Wide Awake Review

Wide Awake

Author: Shelly Crane
Release Date:
March 22nd 2013
Pages: 202
Genre:  Young Adult, Romance,
 Contemporary

 

Summary
A girl.
A coma.
A life she can't remember.

When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital. Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

Review
I don’t usually read contemporary books of any sort but I’m glad I took a chance with this book. “Wide awake” is a great story and I think ti’s really believable in the fact of what happens when people wake up from being in a coma. Not only does it deal with the issue of someone being in a coma but it deals with memory loss as well and how the character deals with it and the people around her.

This books takes place mostly in a hospice where Emma is being kept because of how long she was in a coma for.  After she gets out though she finds out that she lives in Colorado, USA. I never expected her to be rich, that wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when I read this book but she is and lives in a huge house. I can see why her parents didn’t really like Mason because of his low income as a physical therapist.

The author knows how to draw in a reader through this book about coma’s and amnesia. Though there is a lot of different life problems in this book it all seems to work together. This book center’s around Emma and how she deals with waking up after being a coma for 6 months and not knowing anything of her life. Her family who she doesn’t know well try hard to help her remember her life but she can’t and they can’t seem to accept this. Throughout the book they want her to be who she use to be. Personally I hate how she use to be which was a rich brat and glad that she choose to be who she is now and not what her parents want her to be.  Mason who is her physical therapist is the only person she can rely on, who accepts her for who she is now. Of course she falls for him, which is a bit to fast but he has a few issues keeping them apart. As Emma catches up on her old life she learns even more bad things about what she did at the school. Not only that but Andy, her old boyfriend wants to get back together with her. Making a life for herself is hard when everyone wants her to be who she use to be but she’s strong to pave her own road. There is a few shocking moments that you wouldn’t expect in this book but it just makes this book even more interesting. 

This was a really great read, except for the fast romance, I loved everything about this book. The characters of Emma and Mason are cute and great, and they fit so well together. This book makes me think I should pick up more Contemporary romance novels more.

Rating
4 out of 5 Howling Wolves

Excerpt
  The next couple of weeks brought plenty of action and events. I focused harder on the therapy and tried to focus less on Mason. He seemed to be doing the same. I had renewed vigor, which led to stamina, which led to more workouts, which led to exhaustion, which led to tons of sleep, which led to healing, which led to me walking.

All.

By.

Myself.

This simple task, this simple thing that we all take for granted, that's so cute and monumental when a baby takes his first steps, but these first steps were so much more than that. Though I cried like a baby, I wasn't one. And though my mother cooed and fawned over me (because I had invited them that day to come because I just knew that day was going to be the day) I wasn't a toddler. I was me. I was finally getting a little piece of myself back. And though I tried so hard not to, my eyes drifted to the one person in the room that I knew would understand all this better than anyone else.

Mason's eyes were already on me from across the parallel walking bars. This time, I didn't shy away from his gaze. I knew that our terms were shaky, but so was I, and I needed the stability of my lifeline. As our gazes collided, I expected a smile and happiness, but I didn't expect the level of pride and utter joy to be so prominent. The man was bursting at the seams with it. It filled his face and the smile he wore was the beautiful one that made me feel like everything was going to be OK.

His lips parted and even in the loud room, I could still hear his breath. He said quietly, "You did it, Em." He moved forward and touched my arm. It was the first time he had touched me in weeks that had nothing to do with therapy. "I'm so proud of you."

As his fingers circled my elbow, and I tried not to shiver in his grasp, I asked softly, knowing the answer, "You didn't believe that I was going to walk again some day?"

"Of course I did." He smiled wider. "But today was the first time that you've ever believed it." He was right. Having faith and having hope were not the same thing, and I was just now understanding that.   


Author
Shelly is a YA author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a wonderful husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in everywhere USA as they happily travel all over with her husband's job. She loves to spend time with her family and friends, go out to eat at new restaurants and site see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music and also LOVES to read. Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.

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