Blog Tour Stop: Wide Awake by Shelly Crane- Excerpt & Review

2:30 AM by Cierra 1 Comments A ⁺ a ^-

Wide Awake

Author: Shelly Crane

Publisher: Self Published

Release Date: March 22, 2013

Summary:

A girl.

A coma.

A life she can't remember.

When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.

Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

About the Author:

Shelly is a YA author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a wonderful husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in everywhere USA as they happily travel all over with her husband's job. She loves to spend time with her family and friends, go out to eat at new restaurants and site see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music and also LOVES to read.
Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.

Author Links:

Excerpt:

The next couple of weeks brought plenty of action and events. I focused harder on the therapy and tried to focus less on Mason. He seemed to be doing the same. I had renewed vigor, which led to stamina, which led to more workouts, which led to exhaustion, which led to tons of sleep, which led to healing, which led to me walking.

All.

By.

Myself.

This simple task, this simple thing that we all take for granted, that's so cute and monumental when a baby takes his first steps, but these first steps were so much more than that. Though I cried like a baby, I wasn't one. And though my mother cooed and fawned over me (because I had invited them that day to come because I just knew that day was going to be the day) I wasn't a toddler. I was me. I was finally getting a little piece of myself back. And though I tried so hard not to, my eyes drifted to the one person in the room that I knew would understand all this better than anyone else.

Mason's eyes were already on me from across the parallel walking bars. This time, I didn't shy away from his gaze. I knew that our terms were shaky, but so was I, and I needed the stability of my lifeline. As our gazes collided, I expected a smile and happiness, but I didn't expect the level of pride and utter joy to be so prominent. The man was bursting at the seams with it. It filled his face and the smile he wore was the beautiful one that made me feel like everything was going to be OK.

His lips parted and even in the loud room, I could still hear his breath. He said quietly, "You did it, Em." He moved forward and touched my arm. It was the first time he had touched me in weeks that had nothing to do with therapy. "I'm so proud of you."

As his fingers circled my elbow, and I tried not to shiver in his grasp, I asked softly, knowing the answer, "You didn't believe that I was going to walk again some day?"

"Of course I did." He smiled wider. "But today was the first time that you've ever believed it."

He was right. Having faith and having hope were not the same thing, and I was just now understanding that.

My Thoughts:

Okay, first off, this book/author had a great writing style as in it sucked the reader in, BUT there were numerous typos that the reader (or I) could not just skip over. *sigh* sometimes the life of a Grammar nazi is hard.

One thing that I really liked: the useless facts at the beginning of every chapter because, hello, trivia! If you asked my family what I talk about the most, it be random trivial facts that I've just learned. So, this book gave me the tools that I needed to annoy my family.

Next, although the topic itself was (sort of) cliched, it's not a topic that YA authors are really sending out right here, right now, so I guess you could call this book a refreshing break from all of that redundancy.

I sort of liked Emma's character as in she didn't turn back into who she was (the snobby cheerleader that you see on TV, but never in real life). If she would have reverted to that side of herself, I swear that I would have gently laid my phone down (what I read it on) and had a fit where I pulled out all of my hair. But..... At times, Emma's character was dull. And complained a. LOT. I mean, we all know that you got hit by a car, but what was it that Mason said? "It doesn't matter who you were or what you've done in the past. The only thing that matters is who you are now," and who you are should not be complaining unless you want to be labeled a nag for the rest of your naggy life.

Mason. Oh, Mason. He was/is a bad boy, but still sweet. Maybe a bit too sweet, but it still counts. He's one of those guys who most people would go after if he were real. But. Maybe his and Emma's relationship could have more to it than just automatic chemistry, etc.? Maybe it would have added depth to their relationship.

So, I was sort of surprised on the WHODUNIT? part, but then again the person was pretty much my only "Suspect Numero Uno".

So. This book will be getting three (3) hearts. That is all.