As I Wake

Oct 02, 2011 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazing-writing, reviewed-in-2011, sci-fi, dystopia, ya, cover-lust

I look down at the ground and close my eyes.
After a moment, I open them. I see my bare toes on the road. I am here.
I am not dreaming. This is me. This is my life. But it doesn’t feel right.
It doesn’t feel like mine, it still feels like a dream I’m in, that I’ve been put in.

This is one of those books that will inspire a polarized reaction. Some of you will love it. Most of you will probably hate it. It’s odd in so many ways – not to everyone’s taste for sure – but here’s a small help: if you enjo...more I look down at the ground and close my eyes.
After a moment, I open them. I see my bare toes on the road. I am here.
I am not dreaming. This is me. This is my life. But it doesn’t feel right.
It doesn’t feel like mine, it still feels like a dream I’m in, that I’ve been put in.

This is one of those books that will inspire a polarized reaction. Some of you will love it. Most of you will probably hate it. It’s odd in so many ways – not to everyone’s taste for sure – but here’s a small help: if you enjoyed Wake by Lisa McMann, you might enjoy As I Wake, too. I for one adore authors who are brave enough to write something completely different, especially in YA.

The most obvious thing that sets this book apart from others I’ve read recently is the writing style. It is very unusual, almost too bare at times. Parts of it read like poetry, and in those parts the author used not only words, but space as well. She often put each short sentence on a new line, thus giving her story a rhythm that is highly unusual in prose, but that makes it very easy to read.

The story is equally unusual: Ava suffers from complete memory loss, a condition the doctors attribute to a brain inflammation they somehow failed to notice. They decide she’s healthy enough to be sent home with a woman claiming to be her mother. Ava does her best to fit into her old life, but when her memories start coming back, they don’t make any sense at all. She remembers being a girl that looks like the Ava she is now, but not quite. She remembers living in a tightly controlled society, working for the State Antiterrorism Taskforce as a listener, spying on those who represent a potential threat to the government. The world she remembers is one where your every move is monitored, your every word is recorded, and you can get publicly executed for doing something as simple as falling in love, unless, of course, it’s government-approved. What’s more, she remembers the people around her, but as slightly different versions of themselves. She remembers seeing her friend Olivia clubbed to death for having an affair with another girl, but here Olivia is, alive and well and attending high school together with everyone else.
Then a boy shows up, and Ava starts remembering other parts of her previous life: a forbidden love, the constant danger and running from her past.

The Ava I’m supposed to be doesn’t know her.
But the Ava I am does.
I am here, in this world, in this life.
But I don’t think I’m from here.
I don’t think I belong here.
I close my eyes.

Books about memory loss seem to be very popular lately, but I do believe that Elizabeth Scott offered a story that is new and original. I’m not exactly sure what this novel is: dystopian, science fiction, a combination of both or something else entirely, but I know that I liked the end result a lot. It’s unlike any other book I’ve read this year. Besides, I finished it in no more than two hours, which I know some of you will appreciate.

Favorite quote:
He is nothing to look at, and yet I can’t stop looking at him. There is something beautiful in how his face is made, how all the tiny flaws blend together into something more perfect than perfection could ever be.

3.5 stars
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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-na, dystopia-utopia, 2011

I don't think this book quite deserves the low average rating it currently has (3.07 the last time I checked) but I can sort of see why it got it. To fully appreciate this novel you would have to be a very specific type of reader, one that it's going to be difficult to find. You would have to be a fan of dystopia that is more about the characters than the world building, you would also have to like a bit of starcrossed romancing but minus the happy endings, and you'd have to be okay with not kn...more

I don't think this book quite deserves the low average rating it currently has (3.07 the last time I checked) but I can sort of see why it got it. To fully appreciate this novel you would have to be a very specific type of reader, one that it's going to be difficult to find. You would have to be a fan of dystopia that is more about the characters than the world building, you would also have to like a bit of starcrossed romancing but minus the happy endings, and you'd have to be okay with not knowing what the hell is going on for about 80% of the book.

That last thing I mentioned didn't bother me too much, in fact it was the 20% where I did understand what was happening where the story became tedious and highly repetitive. Whilst the mystery of Ava's sudden amnesia and the mysterious memories that don't quite fit with the life she's been introduced to is ongoing, I was glued to the pages in wonder. People repeatedly call the book confusing, well, I get where they're coming from but - trust me - if I can wrap my head around it then anyone can. I don't think the accurate term is "confusing", it's weird, unexpected and mysterious but there's nothing particularly difficult to understand. What people mean when they say "confusing" is that they didn't know why certain things were happening - but that's all part of the story's mystery!

The book's writing style didn't do it any favours, though. It was odd and disjointed, perhaps this is Elizabeth Scott's preferred style as she also uses it in the only other book I've read by her: Living Dead Girl. The difference was that the narrator in Living Dead Girl was very young when she was kidnapped which would allow for her short, simplistic sentences, whereas Ava should sound like someone in their late teens (but doesn't).

I also didn't care for the way Scott kept repeating the same things over and over, it was like an endless circle and it happened with different matters throughout the novel. How many times were we told that Jane was her mother, and yet not her mother, that she recognised her but at the same time not her, a different her, in a different time? Perhaps this sounds weirdly interesting to you, but after reading it for the twentieth time it's nothing but an annoyance. Also Morgan, she loves him but they could never be together, but she can't live without him, but if she really loves him then she'll have to let him go... and on... and on.

It feels somewhat like a waste of an idea that was very original. The story is a whole new take on dystopia, told from a new and interesting angle, but there were just too many things that kept me from loving it. Still, I did like it.
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Apr 17, 2012 Jessi Larie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: prettiest-covers

Please visit my blog at http://geobobspinelli.blogspot.com :)

OVERALL RATING: 1/5

The one star? Yeah, that was for the cover. Thank God this book was less than 300 pages. It was awful and the only reason I read it so fast was to force my way through it and make it to something more interesting. I'm actually quite proud of myself for making it through at all.

Starting out, your first thought is...WTF? Ava doesn't have a clue what's happening, and since the story is in first person POV, neither do yo...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Nomes rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Elizabeth Scott fans, readers who like sparse world building :)

Recommended to Nomes by: myself, being an Elizabeth Scott fan-girl

Shelves: covers-i-love, 2011, i-own, love-the-premise, post-apocalyptic-dystopia, psychological-thriller-suspense-stu

As I Wake is rather unlike any book I have ever read. The cover matches the contents brilliantly, it’s smokey and mysterious, gorgeous and a little bit eerie and, like the girl on the front, I felt head-achey trying to get my mind around it.

I really do love Elizabeth Scott. Every book she writes, she surprises me: she does have a signature writing style but sometimes it is funny, cute or quirky, other times heartfelt and other times barren yet full of depth. As I Wake is written in a sparse styl...more As I Wake is rather unlike any book I have ever read. The cover matches the contents brilliantly, it’s smokey and mysterious, gorgeous and a little bit eerie and, like the girl on the front, I felt head-achey trying to get my mind around it.

I really do love Elizabeth Scott. Every book she writes, she surprises me: she does have a signature writing style but sometimes it is funny, cute or quirky, other times heartfelt and other times barren yet full of depth. As I Wake is written in a sparse style of prose, so the reader is instantly dropped into the plot with no preamble or reasoning.

It opens with a girl in a world she does not remember, having headaches and memories of another world, another life. Nothing makes sense to Ava, and Scott puts her readers firmly in Ava’s shoes: I felt like the plot was swirling around me and it was hard to grasp all the pieces ~ just like Ava was struggling to make sense of it. Plot-wise, you have to discover for yourself but it is a little bit The Adoration of Jenna Fox, parallel universe-y, dystopia, soft sci-fi elements, a dash of contemporary high school and there’s a love story in there too :)

The whole thing has an incredibly eerie undertone. At times I felt uneasy, hopeless. Yet there were brief moments of beauty and compassion among the sadness and confusion.

Like the writing, the world building is sparse. It is very much about one girl in this one crossroads moment of her life. The world(s) are not explained, details are sketchy ~ what it strong is the mystery, the emotions, the sensations of it all. It was hard for me to picture everything, but I still felt pulled into the story.

This book may frustrate many readers. But I am firmly an Elizabeth Scott fangirl. I just love her stuff. Anyone else may not have been able to pull this off in so few words, with only splashes of detail and barely-there explanations for plot twists and turns. But I thought it was gorgeous and compelling and I honestly felt swirly while reading it, and it has a strange lingering effect now. It is odd, that’s for sure, but it worked for me :)

Conclusion: this is rather like a book you read while having a dream, all swirly and out of reach. It was a dream-like reading experience. Regarding the love story, it is more surreal and fairytale-vibe than true, but I easily slipped into it, I think it matched the whole thing superbly (and I always fall for Scott's boys. She has a swoony gift).

I don’t know if this is the book for you *shrugs* but maybe my review has evoked a little of how this book felt for me. I am going with 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4 b/c it's Elizabeth Scott (and I can be biased like that) (less)

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Sep 29, 2011 Lauren rated it 1 of 5 stars

I would consider this story sci-fi (very different in my mind from paranormal), which is a genre that I typically avoid. It also relies heavily on alternate universes, which I detest as a rule. Neither of these aspects endeared me to the book, in fact the whole story really disturbed me. I also felt like I never got all the information I needed – it drops you right in the middle of something and you have to figure out what happened, but you only ever get pieces of the puzzle. Even at the end, I...more

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Jun 01, 2012 E rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned-hope

Also Found On: A Book and A Record

As I Wake is one of those novels that you either love or you hate. Unfortunately although I am a huge Elizabeth Scott fan I had an incredibly hard time with this one.

Scott relies so much on the idea of parallel universes without really explaining hers. In every novel I feel that if the author is going to introduce a new, or at least new to the novel concept they should at lease try to explain it. However, reading As I Wake is like walking into the mid season fin...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Kristi-The Book Faery rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, ya-arc-for-2011, ya-pub-date-sep-11, penquin-dutton-juvenile, sci-fi, ya-reviewed, atwt

THE FAERYS VIEW

As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott is a true puzzle, while reading it my mind was spinning with a twenty different theories or possibilities. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be about; I was expecting more of a paranormal romance where this is more on the science fiction side. Don’t get me wrong-there’s undying love and plenty of weirdness but not the kind I was prepared for. This is a difficult book to review without giving away spoilers and once that happens it takes the oomph...more THE FAERYS VIEW

As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott is a true puzzle, while reading it my mind was spinning with a twenty different theories or possibilities. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be about; I was expecting more of a paranormal romance where this is more on the science fiction side. Don’t get me wrong-there’s undying love and plenty of weirdness but not the kind I was prepared for. This is a difficult book to review without giving away spoilers and once that happens it takes the oomph out of the book. I’ll do my best to give the reviewer’s an idea of what the book is about and you can be the judge if this is the book for you or not without the spoilers.

Ava wakes up in a hospital bed with no real feel for her identity or surroundings. There are times when something will feel familiar but not, kind of in that déjà vu way that we’ve all experienced. When she’s released from the hospital she tries to get on with her life but she starts to have visions and dreams; visions and dreams of her in another life doing other things. Some of the people in this life are present in her visions and dreams but the one that stands out the most is a boy named Morgan. In her visions and dreams they fall in love but it is a highly forbidden love. Ava is a spy that is trained to watch those that could be a threat to the government and her job is to watch Morgan but Morgan’s to smart and he knows she is watching. Their love is real and it is also scary if they are caught. Ava believes these to be dreams and visions until she sees Morgan in real life and he makes contact with her. This is as far as I’m going with this review! To say anymore would spoil the book for anyone who hasn’t read it!

I enjoyed As I Wake but I must admit there were times when I was a bit confused, this could be because the story is told in Ava’s POV and she’s often confused between reality(s). It took me awhile to figure out what was going on and when I did, I still was confused a bit. I understood the concept and the book was enjoyable in the sense that I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on. As I wake is a book that you should keep an open mind and it will increase your enjoyment factor.

THE FAERY SAYS: IT WASN'T TERRIBLE BUT MY WINGS DIDN'T FLUTTER EITHER(less)

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Sep 29, 2011 Austin rated it 2 of 5 stars

I honestly don't know what i think of this book.
It went up, down, around, backwards, and forwards.
The writing is completely unstable, the characters are poorly developed, i cannot even explain how unnecessarily confusing the plot is, giving the reader no explanation what is going on or happening! And the ending is ridiculous. I mean, I read the synopsis, which explained that Ava was having memories as a spy, but did the book give any explaination for what happened to her or why? Nope! I was als...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Michelle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, teen

This book was just odd. Nothing is really explained or developed. At first I thought it was the style, but even after there are some minor explanations of what is going on, I was not any less confused. Because I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on, I never connected to Ava. That is actually not surprising as Ava is as confused about her identity as I was. The story jumps back and forth between fragments of Ava's memory and the life she is living now, just adding to the confusio...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Kandice Dover rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

I honestly have no idea what to say about this. This is an amazing book.

I'll be honest, I was kind of ify about this because it didn't really catch my attention when I saw this in the store. But my mom bought it for me, so I gave it a chance. I'm so glad I did.

16 year old Ava has no idea where she is where or who she is when she wakes up in an unfamiliar house. When she's released from the hospital she's surrounded by loving friends, a devoted mother, and a longtime crush. But none of it seems...more I honestly have no idea what to say about this. This is an amazing book.

I'll be honest, I was kind of ify about this because it didn't really catch my attention when I saw this in the store. But my mom bought it for me, so I gave it a chance. I'm so glad I did.

16 year old Ava has no idea where she is where or who she is when she wakes up in an unfamiliar house. When she's released from the hospital she's surrounded by loving friends, a devoted mother, and a longtime crush. But none of it seems real. She can't remember any of them. She doesn't believe she is who they say she is. And then memories of an entirely different life surface. That's when she meets Morgan, the guy from her memories. Proof that she isn't who everyone claims her to be.

I honestly got so mad at this book because I was so confused. I mean usually there are clues so you can figure out what the hell is going on, but this had nothing. I was cussing and yelling at this damn book. I couldn't decide if I wanted to put it down or keep reading. I guess you can say the reading won out.

Now let's talk about Ava. She was okay. A little too passive aggressive but she was alright. I think what got me the most was when She saw Morgan the second time, she just kind of let...Jane take her away. She could've said "hey, I know this guy, he isn't dangerous" but no she just gets taken away without a word said.

Morgan. I liked him. He's not really the bad boy type, but he's a good guy.

Greer, one of Ava's best friends was really annoying. She's the attention whore. She kind of pissed me off. "oh I'm going to talk to this guy, but he's boring me now so I'm going to find someone else." That's all it was with her and I just wanted to punch her.

Olive was the quiet one. She went along with whatever Greer had to say and that just annoyed me.

Sophy was...silent. The silent ones need to be watched at all times. They're the ones plotting an untimely death. I could see the gears turning.

Ethan. I felt bad for this poor guy. I really did. His stepdad is a total dickhead. He's abused and I just felt so bad for the guy.

Evan though this book didn't get any "holy cheese its!" or "holy fucking hell!" out of me, this was still a good book. If you haven't read this you should. This book is amazing.

Enjoy! :)(less)

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Mar 29, 2013 Deborah Takahashi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-supernatural-romance

Ava doesn't know where she is or who she is. She has been diagnosed with amnesia after being found wandering the woods outside her home. Although Eva is well loved by her mother and her friends, she doesn't remember or feel anything for them. Ever since her "accident," she's been having flashbacks of life that seems very real to her. In this realm, she is part of the State Anti-terrorism Taskforce (SAT), which protects the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM). Her responsibility is to watch subject...more Ava doesn't know where she is or who she is. She has been diagnosed with amnesia after being found wandering the woods outside her home. Although Eva is well loved by her mother and her friends, she doesn't remember or feel anything for them. Ever since her "accident," she's been having flashbacks of life that seems very real to her. In this realm, she is part of the State Anti-terrorism Taskforce (SAT), which protects the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM). Her responsibility is to watch subject 56-412 who may just be a threat to PDM. However, this subject makes her feel funny and whenever she thinks of him, or her other life, she is hit with a massive migraine. Although Eva recognizes the faces of names that surround her, she remembers them differently, which not only scares her, but shows her that there is something very wrong with this reality. As she tries to cope with this new life, a woman named Clementine turns her world upside down because not only does she presume to know Ava, but when a boy named Morgan appears out of thin air, her dreams reveal that she is living in a nightmare.

Elizabeth Scott ventures into a new genre by combining alternate realities with moral dilemmas. Eva has never known what its like to be loved and cherished. When Morgan shows her how special she is, she is caught between duty and her true feelings. Although readers will learn how Eva came to this world, they are with EVA every step of the way, which makes it hard to put this story down. With the help of Eva's dreams and flashbacks, we learn that power and control not only turn people into monsters, but devoid them of any satisfaction of being unique and loved. The central theme of this story revolves around identity where Eva is caught between the two and has to decide which is really her. Moreover, her relationship with Morgan not only throws her into further turmoil, but its this love that helps her make the right decision regardless of the cost. This is a thought provoking story where teens will experience the weight of decision making and how those consequences will not only affect us, but those around us. (less)

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Feb 09, 2013 Remedyleaf rated it 2 of 5 stars

As I Wake is about Ava, a high school student who woke up one night to not remember who she is. Or so she's been told. There is actually a deepness to the story of Ava's memory loss, and the things she does remember.

At first I was extremely excited to begin As I Wake; it was by an author I trusted, it seemed very intriguing from the blurb on the inside cover, and the first page was grabbing. But as I pursued through the book, I became frustrated, and had to take brakes with other books in betwee...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Annette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Rarely has a book kept me thinking, "What the heck?" as much as As I Wake did.

A girl wakes up in a strange bed, in a strange house, in a strange place. She doesn't even know what her own name is. She's lost everything. She screams, faints, and wakes up in a hospital with a person who claims to be her mother. Her mother calls her "Ava." Ava is told she has lost her memory, but the doctors don't know why. Ava thinks she doesn't even belong here.

She starts having dreams, which don't seem like dream...more Rarely has a book kept me thinking, "What the heck?" as much as As I Wake did.

A girl wakes up in a strange bed, in a strange house, in a strange place. She doesn't even know what her own name is. She's lost everything. She screams, faints, and wakes up in a hospital with a person who claims to be her mother. Her mother calls her "Ava." Ava is told she has lost her memory, but the doctors don't know why. Ava thinks she doesn't even belong here.

She starts having dreams, which don't seem like dreams as much as memories. These visions are of herself and her "friends" in a different place, a different life. Many of the people she meets in this new life also exist in the other life. But they are very different, and that life is very different. Very harsh.

Ava begins to remember that she was a spy -- she was spying on someone named Morgan, and they end up in a forbidden relationship. Morgan appears to her in this new life, but he's not really supposed to be there. As you can probably see, there are lots of reasons to say, "What the heck?"

As I Wake kept my interest, mostly because I wanted to figure out what was going on. It was easy to read, and pretty fast-paced. I liked the way Ava analyzed the differences between the people in her old life and new life. She knew a lot about what was "inside" these supposed friends in her new life, because of the way they behaved in the other life. As I Wake did spark some emotions as I was reading. Along with frustration, there was a bit of horror at the conditions of the "other life" although this life is only vaguely alluded to in Ava's visions, so this didn't have as much impact as it could have. And, there is some sadness at the forbidden love aspect.

So, what is that other life? I don't know. That was never explained. I wanted to know more As I Wake is written like a science fiction, but there really isn't any science -- no explanation. There is a romance between Morgan and Ava that is kind of heartbreaking, but what happens at the end doesn't make sense. We were told this "something" isn't possible, and then it happens at the end of the book.

I was pretty confused through the entire book, and then I still felt mostly confused, or maybe I should say unfulfilled, at the end. I can say that As I Wake kept my interest, and I never wanted to stop reading. But after finishing, I was disappointed.

As I Wake wouldn't be the first book I'd recommend to my teens, although there are some I could hand pick that might like it. It's just a hard book to peg -- not really science fiction, fantasy, or horror - although VOYA put it on its "Best of 2010" list for those genres.(less)

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Nov 23, 2012 Suad Shamma rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, 2012

Let me start by saying, I love Elizabeth Scott's books, and I am a fan of her writing.

THIS book however was a complete mess in my opinion. Forget the fact that there seemed to be quite a few spelling mistakes, a bit of the grammar was off, as well as many weird, incomplete sentences that may have been intentionally written that way because of the characters' own confusion, but essentially it did not make for a dialogue that flows and made us readers confused as well.

The writing is very weak. The...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Tatiana Bergeron rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: done

i only have one word to describe this book. TERRIBLE! okay i have a few things to say, and if someone can correct me or maybe answer a few questions, it would be AWESOME!

1) this story made NO. SENSE. i have no idea where ava comes from, i mean i know she's from a diffent world or a diffent universe, but how the hell did she end up with Jane? time travel? space ship???? how would Ava ''become'' Jane's daughter??? for me, it made absolutely NO. SENSE.

2) how did jane's daughter die? we actually ne...more

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May 26, 2012 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, ya, dystopia

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 08, 2012 Layan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't understand the ending what so ever. I'd have to agree with some of the reviews. It was quite frustrating half the time because it's true that when they were talking, they never EVER finished their damn sentences. It pretty much consisted of "i don't- i know- i..." and then someone else starts talking about something else all together. The main character can barely form a sentence yet alone fall in love with someone. The only character I sympathized with was Jane. I just wanted to hug he...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Corinne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

When she wakes up, all she knows is that she no longer knows anything. Not her name, not where she is, not the faces that loom in front of her.

She doesn't belong here but she doesn't remember where she DOES belong. Soon, when snatches begin to come back, they arrive with such excruciating pain that piecing them together is almost impossible. Slowly, of course, the people who call her Ava start expecting her to just live in this new life while she knows she is somehow in the wrong skin, in the wr...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Katelyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm a pretty big fan of Elizabeth Scott's novels. I'd say she's rather high on my Authors Who I'd Read Anything By list. However, I'm iffy about this newest writing endeavor.

some spoilers below

The premise for this book was interesting but the execution could have been better. I feel as if the world building was lacking. You have this universe closely controlled by a shady government and barely anything is done with it.

I also found the romance between Ava and Morgan wasn't believable enough for...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Warren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Setting: The story takes places in two planes or universes. It is happening today on our world in one of the planes and the other plan is bleak and controlled.

Characters: Ava is a girl who has lost her memory. She wakes up and doesn't remember anything. Jane is her mother who desperately wants her to remember their life together. Clementine is a nurse who tries to help Ava regain her memory. But something is definitely off with Clementine. Morgan is Ava boyfriend from the other plane who wants t...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Amanda (Born Bookish) rated it 1 of 5 stars

I couldn’t wait to finish this book! I knew things were gonna be bad when the first few chapters were nothing more than the main character, Ava saying Who Am I? Where Am I? over and over, and over, AND over. The one thing this book had going for it was the mystery, the only reason I kept on reading. I forced myself through it in hopes of gaining some answers, answers that unfortunately, never came.

Ava wakes up in a bed, in a house, she doesn’t remember. The doctors say she has amnesia but Ava do...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Aa'Ishah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

This was certainly an unusual book to read, to say the least. It centres on Ava, a 17 year old who remembers nothing about her life until now. Her memories slowly surface, but they're memories of another world; a world where every move is scrutinised and trust is thin on the ground. She sees some of the faces that are present in this life, but they have very different lives. And then there's Morgan. Ava's job in her previous world was to watch him closely, having been trained to watch for anythi...more This was certainly an unusual book to read, to say the least. It centres on Ava, a 17 year old who remembers nothing about her life until now. Her memories slowly surface, but they're memories of another world; a world where every move is scrutinised and trust is thin on the ground. She sees some of the faces that are present in this life, but they have very different lives. And then there's Morgan. Ava's job in her previous world was to watch him closely, having been trained to watch for anything that might pose a threat to the government. A forbidden romance starts between them, which, if discovered, will cost both their lives. Then he unexpectedly appears in her new life, and she starts to get some answers about who she is and why she's suddenly in a whole new world living a brand new life.

I liked this book to an extent, but I have to say that it was very disappointing at the same time. The cover and synopsis looked and sounded really interesting, but when I started reading, my enjoyment at the novel was marred by the huge sense of confusion that I felt. I carried on reading, hoping that things would become clearer later on. They did, but only by a small amount. Mystery's all well and good, but when you don't even understand what's happening more than half the time, it kind of loses its purpose. I felt there were too many loose ends, and I was left to figure a lot of stuff out for myself. As well as that, Ava's memories and current life were mixed up, with no clear line between them. The two different times seemed to overlap, and mix, so it was a little overwhelming. Also, the language is somewhat broken up. It doesn't read like you'd expect it to, or like you'd expect a 17 year old girl to talk or think.

Overall, I both liked and disliked this book. It's an interesting mix of genre, and for me, there was just something about it that kept me going. But it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. I would have liked more explanations and more clarity - and a better ending. It was a little anti-climatic. So, very much a mixed opinion on my part.(less)

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Nov 02, 2011 Devyani rated it 4 of 5 stars

lets just start by me saying that im awfully confused . :/
'confusion' is the term suitable for this book . (im not sure what the author intended , but yeah i was confused halfway through the book )

5 pages in the book and i thought , that the plot doesn't even make sense , so lets just chuck reading this book !...but then that eerie feeling came along , that every book deserves a chance and since it had just been 5 minutes , since i flipped up the pages , i thought another 5 minutes and then if t...more lets just start by me saying that im awfully confused . :/
'confusion' is the term suitable for this book . (im not sure what the author intended , but yeah i was confused halfway through the book )

5 pages in the book and i thought , that the plot doesn't even make sense , so lets just chuck reading this book !...but then that eerie feeling came along , that every book deserves a chance and since it had just been 5 minutes , since i flipped up the pages , i thought another 5 minutes and then if this book fails ...its goodbye to it !

as said earlier , i was confused ! as a reader but also someone who was walking the journey with Ava , the main protagonist of the book .
Ava wakes up in the hospital with no memory of why and how she ended up there at the first place . the shocking thing is , that she has no idea that the women beside her crying her eyes out is her mother and that she actually goes to this expensive private school or that she even has any friends . doctors say that shes amnesiac , but the weird thing is that not only does she feel lost but also feels like she doesn't belong there or even that time . she knows that something is terribly wrong as she keeps having visions of herself in some other creepy dark place , in some different phase of time , with her similar-faced friends but under a dystopian lifestyle .

the book is in a way fairly imaginatively created with great passion . the concept of two differnt worlds is great !
Ava's and Morgan's romance is something which is literally 'beyond-this-universe' . ( yes , i mean it literally as well as metaphorically ) :D

on a personal note , the effect the book had on me was , like i said , confusing ( weird , eh :P )
but i think thats what it is all about , its like your flowing and moving with Ava . she was as confused as i was . she was as clueless i was . and the truth and revelation of certain secrets hit her at same time it hit me .

im not gonna say that this book is to be loved by all . because hello , this book is too damn slow in its pace and if it wasn't for my patient mood , well . it would have been 'sayonara-book' long back :)

and if after this you think that you could give some time and read this book , im not certain about it , but if you did like the book the way i did , the ending would take your breath away :)

rating -> 3.5 :)
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Oct 17, 2011 Teri rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: aroundworldtours, arc, for-review, 2011-release

As I Wake is an amazing dystopian set between worlds of here and a future rife with authority and segregation.

A girl named Ava wakes up in a room in a hospital with a woman who says she is her mother. Ava remembers nothing, but she soon finds she has forgotten everything, or maybe it was all taken away.
Returning to school instead of being experimented on in a research facility Ava soon finds herself remembering ghosts of her past, and yet finding them in these people of the present.

It is like...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Barbara ~*Lindt Ninja*~ rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, fantasy, ya, netgalley, arc

Ava awakens in a bed – at least she thinks it’s a bed – in a strange place she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t know who she is, where she is and it’s only as she starts to wander around, does she even remember the names of the things around her. There’s nothing medically wrong wither her according to the doctors who run a battery of tests, but she still doesn’t know the woman who says she’s her mother and this life that’s supposed to be hers feels wrong. She keeps having flashbacks to a very diffe...more Ava awakens in a bed – at least she thinks it’s a bed – in a strange place she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t know who she is, where she is and it’s only as she starts to wander around, does she even remember the names of the things around her. There’s nothing medically wrong wither her according to the doctors who run a battery of tests, but she still doesn’t know the woman who says she’s her mother and this life that’s supposed to be hers feels wrong. She keeps having flashbacks to a very different place and sometimes when she looks at certain people, she sees them in layers, like there’s another person underneath who’s talking to her.

Those feelings of belonging someplace else increase as her flashbacks come faster and she’s reunited with several people that she thinks she’s known from someplace else. A boy keeps showing up both in the present and in the images that keep flowing in her head. The other place she keeps remembering is dark and oppressive and there’s something she knows she needs to remember that’s dangerous – if she was supposed to be somewhere else, someone had to betray her to send her where she is now.

I wanted to like this and I tried to like it over and over while I was reading it. This story just wouldn’t let me – it was confusing, unfocused and unfortunately it overwhelmed all of the characters.

The beginning of the book was promising. I liked the small flashbacks, the little bits of scenes that started to tell the story of where Ava might have come from. It was beginning to make some sense, this alternate, militant world where there was an organized spy network. The longer the flashbacks got though, the less they made sense. The structure of this alternate world crumbled and I couldn’t picture it anymore because Scott didn’t give me anything to focus on. Each time she revisited this alternate place, something changed and she lost me again. The alternate Ava acted differently and it didn’t make sense for the place.

Present Ava was barely better. She seemed robotic, wandering from scene to scene just informing everyone that she couldn’t remember or letting people remind everyone else that she couldn’t remember anything. She didn’t participate in anything – scenes just passed by, information flowing through. There were only a couple of times when she showed emotion and they were both very dramatic scenes involving types of “deaths” or letting go. They were well-written scenes that grabbed me and even had me tearing up – but they didn’t fit anywhere with this character or even in this book. They told me the author has talent but not that this is the right story for them.

This was an ambitious idea for a story that I think needed either a lot more room than it was given (269 pages) or some serious editing to make room for character development. The alternate place that Ava was from was too nebulous for me when it really could have been the powerhouse of the book, a sinister force hanging over the story. Ava herself was such a non-entity that this didn’t really feel like a story about her, just a telling about two places and the people who lived in them.

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Oct 04, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Ava has amnesia. The doctors keep telling her not to worry, she'll soon remember her family and friends. The trouble is, Ava does remember them - but her memories are from another world, where she was another Ava. And then there's Morgan, the boy she loved in that life, begging her to come back. Ava's not sure what's real anymore. Her new world is so much better, but if she stays, she'll lose Morgan forever.

This is an unusual story. The prose is sparse, almost bleak in some places. The two wor...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Natalie (Natflix&Books) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Like a schizophrenic on crack I always start out reading 3-5 books at the same time until one of them wins out and becomes my sole focus. A couple of nights ago I sat down with 3 freshly checked out library books and picked up As I Wake first. And then I kept reading it until I was finished. As I Wake starts out strong. Short chapters, intriguing premise, precise writing.

It is the story of Ava, a girl who wakes up in a room that she is unfamiliar with, in a town she can't remember to a woman sh...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Traci (The Reading Geek) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Scott's As I Wake is the story of Ava who wakes up with no memory of who she is. She is brought home from the hospital by a mother who claims they share a happy life at home together. Ava returns to school to find she has a group of best friends and a crush who is suddenly interested in her. However, no matter how hard Ava tries she can't remember any of it and the memories Ava does begin to gain back put her in an entirely different world.

I enjoyed As I Wake and was immediately drawn...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Whatchyareading added it

Shelves: christine, young-adult, science-fiction

Let me start this review by saying, what you think you know about this book is probably wrong. I read the blurb, saw the cool cover and was all happy because it’s the second new Elizabeth Scott book this year and I like Elizabeth Scott. Her books are usually contemporary and cute and involve guys I wish were real. So when I started reading this book, I thought it would be similar to her others. But then the more I read, the more I realized this was completely different from her other stuff. And...more Let me start this review by saying, what you think you know about this book is probably wrong. I read the blurb, saw the cool cover and was all happy because it’s the second new Elizabeth Scott book this year and I like Elizabeth Scott. Her books are usually contemporary and cute and involve guys I wish were real. So when I started reading this book, I thought it would be similar to her others. But then the more I read, the more I realized this was completely different from her other stuff. And it was absolutely brilliant.

Unfortunately for you, dear reader, I cannot completely reveal why this book is brilliant. I will say that the thing I’ve been wanting more in YA is in this book. It was a surprise (a very welcome surprise) that you have to work out with the narrator and when I figured it out, I frakkin’ celebrated. I want more books like this. (Please, please, authors, write more books like this.)

Okay, let me tell you what I can. Ava is the narrator. She wakes up and knows absolutely nothing. She doesn’t know who she is, where she is, or what is happening around her. It reminded me, in a way, of The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, which is also a brilliant book with a mystery behind the narrator’s amnesia. The more Ava interacts with the people and places around her, the more she remembers… a different place, which is where the mystery really kicks in. What’s caused Ava’s amnesia? What’s real? Who are these people Ava sees in her visions/memories/episodes and why do they look so familiar?

From the beginning I was spinning theories of what I thought was going on. Most of them came from TV or books I’ve read, but nothing I thought of completely fit the situation, which is great. I love not being able to figure out what’s happening until the end, or near the end as the case may be.

The part I couldn’t get to fit until the end was the boy Ava sees the most in her visions. He was an anomaly who played a large role. I loved everything about him. At first you have no idea who he is or how he connects to Ava, but after a while, it doesn’t matter.His relationship to Ava is the central point to this book and what pushed it over the edge from brilliant to I-will-tell-everyone-about-this-book brilliant.

I will warn you, though, that Elizabeth does not give you all the answers. I still have questions about the ending and what really happened and how it happened and what happens next and OMG SHE NEEDS TO WRITE A SEQUEL. *takes a deep breathe* I’m better now. But seriously, Elizabeth Scott, you need to write a sequel, or a short continuation. Something, anything. Please.

Yes, it’s that good. And yes, I recommend it to everyone. I don’t care if you’ve read her books before and they ‘weren’t for you’. I don’t care if you don’t like mysteries or books where the main character can’t remember anything. Whatever excuse you have, I don’t care. You’re reading this book. The day it’s released. Add it to your to-be-read lists, mark September 15th down on your calendar, and set a reminder alarm to visit your local bookstore because this is a great book and you should read it. And once you’ve read it, you can join me in stalking Elizabeth Scott and constantly asking her to please, please, if you love us at all please, write a sequel.

As I Wake will be released on September 15th from Dutton Juvenile, an imprint of Penguin.

Reviewed at WhatchYAreading on July 12, 2011.(less)

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Jul 17, 2011 Jessica Martinez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian

As I Wake revolves around Ava who wakes up not remembering her life, but gets weird flashbacks. Ava doesn't know if they're dreams or memories? Only Morgan can help her find her true identity.

I found the plot way awesome since it's topics I don't usually read about. The fact that the character doesn't remember anything about her life and gets these weird flashbacks keeps the reader asking the same questions.

What happened to Ava?
How is Morgan connected?

Sadly the story doesn't contain a lot of...more

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