Reawakened

Reawakened #1

by Colleen Houck

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.

And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe to find his brothers and complete a grand ceremony that will save mankind.

But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.

From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mythology, Romance, Magic, Adventure, Paranormal

400 pages, Hardcover

First published August 11, 2015

About the author

New York Times Bestselling Author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, science fiction, and romance. Formerly a student at the University of Arizona, she worked as a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter for seventeen years before switching careers to become an author. Colleen lives in Salem, Oregon, with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers. Follow her by signing up for her e-newsletter!

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even though I was very picky, wore only designer clothes, and had a monthly allowance bigger than what most people my age earned in a year, I was by no means a snob.

Firstly: this book is a stupid, racist piece of shit. Secondly, it is a grand accomplishment that I could hate a character within pages of meeting her.



Right after starting the book, I found out that our main character is rich, adored, and perfect. She gets straight As. She has parental-approved freedom to do whatever she wants. She lives in a fa-bu-lous *snaps finger* Manhattan apartment that never feels like home (;_;)

There were definite perks to living in Manhattan, and even more perks to living in a hotel—like maid service, room service at all hours, doormen, valets, access to the hotel pool, the steam room, and the gym. Still, it was hard for me to think of this residence as a home.

She has the financial means to do whatever she wants (a fact of which she blissfully and frequently reminds us). She gets straight As. She wears designer clothes (a fact of which she, again, frequently reminds us). She has been accepted to every single university to which she has applied. She has the ability to wander around the Metropolitan Museum of Art at her own will because her parents are wealthy donors. She is bloody fucking perfect. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

Meeting the most perfectest Mary Sue in the whole fucking world. This is surely a fantastic start to any story.



So there's beautiful, wealthy, perfect-in-every-way Lily. She spends her afternoons just chilling in off-limits (to regular middle-class folks) areas of the Met. While chilling in a closed-off Egyptian exhibition, she hears a weird noise and then a weird guy emerges from the shadows, and surprise, surprise. He's an Ancient Egyptian. He's gorgeous! HE SPEAKS ENGLISH!!!!!!!! He has green eyes, because that's so fucking common in Egypt.

Who are you? I wondered as I studied the person, who was not a man and yet not a teen. He seemed…timeless. Hooded hazel eyes, at that moment more green than brown, beneath a strong brow pinned me with a gaze that was both intelligent and almost predatory. I felt like a mouse looking up at a swooping falcon, knowing death loomed but utterly unable to look away from the beauty of it.

And he's looking for...jars! And without the jars, he needs...her! Oh my god, she is the only one EVAR WHO CAN GIVE HIM WHAT HE NEEDS!!!!!! *cough*Mary Sue*cough*

“You do not understand. Without my jars I must share your life force.”

Panicked, I spun and ran toward the curtain. But before I reached it, the lights went out and I banged my knee against the golden sarcophagus. Stumbling to catch my balance, I heard him coming toward me. “Come back, Young Lily,” he groaned. “I need you.”

He needs her. He pursues her. He all but kidnaps her. Wait, he does kidnap her. But he's so....different, and Lily finds herself oddly attracted to him.

I didn’t go for dangerous guys, especially bald guys wearing skirts who I couldn’t figure out. He was different from any guy I had ever met.

This is called a no shit, Sherlock moment. He follows her. He stalks her.

Gripping the balustrade, I closed my eyes, basking in the feeling and momentarily forgetting my surroundings until I heard an all-too-familiar voice. “The sun makes us feel strong, Young Lily. As I am bound to it, you are bound to me.”

Though it was definitely strange and all kinds of wrong to find him not only in the building I lived in but also on the same floor and just outside my room, I was surprised that I felt happy to see him, crazy stalker or not.

Surely Amon is the model of a perfect YA love interest.

Do I need to go on?

This book is culturally insensitive. It has The Last Samurai syndrome in which a white person swoops in and saves a culture about which they know nothing. It doesn't display anything true about the culture (in this case, Egypt) that it purportedly portrays. The "Egyptian" characters are exoticized and more or less whitewashed to a Caucasian ideal of what a foreigner should be. The characters gorge themselves on American food. Egypt is restricted to an "exotic" ideal, without a single mention of the current, dangerous, and politically unstable condition that the country is currently experiencing. It is the story of a rich white girl who, more or less, plays tourist in a foreign country and sees nothing of that country beyond the boundaries of her 5-star hotel room. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money.

[Mizuki]

WARNING: ANGRY RANT BELOW, DON'T LIKE DON'T READ

Edited@29/04/2017:

Here are a few things I've always been trying to say to all those trolls and angry fans:

(1) If you don't like rants, then just don't read them, no one has pointed a gun at you and forced you to read and comment on this rant of mine.

(2) If you don't like negative reviews/pre-reviews, then go to read four stars or five stars reviews, those will suit your taste better.

(3) Don't tell me stupidity and ignorance and shitting on other people's culture and history are common, they are common doesn't mean I have to shut up about it.

(4) Stop yelling 'IT'S FICTION' at me, the fact that it's fictional doesn't change the fact Colleen Houck's writing is awful, her research is poor and she doesn't give a rat ass about other people's cultures and traditions.

Actual rant starts here:

So I was informed that there'll be another book series by Colleen Houck:

Colleen Houck’s newest YA novel in which a visit to an Egyptian exhibit brings teen Lilliana Young face to face with a recently awakened mummy-turned-handsome-sun-god as she gets caught up in an adventure with more twists and turns than the Nile itself, to Krista Vitola at Delacorte Press, in a two-book deal,

FREAKING HELL AMERICAN GIRL MEETS HANDSOME SUPERNATURAL GUY FROM SOME OTHER FOREIGN CULTURE! LET ME GUESS! A PHOTOCOPY OF TIGER'S CURSE, RIGHT!?

SO AFTER SCREWING UP HINDU MYTH, CHINESE MYTH AND SO ON, YOU'RE GOING TO MESS UP EGYPTIAN MYTH NOW, HUH?

Colleen Houck, you makes me sick to my stomach!

All of a sudden, re-reading Anne Rice's The Mummy isn't so bad an idea!

Edited @01/11/2015:

I just found this priceless photo from Thibaut Nicodème's review:



Edited @21st July 2013

Okay, I noticed they have said nothing about Lilliana Young being an American girl. It's just getting better and better, Houck most likely is going to mess up as well if she tried to write an European girl or any non-white girl as a main character.

Edited @02/08/2014

To add insult to injury, I had recently found out how Houck did her 'research' and my question of whether this woman has ever bothered to travel to India for her Tiger series books is answered here:


(LINK: http://s64.photobucket.com/user/Tekla...)

Edited@11/08/2015: Here's a negative review from a 'very white girl' who is pissed by how disrespectful Houck's book is toward foreign cultures. Ah, it's readers like her who restore my hope toward humanity:

When Houck plays with someone else’s culture, history, and mythology the way she does here, playing the “it’s just fiction” card doesn’t work. People are reading this book and thinking her utterly inaccurate, racist version of Egypt is the real one and that’s not okay. Writing about another culture means doing research and making sure everything is as accurate as possible so as to represent them properly. This doesn’t seem to be a concern for Houck based on Reawakened and what’s been said about her previous series.

And all of this is just what I notice as a very privileged white girl who knows very little about Egyptian history, culture, and mythology.

Edited@15/08/2015:

Now Vanessa's review confirms that Houck merely photocopied Tiger's Curse, changed the Indian wrapping with an Egyptian one and then expects us to believe she wrote a new story. How predicable.

Edited@21/08/2015

Another reviewer expresses her displease here.

Here's the part I agree with most:

5. NO one likes your poetry. NO ONE.

Give it up. You are not Keats. You are not Wordsworth. You are not even Dr. Seuss. Your poems suck. I don’t read them. No one does. Again, a man who’s goal in life is to have a turnip of his own writes better poetry than you do.

Also, an epic rant from the legendary Khanh, what more can I ask for!? Link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Faye, la Patata · Rating 5 out of 5]

One word: WOW.

I seriously didn't expect this to be so good. I thought I'd get an everyday run-of-the-mill mythology story featuring some unlucky ancient Egyptian schmuck, but what I got instead was an entertaining, refreshing, action-packed adventure that left me not only at the edge of my seat but also in tears and in stitches.

By the end of the book, I thought of one thing and one thing only: where's the next book, I need an ancient Egyptian prince for a boyfriend, maybe if I get lucky I can enter some tomb and magically find a handsome mummy, this is what the mummy movies should have been (oops, I'm not committing some sort of heresy with that statement, am I?)

I've always been interested in Ancient Egypt - their culture, their values, their architecture, their society - everything. They're intriguing and there is this sense of mystery and mysticism from them that I find absolutely romantic and poetic. I've always waited for that one YA book that would feature Egyptian mythology and a reawakened Egyptian mummy (because come on, doesn't that just seem fun?), so imagine my surprise when that day came as soon as I got my hands on this book. It delivered, guys. It fricking delivered.

I love how mythology was used here. It wasn't just a background for the characters but it was also something that directly affected the plot and kept it moving. It reminded me somehow of Richelle Mead's Age of X series, where the world is full of humans who have stopped believing in millenium-old mythologies and their gods, not knowing that these said gods were actually real and that they all lived in a distant time and plane separated from them. The same is pretty much used here, especially when Amon (no, not Amun), has been resurrected once again, as he has been every 1000 years since he was made a servant of the gods, in order to do a ritual to ensure the dark god Seth doesn't come to the mortal world once again and wreck it unimaginable havoc. But what's he to do when instead of waking up in his tomb in a pyramid in the middle of Egypt, he finds himself in a museum in New York without the canopic jars filled with his organs in sight?

First of all, I adoooooore Amon. I love him so fucking much. He was so stiff and so formal and so clueless and so fricking adorable all at the same time. I loved how he was portrayed here. I loved how he found the new world so intriguing and so scary and so curious, how he was so intent on fulfilling his mission, how he saw the grander scheme of things and set aside his own wants and needs because the rest of the world had to come first. 

And did I mention how he was clueless AND adorable? And how he was just so effortlessly hilarious?!?!



Oh lawd, Amon. *cackles with laughter*



WHY. ARE. YOU. SO. FRIGGING. CUTE.



I can't.



Goddamnit, Amon! You're making it hard not to love you here!

And he even has two other brothers, y'all. TWO OTHER BROTHERS WHO ARE EQUALLY CHARMING, FUNNY, AND SO, SO, SO ENDEARING. 

(PS: You can breath, guys. No love triangle over here, don't worry. Bro's code, yes? ;D)

And I have nothing but love for the heroine, american Lillian Young who accidentally stumbled upon Amon as he awakened and got herself bound to him against her will (well, when you don't see your organs and you're weak as hell and you need the strength to save the world from a crazy-ass god and you see this life form in front of you who can share her energy... weeeell...). She was such a thinking heroine who was a trooper through and through. She would pause and look at a situation calculatingly. She never, ever became stupid or reckless or hopelessly in love. She never followed the hero because he was handsome as fuck (even though he was handsome as fuck), but because she felt that she had to help him because, well, if she didn't, it would be "bye-bye world, it was nice living here while it lasted." 

And yes, she may have been bitten by demon lizards, gotten herself almost killed by a risen dead, and gotten herself almost killed by a poison that was last seen since ancient egyptian times, but it was never because of her own recklessness. These were things that unfortunately happened to her and she fought and endured them like the rockstar she was.

And that romance... that slow-and-steady romance that left me swooning and crying and laughing. It was a perfection and a tragedy at the same time. Needless to say, my heart is still recovering from the shock and awesomness and I absolutely implore Colleen Houck to write the second book soon before it dies in anticipation.

My message to this book:



My message to you, readers:



It was amazing. You must get this.

[Paige (Illegal in 3 Countries) · Rating 1 out of 5]

See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten! My copy was an ARC I picked up at BEA 2015. WORST DECISION OF ALL THREE DAYS I WANDERED THE JAVITS CENTER.

0 STARS INTO INFINITY. This shit's racist.

Colleen Houck is notorious for her previous series thanks to its White Savior commplex and her utter lack of research/respect for Indian culture and mythology, but when a book is just sitting on a table at BEA free to pick up, your fingers will get a little twitchy no matter the author’s reputation (unless their name is Kathleen Hale). BIGGEST MISTAKE SO FAR OF BEA 2015. Houck’s fans will call this “just fiction,” but no book is “just fiction” when it offensively misrepresents Egyptian culture, mythology, and people and readers think the bull she’s spouting is accurate when it’s not. Reawakened is full of holes, racial microaggressions, and just plain poor-quality storytelling.

When the first chapter hands you the legendarily-clunky method of describing a character via them looking at themselves in a mirror, nothing good is going to happen. Houck’s writing style is as exposition- and cliche-heavy as I’ve heard. Lilliana spends her days living in upper-class luxury, taking taxis and sneering at drivers’ accents because she doesn’t want to use her personal driver, and being rewarded for her judgmental ways instead of it biting her in the rear end. Her dislike of girls is encouraged by a side character saying is even encouraged by a side character saying she isn’t “one of those dramatic young women vying for attention” (p. 40).

She also has an unsettling habit of being right while being snobbish and describing things as exotic. A man leers at her and it’s always because the man is evil. It’s not paranoia or something only she sees because she’s a rich girl out of her element and has no respect for others. Nope, she’s just observant. People make snap judgments or get the wrong impression of someone, but not Lilliana! She’s perfect. I counted at least three times she referred to something as “exotic” and I’d rather not go into that word’s role in the fetishization of foreign people and things. Lilliana just isn’t the right female lead for this book.

The right heroine? A homeless teen who sneaked her way into the museum so she could enjoy some art and be inside for a while. She encounters Amon the millennia-old mummy man, he binds her to him, and she accepts it because going with him and helping him stop Set from rising is a better way to live than how she’s living now. I wrote that fanfic in my head the entire time while reading because Lilliana doesn’t cut it as a heroine. My version would give me the benefit of never having to read “Young Lily” again–because Amon is foreign and foreign people talk funny, it seems. “A desert lily need not turn jealous eyes toward the common violet” is just one of many lines of Amon’s dialogue that made me cringe. His similarly one-note brothers Asten the flirty one and Ahmose the bland one were similarly bad.

Houck’s lack of research into what she’s writing about is appalling. Let’s count the ways:

**Amon says “the time of the pharaohs was after my own” (p. 33) and yet the city he was to be king of–Itjtawy–was itself founded by Pharaoh Amenemhat I sometime in 1970s BC. He wasn’t an early pharaoh either; he was part of the Twelfth Dynasty, so eleven dynasties of pharaohs and their families reigned before him.

**Again, if he came from the time before pharaohs, he likely didn’t interact with the Greeks and Romans because they came in much later. Despite this, he uses the corrupted Greek/Roman names for the Greek gods instead of the Egyptian names he would have grown up knowing. Seth should be Set, Osiris should be Wesir (yeah, REALLY), Isis Aset, etc. (source)

**Myths to do with why Set was so determined to put Osiris out of commission are all wrong. Reawakened posits through Amon’s expository storytelling that Set coveted Isis and wanted Orisis out of the way; in the actual myth, it’s a combination of jealousy and his wife Nephthys seducing Osiris to get pregnant with Anubis. Legends vary as to if she did it as herself or while disguised as her sister Isis. Either way, Nephthys is a nonentity when she has an important part in the relevant myths.

**The way quicksand works here is the movie way, not the actual way. In movies, it quickly swallows you up no matter what you do. In reality, staying still and slow movements will get you out easily, but you can even walk over quicksand like it’s little more than wet beach sand if you’re quick enough.

Houck seems to have no sense of where her story is in history and instead mangles history to meet her needs. What results is a bastardization of Egyptian myths into cheap CW-like dramatics and blatant historical inaccuracies. This would bother me less if I hadn’t already found readers who thought Houck’s version was the truth.

When Houck plays with someone else’s culture, history, and mythology the way she does here, playing the “it’s just fiction” card doesn’t work. People are reading this book and thinking her utterly inaccurate, racist version of Egypt is the real one and that’s not okay. Writing about another culture means doing research and making sure everything is as accurate as possible so as to represent them properly. This doesn’t seem to be a concern for Houck based on Reawakened and what’s been said about her previous series.

And all of this is just what I notice as a very privileged white girl who knows very little about Egyptian history, culture, and mythology. I don’t doubt I missed many racial microaggressions or moments of bad/absent research because there’s only so much I can see from my own point of view. (That and I gave up trying to do the research to prove things right or wrong after about 200 pages. One’s brain can only take so much.) If someone well-versed in all the above matters read this book, I’m certain they would tear it and Houck apart.

Do not buy this book. Don’t read it. Don’t pick it up at the library. Don’t pirate it. Don’t borrow it off a friend who did one of the former. Just don’t get near Reawakened. We don’t need diverse books; we need good diverse books, and this book is far from being a good diverse book. It’s a slap in the face to all of Egypt and all Egyptian people.

[Darth J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Open the nearly iridescent cover of Houck’s latest and you’ll find her Twilight esque take on Egyptian mythology.


Lily is your average cardboard cutout of a character that is meant for young female audiences to project themselves onto. She doesn’t have much to her other than having rich parents, frenemies, and overexplaining her every thought in so much detail as if to say, “I’m not a TSTL Mary Sue; I overanalyze everything so you think I’m smart when really just mediocre and boring.”


Just as in the Tiger’s Curse series, Houck seems to be setting up a weird love competition between the brothers and Lily (though they aren’t really brothers and I also suspect that Asten isn’t 100% straight since Houck lays some hints otherwise). I have to say I’m really tired of this trope of the supernatural men fighting over the average girl. It’s been done to death and is terribly cliché. I know this is a YA book that seems to be geared more towards girls but y’all need to stop falling for this pandering. Also, Amon gives Lily a makeover by giving her blond streaks??


I will have to say that it’s not cool that when Amon first meets Lily he casts a spell on her to connect them. It’s a parasitic bond in which he draws on her energy and it’s done without her consent. He robs her of her agency and (of course) she starts to fall in love with him. Like way too many other depictions of an unhealthy relationship, the audience is just supposed to accept this because the male is attractive.


The tombs are also subject to borrowing heavily from other material. Whether it be from the Indiana Jones or the newer Mummy movies, I feel like I’d already experienced a lot of the traps and mummy magic before so there was very little that was original here. I even remember some things being lifted from Anne Rice’s The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned and some Goosebumps books.


Also, what was up with comparing everything to Godzilla? Either something was as large as Godzilla or reptilian like it. Did the author watch the remake while writing this book and decide to pepper it with Godzilla references? A good editor would have stopped a writer after one mention.


It wasn't perfect.

[♛Tash · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review also on




If you answered a to all the items above, then congratulations you are Lilliana Young. If you answered b to all then you're me. There's no winning here folks.

Lilliana Young finds herself in a bind after she accidentally meets Amon, an Egyptian prince of yore and the sun-god incarnate. Amon seeks Lilliana's help to reawaken his brothers and complete a ceremony. They go to Egypt where shit goes down. Of course, there's the hundred pages of fish-out-of-water in the modern world schtick ala Enchanted



minus the charm, and fifty pages or so of swooning over Amon's abs and Irish green Egyptian eyes. I read them all and now I am dead inside.

Our main character and narrator, Lilliana Young, is beautiful, rich, well-bred, and just oh so fucking perfect. She only wears designer clothes but but but she also wants us to know she is not a snob. All she wants though is a home where her parents are there, because of course this is YA so her parents are absent bajillionaires, and a dog to go home too. Poor fucking little rich girl. It's also too bad she doesn't have real friends , because all of her friends are fake, or so she says. Hm, I wonder what that says about Lilliana Young? Nothing bad of course because she's so special, so special that she's the only girl in the world chosen to help save the sons of a foreign country she has zero connection to whatsoever. She is also the most gullible of all YA characters I've ever had the displeasure of being in the head of. She witnesses a parlor magic trick and she is immediately sold to the idea that the Egyptian mythology is real without questioning her existing faith or lack thereof. Then she goes off gallivanting to a foreign country for a week, with a stranger without letting anyone know.



There is also the case of the crazy hot guy/prince/god incarnate/mummy, aka Amon. Have I mentioned that he's hot? He is an Egyptian prince gawd from a thousand years ago and he totally looks like Jensen Ackles with a tan, and color-changing amber/green eyes, because that's how most Egyptians look like. He is also such a nice douche, so damned nice he apologizes to Lilliana all the time after he paralyzes her when she attempts to run away after finding out that Amon was leaching her "life force". It's like Colleen Houck wants him to come off as this good, self-sacrificing prince, but he comes off as emotionally manipulative and abusive. He is leaching off her life force to exist and he takes the fucking time to do the Chippendale in a club. He repeatedly tells Lily that he feels bad for leaching off her but expends it randomly on his random powers. Amon can do whatever with his power, but balks when it's truly needed because again he doesn't want to hurt Lily, but it is still a pretty convenient plot device.

Amon and Lily go to Egypt together! Isn't that romantic? Though I am not sure if it's really Egypt or just California. All I get from the description is that it's hot with lots of sand. Oh silly me, there are pyramids, so no it's not California, but more like Nevada?*shrugs* I just can't tell because they hop from a five-star hotel to a dance club where Amon does a sexy belly dance, to the pyramids where there are just tourists, lots and lots of tourists without any sign of political insurgency that's been happening for a few years. I have to say Colleen Houck, that is some Wikipedia level research right there.

I found the story lacking cohesion, even with Houck's endless exposition. The confrontation between the forces of good and evil were clunkily done, my eyes just skimmed over them because I keep cringing at the awkwardness of it all.Plus, the whole thing about Amon and his brothers reawakening after a thousand years was quite unconvincing. It's just impossible for me to take an explanation seriously when someone talks like this

"Not old enough that I cannot rein in lovely tormenters who bedevil me with questions and delight in afflicting me with all manners of inducements."

and the narration is frequented with thoughts like this...

"How could I imagine myself as the girlfriend of a real-life mummy/sun -god if I can't handle a little rot and decay?"

and the awkward af poems/spells. No, just no.

I admit that I started the book with the lowest of expectations, but I was still surprised by the crudeness of the research and inelegance of the execution. Just lay off mythology Houck, you're offending the gods with your writing.

[Zero vi Britannia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear Goodreads users,

I've been studying Egyptian history/mythology since I was SIX. I remember how it started: first grade visit to the school's library. Next to the librarians desk was the nonfiction shelf. It was there that I discovered the Eyewitness book on Ancient Egypt. I was intrigued, so I checked it out, and thus began a mild obsession. Seriously, my parents had to forbid me from rechecking out books on Egypt. To be fair, I was six and there aren't that many books available in the kids' section. The fact that I can remember the exact moment I fell in love with Egyptian history should tell you how seriously I take it.

Now, I haven't read anything by Houck. However, I have read reviews on the Tiger Saga (seriously Saga?). One of the things that gets repeated is that Houck's research shows a lack of research. As a POC, I get very upset when white authors write stories about non-white cultures and screw it up, while POC authors get no love. The fact that said white authors feel the need to slap a bunch of stuff from other cultures together with no thought pisses me off.

And the MC is an American girl. Why not have the entire thing set in Eypt with an Egyptian MC?

For all these reasons and many more, I must decline the opportunity to read this series.

Respectfully yours,
Zero.

PS. Seriously white authors, do your fucking research before writing POC cultures. And don't slap together a bunch of shit that doesn't belong.

PPS. No, under no circumstances will I see the new Exodus movie.

[Tristen]

How can people rate books when there isn't even a name and you haven't read it. She could be your favorite writer in the world and still manage to write a book that you don't like. It's beyond me how a book that's not even around has a 4.23 rating already.

The name comment has finally become irrelevant two years later.

[Nasty Lady MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

To see review with gifs clickhere.

Note: This letter would’ve been sent to Ms. Houck if I was a publisher. I’m not. I’m a cantankerous lawyer, who frequently wears Grumpy Cat t-shirts and has no problem telling people what assholes they are, especially after the last month I had. I especially like writing nasty letters. I think it’s my forte. Most people would not like to admit this. It should be noted that this letter is directed solely at Ms. Houck’s manuscript not her as a person. In today’s day in age of whiney author’s I think it’s necessary to put said disclaimer even though I really don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about this.

Ms. Houck:

Just tell your book to go away.



I want to pretend that this manuscript didn’t exist. That you don’t exist, but imagine to my surprise when my assistant told me you had a back catalogue and proceeded to hand me the books.

I did what a reasonably prudent person would do after reading said book, I fired my assistant. And he was a cute assistant. So that makes me even more pissed off at you.

He looked like Dan Stevens, you made me fire Matthew Crawley.

All because of five horrible books.

But I am not writing you to lament about that. I am writing you to tell you that your book, Reawakened is being rejected. I don’t care if you are contract with the publisher’s house. I am sure after reading this piece of rodent excrement that I’m pretty sure I can convince our legal department to say that you breached your contract by producing something that wasn’t of publishing quality. At the very least you caused me physical pain (a headache) and that has to be worth something, though the verbal vomit I read was painful enough.



The reason why I am rejecting this manuscript is quite simple. A certified moron on a British 80’s sitcom wrote better poetry than you. In fact, I am pretty sure that Baldrick could write a better book than you. At least I would actually enjoy reading a book about a turnip.

Because well, turnips are already bad where they can’t be defecated on for some crass little self inserted fantasy. Because this is all this book is.

I am not stupid, Ms. Houck. I can read through the lines. Plus, with the other work of yours in front of me it was very easy to see that Liliana is yet another self insert version of you because she is essentially a rich version of Kelsey. With bad, evil, parents. That are bad because they like having money and want their daughter to major in something where she can make a viable living.



Well, at least you tried with character development this time around-I guess.

That’s not a compliment just for you to know. I’m just acknowledging that you didn’t go the poor little orphan route this time around. You just went the poor little rich girl route.

Not that big of a difference if you think about it.

I really don’t know how you think you’re fooling anyone. And after reading your Tiger Curse series I really don’t know how you’re fooling someone that you are writing something original.

From what I read-I stopped at 200 pages because (hey, life is too short to read dung that not even a dung beetle would roll in) it’s the same fucking thing relying on the same fucking tropes and being offensive in the same fucking way.

I feel like I owe you a favor. Maybe no editor had the balls to sit down with you and tell you what the fuck is wrong with this abomination of shit. So, I am going to take out time where I could be doing something smarter-like rehiring that Matthew Crawley look alike-and tell you what you need to do before I’ll accept your shit.

1. Don’t rely on Just Google Maps and Wikipedia When Doing Research

I know you do this. You’ve even mentioned this. While Wikipedia is a good place to start or do less extensive research, when you are doing a book that involves lots and lots of research you probably need to expand on your research material.

Heck, you could’ve even learned more from Nancy Drew: Tomb of the Lost Queen than you could from the amount of research you did.

For one thing if keeping track of time periods is so difficult for you, make a timeline. That way, at least you will sort of have an idea in which things chronologically happen. Like maybe you’ll realize that the Valley of the Kings was meant when the pharaohs were in power. And maybe since your main character woke up a thousand years before he would be aware that the Egyptian pantheon is no longer worshiped by mainstream society.

But hey, details.



Though I guess some of those things aren’t so much of a research thing but a lack of common sense.

You can’t help that you’re a complete duff.

See, I am becoming nicer in my old age (sort of).

You still made me fire Matthew Crawley though. That is just blasphemous.

2. If you are going to feature a culture, don’t give the Big Mac version of the country.

Seriously?

Tourists? You featured tourists. And have the characters eat pizza in a hotel room. You don’t explore local cuisine, or the local modern culture and conflicts that this country is facing. Nope. It’s just fancy swoon worthy hotel with fifty thousand calorie meals and fanny pack wearing retirees.

You don’t even discuss the language that the characters use. They all just speak English or gibberish.

Talk about marginalizing and offensive.

This book might as well took place at the Epcot version of Egypt that is how watered down the descriptions of it were.

3. Realize that making a character “exotic” can be offensive and racist. Especially when you don’t respect his culture or do your research.

Oh my God.

No Houck. No just no. Ren was bad enough. But with Amon you bring it to new levels especially with quotes like this:

A desert lily need not turn jealous eyes toward the common violet (86)

To someone with any form of common sense, I shouldn’t even have to explain why this quote is offensive. But Houck, you dear, lack common sense so I’ll be-nice enough, to you.

A. It’s presumptuous of Amon to even think Liliana (that’s her name, despite the fact that Amon gives her an automatic nickname-seriously) is jealous.

B. Desert Lily? Seriously. I know he’s from another time period, but ew.

C. Again, why is he judging women based surely on their physical looks that in itself is offensive.

It’s obvious that you try to make him this way because you think you’re making him old world and romantic. Well, no. Instead, he just sounds like a stupid idiot at best.

Also, while you describe the character as an Egyptian prince nothing about him says anything about his culture. He’s merely “exotic” candy. Complete with eyes that aren’t exactly a common color for someone who is of Amon’s ethnic background.

Seriously, what is wrong with brown eyes? Both Ren and Amon genetically speaking should’ve had them. But nope.

You should’ve just gone with purple.

I mention the eye color because this is one of many ways you “white wash” the characters. This is also seen in the cases of both Ren and now Amon in the way their so called women try to Americanize them thus depleting the little culture they have.

Instead, of celebrating Egypt we merely see Amon strip out of his toga and bald head, grow a messy bed head and steal some jeans.

Uh, huh.

And guess who saves the day (or is part of it) plain old I don’ t know anything about Egypt, American Liliana.

4. While food porn is nice (I guess) it can become excessive and sort of gross. Especially when said guy is trying to cram at least 20,000 calories down the main characters throat.

Does this sound like a healthy meal to you:

He was now surrounded by eggs done eight different ways, hash browns and skillet potatoes, country ham, apple sausage, maple bacon, biscuits slathered with honey and melted butter, caramel-apple topped pancakes with whipped creme, creme brule French toast, malted Belgian waffles, a fruit platter, and a basket full of croissants, Danishes, and streusel-topped blueberry muffins. (63)

If you ate all of this you would die. Yet, Amon frequently tries to force food down Liliana’s throat. It’s annoying and offensive. It’s HER own damn body, she should be able to decide when she wants to eat. Period. It’s not cute. And while I think you were trying to make it seem like Amon loved Liliana’s body it didn’t sound that way for me. It just seemed like an a-hole who wanted to make someone miserable by making them stuff their face with way too much food.

Again, if you ate all that you would die. Just reading it made my stomach turn and it’s not just because of the wheat overload. It’s just way too much food. And this happens frequently throughout the story.

It is an annoying quirk and a waste of fictional food.

5. NO one likes your poetry. NO ONE.

Give it up. You are not Keats. You are not Wordsworth. You are not even Dr. Seuss. Your poems suck. I don’t read them. No one does. Again, a man who’s goal in life is to have a turnip of his own writes better poetry than you do.

6. Power in relationships is important. Having the guy over power the female, and take away her will to make her own decisions, while acting like she is taking control of her life is just plain insulting.

The food thing is a prime example of this. But really the entire manuscript that I read encompasses this point. We are told that Liliana can make a choice. Yet, Amon has dragged her to Egypt. Is trying to stuff food down her throat. And even gives her an unintended makeover.

Seriously, Liliana. No guy should ever touch your hair unless he is a licensed stylist/colorist.

7. Info dumps are not cool.

I know I skipped this section. If I wanted to know this stuff, I could’ve Googled the same thing you did.

Look Houck, I really thought this book might have something. The premises is pretty cool. But unfortunately it fails for me. It doesn’t appear that you have developed as a writer at all. There are still some major issues with how you handle your research skills and how you depict cultures. In other words, this is the most offensive book I’ve read in 2015.

I hope this letter at least gives you some reasons why I consider your book to be worse than bad Mexican food diarrhea. I have to go now and apologize to my ex fictional assistant. I really don’t want to lose him.

You can take the book though.

Best Regards,

MJ

Pretend Book Editor/Publisher

[These Violent Delights (Robin) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The excitement I feel for this book right now is insurmountable! *Squeal*



Edit!!! As of October 5th

I just am so speechless right now..



I don't know, I just feel so.. I don't know, like..



I love you Mrs. Houck after that Tiger's Saga you wrote




So now after the Tigers Saga my feels are all zapped and out of control



I love this cover and the Title, I must admit.

Find my review of this book on my blog here: http://wherebooksleadus.blogspot.com/...


My absolute favorite subject to learn about is Ancient Egypt, so when I heard that my favorite author was writing a series based on my favorite subject, I was ecstatic!

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As always, Colleen does a superb job weaving fantasy and history and creating an epic, yet tragic tale of love and devotion.



This book was laugh out loud funny, nail-bitingly intense, heart-breakingly sad, and full of swoon worthy princes. What else could someone want in a book?



Amon, Ahmose, Asten, Dr. Hassan, and Lily were all wonderful characters that brought me to tears and made me laugh till it hurt. Lily transformed from Lilliana the follow-the-orders-New-Yorker-coward to Lily the brave-follow-her-heart-devotee. I loved Lily's character and felt her to be extremely likable and relatable. Dr. Hassan was an adorably funny worshiper that surprised me by the end of this book with how amazing he was.

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My heart hurt by the end of this book that I was on the brink of flooding my room with tears. But!!! The epilogue saved my heart from being forever broken! There's hope yet!!!! I am extremely anxious for book 2 right now that it hurts!!!


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[RegencyEmma · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I have been waiting for this book for what feels like forever. Now after reading it I feel so let down. It just didn't live up to my expectations, at all. I was looking forward to the Egyptian culture and mythology and I found none, it was all very...bland. *sigh*

I definitely like the Tiger series better!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I WANT THIS BOOK NOW! NOW! NOW!

I'm so excited!

*Hyper happy dance*

August 2015?! Seriously, that's too long to wait! I WANT IT NOW!

[Thibaut Nicodème · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chapter-by-chapter review/recap on my blog, the Snark Theater.

“No. You will not run away and you will not scream.”

This about sums it up. And yeah, it's out of context, whatever, cut me some slack here.

Reawakened is the story of a girl who finds a supernatural creature boy originating from a foreign culture, and has some adventures with said boy while they also fall in forbidden love. If it sounds like the same idea as Colleen Houck's other book Tiger's Curse it's because, from what I know about Tiger's Curse (which is to say: as much as possible without reading it), it's practically the same book with a different layer of paint. Which is not a compliment.

Okay, so Tiger's Curse with a terrible portrayal of Egyptian mythology. I don't think it got a single detail right without fucking up something else in the same movement. We have a city that isn't Thebes worshipping Amun-Ra in predynastic times (when Amun-Ra did not exist), actual Thebes not worshipping Amun-Ra, Anubis being god of the stars for some unfathomable reason, Isis drawing power from the moon (why? Who knows) and being entirely about the men in her life rather than the most powerful member of the Egyptian pantheon, regardless of gender, Seth being evil instead of morally corrupt but still ultimately fighting for the safety of the world, Apophis being a human, but also a crocodile god (instead of a snake?) and a servant of Seth (even though they were enemies), two different types of people brought back from the dead even though that is most definitely not a thing in Egyptian mythology, Sobek being conflated with Apophis and/or Seth, and many, many more errors I can't even recall at the moment.

Basically, whenever this book says something about Egyptian mythology, take it with a grain of salt. Actually, no: take it with enough salt to turn the Mediterranean into the Dead Sea. That might be enough.

And then you have the protagonists. Amon (pretty boy/resurrected mummy) is completely morally corrupt, and yet, because of protagonist-centered morality, we're supposed to agree with the way he mind-controls his way into everything, starting with forcing the protagonist to accompany him on his quest. He's creepy, and his propensity to mind control forces me to doubt all the romantic moments. Are they real, or is he manipulating Lily into feeling this way? We may never know for sure.

As for Lily, she's the protagonist…I mean viewpoint character. I mean narrator. She could be a video camera and it wouldn't make much of a difference. She has zero agency. ZERO. I am dead serious. At no point in the story does she do anything. She won't kiss her pretty boy herself, because he has to make the first step or something. She doesn't figure out anything by herself. Her only contribution in the final battle is as live bait. And in the final chapter, when she has to kill Amon and sever the bond between them, freeing them both to move on, she still needs to be mind-controlled into doing it.

The book does some setups in the early chapters that makes you think she'll have a character arc. It's cliché ("I'm rich and successful and have to choose between all those elite colleges who all accepted me and I don't know which one to pick!") but at least there's room for her to learn what she really loves to do, or something like that. Easy character arc, right? Well, forget about it. Actually, nothing we learn about Lily's life in New York has any impact once the plot gets started. Not her propensity to study/draw people, not her tendency to label people at first glance, not her tense relationship with her parents and love for her grandmother. Nothing. As soon as they're on a plane to Egypt, there's nothing to her but the pretty boy.

For this alone, this book earns this award:



And if you think I'm exaggerating…sorry to disappoint. But this is the biggest Mary Sue I've read in a long time, including Bella Swan and, yes, even Ana Steele (though Fifty Shades still takes the cake for glorified abuse).

The plot is a series of "go there, face minor obstacle, overcome obstacle in seconds, rinse and repeat". At no point is there any conflict. Even when Amon has his eyes pulled out of their sockets, the book only manages a halfhearted attempt at consequences. And how does the book end? Lily goes home, in the same time and spot she first met Amon, meaning she doesn't have to deal with having run away to Egypt without a passport or money for an entire week. Try to beat that for lack of consequences.

It's just ridiculous. And horrible. But hey, at least I can say that it doesn't drag the way a City of Heavenly Fire does. Yay?

No, really, don't read this piece of shit. Or at least download a pirated copy.

[Paige Bookdragon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fuck this. Don't be fooled by the pretty cover and the promise of an Egyptian prince.

[Arooj · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this was one of those books that I was dying to read. I waited so long, patiently, and I have finally read it.

Honestly? Like, really honestly? I enjoyed it. But it just wasn't...enough. I wanted something more from the story. This book wasn't perfect, but I don't think it was bad either.

Basically, this was very similar to the Tiger's Curse series. Writing down all the similarities would take me a while, which I don't really want to do, but just imagine Tiger's Curse and replace the tigers for mummies and the setting for Egypt. Yeah.

The adventure, while I enjoyed it, was kid of lacking. You know the 1999 movie, The Mummy? Dumb question, most of you probably do. I fucking LOVE that movie. I've watched it probably around 20 times. That was one of the reasons why I was so excited to read this book. But the adventure just wasn't enough for me.

The romance moved way too fast, which I was expecting. The "love" word was thrown out there way too early. I think the whole story occurred in...a week? Or two? I'm not sure.

The characters. Phew. Okay. Lilliana, or protagonist? While I didn't love her, I also didn't hate her. My feelings are pretty mutual on her. What I disliked the most, though, was how the author tried so hard to make us think that despite being rich, Lilliana was not a typical rich teen. It didn't exactly work. In the beginning. Lilliana says that even though she wears only designers cloths she was not a snob. That sounded snobbish to me. Why only wear designer clothes if you're not a snob? Not that here's anything wrong with it, but it sounds contradicting. Oh, and there's another thing that really annoyed me, when she made a move towards Amon and was shut down. She gets mad and thinks that maybe she's not attractive enough, gets mad, etc. Amon had another reason why, but the main reason that should've come into her head is that HE'S NOT HUMAN. For him, a relationship with a mortal would be crazy, as well as impossible. Amon's main priority is his mission, not falling in love with a human girl. Honestly, with her life in danger, she shouldn't even be thinking about romance, no matter how attractive the guy is. I'd be more worried about my life. For someone claiming to be so smart, she was actually pretty dumb sometimes.

Actually, many times Lilliana sounded just like Kelsey from the Tiger's Curse. I didn't like her at first either and eventually grew to like her, so maybe the same will happened with Lilliana? I'll see.

Amon. He didn't seem convincing to me. His actions and words didn't always sound like something a thousand year old mummy would say or do. Like, why did he fall for Lillana? Just because he "never met anyone like her"? I doubt it.

And then there were some things that didn't make sense, for example how come the creatures they came across spoke English. Amon and his brothers could speak English because of a spell, but what about the rest? I thought maybe the spell included Kelsey being able to understand Egyptian, but then she mentioned hearing Amon speak Egyptian and I learned I was wrong. I really wish that part was more thought out.

But despite all that, like I said earlier, I did enjoy this book. And I know Colleen Houck's books are not liked by all, mostly because the content in her books are not always accurate. But I don't read her books for education, I read them just for fun. When reading her books, you should keep in mind that not everything mentioned about history, religion, etc. is true. Even I've found many faults and I do think there are many things that should be more properly researched. But since I'm reading it for fun, I'm not too strict about it. Her books are my guilty pleasure, I guess. So if you absolutely hated the Tigers Curse series, I don't recommend reading this book. But if you loved the Tiger's Curse series, or are just looking for something different, then give this a try. To each, their own. I personally am pretty excited for the next book.

3.5/5

[Jenna D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three words:

NO LOVE TRIANGLE.

That is all.

(My 4.5 star review is coming soon.)

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

Reawakened by Colleen Houck
Book One of The Reawakened series
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: August 11, 2015
Rating: 4 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher

Summary (from Goodreads):

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.

And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe to find his brothers and complete a grand ceremony that will save mankind.

But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.

From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself.

What I Liked:

I was NOT expecting to like this book, to be honest. I mean, I wanted to love it, as with all books I request and start reading, but I had an awful time with Houck's Tiger's Curse series. I hated the books I read of that series (never finished it) - I couldn't stand the protagonist, the love triangle, the um, interesting take on Indian people and culture. In any case, I was wary of this one, but I am a sucker for Egyptian mythology and culture! And I'm so glad I gave this book a chance, because I really liked it, and want more!

Lily is a rich girl living in New York with her uptight, strict parents who control every aspect of her life, even if she has a ton of money. When she seeks refuge in the Met, she accidentally stumbles upon something strange - a mummy come to life! He binds to her life force, and she is all but forced to come with him to free his two brothers from the same predicament, in order to stop an evil Egyptian deity who is trying to destroy the world. Lily and Amon, the sun prince, will travel to Egypt in order to free his brothers and save the world.

I liked Lily pretty much from the start. I can't remember much about Kelsey, the protagonist of The Tiger's Curse series, but I think Lily is a much more likable girl. I thought she would come off as rich, snotty, pretentious, entitled, but I found that while I've never been in her position (in terms of money), I understand her. She's applying to college and is allowed to go only to where her parents want her to go. She agrees to help Amon without much pressure, though it is a weird situation to be in, with some random stranger claiming he's a demigod and needs to go to Egypt to free other mummies. n

I loved Amon. He is a sweet guy, caring and kind, who listens and hates taking from Lily. Because he is bound to her, from when he first woke up and drew her energy to sustain himself, he is able to take her energy and read into her at will. But he does not like taking from her, or knowing her personal feelings or thoughts. He is very unfamiliar with this millennium, so he has different customs and values. I could get used to a guy like him, really easily!

The world-building is so great! I absolutely adore Egyptian mythology and whatnot, and Houck really did her research and used her imagination to create a very unique story. There are many Egyptian mythological stories in this book, well-written and quite intriguing. Houck really captures Egypt (in my inexperienced opinion - I've never been to anywhere in Egypt). Even if everything was completely bogus and Houck made it all up - that's quite an imagination! She takes us through tombs, deserts, quicksand, pyramids!

And the plot of this book is very intriguing, fairly fast-paced, but not overwhelmingly so. We start in New York, and then end up in Egypt fairly quickly into the story. Lily and Amon travel to different parts of Egyptian, and I love their adventure! Even if it was dangerous and scary at times. There was also plenty of humor and heartwarming moments!

Hmm, speaking of heartwarming... there is romance in this novel. But it isn't quite romance. Lily and Amon fall completely in love with each other, yet there are no declarations of love or physical interactions of any sort until the very last few pages. But guys. The chemistry? The development of the relationship? The wondering-if-he-is-looking-at-me-like-that, etc.? Spot on. Houck does an AMAZING job of writing a romance that isn't physical or even expressed. The pair don't directly acknowledge what they have, though Lily pushes Amon. Amon has his reasons for not wanting Lily to want to be with him. You'd have to read this one to understand! I think I'm satisfied with the romance, I couldn't see it happening any other way. Also, the ending of this book has me curious about what direction the author is taking, with the romance. NO love triangle! Or insta-love.

Anyway! I am quite happy to say that I really enjoyed this book. It is nice to be proven wrong, but I had a feeling that I would enjoy the book, even though was also quite wary. But clearly it worked out for me!

What I Did Not Like:

Hmm, I'm not sure if there was anything specific? If this were a standalone, I might have been a bit peeved. But there is at least one more book, so I am satisfied with the ending. For now.

Would I Recommend It:

I would recommend this one! It's set in modern-day times, but has a strong Egyptian mythology/fantasy backing. Swoony hero, likable heroine, and engaging story? Win! I bet if you liked Kiersten White's The Chaos of Stars, you'd enjoy this one!

Rating:

4 stars. Maybe 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book - again, much to my surprise! I'm so glad I did. I can't wait to read the sequel! Crossing my fingers that this series works better for me!

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initial Thoughts:I liked the Egyptian mythology and how it was woven into the story seamlessly, but the cheese is strong with this one. Amon and Lillian are both 100% perfect and the annoying thing is that Lily complains constantly about her entitled little world. I wanted to slap her. But at least there was Amon, who is the epitome of a perfect book boyfriend.

---

This review appears on Happy Indulgence! Check it out for more reviews.

Actual Rating: 2.5

When I was in primary school, I was obsessed with Egypt and wanted to become an archaeologist. I thought there was nothing cooler than excavating tombs and uncovering ancient artefacts. Needless to say, my expectations have been adjusted since I was 10 years old, but the fascination with Egyptian Pharaohs and mythology has never ceased. That’s why Reawakened really appealed to me – who doesn’t want to meet an Egyptian Sun God reawakening in the modern day world?

I’ve read one another book, The Chaos of Stars which failed to deliver on the Egyptian setting, and I really liked how the Egyptian mythology was incorporated into Rewakening. It’s actually set in Egypt and the mythology is naturally woven into the storyline, which was done really well. We learn of the ancient Egyptian tale of the dark God Seth and his sidekick Apophis and their plans of plunging the world into chaos. Amon is an Egyptian Prince who wakes every 1000 years with his brothers, to conduct an ancient summoning to thwart this evil from occurring. He also has a host of cool powers, such as teleportation, absorbing others' energy and calling forth a Golden Falcon to do his bidding.

In just a few pages, we meet the book’s main character Lillian, the perfect, prim and popular straight A rich girl who I refer to as Mary Sue. Lily likes to refer to her meticulous habits and how perfect she is at every turn, using it as the pivotal point for why she chooses to throw caution to the wind. Apparently this girl is a thinker, but she quickly lets Amon’s smooth, tanned skin and set of perfectly formed abs sway her into embarking on a dangerous Egyptian adventure. Lily is snobby, entitled and shallow, which is why I never really connected with her.

Lily also has extremely high standards for a boyfriend (my eyes bugged out when I read this):

"Now I knew exactly what my type was. It didn’t have to do with eye color, or height, or how muscular his frame was. It was that elusive quality, so difficult to capture. I wanted someone who loved me so much he’d be willing to die for me."

Amon on the other hand, also epitomises perfection. He’s attentive, caring, protective, chivalrous, and incredibly fit and drop dead gorgeous. He’s also an Egyptian Prince with Sun God powers, projecting light from within, which brings a whole new meaning to sparkly love interest. I rolled my eyes at a scene on the airplane, where Lily fended off the hordes of women throwing themselves at him. I liked Amon (because how can you not), but I cringed every time he broke out into a soliloquy over his feelings for Lily:

“Lily, I can honestly tell you that I have never in my long life come across a creature as beguiling as you. You are as fresh and as lovely as a budding flower kissed by the dew of a golden morning. I breathe you in and am filled with the taste of sunshine, life, and hope. You are much more than beautiful. You are…temptation personified.”

The cheese is strong with this one.

My only consolidation is that it wasn’t all about the romance, Amon had a mission and he was hellbent on achieving it. These cheesy lines were scattered between defusing ancient curses, discovering the secrets of a tomb and defeating ancient necromancers, which is what kept me reading. I wanted to know whether Amon ended up saving the world and getting the girl because my god (no pun intended) it was a slow burn romance.

While I enjoyed the exciting adventure incorporating Egyptian mythology, cursed tombs and mythical powers, as well as the hot Egyptian Sun God, there were definitely problems I had with this book. The main character was way too perfect and the cheesy romance grated a bit too much. However, if you love the setting, Rewakened would definitely satisfy your craving for an Egyptian YA adventure.

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jen Ryland]

After 100 pages, I can tell this is not for me. Not crazy about the dynamic between Lily, the main character, and her time traveling Egyptian love interest -- she's spoiled and whiny, he's cheesy and weird. I've had this issue before with time travel romance -- when the love interest is from another time and/or place, the romance feels odd and stilted to me. I also have a history of issues with love interests who aren't human. While Amon was presumably human at one point, he's now a reanimated mummy who's looking for his missing internal organs**
Uh.... yeah.

That said, I may be the black sheep here. Check out the rave reviews from Faye @ Social Potato or Nick @ Nick's Book Blog

** Okay maybe I didn't explain this well. He died. When he was mummified, his organs were removed and put in a canopic jar. Then he was reincarnated/reanimated/reawakened. But without his organs, which are missing. idk if I can handle this idea -- I mean, are they going to stick his insides back in when they find them? I just can't...

[Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colleen Houck's novels are always so well written, so beautiful and enchanting that they are hard to resist. In fact, she is one of the few author's that I will pick up, knowing that a love triangle and drama and angst might ensue and still not care, because her writing simply overshadows all the rest.

Her ability to weave mythology, romance, mystery, action, and adventure, all into one tale is truly breathtaking and her latest novel Reawakened was no exception.

Where to begin with this? It was, simply put, a fabulous read with mythology, romance, adventure, and danger weaved into every single page and almost impossible to put down.

Even with a slower start, it didn't take long before I was completely wrapped up in Amon and Lily and what awaited them.

This was every bit the adventure and swoon worthy romance that I have come to expect from Houck and then some. I am so very excited to see what book two has in store for us.


*A copy of this was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

[Silvia]

OMG Colleen Houck + Egypt + mummy.... this can be EPIC!

[KL (Cat)]

Girl whatever you do just don't touch Greek mythology. If you do, I'll personally drag you all the way down to the Underworld and throw you to the Cerberus.

[Nastassja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Real rating 2.4

The problem with Reawakened is that this book is not bad or good, it's just mediocre. When you start to read a book with an annotation like this one, you expect it to be full of adventures and breath taking action. But in this case there's nothing to hate for me and nothing to love. This book would be more entertaining as a movie, where you can enjoy the action without going deeper into the plot or characters. The first part of the book was rather entertaining for me and I felt at least something toward the characters, but further into the plot I just was bored and wanted to finish reading. And let me tell: the ending was anticlimactic. And of course, there's going to be another book. Ugh!

The plot. The annotation of this book is pretty cool-sounding and if you remember a movie "The mummy" you can see that this book must be full of action and ancient Egypt and other awesome stuff. Well, in reality this book only touches superficially the Egyptian culture, but mostly this book is full of unnecessary descriptions and dialogs that are not about Egypt. I did not feel like reading a book that mostly takes place in Egypt. Honestly, the only interesting part of the plot for me was in the beginning and took place in New York.

Amon just grunted in response, totally transfixed by the scenes outside the window. Modern Cairo was a bustling city. Like New York, it had a mix of both old and new buildings, except that old had an entirely different meaning in Egypt.
We passed mosques and bazaars, cemeteries and museums, luxury towers and apartment buildings, and theaters and shops, but unlike New York, Cairo had an ancient feel, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that if the people slowed down enough, the desert dust that constantly lapped at the edges of the city would rise up like a hungry wild beast and consume civilization, dragging it back into the sand and burying it so completely that Cairo would quickly be lost, like the cities of old.

This is the only thing you will have from Egypt, everything else is the authors imagination and has a relation to world building but not to the modern Egypt. Also, the adventure MC took was boring and no action could save it for me. Only ten minutes ago she did not know that mummies exist and now she is ok with it. Everything was too rushed. I did not appreciate the story behind the plot. The concept is primitive. Yay, we need to stop an evil god. Let's go. Everything is just a cover for romance.

World building. We have a mythology that is partially true and mostly fiction. Of course, for a fantasy book it is relevant to have a unique (or not) mythology, that will give meat to the carcass of the story. We have this mythology in this book, but for me it was mostly lost in boring explanations that took place at times, and felt like someone was trying to stuff a peace of bread down my dry throat, because it was necessary to have it there and then. My point is, that the world's explanation in a book should be at the right moment, when the reader is ready to have them naturally. Or maybe the action and characters were too boring for me and the world around did not matter as it should when you are eager to know more about the characters you are growing to love.
I did not appreciate the idea that three Egyptian princes have to rise every millennium and safe Egyptian people. Why Egypt, not the world? I just don't think that the evil god Seth would be satisfied with just the Egypt these days, world dominance sounds better and more believable.

“Though they are dead, they will be called back each millennium and will be granted a short reprieve from death so that they may continue to do the work of the gods until such time comes that the gods”—he gave a faint flourish of his hand—“and Egypt, of course, need their services no more.”

Also, I did not like that everything was so convenient and cozy in this book. We need to save Egypt? Yes, let's save it. Let's board the plane and fly there. But you do not have passports with you. Why, we have magic and can hypnotize anyone we want. Oh, how convenient. Let's do it. We have wings and can fly. But what if you'll be seeing from the ground? Worry not, we are invisible for people below. Really? How convenient! And on and on it goes. They have magic, they can do whatever they want, and every time something that should take some deliberation and effort from common people appears, these magic boys just click fingers and oops - everything is done for their pleasure. All of it makes the action in this book just not interesting. I want real effort from characters, something that will make me sympathize them.

“How is it that you understand English?”
“A spell.”

As I mentioned before, the only part I liked, was in the beginning in New York. There was humor at least and I still had hopes.

Raising the empty bottle, he exclaimed, “This water is more delicious than the soft kisses from the daubed lips of a dozen nubile maidens.”

I gave his skirt a pointed look. “Um, I think the only place you would fit the dress code for would be a hot dog stand.”
Wrinkling his nose, he exclaimed, “You eat…dogs? That is almost as bad as people!”

The characters. This is the major problem with this book. I did not hate characters but they were annoying a lot, and if I liked Amon a little, I disliked Lily a lot. She reminds me of Bella from Twilight. This whole book has a twilightish vibe so you can imagine what to expect from the heroine. Also, she is a snob. She does not think that she is, but she brags about her position in society a lot. She likes to dress and make up, almost every few pages you can find a detailed description of what she dressed and put on her face. Boring.

Even though I was very picky, wore only designer clothes, and had a monthly allowance bigger than what most people my age earned in a year, I was by no means a snob. My parents had certain expectations of me, and the money was used as a means to fulfill them.

I dressed in what I called designer casual and smiled as I assessed myself in the mirror. Though my eyes were still bright, I looked much more like the poised, calm, and in-control version of myself.

Taking out the small makeup case I’d fortunately brought with me, I fixed my face the best I could and pulled my hair up into a loose ponytail.

There's no depth to this character, though she claims to be good in studying and reading people and she and only she will save the day. I did not see it in her,though.

What I really enjoyed was studying people. People of the past, like the ones I read about at the Met, or even just the people walking around in New York City. In fact, I kept a little book full of notes on the most interesting people I saw.

The other MC Amon was mostly ok. Of course, he did not resemble an ancient Egypt prince, who just woken from a thousand year slumber. He looked more like a modern handsome-sexy model boy. Of course. He talks sometimes strange, but even this did not cover, how modern he acts. I did not feel any depth in him either, though he was presented to us like a very tortured martyr. I just couldn't sympathize.

The romance. Very much twilightish too. The guy practically abducted you, bend you to his will, was feeding on your life energy. But all she sees is how handsome he is and how other women salivate over him. Pleeeease. Enough of this.

His physical splendor was undeniable: brooding eyes, miles of muscles beneath smooth, golden skin, and full lips that would send any girl swooning. But there was something deeper behind the beauty, something very different about him that made my fingers itch for a pencil and paper.

“Excuse me,” the flight attendant said as she practically shoved her ample bosom in my face so she could have better access to my traveling companion.

And she is so special for him, the one and only who could help him. And there's almost insta love, the connection and all the usual stuff.

“Lily, I can honestly tell you that I have never in my long life come across a creature as beguiling as you. You are as fresh and as lovely as a budding flower kissed by the dew of a golden morning. I breathe you in and am filled with the taste of sunshine, life, and hope. You are much more than beautiful. You are…temptation personified.”

Of course she is.

Every time they were in danger, all she was worried about was why wouldn't he kiss her or how beautiful he was. And as this book is from Lily's POV, I had to endure similar thoughts in her head through out the book. Boring.

As I mentioned before, I did not hate this book nor did I like it. It was the same as other thousand similar books I've read in YA. I think that Colleen Houck cheated with this one. She created the same story as in her tigers books, just changed the locations the action takes place and made her MC less annoying.

If you want something similar to Twilight only with more action (not helping) read this book. If you want something like The Mummy movies - you will not have it here. This story was easy, funny sometimes, with pleasant language, but in the end of the day it is not what it claims to be.

[Nikita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updated 8/17/2015:
As a fan of Colleen Houck’s first series The Tiger Saga, I immediately wanted to read her new series. Reawakened is gripping, amazing, and exciting. During her spring break, Lily Young goes to the library where she awakens a thousand year old mummy named Amon. She then goes on a quest with him to find and awaken his brothers in order to complete a ceremony that will save mankind from the Dark God Seth. While Lily never expected to be chosen to help Amon, she also never expected to fall dangerously in love with him as they journey across the globe to save the world. Reawakened is filled with magic, mythology, adventure, danger and romance. I was captivated by Colleen Houck’s new series as I fell in love with it just as I have with The Tiger Saga.

On the first day of her Spring Break, Lily Young decides to go to the library and awakens an ancient Egyptian mummy named Amon from his thousand year slumber. The next thing Lily knows is that she is to help him awaken his brothers in order to perform a ceremony to stop the Dark God Seth from taking over the world. Due to Amon’s loss of his jars of death, Amon is not at his full strength of his Sun God like powers and is forced to share life energy with Lily, otherwise Amon will die. Realizing that his brothers are still buried, Lily and Amon journey to Egypt where they hope to awakened them and complete their quest.

After arriving in Egypt and exploring Amon’s resting place, where they Dr. Hassan, an Egyptian archaeologists and a guardian of sorts who has been waiting for Amon and his brothers; Asten and Ahmose to awaken and offers to help them. Amon and Lily discover that the Dark God Seth has been trying to stop Amon and his brothers from completely ceremony. Dr. Hassan, Amon and Lily battle sandworm, zombies, dark priests and demons in the process of awakening Asten and Ahmose. Once they are awakened, they still have to complete the ceremony and worry that Amon is not strong enough without Lily who grows weaker every time Amon needs energy and Amon refuses to endanger her further.

Lily is wealthy and sheltered but she is by no means spoiled and has a good heart. Amon is sweet, loyal and amazing and was fun to see him respond to the modern world. I really liked the friendship/love relationship Lily and Amon developed as the book went on. Dr. Hassen is okay. Amon’s brothers; Asten and Ahmose are just as awesome as Amon is. Asten is an ancient playboy but I like him. Ahmose is sweet and cool and I like him as well.

Overall, Reawakened was amazing. Colleen Houck is such an amazing author as Reawakened is just as detailed, well-written, passionate and amazing as The Tiger Saga. I loved everything about this book; the plot, the setting, the characters, the adventure and the bond between Lily and Amon. The ending nearly killed me. I am filled with excitement and eager to find out what happens next.

Updated 3/30/2015
I recently learned that the book will be released two weeks early.







Updated Oct. 6, 2014
It has a cover now!


I'm in love



I so cannot wait for this book to come out. I am such a huge fan of Tiger's Curse and when I heard Colleen Houck was doing another series involving Egypt, I jumped with excitement.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will read anything this wonderful author can write.
The story follows another heroine who throughout the story meets challenges that she learns from and is utterly changed by. An epic love is not the main focus of the book, since the details of the adventure that this heroine is thrown into are the most prominent features of the book.
If you read anything like me, this book will make you laugh, love, and scream in frustration as Colleen pulls yet another masterful cliff hanger on our asses. 10/10 would read again.

[Suzzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that was some really interesting mythology based reading! I haven't read too much on Egyptian mythology but I love when it is twisted to fit into modern times. I have book two with me from the library so I am going to start it very soon!

[Kogiopsis]

Ehhhh I know I said I'd give Houck's next project a try, buuuuut that was years ago and before I realized how appropriative her work was. Not to mention that this book sounds bland as fuck.

Also - Amon?

(I'm just saying, she could have used one of the alternate Romanizations of his name - Amun - though tbh picking the king of the gods as a love interest is never gonna be a good plan.)

[Saiokuo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book Quality: 1 star
Book Enjoyability: 5 stars
Mild plot theme spoilers for Reawakened and Tiger’s Curse

Do you remember that saying back when Twilight was popular? About how it was one woman’s choice between bestiality and necrophilia? I think Colleen Houck took it to heart.



Her first book series had our young, white, female protagonist whisked away from her normal, boring life to an unfamiliar and “exotic” country to become embroiled in mythology made real as she strove to free a cursed prince and his brother from their fate and ultimately save the world.

The only issue was that our lovely leading lad spent most of his time as a tiger and was uncomfortable having a physical romance with a woman while turning into a tiger off and on despite the relentless pursuit of our heroine. So I winced as I laughed and tried to ignore the obvious bestiality as well as her trying to push her partner into something he wasn’t comfortable with.

Then came Reawakened. The tale of a our young, white, female protagonist whisked away from her normal, boring life to an unfamiliar and “exotic” country to become embroiled in mythology made real as she strove to free a cursed prince and his brothers from their fate and ultimately save the world.

I’m having the strangest sense of déjà vu.

But this time Houck has worked past her fetish for men with tails and instead our lovely leading lad is a … decaying corpse made animate by magic. No, really. She actually sees the state his body is in without the magic at one point and is disgusted and horrified for about a paragraph before she gets over it and returns to wanting to bone the bones.



Who cares, you may say. Maybe that’s your fetish. Well even if you do secretly want to date a mummy I’m afraid you will find the rest of the book lacking for your escapist fantasy.

Rarely have I met such a thoroughly unlikable protagonist. Lily is the spoiled daughter of the Trumps rich NYC business types. What exactly do they do? I honestly can’t tell you because of how very little Lily cares about them and by proxy how very little I care about them. All I recall is that they expect her to be a good little protégé and frown upon basic human decency towards others.

So surely Lily has a pack of close-knit friends to balance her lack of supportive family? Double nope. We are never even hinted that she has ever had a friend in her life though given how she views others this isn’t surprising. It seems that most of the women in this world exist to be judged by Lily and inevitably fall short. Indeed, people watching (and judging) is one of Lily’s favorite past times. Her dull, passive hobby that won’t stop you from being able to self-insert and pretend you too are a rich, boring, unlikable girl with no autonomy in love with a rotting corpse!



So our lead is kind of a bust. What about the story? Is it at least a captivating blend of mythology tied seamlessly into history? Ha, ha, ha, the protagonist is a spoiled white girl who frequently views her crush as more important than saving humanity, do I even need to answer that?

This book is a train wreck but honestly that’s what made me enjoy it so much. Houck’s censorship of extremely sexual Egyptian mythology led to unintentional hilarity (like Osiris now has a crocodile penis) and her general ignorance towards her subjects was astounding. At one point Lily observes her companions “speaking Egyptian” and all of the ceremonial chanting is done in English for no apparent reason. All the powers are highly inconsistent and seem to fluctuate based on the needs (or whims) of the plot rather than any real logic. Lily instantly recognizes anyone who might even think of being evil so there’s no dramatic tension or shock at betrayal and any secret plot points are hidden about as well as a dog that’s been riffling through the trash but now has the lid stuck on his head.

There’s also the incredibly unhealthy way both Amon and Lily interact but I can easily summarize that: Stockholm syndrome and “no means no, ladies”. Yes, that’s right, Lily is the one who won’t take no for an answer. From a dead man. She wants to kiss. Who kidnapped her against her will and caused her extreme physical pain for not being willing to go with him. It’s such a beautiful love story!




If you like reading bad books like I do, it’s a masterpiece. If you’re genuinely looking for a sweet romance, enjoyable historical Egyptian fantasy, or an actual story you’re in the wrong place.

[♥ Rebecca ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad to discover that so far this series is as good as Tiger's Curse. I hate it when you discover an amazing series and you hope the author can keep them coming, but then they come out with another series and its not as good.

This had everything that I loved about Tiger's Curse. Adventure, mythology, romance. I hope there is no love-triangle. It wasn't until Tiger's Quest that you realized that Kishan was a potential love interest, in the first book there was hardly any sign. But in this there are three brothers rather than two, so it makes things a little different. But there is still potential that one of Amon's brothers might also fall for Lily, but I hope not. I am sure I would easily fall in love with one of them as well, but I don't want my heart to be broken again, and Amon is awesome enough already. I loved Ren in book 1, but by book 4 I was so Team Kishan that it hurt.

[Natalie (Never trust a duck) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natalie's mind: "So much adventure. Want more, need more. Also, character growth happened. AND THE MYTHOLOGY.."
Natalie's fingers: "We wanna flip more pages that have the wonderful name Amon covering them."
Natalie's heart: "Amon. Amon. Amon. Amon. Amon. Amon. Amon. Amon. Amon."
The publishing world: "SUCKA. We will withhold a vital piece of your existence for another year. But we are always releasing more books that will introduce you to characters you'll fall in love with, but alas, you'll probably have to wait for their sequels too."
I call it, The Series Serial Cycle.

[Jane]

hurry up and release already!!!!!!
if it is anything like the tiger saga than i cannot live without it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*continues until i run out of characters*

Edit:
Been so long, not sure if I'm going to read the book now.