Wake by Lisa McMann

Book Synopsis:

Not all dreams are sweet. For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime. She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control. Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....

Wake surrounds main character Janie, and her friends Cabel and Carrie, all who live on the wrong side of town. The side of town with secrets, where new clothes are dreams and welfare checks pay the rent. The character’s back stories are incredibly sad and some horribly frightening. Their lives contain terrible events and all of them have grown up with parents who are unwilling to be parents because of their own troubles. There’s poverty, drug abuse and child abuse laced within the story giving you the feel of reality and emotional connections to believable characters.

McMann’s writing style is unique to say the least, it was very factual, in your face writing, (2:45, Janie falls into old man’s dream, 3:10 Janie wakes up and eats something) I was hesitant at first thinking I wouldn’t be able to get through the monotone of the writing, but after about five pages I was completely sucked in and didn’t stop until the book was over!

The action moves quickly in short chapter fragments that span from Janie's childhood to her senior year of high school where the fast paced plot slows down enough for the story to unfold around the development of the characters. I loved the depth of Cabel and Janie’s relationship, their young and both messed up so trust is a huge issue for both of them. A romance blooms out of need and loneliness. Once trust is formed, they begin to bond and are able to share the dark secrets haunting them. I thought the relationship was the best part of the book and the most believable look at young love without over the top Romeo and Juliet themes.

The freaky element to the book.....Janie gets pulled into people's dreams if anyone starts to dream near her. The connection is broken by a closed door or enough distance, unless the dreamer is having a nightmare. Then it is unpredictable and scary. I thought McMann was at her best when writing the dream sequences. Janie drifts into her friends and classmates dreams with no control. More scary are the nursing home dreams and stranger dreams she's pulled into. Through the course of the book Janie tries to help some of them through their dreams. And it is within their dreams that she learns to power her mind to bend and transform the dreamworld.

Can you imagine falling into someone else’s dreams? What a brilliant idea, dream catching would be fascinating….that is until you fell into someone’s nightmare!!! When Janie falls into the first nightmare of the book, I was seriously having 7th grade slumber party flashbacks of Freddy Krueger…..eeecccckkkkk!!!

Profanity is R rated in this book, McMann used it in a way that’s real though. Granted I don’t want my kids shouting the F-bomb but it did fit real world talk. Secondly, there are a lot of sexual situations in the book, mostly in dream sequences….nothing overly graphic but enough that Wake seeks a mature audience. Id recommend this to teens and adults. (16& up)

4/5 YA, Thriller