When I Wake

by Rachel Lee, Jackie MacMullan, Pat Riley

Withdrawn and depressed after an accident which cost her both her hearing and her marriage, archaeologist Veronica Coleridge is desperate for something to make her life worth living. When her father tells her of the mask of the Storm Mother, the very same ancient Meso-American mask that her mother died searching for, Veronica devotes herself to vindicating her mother's quest. But she can't do it alone. She needs the help of Dugan Gallagher, the owner of the kind of boating and salvage business that can reclaim archaeological wrecks, because Veronica's research indicates the mask was lost at sea on an 18th century vessel, The Alcantara. From the start, Dugan admires Veronica's strength, especially in the face of the challenges her hearing disability causes her, and he quickly becomes engrossed in both Veronica and her quest. Together, they race to recover the mask before the mysterious man who hounded her mother gets his hands on it first. When they find themselves caught in a maelstrom at sea,they learn that far more than an ancient mask is involved--and only the love and trust they have come to share can save them.

Genres: Romance, Disability, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense

400 pages, Unbound

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Rachel Lee is a New York Times best-selling author and the winner of Six Romantic Times magazine Reviewers' Choice Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a five-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA® Award. She has penned a wide variety of novels in several genres including fantasy, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. She resides in Tampa, Florida.

Reviews

[Izz Rekindled (semi-hiatus due to college) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book because it signaled the best days of summer I could’ve lived but I couldn’t: the Florida life, beaches, diving and boats, hot men and kisses, and, most important of all, romance.
The book starts with Veronica, an archeologist who happens to be the product of 2 other archeologists who happen to fall in love. However, her mom died in a young age due to an « accident » in the sea and her dad didn’t reveal that until something awful happened to her. She got divorced by her ass of a husband, a year after he drank a little too much and drover both of them to an accident that led to her losing both her hearing and her baby. She lost Al the hope and the light in her and got swallowed up by deep depression and a broken-heart, and that’s why her dad gave her his last attempt to get her back on track before he dies of cancer- he’s only got a few months to live.

The story started off amazing and enticing. I would totally pictured reading it on the beach watching the waves as they go by, swallowing a person after the other. However, there are a few things that kept nagging at me all the time I visibly became irritated:

1- Her almost always internal monologue of “I’m deaf= I’m alone= I’m afraid” even though she’s acting waaayyy stronger and much more dépendant than me!!

2- the amount of precautionary thoughts and actions she took were absurd that I think the author forgot that she herself is a girl- we wear precautions and trust issues like second skin. The way that she doesn’t make other side plans -which are a norm in such a demo starting field- made me fée like she’s a new archeologist not a professor, let alone the fact that she “aided her father” in other expeditions since she was as little as 8 her claim, not mine).

3- The cluelessness of the lead characters, the fact that both of them “dismissed” their feeling for each other until the last 10 chapters was not settling right for me. It’s like saying “I love the taste of cheese but I hate it.”

4- Lastly, the one that made my head spine for a while, proofreading was done poorly. The punctuations that I depend on for assistance in understanding the situations were sometimes missing, aside from missing half of the sentences which begin with conjunctions.


Other than that, this story will definitely be a summer read that’s worth reading- might even take a spot in my every summer must read personal list.

[Sharon Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. A search for sunken treasure. A must read for anyone who is death or wears a hearing aid. I felt as if I was the character with my hearing aids and hate of some sounds while I can't hear others.

[Erotic Horizon]

When I Wake by Rachel Lee (2000)