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    Wake
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    Wake
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    Wake
    Audiobook4 hours

    Wake

    Written by Lisa McMann

    Narrated by Ellen Grafton

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

    She can't tell anybody about what she does - they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

    Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant…
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 20, 2010
    ISBN9781441819932
    Author

    Lisa McMann

    Lisa McMann lives in Arizona. She is married to fellow writer and musician, Matt McMann, and they have two adult children. Her son is an artist named Kilian McMann and her daughter is an actor, Kennedy McMann. Lisa is the New York Times bestselling author of over two dozen books for young adults and children. So far she has written in genres including paranormal, realistic, dystopian, and fantasy. Some of her most well-known books are The Unwanteds series for middle grade readers and the Wake trilogy for young adults. Check out Lisa's website at LisaMcMann.com, learn more about The Unwanteds Series at UnwantedsSeries.com, and be sure to say hi on Instagram or Twitter (@Lisa_McMann), or Facebook (Facebook.com/McMannFan).

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    Reviews for Wake

    3.5/5

    1,102 ratings121 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I have read a lot of mixed reviews on this book, and this series. But I slowly found all three books so that I could read them without having to wait. And let me tell you, I am glad that I did.
      I picked up Wake last night at about 11:30 p.m. and finished it at 5:15 a.m. I couldn't put it down. From the very beginning it sucked me in and kept me flipping pages to find out what exactly was going to happen next.
      Janie ( the main character) isn't your typical teen, she gets sucked into other peoples dreams if she is close enough to them; unless there is a door in the way. Now, at first I thought " Hey, that would be awesome!!" but I soon realized that it may at times be cool, do I really want to know what some stranger dreams about? Then I started to really feel bad for Janie. She only really has one close friend through most of the book, and really I don't think you could call Carrie mush of a friend.
      The first few chapters skip a lot but that is just to get us caught up so we understand what exactly is going on. After that everything pretty much evens out and we get a lot of detail without living every single day with her.
      When Cabel ( love the name) comes into the picture, I instantly disliked him, my first thoughts were great, he's a druggie and since Janie was kinda starting to fall for him, I wasn't happy at all. but he soon redeemed himself, even though I was still skeptical until all the truths were revealed.
      Lisa McMann is an amazing writer and I am sorry that it took me so long to pick up one of her books. she gets to the point without making us wait forever and even though we don't live every single day with the main character, we aren't left wondering what happened between one paragraph and the next.
      I love how she took us into the dreams with Janie and how we got to see exactly how Janie normally reacted to being sucked into a dream. Now I'm off to read the second book in the trilogy Fade.
    • 4/5
      This was a great fantasy/science fiction book. The only thing i didn't like about it was the constant profanity in the book. I don't think it was necessary, and some of the profanity was so random, it didn't even fit in to the story. Since this is a book geared towards 12-18 year olds, I think the profanity was a little inappropriate, but other than that, I think the book was good. It was a very fast read for me. It's about a girl who discovers at 8 years old that she can go into other people's dreams. As she gets older, her "gift" becomes more dangerous and more embarrassing since she can't control when she goes into the dreams. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, "Fade".
    • 3/5
      Wake is a book about a teenage girl and a teenage guy who are just trying to get through high school. Except Cabel is a flunkey, a drug dealer and now Janie's crush? And Janie is working 24/7 so save enough money for post-secondary while maintaining excellent grades and keeping up with her best friends dramatic roller-coaster life. Oh yeah- Jamie can also see into other peoples dreams. I was looking for a quick, cute lovey dovey story, so I think that's why this book got as high a rating as it did. For the most part, Cabe was just too cute- super protective, caring and charming, I was completely in love. Jamie, for her part, was a fairly strong female character too and I rarely had qualms about how she handled things.My only problem with the book was that sometimes it felt rushed. I would remember a scene from earlier in the book and it felt like it had been in an entirely separate book because it seemed so fast and unimportant as the chapters wore on- that being said, the book didn't stray- dreams were definitely 100% the main focus. It's hard to give this a proper review because while I definitely enjoyed it, and I know there are two more books, I made the mistake of reading other reviews while in the middle of reading the book and a lot of the opinions of others started to make things stand out. Sometimes the characters seemed fake, other times they just seemed too weepy and worst was when there were sudden plot points that seemed to come out of nowhere and were never quite explained (ie. how Cabe became a nark? I know it was explained but I feel like it definitely lacked and could have been better done. That being said- I do still have 2 more books to get through.). All in all though, I think the sort of people who read this book just shouldn't have- it's definitely meant for it's aimed target group (pre-teen to teens who enjoy cute romance, and a whole lot of drama). I loved Jamie and Cabel together- they were great characters- they had background, they had flaws and they had real, raw, emotions. The book ended a little abruptly for me, but that can be blamed on my e-reader not being able to tell me how far along I was, & I don't have a burning desire to go read the next two books but I do plan on having them both finished before the new year is up.In the end- the book was great if you aren't looking for anything heavy, but just a little interesting.
    • 4/5
      Wake is the story of Janie, a seventeen-year-old girl who gets sucked into other people's dreams. While this might seem interesting, it makes Janie feel like a voyeur. Not to mention the fact that she can feel the terror of people's nightmares, especially her best friend's about her brother who drowned and love-interest Cabel's about his abusive father. It's also rather inconvenient when someone falls asleep in class or she drives her car too close to a house with someone sleeping in it, and it makes sleeping with or near someone else nearly impossible. Janie tries to deal with it on her own until Cabel sees her in his dream and witnesses her violent reaction as she sucked into a nightmare. Things are not all bad, though. Janie finds ways to bring peace to some people's dreams, helps the police solve a crime, and learns that she is not the only one with this cursed gift.I enjoyed this story as I was reading it, and I look forward to continuing with the trilogy. The idea behind the story is interesting to me and the characters are decent. This writing is good, but not of supreme quality. This book would be best suited for high school girls, freshmen through seniors. It's written at about a third grade vocabulary level, so it would appeal to reluctant and struggling readers.
    • 5/5
      Grades 9th-11thSeventeen-year-old Janie Hannagan gets sucked into the dreams of people around her, whether she wants to or not. It is hard for her to go to slumber parties as well as trips on the high school bus. She has not control of her body while she is in the dreams and feels alone. Her mother is a drunk and she has no idea who he father is. Finally one day she meets her new next-door neighbor and so to be best friend Carrie Brandt. Janie still can't tell her friend Carrie he problems but feels better to have a friend. Then one day while Janie gets sucked into a dream that is more of a nightmare and she is not just the observer now she is also a participant. Cabel Strumheller is the mystery dreamer as well as a mystery himself. Things start to get crazy and Janie starts to learn more about her ability with the help of Cabel and a deceased person from the convenient home Janie works at. Rating:Great book! Took a few pages to get hooked but once I was hooked I had to finish in one sitting. I wanted to know what was going to happen. Great character development of all the key characters. I really understood the reason why they were the way they were. Could not wait to continue Janie and Cabel's story and went out and got the other two.
    • 4/5
      This story was written a little different, it reminded me of reading a timeline or someone's diary. I enjoyed the story line, the characters were very like able and had me rooting for them. It picked up really well about half way and captivated me from that point on. I'm looking forward to reading the next book FADE that I'm starting today.
    • 5/5
      This was an easy read. I finished it in 3 hours. I enjoyed it, it kept me interested. The relationship between Janie & Cabel was strange but ended up just right. Especially after you find out that they share the experience of having horrible parents. Janie's mom made me sad. Great book
    • 4/5
      I really liked this series. Very interesting and different.
      I feel bad for her though. Slowly going blind. That's gotta suck. She's so young.
    • 5/5
      Since she was eight years old, Janie has been getting sucked into other people's dreams. She can't control it. She becomes paralyzed while she's forced to watch whatever's unfolding. But now Janie's had enough. After being pulled into an extra-horrific nightmare, she knows that she can't live like this any longer. Something's got to change... but how? I seriously couldn't put this book down. I didn't mean to spend my afternoon finishing this novel, but I picked it up and, just as Janie's sucked into a dream, I was sucked into this book. The book jumps around in time and the entire thing felt a little bit disjointed - just like a dream. It's told in the present tense, in fits and starts, so the story didn't unfold like your "typical" novel. I love, love, loved the romance and it felt very real to me - exactly like how I might have reacted in high school (um... minus the being-in-dreams thing). My one critique is one that I think I read on someone's blog - Janie's mom is an alcoholic deadbeat for seemingly no reason. I kept waiting for that to be explained or to change, but it didn't. Also, the origins of Janie's dream-catching is never explained... but the sequel (FADE) is out, so maybe some things get explained in there.
    • 4/5
      The premise: Janie keeps getting sucked into other people's dreams. And by getting sucked in, I do mean sucked in. If someone falls asleep in study hall, Janie can't help it. She's there, in the dream, while to the outsider, it looks like she's having an epileptic fit. She's tired of her ability, tired of her helplessness, and tired of knowing the inmost desires of all of her classmates. Until one day she falls into a nightmare of terrifying violence, and that scares her more than anything she's ever experienced before, especially since the dreamer is the guy she might be falling in love with.My RatingWorth the Cash: I wouldn't go out and buy these books in hardcover, mind you, so obviously I'm waiting to get my hands on the sequel, Fade, until it comes out in trade, but I will pick it up. Wake was very enjoyable and I'm happy to read forward. The premise itself IS interesting and different, and I'm looking forward to seeing how McMann develops Janie and her abilities in the later books. It's an incredibly fast read, and while there are moments that'll induce eyebrow-raising, honestly, the story itself is so enjoyable you kind of end up not caring. At least, I didn't. I'm glad I grabbed it.Review style: it's a short book and it'll be a short review. Stream-of-conscious, with spoilers, simply because the book's too short NOT to spoil, and there's a few points I want to discuss. If the spoilers don't bother you, you're welcome to read the full review, which is posted at my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)REVIEW: Lisa McMann's WAKEHappy Reading! :)
    • 4/5
      McMann has taken a very creative concept and a character with a superhuman ability and used them to tell a story about growing up, feeling different, and learning to make sense of the things that make us unique. Anyone who has ever been a teenager will recognize their thoughts, fears, and worries within these characters and their dreams. I am very glad a coworker recommended this to me as a way to continue my foray into young adult literature. I really enjoyed Wake, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for YA books with solid writing and new ideas. This is a one-sitting read that would make perfect company on a lazy fall afternoon.Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.
    • 3/5
      Decent story, but I wish she filled in the book more and didn't write in sentence fragments.
    • 4/5
      Really interesting idea. Probably one of the best "supernatural" books I've read in a while.
    • 5/5
      Good, quick read. Compelling characters and storyline. Fast paced and interesting. Oh, and I love Cabe.
    • 4/5
      I read this book a long time ago and had very mixed feelings about it. I'll start off by saying that the plot is very interesting--it runs like a good movie, and has lots of excitement packed in there. For the most part, everything that happens is believable and the whole ride is completely worth the effort of getting into the book. The supernatural abilities in the story are interesting and extremely well written (they felt real to me), if not fully explained. This is the first book in a trilogy, so the lack of technical details is understandable and it doesn't really detract from the excellent plot.I also like the characters--the protagonists quickly endear themselves to the reader, and even the bit characters have startling kernels of truth to them that make them interesting. My only real complaint is that Janie occasionally grated on me because of that period of time where she refused to even hear Cabel out. But even that, I guess, worked. Teenage melodrama, you know.The writing style is not my favorite. It's not bad, and it's not dry, but it's very austere, I suppose. Dreamlike, which suits the purposes of the novel, but isn't usually my favorite thing to read.Overall, I give it four stars. Read this sucker if you need to get sucked into another world where someone has bigger problems than you, but it still turns out okay in the end. Or if you feel like things are completely out of control for you and you're looking to be inspired just a little. It won't impart any revelations, but it's great to get you out of your head.
    • 4/5
      A book that was really overhyped which effected how I enjoyed it. A decent book, but lacked explanation in a lot of parts. Would recommend it to entry level teen readers, but is a suspect recommendation to discerning readers
    • 2/5
      Narrated by Ellen Grafton. The audio production was a disappointment. Grafton reads in a perky tone at a swift clip, lacking all the nuance and darkness of Janie's troubling power. If I continue with the series, it will be in print.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful story, and such a fast read. I read this twice the first time and loved it both times. I would love to see this made into a movie.
    • 4/5
      I really liked the depiction of the relationship between Janie and Cabel (read it awhile ago, may not have remembered those correctly). Wrapped up abruptly at the end but I will definitely be looking for the sequels.
    • 3/5
      Like not love. Interesting story, but I read it a while ago and I haven't stayed with the series to read the sequels. I liked the relationship between Janie and Cabel. Didn't find the writing style to be amazing.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this and went into it expecting the usual not-enough-depth that comes with reading most young-adult books. This was not the case here, not in my opinion. It was super-concise sure, which meant every word was vital to understanding what was happening - so no skimming.

      Some may have found this style of writing abrupt but I didn't. There were no digressions and no unnecessary descriptions - so refreshing. Issues were raised which I'm familiar with and believe they were explained perfectly. The story was original, at least from my point of view, and didn't feel contrived or formulaic.

      The only thing I can think of that is negative is the fact that I wanted a little more emotion from Janie when she is with Cabel and things are good between them, I had to use my imagination - or perhaps that was the point.

      I can't wait to read the sequel. I won't be surprised if I'm reading it tomorrow. Well worth staying up to finish. I can't believe I waited so long to read it. It had me in its clutches from beginning to end.
    • 2/5
      It irks me when an author has a great idea for a book and then doesn't have the skill to pull it off. This book (and probably the entire series) is a prime example.
    • 2/5
      The story per se is interesting but the way it’s written (I don’t know if it was the pov or the way some phrases were cut short) turned me off in some way…
    • 3/5
      Janie is a normal child until she starts visiting people’s dreams. This new ability affects her life, as in school many people fall asleep during boring classes and in the library. She also fears class trips and sleepovers and is nervous about having to drive. Finding herself in a dream while she’s driving could be very dangerous.

      Janie feels lonely because she can’t tell anybody about what is happening to her and she can’t tell her mother, the only family she has, anything in general because she is usually drunk or sleeping. Basically, her life is not very good.

      This changes throughout the book. Janie finds out more about her power with the help of a new friend and learns how to use it to help people.

      Wake is the first book of a trilogy, so most of this book is probably an introduction to the trilogy. I say probably because I haven’t read the other two books yet but this is how Wake sounded to me. There is more mystery than action and the plot moves ahead without rushing the answers but also without there being many situations other than the everyday life of an almost normal high school girl: classes, friends, boys and a job to be able to go to college. At the end it is hinted that this is going to change, but saying more about this would be spoiling the end.

      Each chapter is divided in many small parts with a date and a time as a title of each part. You can usually skip these second titles (I don’t think it really matters if it is 9, 10 or 11 am) though they are useful at the beginning of the book. The first chapter tells Janie’s childhood until high school, so knowing the year is necessary.

      If you’re expecting great action and danger you won’t find them here. This book is just the normal high school life with mysterious dreams added. It gets better towards the end and it looks like the next two books are going to be much more interesting.
    • 5/5
      Fast paced and edgy this first in the McMann trilogy features Janie Hannigan, a high-school senior who has lived with a dreadful secret for years – she can see your dreams.
      In this young adult thriller we are treated to influences from Stephen King. Consider this language worthy of the master himself as Hannigan describes her class-mates, “The oversleepers, latecomers, and don’t-give-a-shitters” … perfect. The dreams of her friends, class-mates, mother and anyone she happens to walk or drive by at the time they are sleeping causes seizures and convulsions in Janie. She goes through the turmoil of World War II, hiding in the trenches with an old man in the nursing home where she works after school, and sees her soon to be beau’s father spray lighter fluid on him and light it.
      It is not until she runs into an elderly blind lady, Ms. Stubin, who as she dies lets her know there are other dream catchers out there that she begins to make sense of it all. Learning to not only see but enter dreams Janie channels powers she never knew she possessed until she is able to influence the outcome of her ‘victims’ dreams and discovers a world far beyond anything she would have been able to conceive previously.
      This was a quick two-hour read. I couldn’t put in down. Now I have to go find Fade and Gone so I can satisfy my craving for this highly addictive series.
    • 3/5
      Dear Readers,Wake, the first story in the Dream Catcher series, follows the story of seventeen-year-old Janie whom has an ordinary name, but lives a life far from ordinary. Most seventeen-year-olds worry about things like boys and popularity, but Janie worries she’ll fall asleep in a room with other people in it, and wake up trapped in another person’s dream. Yeah, it’s a weird thing to worry about . . . if you’re not Janie.The first time I read Wake I was probably around eleven or twelve, in the sixth grade. I picked up a copy from the public library I had quickly become obsessed with the summer of my sixth grade year. It wasn’t long before I fell completely, head-over-heels in love with the story, and I was excited to read more. Back then it was a LOT easier to love a book – I didn’t know much about grammar, I just knew I really liked this story.Unfortunately for Wake and my old sixth grade memories, I know a little more about grammar than I did when I first thumbed through the book (if this review is riddled with grammatical errors… I said “a little”) and it was filled with incomplete sentences, spelling errors, and bland simple sentences (which are even worse than incomplete sentences!). These nuisances were all I could concentrate on for the first few chapters. And while the story became more interesting towards the middle of the book, the grammatical errors were a problem up to the last page.Even though I’m skeptical this book received any professional editing whatsoever, I did wind up enjoying the story. I especially enjoyed the “flashbacks” into Janie’s past that shows us events like the first time Janie became trapped in a dream (what an age to be trapped in a middle-aged man’s nightmare! YUCK!) and her first slumber party. They might be a typical and simple way to bring the past into a story, but I felt like it was one thing that worked for Wake. The story became even more enjoying when Cabe enters the picture, especially when I realized he had his own little story within the book. It gave Wake a much-needed plot twist that ultimately kept me hooked until the end.This book may have an intriguing premise that kept me from putting the book down, but it needs a lot of work to be truly engaging. The noteworthy publication house denotes professional editing, but the grammar reads self-edited. I have recently ordered a copy of the next book in the series, and I’m pleading with the gods of literature that McMann learns how to edit. If the grammar hasn’t improved, I will probably resort to sending the author a strongly worded email on her horribly inconvenient grammar.Warning: This story involves much crying, miscommunication for an actual reason, catty jealousy from a secretly lesbian cheerleader, high school bullying, and lousy best friends. If these themes don’t work for you, don’t pick up a copy! – One Curvy BloggerPS. Gold star to those who catch my TBBT references! I freaking love that show. :D
    • 2/5
      I wasn't very impressed. The romance was contrived, the boy was too girly (what's with the constant crying?), and the plot resolved into a nice, neat little bow--something that always frustrates me. Also, for a self-proclaimed "white trash girl", Janie is surprisingly well put-together. She doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs, and has a 3.8 GPA despite her mother being a negligent boozer. Sorry, I just don't buy it. And then she meets the dark, handsome, abused Caleb who by all rights should be at the very least a morally ambiguous character, but he turns out to be the perfect guy. I mean, the PERFECT guy. I don't buy that either.
    • 3/5
      Not totally world-changing, but you could recommend this to teens who liked Twilight--it's "romantic and dramatic" as one girl asked me for.
      And it's not as cringey.

      Basic plot: a girl gets sucked into people's dreams if they fall asleep near her. This is a problem during high school of course because everyone is sleep-deprived. (ask me sometime to give you my whole rant about how teenagers would be so much less horrible if they didn't have to get up practically in the middle of the night to go to school)

      Anyway, there is also a boy! And terrible parents! And mean rich kids!

      The dialogue is pretty unbelievable, but you know, whatever.
    • 4/5
      An extremely quick read thanks in part to the many small sections, Wake is the story of Janie Hannagan - a seventeen-year-old who slips in and out of other people's dreams. This volume is mostly setup for what looks like it will be a series or trilogy, so we're mainly introduced to the conceit and the characters. There's enough intrigue to keep us involved though as Janie struggles to control her "dream catching" and figure out what's going on with her would-be love interest Cabel who has the scariest dreams she's ever seen and is rumored to be a drug dealer. Terrible parenting is rife amongst the main characters, leaving most of the teens completely unsupervised which will appeal to the intended teen audience. Easy access to alcohol and other drugs seems to be standard as well. The second volume, Fade is already out and I'm looking forward to speeding through it as well. This would be an excellent read-alike for fans of Meg Cabot's Mediator and 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series.
    • 3/5
      Before I start this one, just know that I LIKED IT. I don't love it as much as many of my Goodreads friends but this could be because I started out listening to this and finished the last 30-40 pages in book form. I'm glad I did so because I can say that I liked this book loads more in audio format. I'm fairly sure the writing style just wasn't doing it for me.

      You know when you are trying to write a paper for school and you are a couple pages short? You start playing around with the margins, change the font around, block quote a few times, and ta-da! You're suddenly at the length requirement. That's what this book felt like--a substandard research paper. Sure, it was enjoyable but when you hold it up against other YA lit, it falls short because it's missing something. (40 more pages)The central characters were well done but the brevity of the book made me want more in terms of plot development and several of the side characters were brought up but they didn't add much nor do we learn much about them. Frustrating. Also, though I enjoyed the development of Janie and Cabel's relationship, it was lacking the attraction for me.

      The pacing is lightning speed--I think someone could read this in an hour and a half, no joke. I'll finish this series because the story is interesting and it won't take much time. Honestly, though, I'm sorry to say I could really take it or leave it.