The Awakened Book Review

The Awakened by Sara Elizabeth Santana.

"Zoey Valentine is concerned with two things: surviving the multitude of self-defense classes her dad makes her take and avoiding Ash Matthews.

That is, until the Z virus hits, wiping out a third of the population in a matter of weeks. If that weren’t frightening enough, the bodies of the victims disappear and suddenly reappear, awakened from their dead state. They're faster, smarter, and they work together to get the one thing they crave, human flesh.

The United States is in a panic and then the government decides the unthinkable: to bomb every major city overrun with the awakened.

Now Zoey is on the run, with her dad and Ash, desperate to find a place of safety amongst the ruined remains of the country."

That blurb sounds very interesting, and it is true to the book of course. Sadly it left me disappointed.

Don't get me wrong I don't hate the book entirely, though I do very much dislike many parts of it. The premise and plot was interesting.

There are many errors in this book. Not just one here or there, but many throughout the entire book. It felt poorly written to me in general as well. Both of these things though I could overlook and still enjoy a book...but there's more.

The romance in this book is my biggest gripe. The guy is a complete jerk, at least through much of the book. Zoey appears to want nothing to do with him and says as much over and over but no one will just let her be. It seems like just because he is hot she is supposed to fall at his feet! Forget all the teasing, the horrible way he treats her, juts forget it all because H-O-T is all that matters! UGH! No one will take "No" for an answer. And *spoiler alert* they do apparently fall in love, but it seems so unbelievable to me. Things went back and forth a lot. Some stuff (not just the romance) didn't make much sense to me.

It never engaged me that much. Some parts did, it has it's good points, but it never kept me. I never wondered about the book in between reading it. I never wanted to continue reading it but felt like I had to for some reason. It also feels very forgettable to me.

Ultimately I gave it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. A strong 2 on Goodreads because there really were parts that I did enjoy but mostly...no. I doubt i'll pick up the second book whenever it's released as it's set to be a duology.