I don't remember loving the first book in this series, but I'm kind of hooked now. Kylie is some sort of supernatural being, but nobody can figure out what, and it's making her (and me) crazy! I like Kylie and her friends as characters, and care what happens to them. I was momentarily jarred out of the book by a couple of clearly Texan turns of phrase, just because they weren't what anyone I know would have said, and it made me wonder where the author's from (Alabama & Texas). Because this story could take place anywhere, I'd forgotten that it's supposed to be in Texas, or it wouldn't have startled me. I'm eager to read the rest of the series, which is a lot longer than I'd initially thought. When I first started reading this, I though for sure this would be a one star, two at the absolute highest. I absolutely hated the first book: Kylie was whiny, the love triangle stupid, the writing poor, and the plot nonexistent. When I started this I expected much the same thing, and at first that's exactly what I got. But then something happened. I'm not sure if the story got better or if I just got used to it, but I do think the writing improved from the last book. All the characters seemed to improve on me somewhat ( I couldn't stand any of them the last book, except maybe Holiday and Kylie's mom), with the exception of Derek and Lucas (see below). Therefore, I have awarded this just barely three stars (although I went back and forth between two and three, I decided to be generous). So what made this one slightly better? Well, I think the plot was a big one. This plot was certainly nothing special, but the first book's was so stupid and poorly developed it made this one's look brilliant. I was surprised to find myself actually interested about halfway through the book. Now don't get me wrong, I think it was certainly all wasted by the climax, which threw away all the carefully built up tension within a few pages thanks to a deus ex machina moment, but it shows potential. Hopefully plot development will continue to improve with the series. The love triangle though. I'm sorry, it's stupid. Derek and Lucas are both completely flat characters whose only characteristic are that they are attracted to Kylie. I have nothing against well-written love triangles, but this may be the worst I've ever seen. I don't even care which one she picks. I just want all the characters to stop angsting over it. And speaking of love triangles, the way Perry treated Miranda at the beginning of the book was absolutely disgusting. And the way she pined over him for the rest of the book was even more so. If a boy treats a girl that way, she should move on and say good riddance, not cry over him while gorging herself on ice cream. The best romance in this book is definitely turning out to be Burnett and Holiday's. Burnett is probably the character who had grown on me the most since the first book, and I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying their interactions. THAT is a relationship done right. I'm still annoyed that the author insists on using Kylie's lack of knowledge about what type of supernatural she is as a plot device. This was something that should have been resolved by the end of book ONE if not sooner, and yet as soon as I opened this one I KNEW that she would still be just as clueless by the end of the book as she was when she first arrived. Yes, thankfully there were clues that she was at least making some progress on discovering her identity, but by this point I really don't care that much anymore. It just needs to be resolved and everyone needs to move on with life. I think my biggest problem with this series is still the author's annoying tendency to tell without showing. WE ARE NOT THAT STUPID! WE CAN FIGURE IT OUT ON OUR OWN IF TWO CHARACTERS HATE EACH OTHER OR LIKE EACH OTHER OR WHATEVER! I really hate when authors do this, but I think this may be one of the worst instances I've ever seen. I'll give an example: "Selyn's voice held such as condescending tone that Kylie decided right there and then that she really didn't like her. Not even a little bit." The author does this ALL THE TIME and it's completely unnecessary! Any reader who had been paying attention at all would have already realized that Selyn is a pompous, pretentious character and that Kylie and her friend's can't stand her! We don't need Kylie to tell us! Just like we don't need her to tell us that, while Della and Miranda may argue all the time, deep down inside, they're secretly friends. Or that Burnett and Holiday like each other. Or that... you get the point. So, long story short, better than its predecessor, but still leaving much to be desired. Hopefully this author will continue improving, because, as this book showed, this series actually has a lot of potential hidden behind its annoyances that only take away from the story.
What do You think about Awake At Dawn (2011)?
Not as funny as Book 1, a number of typos and grammatical errors that were distracting.
—gail
This book was kinda a space filler until the end
—Maggie
