Review: The Lucidites Series by Sarah Noffke

I am in mourning. I just finished Sarah Noffke’s 3rd installment in her series “The Lucidites”. I am sad because it is over. Done. The plot has resolved itself, complete with an ‘afterword’ section at the end. I feel like these characters and this world are mine, that I was a part of it, but now they are continuing without me. We are branching off to new adventures. I to a new book, with new characters to fall in love with and them to a beautiful limbo until I decide to read them again. When a book or series does this to me, it is wonderful and heartbreaking all at once. I grew to hold each character in my heart or hate the evil ones with the mind of the main character. But, this world will come to an end when I reach the last page. I hold the book in my hands and I can flip to the last page and see what number ends it. Sigh.

As a creative person, I can be dramatic about things I love. But enough sobbing. It’s time to collect my thoughts and ideas to help others discover what I came to love.

AWOKEN

Description from Amazon: Around the world humans are hallucinating after sleepless nights.
In a sterile, underground institute the forecasters keep reporting the same events.
And in the backwoods of Texas, a sixteen-year-old girl is about to be caught up in a fierce, ethereal battle.
Meet Roya Stark. She drowns every night in her dreams, spends her hours reading classic literature to avoid her family’s ridicule, and is prone to premonitions—which are becoming more frequent. And now her dreams are filled with strangers offering to reveal what she has always wanted to know: Who is she? That’s the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out. But will Roya live to regret learning the truth?

Roya is a girl confused. She is slammed with a whole lot of knowledge about a world of dreams, that she is a part of whether she knows it or not. I did find the beginning to be a little confusing. All of a sudden the book slapped you in the face with her purpose, the Lucidites as a race, and a whole bunch of other stuff. While some books really couldn’t get away with confusing me this much, I felt that Awoken gets a free pass. Roya is confused. As a reader I am seeing everything from her point of view, so if she is confused than so am I. Strangely, I was ok with that. As she learned more about the Lucidites Institute, dream traveling, and the purpose of why she cared, so did I.

My inner dialogue went something like this:

“Wait…what’s happening? They jumped right into it…” Reads a little more. “Aaaaahhh…..OK…I see what’s happening!”

My point is, it works out and I was ok being as confused as Roya.

The rest of the book was easy to follow and I never once felt like I wasn’t IN the story with Roya and the rest of the characters. Great book.

STUNNED

Description: Roya desperately wishes she was above ground, on a sunny patio, watching the lake lap up on the shore. Instead, she finds herself trapped with the Lucidites. Her brother is mysteriously wasting away, and at every turn she finds a new betrayal. Just when she thinks she’s finally escaping the Institute, a new danger unveils itself. A secret society of Dream Travelers has declared war on the Lucidites by abducting a head official. It’s up to Roya to figure out who’s behind it and how to save everyone she cares about most. More action packed than its predecessor, Stunned is captivating and will leave audiences squirming from the tension and also begging for more.

Just when Roya thinks she can get out there and have a peaceful life….BAM. Another mission. Sorry, girl, you have to save the world again. The description is correct. This novel is action PACKED. I love every minute of it. There is drama, fighting, secrecy, French-accented bad guys, and mystical powers. I was/am sold! I read it in one day, if I remember correctly. I actually won “Stunned” in a caption contest for Sarah Noffke’s book release party recently on the Band of Dystopian Authors and Fan Facebook page. I had already snagged “Awoken” when it was FREE for a day on Amazon when there was a promotion happening, but hadn’t read it yet. I zoomed through book one, so when book two arrived via mail (woo! Paperback edition!), I could start right away. It did not disappoint.

REVIVED

Description: The pieces of Roya’s life don’t fit together anymore. Nothing makes sense. Joseph could be to blame for the fall of the Lucidites’ society. Zhuang is back and more powerful than ever. Chase, a gorgeous psychopath, is demanding her love and commitment. And the Institute is swarming with lies, betrayals, and conflicts. Roya knows she needs to focus and reconnect with Joseph if she is to survive, but how can she find clarity when everything around her is unraveling?
The final chapter in The Lucidites Series will take up residence in reader’s bones. All secrets will be revealed. All villains will be confronted. And the greatest obstacles will be that of the heart. Revived delivers, giving audiences what they want most from the last in a fast-paced, thrilling series.

In book three, Roya isn’t taking CRAP anymore. She will not stand for your lies. When she finds out the truth will it help her or harm her? Both? You’ll have to read to find out. No spoilers here! But as I stated in my melancholy intro paragraph…I am in mourning that the series is over.

A note about the cover art. I usually don’t like seeing the main character’s face on the cover because I like imagining them how I want…but these covers didn’t bother me. They are EPIC covers that show emotion. Love them.

Now I just need to get “Awoken” in paperback format. Then the entire series can take up residence on my book shelf (once we move into our new house)!

Visit Sarah Noffke on her website, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

All photos taken from a Google image search for ‘The Lucidites Series’.

Review: Jolie du Pre’s Audio book: Benton: A Zombie Novel Vol. 1

Story synopsis (copied from Amazon): Zombies have killed everyone in the Benton household–all except twenty-something Jennifer. She’s escaped her bedroom, but what now? Waterbank, Illinois is overrun. Where can she go?
A chance encounter with seven other young survivors points her toward Texas. A charismatic, handsome young man named Mark says he can lead them all to his family’s ranch. He’s sure they’ll be safe there. Jennifer wants to trust him, with her life and possibly her heart.
There’s no place else to go, there’s no way to escape the zombies but through, and there’s no telling if Jennifer and Mark will live long enough to act on the emotion building between them.

Thoughts

This will be my second audio book that I’ve reviewed. Ever. The first was Warm Bodies, which I only gave a short review on Goodreads, I believe. I am still working out a system for reviewing, but for now I’m going to wing it!

General audio book thoughts: I liked the voice actor’s tone. She was able to be different characters without distracting me from the storyline and was very easy to understand. Plus, I love the way she pronounces the author’s name, Jolie du Pre. Beautiful! Also, since I was “reading” an audio book, I was able to do mindless tasks at work AND read a book. Win-win.

However, I have a feeling that since I was listening to this book instead of reading it, I had a hard time connecting to the budding romance between Jennifer and Mark. It was there and I listened to the story, but I think I would’ve liked to read it as a normal text and imagine their interactions in my own way instead of how the voice actor portrayed them. I can’t say for sure, because I haven’t read the printed version, but I’d like to think that because I genuinely enjoyed the rest of the story.

The main character, Jennifer, is spunky and good with a gun, but still vulnerable. I think in her situation, I would need to hope to find a band of roaming psychologists to get me through that sort of trauma.

This book has zombies, action, twists and turns. It was a very entertaining read!

Cover review: This has nothing to do with the plot or quality of the audio book, but as a graphic designer I feel the need to look at design. I personally do not like when a books cover has a model on the cover that shows every detail of what he or she looks like. When I read, I like to be able to form this image of the characters in my mind, even if the author explains their appearance in detail. Again, personal preference. Many people may like to see exactly what the character looks like on the cover. I am just not one of them (I have a few exceptions, but I can’t think of them at the moment).

Thank you for reading!

You can visit Jolie du Pre on Facebook, twitter, GoodReads, and her website!

Buy Benton: Vol 1 here on Amazon!