The Ever After of Ella and Micha (The Secret #4) by Jessica Sorensen

* * * *

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Temptation of Lila and Ethan comes a story of change, hope, and unbreakable vows.

The day Ella has waited for is just around the corner. It's the day she'll marry Micha, the love of her life, the light that guided her out of the darkness. It looks like it will be the perfect Christmas-until an unexpected package arrives with a harsh reminder of Ella's past. Suddenly Ella doesn't feel as confident about her future. Can she really have a "happily-ever-after" if she's never even seen one?

Micha will stand by Ella no matter what she's going through-though he worries that she might leave him standing at the altar again. When he's offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour with his favorite bands for three months, Micha knows he can't leave Ella behind. But can he ask her to uproot her life to join him on the road?

Now Ella and Micha must find a way to balance their fears, their dreams, and their love . . . if they ever want to hear wedding bells.

Christmas came early for me! Of all of Sorensen’s titles, this series is my favourite (The Coincidence coming a close second) and with the way the previous book ended, I was desperately hoping for a happy ending for Ella and Micha.

I’ll try not to have too much spoilery here – at the end of The Forever of Ella and Micha, he was left waiting for her on the beach on the day of their wedding. She didn’t show up and Micha got into a panic as Ella has a history of running away. Ever After picks up from that point with Micha finding Ella in their house in tears because she realizes that as much as she wants to marry him, she also wants their dysfunctional families to be present. Micha is definitely relieved and also so willing to giving her what she wants, what she needs. They along with their friends Lila and Ethan make the road trip back home not knowing exactly what they’ll find, but hoping that being with their families brings some sort of comfort.

As I read Ever After, the one thing that kept running through my mind was how much patience Micha has for Ella. She’s constantly struggling with all her insecurities and pain. Coming home may have been her idea but it’s still a scary prospect for her to have to face where she came from - a very unhappy home life that included a mentally ill mother and a drunk father.  Micha himself doesn’t have very many good memories but the good ones are all centered around Ella.  The homecoming becomes more tense when a box containing her mother's journals is delivered to Ella from her grandmother. Ella starts reading them in hopes of understanding her better so she can get closer to the person her mother used to be. As she reads the journals, she worries it could drag her to a very dark place. But what’s hopeful this time is that Ella doesn’t shut Micha out completely, trusting him enough to confide in him. The last thing Micha wants is to have her shut down so he gently encourages her but never pushes her. Between flashbacks and breakthroughs, it’s comforting to see Ella become braver about expressing her thoughts and feelings. The flashbacks also show for just how long Micha has loved her and wanted to protect her.

  

Ella and Micha didn’t have the most ideal situation growing up. Yet they’ve both managed to carve out a path for themselves away from their painful past. This new path consists of trust, healing, support and most importantly, unconditional love. They don’t have it all figured out – who does? But they’re doing creating their life their way and they’re doing this together.

Anyone who has read Sorensen’s books knows full well that there’s a lot of angst, loss, and upheaval. On the flip side, there’s also passion and that tiny little glimmer of hope that expands as her characters push through. That’s exactly what she has delivered here. If you’re new to her writing, welcome and enjoy the crazy ride!

~ Bel

Family Man by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

* * * *

Sometimes family chooses you.

How does a man get to be forty without knowing whether he’s gay? That’s a question Vince Fierro is almost afraid to answer. If he is gay, it’ll be a problem for his big, fat Italian family. Still, after three failed marriages, he can’t help but wonder if he’s been playing for the wrong team.

There’s only one way to settle it, once and for all—head for Chicago’s Boystown bars, far from anyone who knows him. Naturally, he runs smack into someone from the neighborhood.

Between working two jobs, going to school, taking care of his grandmother, and dealing with his mother’s ongoing substance abuse, Trey Giles has little time for fun, let alone dating someone who swears he’s straight. Yet after one night of dancing cheek-to-cheek to the sultry strains of Coltrane, Trey finds himself wanting to help Vinnie figure things out—no promises, and no sex.

It seems like a simple plan, until their “no-sex” night turns into the best date of their lives and forges a connection that complicates everything.

Warning:  This book deals with alcoholism, broken promises, and overbearing little sisters.

Review: 

I’ve read a string of crappy books lately.  It was getting so frustrating that I actually decided to not finish one.  I rarely do that.  Then after not finishing a book, I went on to experience the supreme downer of reading a craptastic book  that was recommended to me and that had over 1000 5* reviews on GoodReads.  I needed some sort of palate cleanser after that piece of drivel.  Something to remind me how amazing gay romances can truly be.  How to do that?  Hmmmm…Oh, I know! Maybe look on my TBR shelf...  And that’s where I found Family Man.

Let me tell you.  This book was the saving grace of my August reads.  I think it actually started an amazing upward climb in good reading karma because I read two more books after this and I loved them as well.

While working on a plumbing job for a gay couple in Lakeview, Vince Fierro realizes that the loving relationship these two men have with each other might be what’s wrong with his love life.   Vinnie experimented with a guy in college but never went any farther than that.  Because what would his family think?  And if he’s cool with girls why take the risk losing his big close Italian family’s acceptance?  But Vinnie is starting to have an idea of what’s been missing in his life and he makes the decision to slowly explore the possibilities. 

So many gay romances revolve around the struggle of familial acceptance.  And Family Man is no different.  What was different from other m/m romances I have read was Vinnie’s family dynamic.  He comes from a large Italian family.  The kind that is all up in each other’s business every minute of every day.  It reminded me greatly of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  I was waiting any minute for Vinnie’s grandfather to pull out a bottle of Windex. 

One of the most important people in this family is Vinnie’s sister.  She is the one he goes to when he needs to talk and she is the one he first comes out to.  What I found fascinating was how in the beginning his sister yells at him for buying into gay stereotypes; forcing Vinnie to realize that being gay only means that he likes men and doesn’t necessarily mean he has to fit into a mold.   But as Vinnie slowly explores his sexuality and educates himself, his sister is the one that is challenged with reconciling her gay brother with her inherent expectation of macho Italian men. 

Then there is Trey.  Trey is busting his ass; working two jobs, going to school part time, helping his aging grandmother and tolerating/helping his substance amusing mother.  With everything he has going on, Trey doesn’t have time for pursuing a relationship.  But sometimes life doesn’t give us a choice.  Like when you see Vince Fierri sitting alone at a gay bar in Boystown.  After an unexpectedly romantic evening of dancing at a nearby jazz club, Trey’s plans for avoiding a relationship are completely thrown out the window. 

I felt that Trey was not only dangerously close to being a forever boy but he was also an emotionally complicated character.  Which is no surprise when you are dealing with a 25 year old man that has been dealing with his mother’s addiction for at least the past 15 years of his life.  I really appreciated the authors’ portrayal of Trey and his feelings towards his mom.  His mother is an alcoholic that has gone through multiple programs (programs that cost Trey his college fund and forced his grandmother to take a 2^nd mortgage on her home) but has never been sober for more than a few months.  Trey has a lot of anger and frustration and I liked how no punches were pulled when he was internalizing his feelings when his mom fell off the wagon yet again.

Trey has his grandmother and a small family of close friends.  But even though he is close to them he often feels he is isolated.   So when Vinnie offers the hope of more family, Trey isn’t sure if he should stay hidden in his bubble or embrace the gift of family that Vinnie is giving him.  Seeing Vinnie’s quiet and unobtrusive persistence when it comes to giving Trey the family he needs is wonderfully sweet. 

I highly recommend Family Man if you like a little bit of angst and whole lot of sweetness and romance.  It hit the spot for me and I hope it will for you too.

Nat

Just Sing (Seven Oaks #1) by René Gilley

* * *

Sixteen-year-old Lily O’Brien has one goal in life—to sing. Her dream is to get into a topnotch college vocal program, but the summer before her junior year, her high school cuts their awarding-winning vocal ensemble. She might as well kiss her dreams goodbye.

When the snobby new neighbors move into their mansion up the hill, Lily is positive summer can’t get any worse, and she’s determined to hate and ignore them—until she meets Aiden.

He’s broken and beautiful, and they become reluctant friends. Through her newfound friendship, she finds the strength to step outside the comfort of her plan and follow her dream.

But when Lily’s family is about to lose their home, she puts her wishes aside and finds the answer to save their generations-old ranch in the last place she expected.

Lily is rather unique in that where many of her peers feel a sense of entitlement about everything and neglect the benefits of hard work, she doesn’t take things for granted. Her family has been displaced because of financial problems and has had to sell off parts of their ranch in order to keep above water.  Her mother left them years ago and she lives with her grandmother, younger brother, an aunt and her daughter and finally, her alcoholic father. It’s rather depressing but Lily’s bright spot, her escape, has always been singing. When the program is cancelled at school because of sour grapes on a schoolmate’s part (this is where the entitlement things comes in), Lily is forced to find alternate plans for her future.

I expected the story to continue to focus on her search for a new school that would nurture her singing career and how she could possibly manage that. But the story diverges from that as she reluctantly befriends her new neighbours. Why reluctant? They happen to be moving into her former home. Not only that, the new guy Aiden, is hot and cold towards her and she’s never quite certain where exactly she stands with him. She figures he’s going through something so she patiently waits for him to come around at his own pace. In the meantime, he just makes things confusing.

This is a very sincerely written story.  The language makes you feel you’re inside the mind of a seventeen-year-old. One who’s facing changes and experiencing new emotions. When she realizes what Aiden goes through, and that all families have their problems, she tries to become the friend that he needs. You get the sense that she's always being the adult among all the "grown ups" in her life. She works on her mixed feelings toward her mother, a person who has consistently disappointed her and yet to whom she’s always granting second chances. How should she help her father whose drinking is a problem that no one wants to admit aloud? 

At the heart of it, she is still a kid who simply wants her dream to come true. Once she gets back on track, you just want to cheer her on. She deserves that elusive reward and she deserves that happiness. But most importantly, on this path, she comes to recognize her own self-worth. She may be an underdog but she's a fighter. You go girl!

~ Bel

Left Drowning by Jessica Park

* * * 3/4

Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family’s traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning.

I have been eagerly awaiting to have this book in my possession. I don’t know if it’s the striking cover or just the premise of the story that got to me. It happened to be a Kindle Daily Deal recently which made my day!

Blythe is in a drunken stupor on our initial encounter with her. She’s a college senior now simply going through the motions until she graduates. She has managed to maintain a safe distance from everyone, avoiding relationships of any sort. She feels that she doesn’t quite deserve happiness or a social life since her parents died in a fire years before. The fire that took them and irrevocably changed her and her brother’s lives, is something that she blames solely on herself.

After a particularly disastrous and awkward drunk-dialing to her brother, she decides that she needs to sober up and develop a different perspective on life.  This is the same day that things change suddenly when one of her peers Sabin, introduces himself to her in the most spectacular of ways. His is a very colourful and animated personality that normally Blythe would run from. But she is charmed by his audacity and over-the-top mannerisms. There you go. She has finally made a friend. Even she is surprised that this is as much human contact as she has had with anyone in the four years she has been at college.

When she meets Chris, Sabin’s brother, it’s an inexplicable, instant attraction. She uncharacteristically introduces herself to him and ends up divulging her personal loss to him. For some reason, she can do this with him and feel safe. Chris quietly lets her grieve. There’s just something about him that allows him to be her safe haven though she finds it hard to understand the connection between them. It’s a series of false starts with them as they figure out what they mean to each other and what they want.

Blythe’s circle does grow and she gains new friends. Coming out of her self-imposed isolation to find herself being happy is almost mystifying to her. This is probably the part of the story I enjoyed the most.

There is about a three-chapter section where things get very hot and heavy where I felt I stepped into "Fifty Shades of Grey Lite". I didn't particularly care for it at the time because it felt distracting to me. Now that I’m done with it I suppose I understand why things were described in such detail. If Blythe has been this numb for the last few years since the tragedy, then it’s valid that when she’s with Chris that everything about them, both physical and emotional, would be a new sensation for her.

As for the rest of the story, as Blythe continues her journey, she realizes Chris and his family will need her strength to help them through the terrors that they had endured as children. The mysterious connection she shares with Chris becomes clearer the deeper they delve into the past that’s haunting them all.

Left Drowning has its emotional highs and lows. Their pasts are so twisted and horrific, it’s understandable they’d all feel demoralized as young adults.  All the characters are pretty awesome but sadly vulnerable, especially Sabin whose larger-than-life personality is just masking his own pain. All of them are stuck in their own hell and it's Blythe who helps to pull them from it.

I mentioned at the beginning that I was eager to read this and I'm glad that I was not disappointed. Jessica Park has written a sweet story that's messy in parts but also full of happy moments too!

~ Bel

The Forever Of Ella And Micha (The Secret #2) by Jessica Sorensen

* * * * 1/2

Ella and Micha have survived tragedy and heartbreak. When they're together, anything seems possible. But now they are thousands of miles apart, and managing their long distance relationship will put their love to the test.

Ella is back at school, trying hard not worry so much about her future. But with her father in and out of rehab, she's having a hard time making it through the days. All she wants is Micha by her side, but she refuses to let her problems get in the way of his dreams.

Micha spends his days touring the country with his band, but deep down he knows something is missing. Being away from Ella is harder than he thought it would be. He wants her closer to him-needs her with him. But he won't ask her to leave college, just to be with him.

The few moments they do spend together are intense and passionate, but it only makes it more difficult when they have to part. They know they want to be together, but is wanting something enough to get them to their forever?

I think it’s been made clear how much of a fan girl I am for Ms. Sorensen (we are after all BFFs in my head) and how much I love/lust after Micha (we won’t even mention what goes on in my head with that one … wait. What?).  Even though The Secret Of Ella And Micha ended on a perfectly good note, after the emotional ride, it did leave us fans yearning for more. 

Forever kicks off a few months later with Ella back at school and Micha on the road with his band. Things seem to be going well.  Ella is making strides towards improvement by seeing a counselor to work through her issues. Micha enjoys performing but his mind always wanders off to Ella. They miss each other desperately but neither willingly admits to it for fear of disrupting the other one’s dream.

While you may think a lot has changed, certain things have remained the same. Ella is still hiding. Hiding from herself, from Micha, from her family. Her dad is finally in rehab and she’s trying to move forward. As much as she misses Micha, she also worries about losing him. And in worrying about losing him she thinks it’s actually better to let him go so she won’t have to experience losing him. It’s sound logic for someone who has been so let down by the important people in her life. Micha in the meantime is growing weary of life with the band and questioning where exactly he wants to be. Issues with his dad mess with his mind and he resorts to destructive ways of dealing with them. Of course, with so much they need to and should talk about, they avoid it like the plague. They do more to undermine their relationship than any of the outside influences. Truly, they need to be smacked upside the head Gibbs-style (NCIS reference there).

When they finally have to coexist in the same space for an extended period of time neither can even begin to talk about things sensibly. It’s so maddening when it leads to misunderstandings. The crazy thing is that Micha is so freaking patient with Ella, you want to nominate him for sainthood. And that’s saying something  because it is Micha after all! And Ella keeps confusing things with the whole let's-be-friends-but-may-be-more-than-that-but-really-no-touching-because-I-just-want-to-be-friends-because-I-need-space-but-really-can-I-take-your-shirt-off-but-just-as-you-know-friends? Those two can never keep the lines from getting blurred between being friends and lovers. Once again as much as I love them, I want to shake them.

So how does Forever stack up to Secret? A couple differences to speak of. To a certain extent it’s heavier. Ella dealing with her emotional health and Micha dealing with his family problems often weigh them down. This time around they also have to figure out their future and whether that includes each other. Once again with so much unsaid because they’re stubborn and afraid, they tend to push each other away before hurtling back together over and over again.

In Secret their unspoken sexual tension propelled the story. In Forever, it’s no longer unspoken. The “magic time” is abundant because they just can’t keep their wandering hands off each other. Hey, I’m not complaining at all. Those charged moments are one of the many reasons I love the books. In fact, one of the scenes made me just as giddy as the first time I’d read it as one of the teasers Sorensen had previously released. Reading it in context just made it more fun.

Lilah and Ethan are a big part of the story too. They should be given awards for being such awesome friends to those two knuckleheads. Ethan in particular raises eyebrows a few times with his insightful comments though he tends to follow those up immediately by joking. God forbid our favorite tattooed sidekick get mushy!

Anyone who enjoyed Secret will certainly enjoy Forever just as much. Ella and Micha are both healing and maturing. They're coming to terms with who they want to be and who they want beside them. You know when this comes out in paperback, I'm going to own that too, right? And Jessica Sorensen, thanks for being my BFF if only in my head :)

~ Bel

The Secret of Ella and Micha (The Secret #1) by Jessica Sorensen Blog Tour & Giveaway

* * * * 1/2

Ella and Micha have been best friends since they were kids. But one tragic night shatters their friendship and their lives forever.

Ella used to be a rule-breaker with fiery attitude who wore her heart on her sleeve. But she left everything behind when she went to college and transformed into someone that follows the rules, keeps everything together, and hides all her problems. But now it's summer break and she has nowhere else to go but home.

Ella fears everything she worked so hard to bury might resurface, especially with Micha living right next door. If Micha tries to tempt the old her back, she knows that it will be hard to resist.

Micha is sexy, smart, confident, and can get under Ella’s skin like no one else can. He knows everything about her, including her darkest secrets. And he’s determined to bring his best friend, and the girl he loves back, no matter what it takes.

I'll sum up my reaction after reading this in just one day: WOW! I first read this as an e-book a couple months ago and am so thrilled that it's now in paperback. Sorensen has written two very intriguing characters that I could not get enough of. I was instantly interested in what made Ella and Micha best friends and what eventually derailed that friendship.

Ella turned her back on her past but she can’t run too far from it especially when she has to return home for the summer from college. When she left, she did so without saying goodbye to anyone or where she was going. That included Micha. As soon as she gets home, she’s confronted by what she did and who she left behind. Micha represents so much that is at once so beautiful and painful about a moment in her life she wants desperately to erase. For his part, Micha is angry, confused and yet so relieved to see her again. He has spent the past few months worried out of his mind for her hoping that she was okay. Seeing her again releases a tidal wave of emotions that he wants to share with her but she keeps him at a distance.

It’s clear from the get go that both Ella and Micha are messed up from whatever it is they have experienced. Aware that any sudden move might scare her off again, Micha reaches out to her by reminding her of her connections at home and most importantly to him. In different hands, he would be an arrogant stalker unable to take a hint. But these people are so well written that he comes off as charismatic and irresistible even with his arrogance. He bares all his feelings to her never once hiding that he wants to take their friendship further. Ella on the other hand is plain scared and unable to bring herself to confront her fears or the truth that she feels the same way about him.

Many things make The Secret of Ella and Micha work. Both are complicated people with  issues that they have to work through mostly regarding their parents. They are so guarded about themselves yet there’d be no hesitation to help the other one out. There's this struggle to find a balance between the need to change but not give up your identity completely in the process. Both have friends who are surprisingly insightful despite the lack of information they’re privy to. Ella’s college roommate Lilah, seems like a privileged kid but she’s quite astute about Ella’s problems as they slowly come to light. Ethan, Micha’s best friend knows him better than anyone and has no problem calling him out when needed.

Perhaps the best part of the book is the mind-blowing chemistry between the two. Holy cow do the pages sizzle with sexual tension! There are as many steamy moments as there are tender ones. I could not break away from it. I loved Micha’s point of view - the way he looked at Ella, adored her, needed her. Seriously, there was a lot of swooning and knuckle-biting happening on my part! 

The Secret of Ella and Micha makes for fantastic reading. Sorensen did such a bang up job here and after reading a couple of teasers for the next book, I am not exaggerating when I say that I CANNOT wait to get my hands on The Forever of Ella and Micha.

~ Bel

Jessica Sorensen Interview & Giveaway 

Readers, I'm so very thrilled for BiblioJunkies to be a part of The Secret of Ella and Micha Blog Tour. As you can tell from my review, this is one of my favorite reads so far this year. And I'm very excited to have Jessica join us today for a quick Q and A.

You write the story from both Ella’s and Micha’s point of view. With either having their own baggage I was struck by how well you’d given them their own distinct voice. How conscientious were you about that when you were writing as each of them?
I was a little skeptical when I first decided to write from dual POV’s because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to give them a distinct voice, but I was surprised by how naturally it came out.

So spill – I had a lot of fun reading them but how much fun did you have writing those steamy scenes (which was pretty much every time they looked at each other)?

There was so much sexual tension between Ella and Micha and I loved every second of it.  In fact, the steamy scenes between them were some of my favorite scenes I’ve ever written.

Music plays a huge part in your books. What song do you feel describes Ella and Micha’s relationship best?

I have two actually, that remind me of their relationship. “The Story” by Brandi Carlile and “All the Same” by SickPuppies.

Time for silly questions. The BiblioJunkies motto is “boys, books and pie”. What’s your favorite sweet treat?

Hmmm… I think I have to go with cheesecake.

Who should play Ella and Micha if it were to be a movie?

Off the top of my head, I’d say Chace Crawford for Micha and Emma Stone for Ella.

Finally, can I have a sneak peek of The Forever of Ella and Micha? Pretty please? I’ll get you Chevelle tickets :-) (I have to try!)

Lol, okay!

I shuck off my shirt, climb onto the bed, and cover my body over her. Her fingers trace my stomach muscles and the black cursive font of my tattoo on my ribs.

“I’ll always be with you, inside and out,” she reads it. “Through hard times and helpless ones, through love, through doubt.”

I lean back a little, bring her hand to my mouth, and gently kiss her palm. “You know I wrote that for you.”

“No you didn’t.” Her eyelids flutter as I breathe on the sensitive spot of her wrist. “You wrote that when you were like sixteen.”

“Actually fifteen.” I release her hand and lie down on top of her, supporting my weight up with my arms.  “I remember sitting down to write it and the only inspiration I had was your sad eyes—I couldn’t get them out of my head.”

She pouts out her lip. “I don’t have sad eyes, do I?”

I brush my finger along her cheekbone and underneath one of her green eyes. “You did. All the time. And sometimes you still do.”

“You look sad sometimes too,” she tells me with her auburn hair spread out across the pillow. “But right now you look happy.”

“That’s because I am happy.” I start singing her the lyrics and it makes her grin broaden.

“There we go,” I say and kiss her deeply, nipping at her lip and tracing my tongue along the inside of her mouth.

She encloses her long legs around me and things turn heated. Threading my fingers through her hair, I caress her neck with my tongue until I know she’s going to have a hickey.  Her shoulder shudders upward from the touch of my breath and she giggles.

I put a small gap between us and look her in the eyes. “Does that tickle?”

She shakes her head with a solemn expression on her face. “No, not at all.”

I pinch her side playfully and she jerks sideways, attempting to roll out from under me.

“Please don’t.” She laughs, struggling for air. “Pretty please.”

I listen to her, because there’s something else I’m dying to do.  I begin to undress her, deliberately at first, but then my movements turn desperate and I end up ripping some of the buttons off her shirt.

Minutes later, our clothes are in a pile on the floor. As I stare into her eyes, I consider begging her to come with me on the road, but the moment is fleeting and I realize I just can’t do that to her.

Oh. My. God!!! Now I'm even more anxious for this book to come out! 

Thank you Jessica for stopping by! You can learn more about Jessica and her many books, music loves and even incredible sneak peeks of upcoming books by visiting her blog or by following her on Twitter @jessFallenStar.

I'd like to thank Forever Romance for inviting us to be a part of this blog tour, arranging the interview and also for supplying us with a copy of The Secret of Ella and Micha to giveaway to one of you lucky ones out there. Click here to enter: The Secret of Ella & Micha Giveaway.

~ Bel

The Wake Trilogy by Lisa McMann

* * * 1/2

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, curse with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.

Then she falls into gruesome nightmare, on 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 …

The Wake Trilogy explores the very lonely and exhausting life of Janie who learns that she’s a dream catcher. As a dream catcher she is able to enter into someone’s dream and witness the dream as it unfolds. Janie is particularly susceptible to this if the sleeping person is in close proximity to her. And each time she wakes from the dream, her body and mind are completely wrecked. This has been her life for as long as she can remember. Lisa McCann eloquently builds Janie’s world of isolation and chaos. With a father who deserted the family and a mother so devastated by it that she turned to booze and mentally checked out years ago, it’s a real wonder that Janie manages to somehow hold it together and get good grades in school.

Janie is a different kind of hero – one who carries her own burden silently while simultaneously holding up the fractured remnants of her family. She deals. With her mother lost to her and only one friend who is unaware of her ability, Janie's life is a prison. It's hard to watch when she should be thriving at this time in her life.  

When she bonds with Cabel, a troubled boy from school whom she has known for a while, things begin to change for her. Despite the fact that she is used to keeping her guard up, he becomes a very important part of her life. His gentleness and sincerity are a counterbalance to her dysfunctional reality. And it's through Cabel that she thinks she can experience some sense of "normal" she didn't think possible.

The dreams are still there and when she inadvertently plunges into a horrific nightmare, she thinks she may actually loose her mind. But with Cabel’s help and his surprising story, Janie may finally get the help and support she needs.

In the next two books in the series, Fade and Gone, Janie gets to explore her ability and find a way to use it for good. Fade shows a much more lighthearted Janie even though she finds herself embroiled in a scandal that she and Cabel are investigating. This could not only compromise her safety but also expose her rare ability.

In Gone, Janie and Cabel are dealing with the fallout of the scandal and how it impacts their relationship. This book shows Janie returning to somber, guarded nature as she sadly admits that she can never be normal. Dream catching has also led to some serious side effects that are slowly affecting her. As if that isn't enough, she also learns shocking facts about her family history. By the end, Janie is at that proverbial “fork in the road” and must choose the path she’ll take. Either one leads to deteriorating circumstances but it really does come down to the lesser of two evils.

Out of the 3, I liked Fade best. It was nice to see Janie come alive somewhat and find a sense of purpose other than keeping up her grades and making sure the groceries are done. McMann doesn’t sugarcoat what she and Cabel go through. Even though this is a paranormal story, it rings true and McMann handles some really tough subjects like alcoholism with plenty of finesse.

I recommend The Wake Trilogy because Janie’s dark, twisted world is crafted so beautifully and honestly. And though Janie has a tough road ahead, there’s still some bit of hope. Is it a fun read? No. But I was riveted. And when it ended, I felt satisfied that Janie was in good hands.

~ Bel