When We Wake by Karen Healey

Synopsis: "Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027—she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.

But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies—and wakes up a hundred years later, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened.

The future isn't all she had hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better world?

Award-winning author Karen Healey has created a haunting, cautionary tale of an inspiring protagonist living in a not-so-distant future that could easily be our own."

Title: When We Wake
Series: WWW#1
Genre: Science Fiction, Futuristic
Pages: 296
Ages: 13+
My Rating: 3 Stars
My Word: Good Romance
My Fave Quote: "Don't screw the crew?" (75)

Review

When We Wake was overall a good read. The whole prospect of waking up a hundred years in the future is not an original idea, but Healey made it so. The characters in 2027 were not too descriptive, so I did not connect with Tegan as much when she mourned over never seeing them again, but the new characters were by far distinct and different in their own amazing way. Characters like Bethari, Joph, Dawson, Marie, and especially Abdi were phenomenal. And the reason this book earned its five stars was...more When We Wake was overall a good read. The whole prospect of waking up a hundred years in the future is not an original idea, but Healey made it so. The characters in 2027 were not too descriptive, so I did not connect with Tegan as much when she mourned over never seeing them again, but the new characters were by far distinct and different in their own amazing way. Characters like Bethari, Joph, Dawson, Marie, and especially Abdi were phenomenal. And the reason this book earned its five stars was the relationship between Tegan and Abdi. I am a sucker for romance, and this one was so simple and beautiful. How Tegan describes Abdi is so breathtaking, and I had a huge crush on Abdi before Tegan did to be honest! Also, the way Healey wrote the story as if Tegan was telling us the story was another reason why this book earned a higher rating. I loved how certain paragraphs foreshadowed events when Tegan is talking about the present instead of the story. It made me want to keep reading and figure out what happens. For example, Tegan talks about her story and having a normal day at school, and then in the next paragraph she talks in the present saying, "Abdi is bleeding, but luckily the wound isn't deep," or something like that. Those kind of past-to-present things really made me want to find out what happens in the story to get to that point. Anyway, this book was really original despite the synapsis lacking some originality. Each character and the plot was good because it showed Tegan adapting to the future and restarting her life with new friendships and a relationship. Overall, a good and easy read, and I would definitely read the sequel! ★★★