Grace Awakening by Shawn L. Bird
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Just another band geek in a plaid shirt to pass in the halls. Until the music started.
Grace is in grade 10 when she meets Ben Butler, who is two years older than her and convinced he’s loved her forever. After they meet, Grace is the target of mysterious attempts on her life, has frequent trips to the hospital to have some secret medicine, and overhears her mother talking to her aunt about her in a strange fashion. Her parents and even her friends seem torn between liking and disliking Ben, but ultimately Grace decides for herself if she loves him or not.
While filled with Greek mythology references and mysterious attacks, not much happens in this book other than Grace deciding she loves Ben. Much like Grace, the reader is left confused, wondering what is going on and who this girl is in the fight between the gods. Things are set in motion that we never see the resolution to, presumably because they are in book two.
Grace Awakening sets the stage for the (ultimate) conclusion in the war between the gods that want to save Grace and the ones that want her dead. Full of music and poetry, the characters are all painted differently with realistic qualities, yet leaves the reader asking, “Who -is- Grace?”