Waking Amy by Julieann Dove
Format: PDF, 107 pages
Published: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, February 23rd 2016
Rating: ★★★
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As Amy sits with her head between her knees, trying to figure out what to do next, a call comes from Mercer General Hospital. The ER nurse is telling Amy’s answering machine that Wesley has been in a car accident.
When Amy arrives at the hospital, she finds her husband in a coma. The doctors say there is no sign of brain damage, and Wesley will eventually wake up. Relieved, Amy sees this as her second chance: the chance to get it right this time. To channel the girl Wesley won’t leave when he regains consciousness… she just needs some help to pull it off. After all, she was voted girl most likely to die a virgin in high school.
Amy would never figure on getting that help from Mark Reilly… Wesley’s doctor! He’s a non-committer, too-cute-for-his-own-good bachelor, and completely the guy Amy begins falling for. It’s a race against time to see who wakes up first—Amy or her husband.
In this romantic tale, we follow the story of a woefully lost woman in the midst of what I would call a mid-life crisis. She has the perfect life– a comfortable relationship, a stable job, and a decent social life. But, Amy’s always second best when compared to her sister or her friends, and it takes the leaving of her husband for her to tackle this realization head on.
The premise of this story is compelling. Unrealistic yes, but still caught my attention. I was really excited to see how the story would play out. Unfortunately, the plot was not as well developed as I’d hoped. I feel like everything moved way too quickly, which in turn, made the intentions and motivations of the characters seem fake, and forced.
Amy sees Wesley’s car accident as an opportunity to fix what’s wrong in their relationship. And she gets help from Wesley’s doctor. And he agrees to help. For the sake of a good story, I’ll accept it. I believe there is such thing as instant chemistry, but I really don’t see it here. Their relationship could have been better developed, probably better over a period of time. Also, Mark is supposedly a play boy, but I really don’t think he’d fall in love so quickly, and with a married woman no less. Again, if the time frame was stretched out longer, it could work, but that was not the case here. ★★
Character development on its own, on the other hand, was a little better. There are a nice cast of characters and I did like the two main characters. However, as I read, I was only able to connect with the them as they were presented, meaning that the characters had no depth or dimension. We had a peek into Mark’s past, but I did not like how we were not introduced to it by the character himself. I do not dislike anything about the characters, it is only the character development that I think needs a bit more work. ★★★
I was able to finish this book fairly quickly. Dove’s writing is quirky and fun to read. I found that many of Amy’s thoughts were relatable.
Nothing about this romance was new to me, but it’s unique in it’s own right. I just wish that the themes of infidelity were explored a bit further. ★★★
The idea, characters, and direction of this book are headed in the right direction. With a bit more work, I think it has the potential to be something great. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the story of Amy and look forward to the second book. I hope we get to see more of the characters.
The Jinxed Goblet 