Wake by Lisa McMann

This novel has an interesting concept that I'm not sure if it is entirely possible, but it's intriguing just the same. While it starts off a little slow, once the plot takes off, it really grabs your attention.

Janie has a unique ability to enter people's dreams. If anyone around her falls asleep and dreams, she gets sucked in as an observer, watching someone else's inner desires and fears play out. While this disrupts her daily life, what troubles her is the inability to help these people when their dream self asks for assistance. As her senior year begins, she forms a love/hate relationship with a neighbor, Cabel, who over the summer transformed his image. On a trip to Canada with her class, Janie becomes bombarded on the bus ride with dreams. Cabel witnesses this and tries to help her as much as possible. With all the he sees, though, Janie doesn't have a choice but to fill him in on her secret. Cabel does a few things to hurt Janie, such as forming a relationship with a girl she thought he hated, but it turns out she's not the only one with secrets. Right around the time she finds out what he's hiding, she learns that she's not the only one with this dream ability and has to figure out a way to harness her power to help people.

This novel started out really slow. After a while it became boring watching Janie go in and out of people dreams. I understand that it's character development, but I think it took just a little too long. When we find out Cabel's secret, though, the story really begins to take shape. It seems that until that happens, the story really didn't have a plot. His secret (I feel like I should reveal it, but then what's the point of the reading it yourself) combined with Janie's ability help to turn this novel into the beginning of a series, which I think has potential. When I started reading the book I didn't think it would go anywhere or would prove to be a very redundant series, but after finishing the book I actually look forward to a sequel. One thing, though, that does bother me is the writing style. The novel is chunked in days and then by hours, which make it very choppy. The reading felt very fragmented. It works, I guess, but I personally prefer more of a fluid flowing story.

Even though this novel takes a while to actually get going, it's an interesting concept and definitely worth a shot. I'm interested to see what's to come with the series.
MMK