I don't think it should have been a series. Everything could have been fit into one book and cut out all the other stuff. A lot of repetition happened here. ( )

Wide Awake- Academy of the Fallen Series
By: Daniele Lanzarotta
Reviewed By: Crystal Trent Dotson

The first page will pull you in and keep you reading.
Kayla is a teen who sees a teenage girl named Carolyn, which is a ghost. Kayla soon realises that she can see, talk to and command ghosts. Just when she thinks she's losin it, Hunter a dark and mysterious teen at her school steps up and lets her know it will be ok, and he sees them also.
While trying to understand this new activity in her life, her and Hunter are also trying to find out why a demon is after her.

I really enjoyed this book. The storyline is wonderfully wrote and the characters are brilliant. It has a bit of horror mixed in with paranormal, and the emotions through out the book, only makes it more real. ( )

Wide Awake starts off running. This makes it easy to engross yourself in the story effortlessly. Kayla is a very special character that seem wise beyond her years. As an adopted child readers will easily accept this as a realistic trait for her character. Hunter seems dark and mysterious from the start, so his character still remains a bit of a secret at the conclusion of this story. I look forward to book two in hopes that his personality will develop and broaden. These two will csrrg us through a web of secrets, ghosts, and demons. I love how this story carries the horror novel feeling for the first half, and then transforms into a paranormal read with a few horror novel aspects to keep you jumpy. Benjamin's character portrays that sinister villain that will keep readers on their toes. Until the final pages Wide Awake harbors secrets, but the cliff hanger is enough to be you back for more. ( )

Kayla is 16 and was adopted as a very young child by a loving couple who basically give her everything! She tends to be a little spoiled and a bit snotty! But that changes when suddenly she is seeing this little girl just about everywhere she goes. It takes Kayla a while to realize that the girl is a ghost. When she makes that realization she also discovers there is a “guy” in her math class that is just bugging the heck out of her…only she can see him too…or so it seems. Turns out Hunter, a kid she grew up with, can see the girl and the guy as well but his interaction with them is a bit different. For example Hunter can’t see the girl, but he can physically interact with the male ghost. Hunter and Kayle discover the guy ghost is actually a demon and he is making life a living hell!

First I have to say that I HATED the ending of this book…it was so cheesy and abrupt. It reminded me of a Friday episode of any soap opera.

Kayla is a brat and calls the people who raised her by their names rather than “mom” and “dad”…I think the least they deserve is to be called Mom and Dad especially after all they have done and given Kayla! Kayla was wishy washy…she liked Hunter but wouldn’t give into it because of the high school caste system…he wasn’t “good enough” for her. So she kept going back to her previous boyfriend who had been cheating on her with one of her best friends. Um…HELLO!?!...anyone else want to smack some sense into this girl???

Hunter I did like…accept for the pining after Kayla crap! I would have preferred the story center around Hunter and the Academy rather than Miss Whiney! I will be checking out the next book in the series in the hopes that it will focus more on the Academy now that we’ve read all the backstory. Here’s hoping it reaches it’s potential! ( )