Blog Tour!! Review: Wide Awake by Shelly Crane

Wide Awake
by Shelly Crane
Published on: 3/22/13
Self Published
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary Romance

A girl.
A coma.
A life she can't remember.

When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.

Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

My Rating: 4 Stars!!
 

First off, I am so so excited to be a part of this blog tour. I love EVERYTHING Shelly Crane puts out. Literally. I think she was one of the first indie authors whose books I got when I first got my Kindle. 

So, now that I've shared with you all of my unwavering love, devotion and admiration for one Shelly Crane, on with my review :)

As the synopsis goes, Emma Walker wakes up in a hospital room surrounded by complete and total strangers. She has no idea how she got there, she doesn't even know her own name. She's been in a coma for about 6 months and is utterly confused and overwhelmed. Being that this is in Emma's POV you go thru this feeling as though you are her. You feel her confusion, her fear and her massive disjointedness (is that a word? If not I'm still going with it lol) from everything and everyone she supposedly loves. Her parents try and remind her of the girl she was and can't seem to get passed the fact that she is not who she used to be. When she speaks with friends and family she realizes the kind of person she really was- shallow, insipid, vain and selfish. She hated that person and never wanted to be her again to the point where she started referring to her prior self in third person as Emmie (as she was called before the accident).

The relationship between Emma and her parents is a tough one. You can see it clearly from both sides. Her parents want her to be the person she was. Not in a malicious kind of way, but more because they can't really comprehend the fact that she doesn't know and can't be that person anymore. But they handle their confusion in a way that isn't healthy. Especially her dad. They pressure and argue and make plans for her behind her back. Emma just wants to be herself, or at least be the person she is growing into. But she desperately wants a relationship with the people who are supposed to love her unconditionally and they are not making it easy.

Now the fun relationship. The relationship between Emma and Mason. He is the only person not trying to tell her what she needs to do, what she's supposed to say, who she's supposed to wake up and be. He has been there for her since day one of her hospitalization. He asks nothing of her except for her to be who she WANTS to be and do what she needs to do to walk again. He's tough, he pushes her but he is there listening to her as well. She doesn't have to be the spoiled "Mean Girl" she was before. She doesn't have to only wear her hair in ponytails and dislike yogurt and hate flowers. To him she is the girl that likes random useless facts and is afraid to look in the mirror. And he accepts that. It doesn't necessarily mean they can have a relationship though, which of course sucks. Despite having a "boyfriend" (a total tool and insane douchebag Andy) she falls hard for Mason. But he is definitely her doctor and a handful of years older than her. They are great together. They support each other -I know it may seem that he does most of the supporting, but he has issues himself that wears on him. His life isn't easy by any means. But she is there for him, understanding and caring not despite all of his baggage, but because of it. But of course nothing can ever be easy... 

"I want to give you back your first kiss, the one that jerk stole from you. And I want it to be something that even a coma can't make you forget."

-Mason

"I needed him. It wasn't a dependency, it wasn't a weakness or a failure, he was an addition to my very soul."

-Emma  

This book takes you on a course of self discovery and love. You're put in Emma's shoes. You want to be loved by her parents. You want to figure out what happened the night of the hit and run accident. You want to be your own person. And man-oh-man do you want you some Mason. I'm not going to lie, the "mystery" was easily solvable and not much of a shocker or twist, but you still are taken through her emotions of the night and how she got to the point that she was at. I don't want to give too much away which is why I'm being somewhat cryptic and vague, but the story is amazing. Be forewarned it is a little bit on the short side (202 pages). That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the person, but a lot of awesomeness is crammed into this book!

Links to BUY IT!!

AMAZON

B&N

SMASHWORDS

Tidbits on the Author:

YA author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in everywhere USA as they happily travel all over with her husband's job. She loves to spend time with her family, binge on candy corn, go out to eat at new restaurants, buy paperbacks at little bookstores, site see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music everywhere and also LOVES to read.
Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.

Ways to Stalk Her:

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4951964.Shelly_Crane 
Blog http://shellycrane.blogspot.com/ 
Facebook Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/shellycranefanpage 
Twitter @AuthShellyCrane