The Awakening is the continuation of Chloe’s story in The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong. Here’s a summary from the author’s website:

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. I’m a living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I can raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

So Chloe, Derek, Tori, and Simon are becoming professional fat burners as they’re on the run from the Edison Group. I wasn’t as impressed with The Awakening as I had been with The Summoning. I felt like the second book was a lot of filler, and not a lot of problem solving. There were only a few scenes that were really intense. One was where Chloe almost gets her face cut up by a street girl. Then later when a bullet grazes her as they run from the Edison Group. I found Tory even more annoying than she was in the first book, probably because she got a lot more dialogue. She basically whines and complains the entire time. I was hoping she’d get shot honestly. I’m hoping for more out of the third book. Even though this book felt like filler, it was still decent. I’m giving it a C grade. It still helps make my commute entertaining.

I chose this book from the library because it was written by Candace Bushnell, who wrote Sex and the City. I have never read that book, but I used to love the TV show. After reading this rambling drivel known as One Fifth Avenue, I have no desire to see what Candace’s version of Sex and the City is all about.

The entire time I listened to this audio book, I kept waiting for the plot. It sort of materialized, but it was so lackluster that it left me saying aloud, “Is that it?”

Basically all of these random characters live in the upscale apartment building of One Fifth Avenue. They’re all incredibly stuck up and filled with self entitlement. I didn’t care about any of the characters, and I couldn’t wait for the book to end. Basically this book is full of gossip, unnecessary drama, and rich people with far too much money. Definitely better left on the shelf.

I happened upon this book like with all my audio books, at the library. I didn’t know what to expect, having never read anything by Sarah Addison Allen, and I was blown away. I loved her story telling, and I felt drawn into the magic of the garden. Garden Spells is the story of a woman named Claire Waverley, who is a bit of an outcast/oddity in her small town in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She lives alone in her late grandmother’s house where she and her sister were raised, after their mother abandoned them. Her sister Sydney following in her mother’s footsteps, has long since skipped town, and Claire hasn’t heard from her in over ten years.

The Waverley’s are a legend in their town, known for their odd garden, which sports an apple tree that is rumored to be magical, and the women in the family who each have special gifts. Claire’s elderly cousin Evanelle has a compulsion to give people things, which turn out to be exactly what they didn’t know they needed. Claire has a gift for cooking and baking, and she turns that gift into a successful catering company. Her food uses edible flowers and plants from her garden, and when cooked in a specific way, contain a little bit of magic. Pansies for keeping children thoughtful, nasturtiums for helping to keep secrets, roses for love, and so on.

Claire’s life is going along just fine, even though it’s a bit lonely for her. Then Sydney unexpectantly shows up on her doorstep with a daughter of her own, seeking refuge from her abusive ex, and Claire’s whole world turns upside down.

This book gives an old fashioned magical element to it’s romances. I love that there’s a little bit of magic in an otherwise everyday story. When Claire gets mad she literally wilts plants with the heat fumes coming off her. When her neighbor Roger falls in love with her, he has little purple lights coming off of him that only the Waverly’s can see. It adds a fun element to the book, and it left me wanting to read more by Allen.

I have been going through books like crazy this past month, especially books on CD. It really helps make my commute bearable.

The most recent book I listened to was What Matters Most, by Luanne Rice. It’s a romantic story about two different couples. One couple, Bernie and Tom, have been in each other’s lives since they were kids. Tom is in love with Bernie, and Bernie…well Bernie is a nun, and Tom is the groundskeeper at the Catholic school where she is the Mother Superior. Before she became a nun, they were a couple, and they had a son, which they gave up for adoption. (more…)