Review: Great Start!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 9, 2012
Jeanie Grey's "Awakening" has all the ingredients for a great romance story: a damaged, yet determined heroine (Lilly); a lover who doesn't deserve her; a suitor who is either the biggest jacka$$ on the planet or completely misunderstood; and a mysterious stranger who promises to be either her salvation or her destruction.Lilly's mother is dead (and I can't write that without hearing Jon Voight say, "You're more dead to me than your dead mother.")--murdered two years earlier by a killer who was set free. As if that isn't bad enough, Lilly has daddy issues galore. No, she doesn't cry for him in the middle of romantic interludes--and believe me, with Grey's penchant for juicy details, we would know!--but he certainly blows a hole in the `ol father knows best tenet.Is it any wonder the poor woman's frustrated with life? And ripe for change? Well, Lilly's life is about to get turned upside down in some pretty spectacular ways.I won't spoil it by sharing details, but I will say this: Grey's the real deal. Her writing is crisp, her attention to detail is admirable, and her characters are strong. She packs one helluva wallop into 70+ pages. In fact, there was so much story to explore that I couldn't help but feel cheated by how quickly Grey blasted through it.Nevertheless, "Awakening" serves as a great beginning for what will surely be a longer series. And for the guys out there, Grey also offers a not-so-subtle PSA: Never surprise a woman in the kitchen.My bet is that Lilly Frank would suggest you stick to the apple pie.I highly recommend "Awakening" to paranormal romance and vampire fans.