Dreaming Awake by Gwen Hayes

This is the second book in the Falling Under series by Gwen Hayes.

My review of #1: Falling Under.

After Theia's trip back to her normal life after being abducted into Under, she finds herself a little out of place. Because Mara did a blood ritual with her and gave Theia her demon blood, Theia now finds herself having odd cravings and is trying really hard not to suck the souls out of her classmates.

But things are going semi-sorta good with her and Hayden. Granted, they both have some demon inside of them so they have the same urges - can understand one another better.

Also, after leaving her life for awhile, she comes back to having everyone assume she ran away from home. Her father hasn't said more than five words to her since her arrival, pretending that nothing wrong had happened instead of yelling at her or grounding her.

Something strange is happening at Theia's high school though. All of the sneetches (popular students) are looking a little down. It looks like they haven't slept in awhile, are having rough nights, and have shallow looking physique.

Theia thinks that Hayden is not able to control his Lure and is draining their souls a little bit at a time. Instead of confronting him about it, she just ignores it is happening.

Also, Theia's urges are getting harder and harder to control. She finds herself slipping, and at night she feels more comfortable in Under than with her friends and Hayden.

When Mara, Hayden's mother and the queen of Under, comes into Theia's human life and pays a lot of attention to her father, Theia must figure out what to do. Should she ignore her demon side and let Mara do whatever she wants or should she fight back using the very thing Mara gave her? Read Dreaming Awake by Gwen Hayes to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
It has been a very long time since I read the first book in this series, so it took a few pages to remember what had happened at the end of the first novel.

After I figured that out, though, I started to enjoy this novel. I didn't enjoy the reason why Theia and Hayden split in the middle, because I never like it when an obvious couple breaks up for no good reason, but other than that I really enjoyed where the story line went.

I also think there was a little bit of character development for Theia. There were times she went back into her shy self, but for the most part she definitely grew into a woman instead of a girl and she went after what she wanted instead of the people around her.

As far as I know, this is the end of the series? Just the two books. I think that there could be a great story to follow if Hayes wanted to keep going with Theia and Hayden, but it was a good ending for the two book series!

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read about supernatural creatures - in this case demons or succubi's - and a main female who has found herself changed completely from the person that she used to be.

I'm really glad that I was able to finally get this book and finish the series! Really enjoyed it and I think others would as well :)

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

Theia has a very controlled life. Her father has a decent job, travels sometimes, and also has his secretary buy all of Theia's clothes for her.

She doesn't get to wear what she wants, is always told to be perfect and sit up straight, and has a set schedule as to when she does homework, eat, and play the violin...

Because Thiea's mother died during child-birth, Theia figures that her father hates her for killing his one true love. So she usually does what he wants without question to try and make up for that.

However, there are some guilty pleasures that Theia still does, like reading non-educational books at night with a flashlight so her father doesn't know about it.

During one night, Theia saw a man, falling from the sky, and he was on fire. She ran out to see if she was hallucination, maybe by reading too many novels.

The next morning, she chalked it up to a dream. When she had another dream about a beautiful, mysterious boy, Theia thinks she has an uncontrollable imagination. That was proven wrong, though, when her mystery boy (named Hayden) shows up at school the next day.

The boy Theia interacts with in her dreams and the one she sees at school are so different that Theia is unsure if they are the same person.

But Hayden has a dark, dangerous secret. He's not who he seems to be, and Theia would be wise to stay away from him.

With the uncontrollable urge to be around Hayden, and the attraction Theia and Hayden have for one another, staying away from each other isn't an option. Will Hayden's dark past come to haunt them both? Read Falling Under by Gwen Hayes to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Wow. Dark, dangerous, mysterious. Those three words describe the novel as a whole, and Hayden.

I absolutely loved this novel! If I wouldn't have started reading it so late at night, I probably would have finished it in one sitting.

I felt so bad for Theia after reading about her life at home with her father. I would never want to be restricted that much by my parents, even though I know there are teenagers out there who live through that.

If I had been Theia, I probably would have grew up as a rebellious child, but she was a good daughter and did as she was told.

All bets were off, though, when Hayden dropped into her life. After that, she started to become rebellious and doing what she wanted to do rather than what her father wanted.

This started off as a contemporary novel, but definitely ended as a supernatural story. It was the best of both genres.

I would recommend this to anyone wanting a forbidden love story, a story about a dark past, or a mythical atmosphere.

Also, this is the first of a two book series (that I know of). I will be trying to get the next book to see what happens to Hayden and Theia hopefully soon!