What do you think?
Rate this book
Alora Chronicles #0.5
When I Wake
Alternate cover edition for ASIN B06X6BCGT2
For previous cover editions see here and here
Alone and vulnerable. Will first love be the answer to Ash's problems?
Bentley has been through a lot too, and together things seem to be improving.
But Ash has a secret. Will it lead to hope or heartbreak?
She confides in Bentley, but has she made a huge mistake?
This story can be read as a standalone. While this book contains no fantasy elements, it is a prequel to the contemporary fantasy series the Alora Chronicles. The first book in the series is Until I Sleep.
For previous cover editions see here and here
Alone and vulnerable. Will first love be the answer to Ash's problems?
Bentley has been through a lot too, and together things seem to be improving.
But Ash has a secret. Will it lead to hope or heartbreak?
She confides in Bentley, but has she made a huge mistake?
This story can be read as a standalone. While this book contains no fantasy elements, it is a prequel to the contemporary fantasy series the Alora Chronicles. The first book in the series is Until I Sleep.
80 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 1, 2018
58 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 22, 2017
This is a prequel to the series called the Alora Chronicles about a girl called Ash whose mum passes away and is left to come to terms with the loss. The events that take place in this prequel are meeting a guy named Bentley, he is a bit of a bad boy but Ash has a deep secret that could either signal a further downfall or bring happiness. Her choice will change everything for her and for Bentley. This was a really quick read, it took around 15 minutes to read the prequel from start to finish. I feel events did move quite quickly throughout so my advice would be not to throw everything at the reader in one go. Other than that, this did interest me enough to get hold of the 1st book in the series with a review to follow in due course.
August 18, 2018
Sweet
The beginning was simply alright. A bit boring to be honest with some bare basic dialogue that had me rolling my eyes. It was a standard and predictable story that seems to be aimed at a much younger audience. I knew this when I picked up the book so it’s my own fault really.
What earned the book that extra star was the second half. I only kept reading because a book has to be spectacularly bad for me to stop. However, the second half quickly got my attention. It elevated itself from a boring book to an interesting one making me want to know more. In my opinion, the first half can be easily done away with. Things only got interesting when she showed up in the Forrest. I was disappointed when I saw the story continues in a different book. Still intriguing though.
The beginning was simply alright. A bit boring to be honest with some bare basic dialogue that had me rolling my eyes. It was a standard and predictable story that seems to be aimed at a much younger audience. I knew this when I picked up the book so it’s my own fault really.
What earned the book that extra star was the second half. I only kept reading because a book has to be spectacularly bad for me to stop. However, the second half quickly got my attention. It elevated itself from a boring book to an interesting one making me want to know more. In my opinion, the first half can be easily done away with. Things only got interesting when she showed up in the Forrest. I was disappointed when I saw the story continues in a different book. Still intriguing though.
February 27, 2018
I really hate to leave a negative review, especially when so many people have given it five stars. But this story didn't do it for me. Nothing really happened except for the main character finding out about her father. There were too many passing-the-time moments where characters just bantered back and forth. I assume this is marketed as young adult, but the writing felt middle grade.
Note: This story is unedited. Comma splices left and right, run-on sentences, and more. And a large chunk of the book is in fact the next book, which did grow a little more interesting, but again, no editing.
Reader Rated for ages 10+
Note: This story is unedited. Comma splices left and right, run-on sentences, and more. And a large chunk of the book is in fact the next book, which did grow a little more interesting, but again, no editing.
Reader Rated for ages 10+
March 27, 2017
Ashlee lost her mum 3 months ago to a car accident. Ash still feels guilty that she wasn't in the car with her, instead she was in her friend's car and watched her mother get hit by the truck. She died on impact, but Ashlee was in shock and wanted to ride with her and get her help.
She is living with her mum's best friend Georgie, who works at a hospital. Ash is avoiding her friends, not wanting to go out, and her therapist wants her to write in a journal to make her feel better, which it is not doing.
Ash decides to go through the 3 boxes of her mum's things, she doesn't even know who packed her mum's entire life into the boxes. She is going through them and there is lots of paperwork and she finds her medical file, which is very thin since her mum was healthy. She finds a birth record in the file and it has her father's name, which is not on her birth certificate.
She googles Tom Redding and the first one that pops up is some author and the list is hundreds of thousand people long.
Georgie had no idea what her father's name was, just that her mum got pregnant and believed he left or died. She never mentioned a name to Georgie and she was there for her mum when she needed her. Georgie helps Ash find a list of private investigators to go to.
Ash skips school and goes to a PI firm by train. She meets with Jason Chase who says he can help her at a fair price if she doesn't mind it taking at least a week. He asks to see a photo of her mum, then takes a photo of Ash for his file. He tells her he has found people with even less information, and puts Ash's face through recognition software, since she doesn't look like her mum.
At School again, a guy walks up to talk to her. He says he asked about her name and that he is Bentley and he moved to the school because his father died. His father OD'd and he is bitter about it. she agrees to talk to him and be friends and they swap phones to type in their numbers. Ash freaks for a second because she recognizes the last name Childs. His father Damian was part of a major drug ring. Bentley gets nasty and tells her she probably doesn't want to be seen talking to him, which is anything but the truth.
Ash and Bentley go out on a date to the movies and pizza. At the pizza place she gets upset because she used to go there with her mum. Bentley suggests they walk back to town, and Ash decides they will walk across the golf course because it is better viewing than the city streets. Bentley stops her and proceeds to try and maul her, so she tells him off and he bitches about money he put out for the date, so Ash throws a bunch of money on the golf course and takes off.
She misses all the texts from Bentley, and when she reads them they go from apologetic to nasty and back to apologetic. When she sees him in school, she says they can only be friends.
She skips school Friday, waiting for the call from the PI. His secretary calls and asks when she can be in, and she runs for the train station. Jason has found her dad and he is the author Tom Redding and he lives in Tasmania. The PI suggests he make the first contact and Ash agrees. Her dad calls the house phone and she thought it was Georgie calling her back. Ash is shocked and her and her dad cry, he never knew about her, and never would have left her if he did. He invites her to visit or live with him in Tasmania, and she says she will live with him and can be ready in a week.
Bentley and her old friends are pissed at her, not that she spoke to her old best friends. Bentley corners her and kisses her. She runs for the bathroom and finds Milly, who used to be her best friend. She is the one who has been saying Ash is too stuck up and better than Bentley and tells her he has a girlfriend and that she is glad Ash is leaving because nobody gives a damn.
Ash is very upset and decides to just say goodbye to Bentley outside. He grabs her and says he can do anything he wants to her, and she won't be able to do a thing about it. She is saved when Mr.Snell comes out of the school and asks if everything is okay. She uses saying goodbye to Mr. Snell as an excuse to get away from Bentley. The next installment will be her going to Tasmania and meeting a dad she never knew she had.
She is living with her mum's best friend Georgie, who works at a hospital. Ash is avoiding her friends, not wanting to go out, and her therapist wants her to write in a journal to make her feel better, which it is not doing.
Ash decides to go through the 3 boxes of her mum's things, she doesn't even know who packed her mum's entire life into the boxes. She is going through them and there is lots of paperwork and she finds her medical file, which is very thin since her mum was healthy. She finds a birth record in the file and it has her father's name, which is not on her birth certificate.
She googles Tom Redding and the first one that pops up is some author and the list is hundreds of thousand people long.
Georgie had no idea what her father's name was, just that her mum got pregnant and believed he left or died. She never mentioned a name to Georgie and she was there for her mum when she needed her. Georgie helps Ash find a list of private investigators to go to.
Ash skips school and goes to a PI firm by train. She meets with Jason Chase who says he can help her at a fair price if she doesn't mind it taking at least a week. He asks to see a photo of her mum, then takes a photo of Ash for his file. He tells her he has found people with even less information, and puts Ash's face through recognition software, since she doesn't look like her mum.
At School again, a guy walks up to talk to her. He says he asked about her name and that he is Bentley and he moved to the school because his father died. His father OD'd and he is bitter about it. she agrees to talk to him and be friends and they swap phones to type in their numbers. Ash freaks for a second because she recognizes the last name Childs. His father Damian was part of a major drug ring. Bentley gets nasty and tells her she probably doesn't want to be seen talking to him, which is anything but the truth.
Ash and Bentley go out on a date to the movies and pizza. At the pizza place she gets upset because she used to go there with her mum. Bentley suggests they walk back to town, and Ash decides they will walk across the golf course because it is better viewing than the city streets. Bentley stops her and proceeds to try and maul her, so she tells him off and he bitches about money he put out for the date, so Ash throws a bunch of money on the golf course and takes off.
She misses all the texts from Bentley, and when she reads them they go from apologetic to nasty and back to apologetic. When she sees him in school, she says they can only be friends.
She skips school Friday, waiting for the call from the PI. His secretary calls and asks when she can be in, and she runs for the train station. Jason has found her dad and he is the author Tom Redding and he lives in Tasmania. The PI suggests he make the first contact and Ash agrees. Her dad calls the house phone and she thought it was Georgie calling her back. Ash is shocked and her and her dad cry, he never knew about her, and never would have left her if he did. He invites her to visit or live with him in Tasmania, and she says she will live with him and can be ready in a week.
Bentley and her old friends are pissed at her, not that she spoke to her old best friends. Bentley corners her and kisses her. She runs for the bathroom and finds Milly, who used to be her best friend. She is the one who has been saying Ash is too stuck up and better than Bentley and tells her he has a girlfriend and that she is glad Ash is leaving because nobody gives a damn.
Ash is very upset and decides to just say goodbye to Bentley outside. He grabs her and says he can do anything he wants to her, and she won't be able to do a thing about it. She is saved when Mr.Snell comes out of the school and asks if everything is okay. She uses saying goodbye to Mr. Snell as an excuse to get away from Bentley. The next installment will be her going to Tasmania and meeting a dad she never knew she had.
January 24, 2019
It was interesting in a way.
Although I prefer longer books, this left me feeling like I was missing something. I guess that it takes place in Sydney, Australia and I am not familiar at all with the culture or slang. That she is 17 years old and hasn't been kissed? That's kinda weird.
The description of no fantasy elements was correct, that Bentley was a total jerk-i-zoid she found out at the very end. I was hoping for some type of idea about what the series is about but Ash was still living with Georgie, her guardian/companion after her mom died a few months ago. I guess the whole story of the Alora Chronicles basically starts when she finds her father and goes to live with him. This prequel deals with Ash's life just prior to the series and when & how she finds her biological father after not knowing anything about him. It was kinda boring except for the possibility of rape/unwanted sexual advances from Bentley.
I was kinda puzzled by why this story was written except to give some background on Ash. That could have been delivered through flash backs and other means but it does show how naive, isolated and unused to violence Ash is. I just felt it was a waste of time to read this unless something that involves happenings in the prequel goes into the series.
Although I prefer longer books, this left me feeling like I was missing something. I guess that it takes place in Sydney, Australia and I am not familiar at all with the culture or slang. That she is 17 years old and hasn't been kissed? That's kinda weird.
The description of no fantasy elements was correct, that Bentley was a total jerk-i-zoid she found out at the very end. I was hoping for some type of idea about what the series is about but Ash was still living with Georgie, her guardian/companion after her mom died a few months ago. I guess the whole story of the Alora Chronicles basically starts when she finds her father and goes to live with him. This prequel deals with Ash's life just prior to the series and when & how she finds her biological father after not knowing anything about him. It was kinda boring except for the possibility of rape/unwanted sexual advances from Bentley.
I was kinda puzzled by why this story was written except to give some background on Ash. That could have been delivered through flash backs and other means but it does show how naive, isolated and unused to violence Ash is. I just felt it was a waste of time to read this unless something that involves happenings in the prequel goes into the series.
May 16, 2021
After her mother's car accident, teenage Ash is devastated as she deals with the loss. Sifting through her mother's stuff, she finds her father's name on her birth certificate, when her mother had been telling her that she didn't know who her father was. So, Ash hires a PI to find him. Meanwhile she grows apart from friends, and is approached by a teen boy named Bently who claims he went through a similar loss. But he's not interested in taking things slow and shows his true colors.
This is a contemporary drama, dealing with loss, coming of age, and fending off unwanted advances. She has to deal with being shamed by both the boy who wants more than she's ready to give, and her friends who show just how petty they are. I really don't do contemporary teen drama stories. I was expecting for there to be some set up for the fantasy series that accompanies this, but there's really nothing here. The story is predictable and I didn't care much for the heroine (she's too bland and average. There was nothing that made her interesting) and I certainly didn't care to read about near assault and bereavement. (It reminds me of this novel contest I was in where one of the judges said he had a drinking contest to to every time an indie book started with a death/funeral).
This is a contemporary drama, dealing with loss, coming of age, and fending off unwanted advances. She has to deal with being shamed by both the boy who wants more than she's ready to give, and her friends who show just how petty they are. I really don't do contemporary teen drama stories. I was expecting for there to be some set up for the fantasy series that accompanies this, but there's really nothing here. The story is predictable and I didn't care much for the heroine (she's too bland and average. There was nothing that made her interesting) and I certainly didn't care to read about near assault and bereavement. (It reminds me of this novel contest I was in where one of the judges said he had a drinking contest to to every time an indie book started with a death/funeral).
April 7, 2018
This short story prequel is strictly romance. No magical points to it, nothing just romance. I love romance novels. I love anything romance. This prequel was not enough for me to want to read more about these characters. It just didnt give me the push I was hoping for. Although it was ok. It just was not for me.
Milly is the best friend. Ashlee is on the hunt to find her dad. Her mom died in a car accident. So she has noone. So she is on the hunt for her dad. Bentley is the player type who we find out some things about him. Which I did not really care for at all. By the end of the story when everything unravels she decides to rush into some things. It just seems like it went too fast. Not enough details. It was more juvenile than some prequels. This story just did not intrigue me enough to keep going.
I received this story from instafreebie for an honest review.
Milly is the best friend. Ashlee is on the hunt to find her dad. Her mom died in a car accident. So she has noone. So she is on the hunt for her dad. Bentley is the player type who we find out some things about him. Which I did not really care for at all. By the end of the story when everything unravels she decides to rush into some things. It just seems like it went too fast. Not enough details. It was more juvenile than some prequels. This story just did not intrigue me enough to keep going.
I received this story from instafreebie for an honest review.
February 19, 2019
Y
Buffett ,but the same thing happened with your friends are the same thing happened in touch base of a p
Buffett ,but the same thing happened with your friends are the same thing happened in touch base of a p
May 6, 2020
Confusing
The story itself is written poorly, and plot is confusing. Trying to find the main point of the story is difficult. Things jump around and repeat, a lot.
The story itself is written poorly, and plot is confusing. Trying to find the main point of the story is difficult. Things jump around and repeat, a lot.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews