Review: Awake by Natasha Preston

Awake

Author: Natasha Preston
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Genre: YA Contemporary Thriller
Format: ebook
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Source: egalley received from publisher via Netgalley
Rating: 2 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Scarlett doesn’t remember anything before the age of five. Her parents say it’s from the trauma of seeing her house burn down, and she accepts the life they’ve created for her without question—until a car accident causes Scarlett to start remembering pieces of an unfamiliar past.

When a new guy moves into town, Scarlett feels an instant spark. But Noah knows the truth of Scarlett’s past, and he’s determined to shield her from it...because Scarlett grew up in a cult called Eternal Light, controlled by her biological parents.

And they want her back.

My Review:

There are some pretty terrible reviews for this book on Goodreads which I noticed, but didn’t really read before I started it. I requested it because it sounded different. A crazy cult? Definitely unique. And I do enjoy a good thriller so I thought I would give it a try. I should have listened to all those negative reviews. I honestly don’t even know why I finished this book. I guess mostly because I wanted to see the cult and by the time I actually got to that part I was over halfway so I thought I would just finish it. But I should have DNFed it.

The first problem this book had was a major case of instalove. Oh my gosh, this is probably one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen. Because it wasn’t just “I love you.” It was more like “I would die for you. I am nothing without you. I can’t remember my life before you.” *throws up everywhere* Seriously??? You’ve known each other five minutes. Maybe calm down.

The characters were also pretty terrible. Both Scarlett and Noah were dull and lifeless. I didn’t connect to either of them. Scarlett was whiny, clingy and she could be kind of a bitch. Noah was just plain boring. I couldn’t find one interesting thing about him. He just seemed to bounce around the book, doing his thing, professing his love for Scarlett and I didn’t care about him at all.

Because this book alternated POVs, the twist was revealed to the reader early on. I say poor choice by the author. I think this book could have been much more effective had it been told just from one of the characters’ POVs. There would have been more twists and surprises and it would have made the book more enjoyable.

The cult wasn’t even that interesting. They were just creepy and everything was kind of anticlimactic after we finally got to see the cult. I think it was supposed to be high suspense towards the end, but I just really didn’t care at that point so I didn’t feel it. I was basically just skimming and trying to get through the rest of it. I’ve read lots of books with bad reviews on Goodreads and ended up liking them. But this is one that you should probably listen to the bad reviews on.

Have you read this book? What did you think?