The Awakening

My second novel of the year to be titled The Awakening although this one is a very different prospect from Kate Chopin's story. Emma Jones' The Awakening, her first novel, was published almost exactly a year ago. I first spotted it via twitter then was reminded by Sophie's post on her Reviewed The Book blog. Staunchly in the Young Adult genre, The Awakening is told in the first person by Lauren, a young woman who unexpectedly discovers that her new boyfriend is a vampire. Swiftly taken under his family's wing, she learns about their history, her own family's supernatural past and the possibilities for her future both with boyfriend, Gavin, or maybe with his cousin, the black sheep, Daniel. Unfortunately, The Awakening suffers from frequent poor punctuation, typos and spelling mistakes which at times make it tricky to follow. I noticed earlier reviews have also commented on this and most would be easy to spot and correct. I think this would improve the reading experience because, at the moment, these errors keep destroying any atmosphere as its builds up. Throughout the book, Lauren talks at great length about her predicament and indecision but, infuriatingly, I didn't feel that I particularly got to know either her or Gavin as individuals. Much of the dialogue is generic and repetitive so doesn't illuminate their characteristics. Also, I would have liked a lot more understanding of how Lauren felt at specific times. She sees dark visions that are presumably disturbing, but then pops off to the pub with her mates and everything is normal and forgotten? Also, I would have liked an actual ending as the mid-scene stop simply doesn't work for me. I felt cheated which doesn't inspire me to risk buying any more of the series. The Awakening has an interesting premise and the overall story arc is entertaining, but it needs more time spent, both for editing and proofreading, to turn it into a strong, dynamic novel.