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The Awaking
Edited Version 3 (updated 3/14/17)
Book 1 of the Shattered Series
Emmy's world is shattered on her seventeenth birthday. Everything she thought she knew was wrong. She's a witch and her family bloodline is very powerful. Emmy is thrown into the magic world, and at every turn new secrets reveal themselves to her. Can she handle the truth? Can her old life and new life coincide together or will she have to choose? Will she remain shattered, or will she find away to put herself back together again?
*Note some chapter may no be appropriate for all readers because they have sexual themes and content. Also, beware of inappropriate langue*
Book 1 of the Shattered Series
Emmy's world is shattered on her seventeenth birthday. Everything she thought she knew was wrong. She's a witch and her family bloodline is very powerful. Emmy is thrown into the magic world, and at every turn new secrets reveal themselves to her. Can she handle the truth? Can her old life and new life coincide together or will she have to choose? Will she remain shattered, or will she find away to put herself back together again?
*Note some chapter may no be appropriate for all readers because they have sexual themes and content. Also, beware of inappropriate langue*
116 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 5, 2016
9 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Birdy Rivers
27 books54 followersBirdy was born and raised in NJ and currently resides in GA with her family. She is mom to twin girls. She started writing in high school as away to cope with depression and anxiety. Over the years it developed into so much more than a coping mechanism. It became a hobby and a way to express herself. Writing is her passion. Other interest include reading, outdoor fun, and traveling when she can.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 2, 2018
In Shattered: The Awakening, Birdy Rivers does a nice job of weaving threads about the main character’s painfully awkward experience as an unpopular high school student with fantastical threads about the main character’s coming-of-age struggles discovering that she’s a powerful witch. These two sides of the main character’s personality work well together in a novel that portrays the difficulties of adolescence both in the real world and in the fantasy setting of the novel.
At the beginning of the book, as Emmy is waking up to face another day of school, we learn about her life. It’s not great. Her sisters are fighting. It turns out they’re her half-sisters, she started living with them and her absent father after her mother died, and they look down on her for being inferior to them. They’re wealthy, beautiful and popular. Emmy has never been any of those things. As the book progresses, the tables turn. Emmy becomes more powerful than her sisters could ever dream of being.
Emmy’s normal world shatters as she comes to learn that her fate has been foretold in prophecy. She must find the courage to face a difficult challenge, the outcome of which will affect others in a profound way.
I’m giving this book four rather than five stars because there are a lot of spelling errors and some grammatical errors and the story involves more telling than showing. However, despite these flaws, Shattered: The Awakening is a very interesting read.
At the beginning of the book, as Emmy is waking up to face another day of school, we learn about her life. It’s not great. Her sisters are fighting. It turns out they’re her half-sisters, she started living with them and her absent father after her mother died, and they look down on her for being inferior to them. They’re wealthy, beautiful and popular. Emmy has never been any of those things. As the book progresses, the tables turn. Emmy becomes more powerful than her sisters could ever dream of being.
Emmy’s normal world shatters as she comes to learn that her fate has been foretold in prophecy. She must find the courage to face a difficult challenge, the outcome of which will affect others in a profound way.
I’m giving this book four rather than five stars because there are a lot of spelling errors and some grammatical errors and the story involves more telling than showing. However, despite these flaws, Shattered: The Awakening is a very interesting read.
March 6, 2017
Check out this review, and many more, on my blog https://jessjesinghaus.wordpress.com
2 out of 5 stars
Where to start with this one? Let's see; red pen and three read-throughs for editing would be top of my list. While not every page had issues, the editing, spelling and grammar issues in this book were rampant. Sentences lacked structure, had missing punctuation, or were so long and nonsensical as to leave me scratching my head. Case in point: "How could be turning seventeen be affecting me this much?" There were others, many, many others. I'm willing to overlook the occasional editing blip, but in this case it was too much and too distracting.
So what does this story have going for it? Well, it was free with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. That's a start. All kidding aside, I liked the story's concept. A teen girl learns on her 17th birthday that she is a witch, descended from one of the magical realm's most powerful families. She has to come to terms with her new reality while learning all about spells and potions. Definite potential! The tone of the book, though, had me convinced I was reading a book meant for teenagers... until I got to the sex scenes. Definitely not something I'd want my teenager reading! *blush*
Overall, if this book were edited thoroughly and if you don't mind a younger-toned read, this one could be worth your time.
2 out of 5 stars
Where to start with this one? Let's see; red pen and three read-throughs for editing would be top of my list. While not every page had issues, the editing, spelling and grammar issues in this book were rampant. Sentences lacked structure, had missing punctuation, or were so long and nonsensical as to leave me scratching my head. Case in point: "How could be turning seventeen be affecting me this much?" There were others, many, many others. I'm willing to overlook the occasional editing blip, but in this case it was too much and too distracting.
So what does this story have going for it? Well, it was free with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. That's a start. All kidding aside, I liked the story's concept. A teen girl learns on her 17th birthday that she is a witch, descended from one of the magical realm's most powerful families. She has to come to terms with her new reality while learning all about spells and potions. Definite potential! The tone of the book, though, had me convinced I was reading a book meant for teenagers... until I got to the sex scenes. Definitely not something I'd want my teenager reading! *blush*
Overall, if this book were edited thoroughly and if you don't mind a younger-toned read, this one could be worth your time.
August 10, 2017
High school, we all remember it or maybe going through it right now; it can be an awesome experience for some while for others… maybe not so much. That’s the way the protagonist, Emmy, feels; she’s not in the popular circles of school and is looked at like a social pariah by the populars- which is fine with her, most of the time. Her twin half-sisters are part of the popular groups and give her hell both in school and out. The only thing that makes it worth it to her is the fact that she gets to see her crush, Carter, since he’s on the football team and part of the populars. The day Emmy turns seventeen, she finds out a secret from her dead mother in the form of a letter- she’s no ordinary seventeen year old, she comes from a very powerful line of witches. The changes in Emmy’s life is just the prelude of what is to come; from finding love in a most unexpected place to finding out everything she has ever known is not what it seems. Can she piece her life back together or will she be Shattered forever?
Birdy Rivers takes a coming of age story and gives it a twist in the first book of the Shattered series, The Awakening. It fits the typical drama from a seventeen year old girl’s perspective, from low self-esteem to finding that she’s worth more than what she thinks she is. This book does contain a couple of mature content scenes, so readers that may not feel comfortable reading about that may have to skip a couple of pages but the scenes aren’t too long. I think that the story line has a great potential though in the first book you’re struggling with Emmy to figure everything out- the secret of who she really is, the betrayals, finding love and trying to figure out where you fit in with the world when everything seems so out of balance; the ending of book one leaves us on a cliffhanger so you don’t know where she stands within herself but I think that book 2- The Rising- might answer some of those questions that Awakening leaves us with.
Birdy Rivers takes a coming of age story and gives it a twist in the first book of the Shattered series, The Awakening. It fits the typical drama from a seventeen year old girl’s perspective, from low self-esteem to finding that she’s worth more than what she thinks she is. This book does contain a couple of mature content scenes, so readers that may not feel comfortable reading about that may have to skip a couple of pages but the scenes aren’t too long. I think that the story line has a great potential though in the first book you’re struggling with Emmy to figure everything out- the secret of who she really is, the betrayals, finding love and trying to figure out where you fit in with the world when everything seems so out of balance; the ending of book one leaves us on a cliffhanger so you don’t know where she stands within herself but I think that book 2- The Rising- might answer some of those questions that Awakening leaves us with.
September 9, 2018
Birdy knows how to tell a good story, which is her main strength as an author. Her characters are well developed and easy to like or dislike, just like real people. Her sisters are classic teenage brats, although one turns out to be a good person as time passes. The romance with Carter is believable and you can’t help rooting for things to work out for them. The story itself is good, with lots of surprising changes that occur as Emmy discovers she’s a witch with formidable powers. The characters that surround Emmy are great and mostly likable (except for the bad guys and gals). The book has lots of surprises, some good humor and a fair amount of action toward the end. I’m not a big fan of cliff hanger endings, but Birdy gave us enough interesting twists to make purchasing book 2 a must. There were some point of view issues that made it difficult to follow at times but I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what happens in book two of the series.
October 30, 2018
Great storytelling
I like how you put your own twist in spin on magic and witches. Although it starts out in a sort of high school setting it is far from a cleanbteen read. I would love to read whatever is next in the storyline.
I like how you put your own twist in spin on magic and witches. Although it starts out in a sort of high school setting it is far from a cleanbteen read. I would love to read whatever is next in the storyline.
October 17, 2018
Magic...
I have always been a fan of paranormal. It's so exciting and different. This book was great. I can't wait for part two.
I have always been a fan of paranormal. It's so exciting and different. This book was great. I can't wait for part two.
November 8, 2016
A MUST READ!!
This is a really good story with a fascinating
twist! I love when authors create a mysterious adventure purely from their imagination!
This is a really good story with a fascinating
twist! I love when authors create a mysterious adventure purely from their imagination!
November 26, 2017
It tooks me ages to finally finish this book. I initially only read 4 chapters of the novel and grumbled from the excessive editing problems. The author was super kind and gave me a revised ARC copy which fixed a lot of errors making the text readable. It seems like the newest 3rd edition has fixed any overlooked bloopers. I promised her I'd review the book when I finished and I'm glad I gave the book a chance.
The pros of the book is that I really liked the beginning. Emmy is an orphan that is brought to her father's home one day. She was supposed to be the result of a fling and yet the man that barely even knew her accepted her into his home anyways. However, while she lived a comfortable lifestyle with her own car and unlimited spending cash, her evil half-sisters hated her and made her life growing up to be miserable. Life seems to take a respite when the love interest of the meaner of her two half-sisters named Carter shows up. Emmy has always been attracted to the friendly jock but she's so unpopular and socially awkward, how could she grab his attention?
And then something unexpected happened. The day she turned 17, a strange woman appears in her life and tells her a grueling truth: Emmy is in reality a witch from a very powerful bloodline and her magical abilities are starting to awaken. Emmy initially thinks it's all fun and games and juggles taking magic classes like it is no biggie with this strange woman named Kenzie, her duties at school and her romance with Carter that doesn't know her deepest secret.
The beginning of the plot is indeed a huge selling point but I personally didn't like the middle of the novel. Many of the magical secondary characters seem just sort of there and I never really got to care about them. Kenzie could be killed off in the next page and I wouldn't shed a tear for her. Emmy learns magic with so much ease that she seemed like the dreaded Mary Sue archetype. Carter is rather interesting albeit his character isn't fully credible at first when he discovers Emmy's magical secret. I also feel like for most of the novel, there isn't any real sense of danger.
Paragraphs upon paragraphs of text from the novel are used to describe the food everyone eats each chapter and none of the secondary characters seem to have any quirks that stand out except for the nasty half sisters that only appear in the first few chapters. I can't even remember what most of the secondary witches and warlocks physically looked like. I also would have wanted more tension and excitement when we discover the secret identity of the family chef Jason. There are so many mysteries in the story that could have been handled much better.
The novel fortunately picks up the second a mysterious character named Travis appears. Physically striking with a huge scar on his face and eighteenth century robes, he is a pivotal character that makes the final third of the novel fascinating instead of some dumb teenage bopper dramafest. I wasn't considering on continuing this series, but if Travis continues to play a huge role in the plot, I might reconsider to put up with the odd mixture of middle grade "does he love me, does me love me not" lovey dovey mental rambles mixed with F bombs and mild sex scenes just to see Travis kicking some butt.
The pros of the book is that I really liked the beginning. Emmy is an orphan that is brought to her father's home one day. She was supposed to be the result of a fling and yet the man that barely even knew her accepted her into his home anyways. However, while she lived a comfortable lifestyle with her own car and unlimited spending cash, her evil half-sisters hated her and made her life growing up to be miserable. Life seems to take a respite when the love interest of the meaner of her two half-sisters named Carter shows up. Emmy has always been attracted to the friendly jock but she's so unpopular and socially awkward, how could she grab his attention?
And then something unexpected happened. The day she turned 17, a strange woman appears in her life and tells her a grueling truth: Emmy is in reality a witch from a very powerful bloodline and her magical abilities are starting to awaken. Emmy initially thinks it's all fun and games and juggles taking magic classes like it is no biggie with this strange woman named Kenzie, her duties at school and her romance with Carter that doesn't know her deepest secret.
The beginning of the plot is indeed a huge selling point but I personally didn't like the middle of the novel. Many of the magical secondary characters seem just sort of there and I never really got to care about them. Kenzie could be killed off in the next page and I wouldn't shed a tear for her. Emmy learns magic with so much ease that she seemed like the dreaded Mary Sue archetype. Carter is rather interesting albeit his character isn't fully credible at first when he discovers Emmy's magical secret. I also feel like for most of the novel, there isn't any real sense of danger.
Paragraphs upon paragraphs of text from the novel are used to describe the food everyone eats each chapter and none of the secondary characters seem to have any quirks that stand out except for the nasty half sisters that only appear in the first few chapters. I can't even remember what most of the secondary witches and warlocks physically looked like. I also would have wanted more tension and excitement when we discover the secret identity of the family chef Jason. There are so many mysteries in the story that could have been handled much better.
The novel fortunately picks up the second a mysterious character named Travis appears. Physically striking with a huge scar on his face and eighteenth century robes, he is a pivotal character that makes the final third of the novel fascinating instead of some dumb teenage bopper dramafest. I wasn't considering on continuing this series, but if Travis continues to play a huge role in the plot, I might reconsider to put up with the odd mixture of middle grade "does he love me, does me love me not" lovey dovey mental rambles mixed with F bombs and mild sex scenes just to see Travis kicking some butt.
December 28, 2016
Intriguing storyline...
The author is off to a really good start in book one of the Shatter Me series. Her take on magic, witches, and the soul mate connection is intriguing and interesting.. I was immediately drawn in and made quick work of the book. I enjoyed the voice of the characters and wished for a little more depth, but I'm sure that is to come as the first book is just the tip of the iceberg as there is much more to come for Emmy and Carter.
The author is off to a really good start in book one of the Shatter Me series. Her take on magic, witches, and the soul mate connection is intriguing and interesting.. I was immediately drawn in and made quick work of the book. I enjoyed the voice of the characters and wished for a little more depth, but I'm sure that is to come as the first book is just the tip of the iceberg as there is much more to come for Emmy and Carter.
December 15, 2016
Great realim
This book is about a teenaged girl who doesn't seem to fit in, and her coming of age as she discovers a new romance and learns the family secret about who she is. The author is good at keeping to realistic conversations and the story detailed. She also manages to impart some valuable lessons to young readers.
This book is about a teenaged girl who doesn't seem to fit in, and her coming of age as she discovers a new romance and learns the family secret about who she is. The author is good at keeping to realistic conversations and the story detailed. She also manages to impart some valuable lessons to young readers.
December 20, 2016
I had a blast with the main character in this book Emmy...My emotions rain wild in this book...thank you to the Author Birdy Rivers for doing what you do for us Readers :) I will be back to read more :)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews