Author: Kristen Day

Synopsis:

The sacrifices we make have the power to shift the very fabric of who we are, and ultimately who we are meant to be…

After learning of her true destiny as the intended Leader of the Tydes, Anastasia Whitman must now embark on a perilous quest to the Underworld before the age of eighteen in order to plant the seed of immortality and complete her essence to become a true Sea Goddess. But before she can make her legendary journey, an unexpected new student transfers to Lorelei; initiating a sequence of events that will unravel Stasia’s new life, and test the boundaries of her relationship with the mysterious, dark, and sexy Finn Morrison. The line between the Underworld and the Living begins to blur as gruesome ghosts, morbid reveries, and pure evil haunt her waking hours as well as her sanity. Once the details of Finn’s own startling destiny are revealed, the dangerous secrets he’s been hiding will threaten the very love Stasia believed to be indestructible. As time begins to run out, she will be forced to choose between the one she loves and the destiny she cannot escape.

Review:

Sometimes you click with a book and other times you don’t. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to click with this book. While it contains interesting characters, intriguing mythology and a pace that I enjoy, I just didn’t fall in love with Awaken. If I would have read this book a year ago, I know I would have loved it. I would have continued the series and gushed about it to anyone and everyone. But unfortunately and fortunately in the last year I have read some amazing books. Not only did they take a piece of my heart but they completely changed my interactions and expectations of books. Now I’m always looking for something that immerses me in the world in which I am reading and also makes the world around me disappear. I’m always looking for the next book or series that will steal another piece of my heart while I am engrossed in feeling everything the main character is feeling. While Awaken is a nice book, it just didn’t speak to me on that level.

One of the main reasons I didn’t completely connect with Awaken was because of Stasia and Finn’s relationship. I did desperately want more from them. More heart to hearts, more passion, more honesty and a little less cheesiness. I love mystery and peril but sometimes it’s bothersome when such a tight unit that is supposed to love each other more than life itself isn’t always honest with each other. A lot of times I can make myself overlook that issue. Everyone is human and has faults so why would characters be any different? But when I can’t completely love a couple then it becomes something that sticks out. The delayed conversations and hidden truths become something that I am not able to get past and therefore it taints the relationship even more.

Awaken does have a strong heroine who has a sexy boyfriend and a great group of friends. The mythology is fun and the story flows at a nice pace. I just wanted more than what it was able to deliver. More passion, more honesty, and mainly more feelings invoked in me. But even though I didn’t connect with it doesn’t mean you won’t! Here’s hoping you do!

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Synopsis:

Once you’ve been touched by darkness, it never leaves you…
Abandoned by her parents as an infant; seventeen year old Hannah spent her childhood wading through countless foster families until being adopted by the Whitmans three years ago. Unfortunately, Atlanta’s high society wasn’t quite ready for Hannah…or the strange events that plague her

Chilling visions of murder, unexplained hallucinations, and a dark, mysterious guy who haunts her nightmares all culminate to set in motion a journey of self-discovery that will challenge everything she’s ever believed; not to mention her sanity.
Sent to live at The House of Lorelei on Bald Head Island, NC for ‘kids like her’, Hannah quickly realizes things are not what they seem. Her fellow ‘disturbed’ teens are actually the descendants of mythical Sea Gods and Goddesses. And so is she.
But when Finn, the ghost from her dreams, appears in the flesh; her nightmares become reality and her dark visions begin coming true. Inexplicably drawn to him, she can’t deny the dangerous hold he has on her heart. The deadly secrets he harbors will ultimately test her courage and push the boundaries of her love.
She must decide if she is ready to embrace the ancient legend she is prophesized to be a part of. The fate of all the descendants will forever depend upon it.

Review:

***Unfortunately, I will not be finishing this series. In the second book I was left wanting so much more – more passion, more honesty, and mainly more feelings invoked in me. You can read my review about Awaken (Daughters of the Sea #2) here – Awaken: 3/5 Stars***

***3.75 stars***

This was a fun book and I did enjoy it for the most part. I liked the characters, I found the potential for another BBF, the Sea God/Goddess paranormal element was fascinating and the way the story progressed was completely entertaining and had me flipping through the pages as fast as I could. But, I had two problems with Forsaken. The first being that some of the lines were way too cheesy, and I laughed because I felt so awkward for them. And the second was after 80% some events happened that seemed way too coincidental and that kept happening until the end of the book. I’m going to give the second book a try and I have my fingers crossed it’s similar to the first 4/5 of Forsaken!

I froze when the tips of his fingers brushed my neck and shoulder. The heat they evoked lingered like glowing embers across my skin.

Hannah’s parents abandoned her when she was only 8 months old. She was dumped into the foster system and moved from one horrible family to the next and each time her heart darkened a little more. In her teens, she was finally adopted by a wealthy family. After tracing her mysterious birthmark with her fingers, at one of her adopted family’s swanky events, she blacks out and it sets off a chain of events that eventually leads her to being sent to an island where she will be in school with “other kids like her”. This is where Forsaken turns fun!

A new start. Wasn’t that what I’d been wanting? A new beginning? I felt the fight go out of me and a brand new emotion took hold. It felt a lot like…hope.

Hannah was an enjoyable character. She had resolve, depth, and tries her hardest to put her faith and trust into others despite her past. For the most part, I agreed with her choices and actions. And as each chapter progressed, I found myself becoming more and more obsessed with what was going to happen to Hannah. I loved the new friends she made. They were a crazy, loving group of girls and they added so much fun to the story. And I loved when she met Fin. He is my favorite type of BBF! He has a dark past, is handsome, mysterious, cocky, wise and he seems to have a heart of gold. But there was always something brewing underneath the surface of him and he constantly has you questioning what his true motives and intentions are. Also, that boy has a ton of secrets! I always smiled when he was in the scene because I loved how he made Hannah feel and you always knew that something exciting was going to happen.

I tried my best to be mad at him. It was difficult, considering he was the embodiment of temptation and continually weakened havoc on my emotions.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past the cheesiness and coincidental parts of the book. Maybe I’m super-duper picky but having characters pretending to speak in British accents at what could be romantic moments had me cringing and vehemently shaking my head no, no, no. I was so embarrassed for them and I just wanted it to stop. There were other moments similar to this in the book and I questioned why it had to be in there or why they had to say something a certain way. And I know lots of crazy things can happen in books but when things keep feeling like a coincidence again and again it bugs me. This kept happening past the 80% mark and it made me lose some of my interest in the story and the characters. I’m going to try the second book because this book does have a lot of potential. The writing was enthralling, the story line was entertaining, and I always love when I find a heroine that I like and a sexy, troubled, bad-boy BBF!