ARC Review: Elizabeth Scott - As I Wake

Elizabeth Scott - As I Wake

• Pub. Date: September 15, 2011
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Format: Hardcover 224pp
• Age Range: Young Adult

Ava is welcomed home from the hospital by a doting mother, lively friends, and a crush finally beginning to show interest. There's only one problem: Ava can't remember any of them - and can't shake the eerie feeling that she's not who they say she is.

Ava struggles to break through her amnesiac haze as she goes through the motions of high-school life, but the memories that surface take place in a very different world, where Ava and familiar-faced friends are under constant scrutiny and no one can be trusted. Ava doesn't know what to make of these visions, or of the boy who is at the center of them all, until he reappears in her life and offers answers . . . but only in exchange for her trust.

First of all, I've never read anything by this author, but the cover really intrigued me. Second, I didn't even want to review this one because I don't like writing up negative reviews. However, I've been getting questions about why I didn't like it, so here are my thoughts. Bear with me!

I did think that the premise of this book sounded interesting. Not promising, but definitely different. I just don't feel like it developed in an organized, clear manner. I was confused half the time, and the other half of the time I was too distracted by everyone's stuttering. All the characters talked in fragments. They'd start saying something, then there'd be a dash, and then they would change their minds and say something else. ALL. THE. TIME. I was highly annoyed. This made it choppy and the flow was off.

I also didn't like Ava very much anyway. I never connected with her since she didn't even know who she was and she didn't want to be whoever she was. She kept saying the same things over and over again, and the use of 'she' and 'her' and 'now' and 'was' repeatedly became obnoxious and troubling. It definitely took away from the story overall. And her friends and their stories were convoluted with their alternate lives. Nothing ever was fully explained as the bits and pieces came back to Ava, and then it just ended.

This book could have been 200 pages shorter and still had the same plot. A short story would have been enough. I didn't like the writing style, the lack of explanation, or the dialogue. Just not a fan of this novel at all. It definitely needed some editing, so I hope the final version is cleaner. However, I will say that I'd like to try something else by her. I've won quite a few of her novels in giveaways, and I'm looking forward to reading those soon.

Rating:


2/5 book sharks