Devine Dawn

Awake at Dawn by C. C. Hunter
* Book will be released October 11, 2011
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

This book was a spectrally delicious 5 gnomes out of 5 gnomes for continuing a really intriguing world where you’ll always be wondering what’s going to happen next.  This series continues to be fun to read and all the characters are really engaging.  

Kylie’s a great character who just wants to find out what she is so she can find some peace and be more sure of herself.  She has even more unexpected changes in her life of the regular and the supernatural variety.  

The camp setting is fun and gets rid of the whole inattentive parents problem that plagues a lot of Young Adult books.  It does this by having parents day at the camp when the parents come to visit and with Kylie you see her communicating with her Mom all the time.  

Kylie is still perplexed about what she is and trying to get a handle on her seeing and speaking to ghosts power.  Some rather strange developments happen during the course of the story that will leave you wondering what exactly Kylie is.  You are given a small part of why Kylie’s the way she is but a concrete answer is not yet given (though at the end you know she’s just about to learn who she is and then WAM, the book ends.)

This is one love triangle that I actually enjoy reading about.  Derek appears to be a great guy and Kylie has some major feeling for him.  He is half-fairy and has the kind of disturbing power to influence people’s emotions and he gains an even more disturbing power that should make Kylie question him more.  Lucas who’s a werewolf seems like a much better love interest for her.  She still thinks of him even though he’s been away and they are connected in some intriguing ways.  I hope that she ends up with Lucas and that we get to see more of him in the next book.

Della and Miranda continue to be great characters.  Even if they are fighting, which they do plenty, they are always there when Kylie needs them.  Perry, the shapeshifter,  is another character that really makes you want to know more about him and also whether he and Miranda will ever officially become a couple.

A major theme in the story is communication.  Kylie can’t get the ghosts that visit her to communicate clearly.  She doesn’t know if she ever wants to communicate with her Dad again.  Her former best friend doesn’t seem interested in their friendship anymore and talking on the phone becomes tedious.  Then there’s the bad communication that happens between a lot of the characters who don’t want to admit that they were wrong or step up and be in a relationship even though they obviously like the other person.

There are some intense twists and turns in the story and a lot of mysteries to solve.  It does look like answers will be forthcoming in the next book.  I can’t wait to see if they turn the camp into a boarding school and of course I’m very curious what kind of supernatural Kylie is.  I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next book.

Sentence Sneak Peek - Awake at Dawn

Awake at Dawn by C. C. Hunter

The first sentence from each chapter of Awake at Dawn, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* Book will be released October 11, 2011
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

"You have to stop it, Kylie."

"At first Kylie didn't see anything, then her gaze shifted lower to the ground and locked onto a pair of eyes—eyes that glowed golden in the night's obscurity."

"What happened?"

"Hearing Burnett speak lessened the emotional lump in Kylie's throat."

"Della raised her nose in the air."

"An hour later and she hadn't had a lick of sleep yet."

"Kylie crossed her fingers that this whole mess could somehow have a good ending to it—that the only think nasty to come out of it would be her sore ass."

"A part of Kylie wanted to push the letter back across the desk."

"The sound of twigs being crushed underfoot told Kylie her com-pany stood behind her."

"What are you doing here?"

"Nothing is bad," Kylie answered Derek, and desperately tried not to emit any hormones or emotions that might have gone sailing in the air when her gaze locked on him."

"Hey!"

"Mom."

"Derek?"

"His question ran across all sorts of nerves and not the good ones, either."

"Kylie opened her mouth to scream, but neither air nor words came out."

"Burnett made Kylie go over what happened several times."

"Later, after Derek walked her back to her cabin in an uncomfort-able silence, Kylie decided to go to bed early."

"After Kylie had given her mattress a good beating, she got dressed, apologized to Socks for acting silly, and left her cabin in search of Holiday."

"He's really doing it, isn't he?"

"The knock sounded on her bedroom door not three minutes af-ter she crawled into her bed and pulled the covers over her face and continued to cry."

"That afternoon, Kylie decided to skip the picnic dinner at the swimming hole."

"Kylie frowned and shook Selynn loose."

"Her mom looked down."

"Well, if it isn't the ghost girl."

"Kylie felt as if seltzer ran through her veins."

"Confusion filled his expression."

"How do I make it stop?"

"Kylie gaped at the screaming redheaded girl locked in the big purple cage in the middle of Miranda's room."

"Kylie got to Derek's cabin a minute later."

"Kylie wasn't sure who it was who said you couldn't go home again."

"Sara opened her eyes."

"Kylie's heart stopped when she saw the body against her windshield."

"Fighting the pull to move back into her body, Kylie swung around and flew back the way she'd come."

"Kylie's heart squeezed."