love interest is Alex, the geeky boy next door that she has a crush on. I found it a little weird how Alex is described as this sexy, toned, broad-shouldered guy even though it's apparent that he doesn't like to exercise, and that he spends most of his time in front of the computer, but oh well. He was just an okay character. Their romance was boring, so I didn't pay much attention to it at all, really.
Harper's love interest is Daniel, a guy who lives in a boat and who has this type of, and I quote, "grungy" sexiness to him. Now I can genuinely say that I liked Daniel a lot. By the way his appearance is described, he could have been the badboy character, but he's far from it. He seems like a really sweet guy, and I thought the romance between him and Harper was cute, cause there was a lot of denial and awkward moments. And it never moved too fast, like Gemma and Alex's romance did.
The three siren girls remind me of the Plastics from Mean Girls. Penn is the Regina George of the group, and I thought she was a rather cartoonish type of villain, especially near the end. I was surprised she didn't just do an evil laugh. Thea was I guess the Gretchen Wieners of the group, but to be honest, Thea never really did much of anything the whole book. She was just... there. I sometimes forgot she was there, to be honest. And then there's Lexi, who is hands down the Karen Smith of the group, all dumb and happy-go-lucky. We find out some back story about these girls eventually, and how they became what they are and why they do what they do.
The ending was a pretty big cliffhanger, and I can't deny that I'm looking forward for the sequel's release. This was overall a pretty enjoyable book and a quick read, although it does fall into my "guilty pleasures" category, cause before I read it, I was expecting to hate it. Well done in proving me wrong, Amanda Hocking.
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