Wake by Amanda Hocking

Title: Wake
Author: Amanda Hocking
Blurb:
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.

Links:
Wake on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing either. I also thought the writing was a little awkward throughout the book and I had trouble liking the vast majority of the characters.

Gemma is the main female character of this book and she was okay. Beautiful, perfect, Olympic level swimmer, etc etc. She spends the first half of the book doing a whole lot of nothing... wandering around, swimming, kissing Alex a few times, visiting her crazy mother. Eventually the three siren girls force her into partying with them and drinking a potion. She becomes a siren too.

But ... then nothing happens. She is business as usual for a few days until the bodies are found and the sirens start freaking out about having to leave. I don't think it's a spoiler to say the sirens killed people. It's made very obvious throughout the story. That's when the action finally starts, and that's only a few dozen pages from the end.

Gemma and Alex - I just didn't feel the chemistry there. Well, I did in the first chapter when they're kind of flirting in the car, but after that it felt very forced. Alex is the super sexy nerd boy who likes to play video games, but other than that we don't really get to know him at all.

I feel like not enough happened in this book. The last 20-30 pages were decent, but before that everything moves very slowly. There's also very little character development. The only character I felt connected to was Harper and I feel like we really get to understand her and her motivations. The rest of the characters are cardboard and boring.

I'm going to read the rest of the books in the Watersong series, because it really seems like this book is all setup for the rest of the series and I'm still a fan of Hocking despite not being overly excited about this particular book.

3 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/382573662