Cold Awakening Series by Robin Wasserman (Gina)

This year I attended my first teen author's festival in NYC. The whole reason I was going was to see one of my favorite authors in the genre speak in one of the forums. The forum was about writing emotional darkness into your novels and how it is conveyed and seen in different ways. Of course the author I wanted to see was there but also several others that I wasn't familiar with, one of which was Robin Wasserman.

Before the forum started, each author read from one of their novels and Wasserman read from her latest from the Cold Awakening Series. Normally I steer clear of sci-fi novels. It isn't my taste but the reading Wasserman did was enough to get me curious. So I went home and bought the trilogy off Amazon (yay Amazon Prime) and got reading.

The books are about a teenage girl of the future named Lia Kahn who was very much the golden child in her family. That is until she is in a horrible car accident which destroys her body and ultimately kills her. However, in the future your brain can be scanned and downloaded into a new body. Lia then becomes a "skinner," a freak of human nature and everyone who used to know Lia sees her differently. The download has changed her life forever. The trilogy goes through Lia's life changes and shows us a world where "skinners" and humans exist. I like to think that this is the book Feed by M.T. Anderson on steroids. 

The plot of all three books was always good but the common trend was that it took me about halfway through them to finally feel connected to them. Lia was a hard character to like or feel anything for while the supporting characters seemed more human than robot. I think Wasserman wanted us to see growth in Lia so taking Lia through emotional extremes seemed necessary. However, I think they took Lia farther away from the reader.  The second book was the strongest or at least that's what I think. There was a lot more emotion in that one and I felt like for the first time we were really getting to see who Lia was as a person. There was something deeper.

There was plenty of drama, some romance, and lots of puzzles which I am a huge fan of in my fiction. Yet sadly the characters in this trilogy seemed a little..."eh."

Also, the ending of the trilogy seemed like it was rushed. I hate when authors do this because I feel like either they were just tired of writing the book and wanted it to be over so they could start something else or because they didn't know how to end it so they just wrote something. The ending left me feeling a little numb. I know that she was trying to get us to see a bigger picture and to understand human nature and everything in the end but I don't know. It fell flat for me. You'll see what I mean.

I am give this trilogy a 3.5/5. 

Karen Marie Moning

Since my little entry about romance novels I thought that perhaps I would share one of my favorite authors in the genre. Currently she is one of the bestsellers and one of her best known series is going to be made into a motion picture. I didn't know about her until I happened to stumble upon a review of one of her books on Goodreads. Little did I know that I would be sucked in immediately.

Karen Marie Moning has two series. The first is the Highlander Series. It consists of eight books. They deal with a little bit of time travel, druid magic, fae, and of course Scotland with some sexy highlanders thrown in the mix.

Now if you know me I love everything Scottish and I won't lie I always smile while reading a little Scottish romance.

Now in her Highlander series each book is different with some connections between characters. Two of the books deal with twin brothers, two with best friends, but it is books 3-7 which tie into her cross over to her Fever series. It will be books 4-7 that you want to pay close attention to however because these characters you WILL see again in the Fever Series.

HIGHLANDER SERIES:

1. Beyond the Highland Mist

2. To Tame a Highland Warrior

3. The Highlander's Touch

4. Kiss of the Highlander - Remember Drustan

5. The Dark Highlander - Remember Dageus

6. The Immortal Highlander - Remember Adam Black who is also in The Highlander's Touch

7. Spell of the Highlander -Remember Cian

8. Into the Dreaming


The main thing about the Highlander Series is that if you don't love the MacKeltars then then there is something wrong. Personally I like books 4-6 the best. I think the stories and leading male characters are really interesting. I love that you get to see the fae world through the eyes of Adam Black and that it sets you up for only a LITTLE of what you are going to experience when you read the Fever Series which is going to be the series that will be made into the films.

Now the Fever Series consists of at this point five books but Moning has just announced that there will be at least another three focused on three other characters from the series, one of which is Christian MacKeltar who I ADORE.

FEVER SERIES:

1. Darkfever

2. Bloodfever

3. Faefever

4. Dreamfever

5. Shadowfever

These books as I said crossover where the MacKeltar story leaves off. We are no longer in Scotland but in Dublin. It is here that the fae relem wants to take over the human world. There are portals opening up and creating a deadzone in the city of Dublin. Mackayla aka Mac is dealing with the death of her sister and goes to Ireland to investigate. Little does she know what she is and what she is capable of doing.

Magic! Fae! More Magic! And a leading man named Barrons who is VERY intersting. Believe me you will not want to stop reading this HOWEVER there were some scenes that I was not particular fond of and I want to warn readers before they dive right in. There are rape scenes in the third book. I'm telling you this because I had a hard time stomaching it. I'm not entirely sure if a scene like this was necessary. I would have been ok if she would have inferred it and then let it go black. Details are hard to read especially when you are like me and are sensitive to such things. However, if you are able to get passed it I promise that the plot will carry you into something else entirely. I can definitely see why they want to make it into a movie.

Karen Marie Moning is a talented writer. She has been able to capture the attention of women everywhere with not only her sexy men but with her way of telling a story. If you are looking for a place to start in the romance world, this might be a good starting point.