Wake - Review

Title: Wake
Author: Amanda Hocking
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:

Fall under the spell of Wake—the first book in an achingly beautiful new series by celebrated author Amanda Hocking—and lose yourself to the Watersong.

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.

My thoughts:

I have a thing for mermaid stories.  I like them best when they are soulless and evil though, like the ones in Pirates of the Carribean.  Maybe it all started with the Disney version of Peter Pan, I don't know, but that is one of my favorite movies of all time.   I enjoy Hocking's books because although she writes in the supernatural type genre, she writes about something different than witches, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves.  Her last book was about trolls, and now sirens.  Huzzah Hocking!

So, I was excited as I read this book because the mermaids are not really mermaids, they are sirens of myth.  They are evil and heartless and to be honest were a little scarier than even I wanted!  Their origin story was well done and interesting, but part of the story required that there always be four sirens, and for some reason that bothered me.  I can't explain why, but it did.  Irriational and a small thing, but there it is. It bugged me. Lol.

The main characters of Gemma, Harper, Alex and Daniel was pretty good.  I loved Harper and Daniel's story, and I was rooting for them the whole way.  I kept expecting him to be something more than what he was, so we will see in book two of this series.   Harper reminds me of myself in a way, how she takes care of her younger sibling.  My brother is six years younger than me,  and I took care of him a lot when he was younger and my mom was at work.  So I totally can see where Harper is coming from. I loved Gemma and her dedication to her swimming, and her growing relationship to Alex, although in some parts the descriptions of Alex made me think he might be a little off.  

The big showdown was pretty cool, and a little sad. The ending of course was a cliffhanger, and now I have to wait until Winter 2013 to see what happens.   I really enjoyed this book, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.