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Guardian #1

Awakening

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When Sophie moves to Boston to get away from the people who ridiculed her for her psychic talents, she wants to start fresh. But when a demon attacks her study group at the library, she has no choice but to reveal her abilities to warn the others. She learns the attacks won’t stop until she’s dead. To stay alive she joins forces with the other students and a secret society that has battled the demons for centuries. Will she survive long enough to stop the demons from destroying everything and everyone she loves?

260 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2013

83 people are currently reading
867 people want to read

About the author

Samantha Long

21 books105 followers

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5 stars
105 (31%)
4 stars
97 (28%)
3 stars
83 (24%)
2 stars
27 (8%)
1 star
23 (6%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
Profile Image for Debbie.
79 reviews
November 3, 2013
Awakening by Samantha Long
I received this book in exchange for an honest review by the Author and the “Lovers of Paranormal” Group on Goodreads.com
I fantastic read... I was quickly drawn in and became absolutely engrossed in this book until the very end. A successful mix of mystery, intrigue and adventure with Vampires, Demon’s, a Secret Society and Six College students with unique gifts who are bonded together to fight the forces of evil...this action packed book has it all. The characters are brilliant and very well defined. The writing is rich, descriptive and flows effortlessly. With its unique plot this book has a refreshing twist and is original and creative. A wonderful read that I enjoyed immensely. But I have to warn you that it does end with a cliff-hanger which will leave you wanting more. I will definitely be looking out for more of this talented authors work.
Profile Image for Abby P.Cook.
Author 1 book13 followers
July 13, 2013
Awakening by Samatha Long

In Awakening we meet Sophie, she is a girl with a gift, a paranormal gift...

Growing up Shophie and her friend Lilli had special abilities and never knew there where others out there like them. While attending school she learns there are four others like her and Lilli, and they are all connected to a past, present, and future.

There is a darkness out there determined to overtake and let loose an evil and it is up to Sophie and her new found friends to stop it. She learns through her gift and through the people she meets in a secret society, that the six of them are the only ones that can stop this evil. She also learns that the six of them all share, not only the power to stop what is coming, but are linked together.

Sophie just didn't know how linked she was to Tristan.

Oh Tristan... Trisan is the one who Sophie shares a special bond with. He is the one that gives her strength and would do anything to protect her. All six of them have that bond together and then again within couples. Sophie to Tristan, Lilli to Jackson, and Morgan to Aidan and each one with a special talent.

This YA paranormal was a good read. I really enjoyed watching the characters grow into themselves and with each other. It had me on the edge wanted to know what happens and page turning to get to the end! I just had to know!! I want to say so much more, but I really don't want to give anything away!

I HATE cliffhangers, but I have to say, this one didn't bother me. Oh, but the way it ended!! I hope the next book comes out soon because I need to know what happens!! I really like how Samantha ended it though. She gives you an intense scene, then ends it in a mix of feelings that leave you calm, but yet in wonder.

Would recommend this book to others, Yes! I would also warn them it does have a cliffhanger, however there will be a next book.

This is Samantha's first book and I have to say "Job well done girl!!" Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book and put yourself out there for others to enjoy!

(This is the part where we have a happy dance ;) lol)
Profile Image for Bookish Satty.
957 reviews32 followers
November 9, 2013
I got this book from the author, free of cost, in exchange of an honest review from my side.

Firstly I would like to thank Samantha Long, author of Awakening for giving me this opportunity of reading and reviewing this awesome book.

I got this book from Lovers of Paranormal Group of Goodreads under the read to Review Scheme.

I really loved the concept of this book and the plot is just awesome. We get to explore the life of our protagonist Sophie who has some awesome powers, well knowing about others feelings and their emotional state can become a little complicated at times but surely it’s one of the best powers that you can have, right? Sophie has an awesome best friend Lilli who also have some awesome powers and together to move to Boston to get away from the people who used to bully her. There they find out that four more college students have some special powers like them and not only that but they also have to stop an evil from taking over Earth in its evil clutches. Now Sophie and her friends must stop the evil at any cost.

I really enjoyed this engaging read and the writing style of the author is fabulous, it’s smooth and flawless and I really felt comfortable with it. The detailed descriptions of not only the surroundings but also the emotional status of the people which Sophie could sense made this read an intriguing one for me. The action scenes are great and I loved the romance between Sophie and Tristan though it felt a little cold but the romantic scenes were nicely executed.

There is mystery which made me go crazy in anticipation and the twists that the author put up really surprised me a lot. A great and must read for Paranormal lovers and I bet that you guys will surely love this. It’s not cliché and the story doesn’t only revolve around the main leads and their romance but also captures each and every detail of the other characters and the surroundings in which they are present. The author gave a crisp yet stunning description of the demons which I would like to appreciate and the ending was awesome-sauce and it won my heart really. I would definitely go for book 2 and continue my journey with Sophie and her friends’ story.
Profile Image for Ashley.
88 reviews6 followers
March 27, 2014
I received this book in exchange for an honest review (LoP or Lovers of Paranormal) and for the author. I would like to say thanks to LOP for letting me review this YA paranormal book. And also to the author to reaching out to readers for input. NO SPOILERS

Category: YA Paranormal

This book is about the lead character Sophie and her discovery of a life she was unaware and not ready for all centering in the paranormal world. When I first started this book I was about to put it back down because the first few pages had me re-reading wondering where all this came from and what the back story was if there even was one. I like there to be detail and setting the scene as it is sometimes called and I didn't feel that being done at the beginning of this book. So I sat it down and picked it back up trying to focus once more. After several chapters I finally caught up with the story-line and the book began to flow nicely.
Half-way through the book I began to see the leaving out of details that author's sometimes do because they know it in their head but forget to write it down (that's how I think about it). Like one minute Sophie is talking to one character and the next thing you know something happens and you are left like, Wait, were did that, how did that, what is going on. So there were some confusing parts in the book.
That was the only drawback though. The plot once it caught up from the beginning intriqued me and I have to say I enjoyed the book overall. The characters are still a big ball of mystery which I guess is to be expected in book one of a series, but they still caught my attention non the less. I have to say that I loved the cover of this book. I am all about covers when choosing a new series and this one definitely was nice. So all in all I give it 3.5 stars out of 5. I will be reading and reviewing the next book in the series and will also post about it.
Profile Image for Courtney.
1,983 reviews210 followers
October 21, 2013
I am not sure how to start this review. And that’s not a bad thing. I am used to reading very intense books when it comes to paranormal books. Not to say that this book wasn’t intense, it just wasn’t as intense as I am used to. But that’s ok – it was still a great book.

Awakening follows six youths with supernatural talents. They all have different abilities and are placed together in a study group for a group project. None of them that they each have a special gift until they run into a situation at the library where they must use their powers. The book is mostly told from Sophie’s POV since she is the clairvoyant one. They start running into more and more problems until they comes to the realization that this is larger than they can all handle without the help of a certain group of people. Throughout the story, Sophie has visions of the past and she knows that they somehow affect all 6 of them in the future. It is amazing how everything comes together. However we are left hanging at the end but the next book should be awesome!!

The whole plot is very compelling and interesting. I was hooked from the beginning and there was no shortage of action throughout the whole book. I highly recommend this to anyone with teens or anyone truly interested in paranormal. It’s a great book and fantastic start to this YA paranormal series.



***VISIT WWW.LOVENBOOKS.COM FOR MORE REVIEWS***
Profile Image for Kristen Chandler.
214 reviews40 followers
March 26, 2014
I received this ebook free of charge, in exchange for an honest review (Lovers of Paranormal group).

Awakening is Book 1 in the Guardians series by Samantha Long. The series is about six young people, or guardians: Sophie, Lilli, Jackson, Tristan, Aiden and Morgan. As a group, they don't know each other and are put together as a study group. The book opens with an attack on their study group by a demon.

Did I mention they have powers? Yeah they do. And awesome ones at that. During the attack, the six are forced to use their powers, revealing them to the others. With help, they survive the attack, beginning a journey of demon fighting, alongside a secret society that has fought demons as a career for many centuries.

This book was a terrific paranormal read. It has action, a little romance and a lot of paranormal. I thought it was beautifully written and the characters, especially the protagonist, Sophie were well rounded. Sophie has psychic abilities, so she was able to feel the emotions of others, and she could feel her friends emotions really strongly. Every time the author described these emotions, I felt like I was experiencing them as well.

And thankfully, there was a Book 2 (Sacred) because the ending of this book set up a sequel.

Four out of five stars and I recommend for all lovers of paranormal.
Profile Image for Desislava Pavlova.
43 reviews43 followers
May 20, 2017
I was given the book free in excange for a honest review(Lovers of Paranormal).
This review may contain spoilers.


Rating 8 of 10

I loved the book. The concept of a group of kids with supernatural abilites is not new of course, but the idea of these kids being reborn was. Sophie is sweet and pretty likable heroine. I, sort of, didn't really get a good sense of Lili. A little bit more insight on her character will be really nice. I liked both Tristan and Jackson and I can honestly say that Morgan is actually a complicated character and she's believable. My soft spot, thought, is Aidan. He is complicated, troubled and he has the most dangerous ability. I loved him almost from the very beginning. His relationship with Morgan interested me a lot more than Sophie and Tristan's.
The story itself was very engaging and had some unpredictable turns. I read it in one breath. I can't wait for the next book.
Profile Image for Amber.
303 reviews32 followers
June 4, 2016
I received a free copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The fact that I received this book for free in now way affects my view of the book.

This book is an action packed emotional paranormal thrill ride of a book that I could not put down.

This book made me sweat at times, because I was so caught up in the action of the book. I was living it all. I was sad the book had to end. I have to get the next book ASAP. There is a cliffhanger that makes you not just want to read the next book, but to actually need it.

Packed with demons and some very strong individuals with some very unique powers; this book gave me what I needed to take my mind off of life stressors. This book was definitely worth my time. I actually went out of my way to buy an extra copy of the book just in case. Yes I loved the book that much.

This book does have violence in it, but no greatly mature situations. I would recommend this book to people between the ages of 16 and up.

Profile Image for Kathryn Brink.
17 reviews
November 7, 2013
I received this book from the Author and Lovers of Paranormal at Goodreads.com for an honest review. Fantastic read! This story was new and refreshing, especially with the fact that these Guardians have lived so many lives before, yet are still slightly naïve. I love the fact that without knowing why, there is this connection they quickly feel for each other and ultimately can't seem to change their fate when falling in love. The characters gifts are well defined and with their knowledge of what they are able to accomplish growing each time they use them and this makes for an exciting read page after page. The only thing I do wish, is that the fights with demons should have more of a build up as sometimes it feels slightly rushed and a bit confusing. You need to be able to have your heart pumping so when the fight is done you breath a sigh of relief along with the characters. On the whole, I really thought this was a great read and will recommend it to all my friends!
Profile Image for Lorraine Carey.
Author 33 books109 followers
December 11, 2013
I received Awakening in exchange for an honest review for Lovers of Paranormal on Goodreads. This paranormal story really kept me on edge as it moved very quickly and was packed with loads of supernatural battles, enchantresses, demons, time slips and tender teen romance. Here we have Sophie, a young enchantress who once lived eons ago in another realm and was destined to lead her people to great things, however as fate would have it she managed to be reborn into modern day still carrying her abilities with her. With divine syncronicity at play here she attends a university where she meets others who have different abilities and they all seem to have a connection her past, and they are here for a purpose.; They come to find out they are special ‘guardians’ to the future and must battle a powerful evil force. I love how the ending leads you to hang on as it surely will lead into a sequel.
Profile Image for Amber-marie.
130 reviews
February 17, 2014
I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review from lovers of paranormal and the author.

So this book started off really strange. Everyone was just kinda thrown into a setting and just right into action, there wasn't really that much an introduction. The first 3 chapters are kind of a haze to me. The story and the characters of this book are very well written, you can tell that the author has invested a lot of time and emotion into this book, and its very much appreciated. What I didn't like about this book though was the ending. I really hate cliffhangers like that. I don't just walk up to the ledge and jump and not know what happens afterwards, it really bugged me. Bugged me enough that I was very happy that I had the second book already ready to go :)

Thank you for this opportunity!! I thoroughly enjoyed your books!
Profile Image for Chelsea.
360 reviews6 followers
Currently reading
July 2, 2015
For as far as I got, this book was highly nonsensical and completely jumbled. I could not discern what exactly this story was about. While reading, 97% of the time it was impossible to know exactly who was speaking and what the characters understood about their situation at hand.

There was no lead-up to the scene which began this story. We do not know anything about any of the characters' pasts besides what was semi-mentioned in the summary for this book. We do not know how Sophie and Lilli can to be incorporated into this group of gifted college-students, and the connections that they all have to each other are only lightly touched upon.

For these and many other reasons, the least of which being the quite atrocious grammar usage, I refuse to continue reading this book. It is simply not worth the hours of effort that would go into reading it.
Profile Image for Dana.
103 reviews4 followers
April 3, 2014
I received this book in exchange for a honest review LoP

This book is non stop. It starts out with action and ends with action. I found there was some misses for me towards the beginning Soph has a vision of all of them being connected but never says anything. Then she says to them later " since we're all connected anyway", but no one questions her. I like the story and the characters. I just feel like it it a little under developed. I found Tristan acted like a jacknut after Soph's brother died and he didn't talk to her for three weeks. I felt a little disconnected from the story at times like I was being told instead of feeling it. It is definitely worth reading and I do look forward to seeing how they save Lil.
Profile Image for Melanie.
374 reviews79 followers
November 5, 2015
3.5 strong stars!

This book was definitely the best among the anthology. I really, really enjoyed it.

The beginning is confusing, I'll have to agree on that. From the first chapter you are thrusted into a world you dpn't know a lot about, and yes,it frustrated me. But as you go on you start to understand little by little and it made me feel better.

Again, the annoying element here is love at first sight and more than cliché, and even thougj you are given an explanation to that... Well... It was still annoying.

There were also some editing errors which weren't nice, and at times I felt confused while reading because some parts weren't clear.

Nevertheless, this book was a very good read amd I am happy I didn't felt as if I've lost some of my time!
Profile Image for Maria Dodd.
488 reviews15 followers
April 22, 2015
I was given this book as the first in the series to review book 3 in exchange for an honest review via Lovers of Paranormal.

I have given this book 4 stars because the storyline was good. I hovered between 3 and 4 stars due to some inconsistencies and a few circumstances where I had to re-read a part and was still left thinking "what? Something's missing here". A few typos and use of the wrong word (twice) threw me a bit too! Overall I enjoyed the book and the characters and am quite happy to go straight on to the next book in the series.
Profile Image for Megan.
3,618 reviews45 followers
March 31, 2016
I really enjoyed this book.

There I said it!!

I love the characters, the fact that not all vampires are pretty (PRAISE THE LORD) and that demons have some funky powers.
I also like how they're 'guardians' but also human too, so basically special humans with supernatural powers which is just super cool.

I will so be carrying this on, and I have to say this is my favourite book of this year so far...
Profile Image for Haley.
9 reviews27 followers
September 3, 2013
This book is definetly a favorite of mine. I think what I loved most was it was something new! All YA paranormal books that are out right now are pretty much the same thing but not this one, it's an interesting story that I would recommend to anyone. Amazing book and can't wait for the next one. Hopefully it's out soon!
Profile Image for Marie33 .
680 reviews30 followers
March 20, 2014
Book provided by the author.

This was a well written exciting read filled with action. It had a great plot and characters and I'm looking forward to reading more from the series

Book provided by the LoP group read to review
Profile Image for Nina.
4 reviews2 followers
June 19, 2013
Couldn't put it down! Awakening was something new and different that kept me interested. Definitely an exciting page-turner!
Profile Image for Autumn.
129 reviews6 followers
August 6, 2013
It was an amazing book! The characters were well thought out and really came to life for me.
Author 3 books91 followers
October 13, 2013
Enjoyed this book.. will have my full review come Oct 29th while on the book tour!
Profile Image for Rachel Benham.
580 reviews5 followers
September 10, 2018
Sophie and her friend Lilli thought they were the only ones with gifts u til they met Jackson, Tristan, Aiden and Morgan. Together they found out they are Guardians, their souls were in limbo until the final battle. They have learned to work together with the help of Ruth and Demetri, to battle the demons. Lilli was taken from them and now they are more determine than ever to get her back and destroy the evil coming for them.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Scarolet Ellis.
7,445 reviews53 followers
September 8, 2018
WOW!!!! This is an amazing story to read, I never read anything from this author before this but man am I glad I did. This author is becoming one of my favorite authors cause 1 she writes about things I like and she makes the story come alive instead of making it boring to read. I loved it.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
16.7k reviews155 followers
September 10, 2018
She left to start afresh but when she is attacked by demons with her new friends she knows she will not be left alone I til she is dead. She joins others to fight them so she can live her life. Can she defeat them? Can she keep others safe? See how she will get on

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
908 reviews18 followers
September 17, 2018
Meet the 6 guardians as they learn the truth about themselves, their powers and their mission.

Watch them face love, heartbreak, loss and still fight the demons that plague them.

This book for me was a perfect balance of emotions and thrill. I simply loved it. Would love to read more of this series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Kevin.
196 reviews
June 4, 2017
Good series start.
Ends on a cliff-hanger.

Good character development, plot; series looks promising.

Recommended.
147 reviews3 followers
June 5, 2017
Great

Great book I loved the story can't wait to start the next. I never like when a character dies but the story must go on
Profile Image for Well Hi.
22 reviews
May 21, 2018
didn't really get into it. had to force myself to finish the book.
Profile Image for Pat .
4,153 reviews20 followers
September 8, 2018
An enjoyable read, I was gripped throughout with the storyline and characters. Looking forward to the next instalment.
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