Blog Tour and Giveaway: The Awakening (Emerge #1) by Melissa A. Craven

Book Blurb:

Allie Carmichael has always believed life is simple.

You’re born.

You live.

You die.

She has no cause to believe that equation works differently for her, but there has to be a reason the world treats her like a pariah.

When an unexpected move to Kelleys Island brings Aidan McBrien crashing into her life, Allie is thrown by his reaction. He doesn’t shrink from her touch. He doesn’t stutter or make a quick exit. He smiles and welcomes her into his circle of friends, who aren’t exactly comfortable with Allie, but they seem to get her in a way most people don’t.

Finally, Allie has a real shot at normal and rides that high right up to her sixteenth birthday when she wakes in agony—an experience Aidan insists they have all faced. She struggles in ignorance, uncertain of what is real and what isn’t. When she emerges, Allie is different. She has always been different, but even among her extraordinary friends, she and Aidan are special.

As Allie struggles to maintain her tenuous grasp on the power that threatens to overwhelm her, she worries she will lose herself in this strange new world. A dangerous world where she will have to fight tooth and nail to defend the power and freedom that is her birthright.

…only Allie hates to fight.

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My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Mystery, Supernatural, Teen--

Allie has had a hard life with her parents, always on the move, never in one place long enough to make friends with anyone, ever isolated. When she is about to turn 16, her parents move to a small island where Allie finally feels like she is home. She has a strong connection to a boy she meets named Aidan, the first person to not flinch away from her touch. Just when Allie is certain her life is perfect, something unexplainable happens on her 16th birthday and she is not who she thought she was. Allie must find a way to cope with a new world she could never have prepared for.

To be honest, the cover swayed me into wanting to read the book with it’s bold image and in your face colors. Yes, I am guilty of wanting to read a book by cover appeal alone. I could not remember what this book was about when I picked it up to read so I was going into the plot blind. Based on the first 3rd of the book, I could not predict what direction the story was taking. Sure, I had a vague feel of something special brewing inside of Allie, but the twists of what she was and the new structural dynamics she faced I could never have guessed. The plot of a girl becoming something new as she ages is not a new idea, but what the author created was most certainly a new unique twist. This was a coming of age/teen story mixed with paranormal mysteries and action, and some fated romance thrown in.

The thing I found to be my biggest hang-up in enjoying the story was sometimes the plot did not flow or transition smoothly. It felt like at times the story was disjointed, and I would read something and feel like part of the story was missing or maybe I skipped a part so I would go back a few chapters or page and re-read to make sure I didn’t skim over. Nope, nothing skipped, just maybe transition words? Time was used very relative, sometimes weeks passed in a blink and a new relationship was formed without me every seeing it happen, which made me a little put out. It made the story confusing at times as to what was happening, so it was hard for me to get fully invested in the book. Maybe this is just my problem, and nobody else had issues, we will see.

Overall, I thought that this was a good first book in what I expect to be a complicated, intriguing series with tons of side characters and twists. I am interested to see what will happen next.

I received this title in return for my honest review.

Author Bio:

Melissa A. Craven (the "A" stands for Ann—in case you were wondering) was born near Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to Cleveland, Ohio at the age of seventeen. She still thinks of Cleveland as home, so it was only natural for Emerge to take place there.

Today, she is back in Atlanta—for some reason she can't seem to stay away from the ungodly heat that makes her long for things like "lake effect snow" and wind that will knock you flat.

Melissa decided a long time ago that the “ life checklist” everyone else was clutching so tightly in their fists, just wasn’t for her. She does everything backwards because she is weird like that, but then, she is an artist and artists are notoriously "unique" and "quirky."

She is an avid student of art and design, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of West Georgia in 2009. She worked as an interior designer for several years, but she's always thought she might like to be a writer when she grows up.

In her spare time, if she has any, she enjoys shopping for derelict furniture she refinishes to exercise the interior design part of her brain.

You can find her on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, YA Books Central, Instagram, Pinterest and her website

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