Wake had a great story concept. It could have been an original mermaid story with a lot of depth. It was an inventive idea and I liked it. Cursed sirens needed to find a substitute girl to make their group of four again because they need to have four at all times. They pick Gemma because she is strong, beautiful, and a competitive swimmer. Of course there is a romance in there as well. It's YA. It almost has to have a romance. Well, it doesn't, but you will be hard-pressed to NOT find a romance in a YA book these days. Unfortunately, this book was pretty lousy. I'm just not going to sugar coat this review. I don't have it in me. The story concept was a good one, but the rest of this book tanked majorly with me. I was bored to tears.

The writing was awkward. REALLY awkward. The narration was odd. I felt almost the entire time like I was being told a story. The writing style was very detached and there was a lot of odd POV switching that left me feeling really confused. Was it deliberate or was the writing just THAT bad? The book was written in the the third person but we would enter both Gemma and her sister Harper's minds in the span of a couple paragraphs. No page break, no new chapter, just a really bizarre third person multiple POV that I still can't figure out. I think it was unintentional and I hope it will be straightened out before the final copy is released, but as a reader, you have to worry a little if the author doesn't know how to write and stay in one POV.

Most of the characters were pretty flat. I didn't mind the protagonist, Gemma, but the rest of the characters were cardboard cutouts. Her sister Harper was annoying and stifling and I wanted to throttle her throughout the entire book. Gemma was not helpless and I don't know why she never stood up to her sister. Harper was ridiculous and she continued to annoy me. I was an only child, and so I don't know what it's like to have a sister, but I can tell you that Harper's behavior would not fly with me. Ever. And then she kept calling her dad Brian, and that was really weird too. There was just a lot of weirdness in this book.

There was hardly any imagery and no sensory language. I had a hard time picturing the setting and the tone of the writing left me really bored and unconnected to the characters. In places the dialogue was very awkward, and then there was an issue of there not being ENOUGH dialogue. The author TOLD me the story throughout the entire book. And I hate that. I really, truly, hate it.

I haven't read a single mermaid story that has worked for me yet. The highest rating I have given a mermaid book is 3 stars, and unfortunately, this book will not be getting that high of a rating. I was really disappointed with this one, and I am left wondering if I should even bother reading any more of Ms. Hocking's books. Maybe her writing style just isn't for me. I need depth in my stories. This one stayed completely on the surface. Not recommended. Yes, it really was that bad.