Elizabeth Scott is one of my favourite authors, so I was delighted
that she had two books out in 2011. Between Here and Forever and As I Wake. Being a contemporary girl I was more excited for Between Here and Forever, but As I Wake surprised me.
Ava wakes up not knowing where she is, or who she is. Her adoring
mother Jane claims she lost her memory. But as Ava has
frightening flashes of a different past she begins to suspect secrets
are being kept. When a mysterious boy, who features prominently in her
fragmented memories, turns up Ava finds herself searching for the
truth, no matter what the cost.
As I Wake is full of tension and uncertainty. I wasn’t quite sure what or who to believe, or where the book would take me. I loved unravelling the pieces with Ava though and I appreciated that the world of the book, and the central mystery wasn’t over explained. In some books that vagueness would drive me crazy, but it really worked here. It added to the atmosphere, and the main pull of this book is the atmosphere. All the time I was reading I had this sense of unease, I was worried about the characters, and I was utterly sucked into Ava’s confusion.
One of the things I love most about Elizabeth Scott’s work is how she absolutely nails characters into your heart and As I Wake is no different, I loved Ava, Jane and Morgan. No one writes relationships quite like Elizabeth Scott. I always end up falling for her boys, but she also writes brilliant parent/child relationships and I really liked the one in As I Wake.
I loved how things wrapped up (even though it wasn’t what I’d expected) and found myself thinking about the novel, and the ideas explored, a long time afterwards. It’s one of those books you want to discuss with people and see if you noticed the same things, or felt the same way.
I highly recommended As I Wake both fans and non fans a like.