January 24, 2009

Holding On To A Dream...

This book is a 2008 Cybils Finalist for Fantasy and Science Fiction.

17-year-old Janie Hannagan's not good with sleepovers.

It's a good thing she and her Mom are dirt poor, 'cause camp would be completely out, even if they could afford it.

She's pretty sure she's never going to sleep with anyone -- or marry -- or have a normal life. If you got dragged into the dreams of others, you'd avoid sleeping in company, too. What's worse is that it can happen when Janie's wide awake.

Study hall after lunch? Bites.

How's she ever going to get through school, get to college, get the hell out of the ratty little house where she lives with her mother, who is perpetually drunk? Why is she such a ...freak? Janie worries constantly that she's going to be hospitalized, in an accident, or somehow taken out of control of her life -- and she's desperate to maintain a tiny bit of control. It's bad enough that dreamers overpower her. She can't lose her job, lose her GPA, or not be there for her mother. She just can't. And so, she deals.

Most of the time, the dreams are stupid, or embarrassing, or sex-related, or just ...sad. For Janie, it's just a part of life she's lived with since she's been eight. But then... she catches a terrifying dream. There's a man, who sets his kid on fire. There are knives and shadows, and screaming.

And Janie's in the dream.
And he sees her.

What fresh hell is this?



Buy WAKE from an independent bookstore near you! And then, check out FADE, the sequel!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really want to read this one!

P.S. There's a weird image thing going on at the top of the post...

Anonymous said...

(got it!)
It's quite an intense book - dreams are really INTIMATE...!