ARC Review: REAWAKENED by Colleen Houck

Title/ Author: Reawakened by Colleen Houck
Genre: YA, contemporary, fantasy/mythology
Rating:  2/5 stars
Synopsis: When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.

And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe to find his brothers and complete a grand ceremony that will save mankind.

But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.

From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself. 

Review:

*ARC Review*

Thoughts on the Overall Book: To be honest? Pretty much what I expected. Not horrible, but not great either. Enough adventure to keep me interested, but too much romance to make me really like it. In short, my feelings were pretty much: Meh.

Cover--Yea or Nay: The cover is really gorgeous! I love the Egyptian stuff on it :)

Characters: Lilliana (or Lily, which is better) is pretty much your typical YA heroine. She think she's so great, and isn't really and of course goes all goggly eyed over the first hot dude that crosses her path. She really didn't have much character and was really kind of dumb. She seems to like to think she can read people but she can't really. What she does is people watch and make up stories about people. She is no profiler. Amon was essentially, your typical YA hero. Dark, slightly broody, and, oh yes, very very hot. And without much character. I enjoyed him at first when he was new in NY because he was kind of cute not knowing about anything, but even then it just felt like a Thor rip off to me except Thor was better. Even the Doctor they meet up with later wasn't as interesting as those sorts of characters usually are and the villain was kind of bland and showed up at the last minute without much else going for him. The only characters I did actually like were Amon's brothers, they actually had character and were funny and interesting. I wish they had come in sooner.

The Romance: Since this book in a romance, that's all there really is. And Lily and Amon are annoying as YA romances typically are. Having their feelings cloud their judgement and get in the way of the storyline because she can't help thinking about how hot he is and she gets annoyed when he seems to shun her because she thinks he doesn't like her, when it's obvious to the reader that he's just trying to protect her and trying not to get attached because their relationship can never really happen. (view spoiler)

Writing Style: Nothing special. In fact it was kind of bland and mediocre. I haven't read any of the author's books before and probably won't now. It just didn't do it for me. The only reason this book was remotely interesting is because of the Egyptian angle, and if you want to read it for entertainment and nothing more, then it's not a bad book. I didn't hate it, and it didn't feel like a chore to finish like some books do, but I didn't care overmuch for it. It definitely feels like a rip off of The Mummy and I don't know if that made me like it more or annoyed me. I think because it was familiar, I clung to it to try and ignore some of the romantic annoyance. It was more adventurous than actual Egyptian fact too, but they did seem to get the legends and most of the mythology right at least.

Accuracy/ Believability: Not applicable. In fact, one of the parts that bothered me was that Lily never left any word to her parents. I think she probably could have gotten away with running off on a trip if she had just left a letter. As is, what's to stop her parents from thinking she was kidnapped, and she was using her credit card all over the place. They would have known exactly where she was and where she had gone. So they either didn't care or didn't notice. 

And there was also a stupid part that made me laugh and shake my head because it was so stereotypical. And I don't think it was meant to be sarcastic either because it just didn't read that way. (Although, Lily also thinks she's snarky which she is not. She doesn't have enough character to be snarky. She's only a little above Bella Swan in that department. I don't know why her parents made her curb anything. She didn't have anything to curb.)

Anyway, this is the part that made me laugh:

Seeing the two of them together made it official. They were definitely archeologists. I should've guessed that when I noticed the white fedora. Indiana Jones wore a brown one and probably every archeologist owed at least one.

Problems/What bothered me: What I already mentioned is pretty much what bothered me. It was just silly for the most part, nothing really drastic but nothing that endeared me to it either.

Conclusion: 2.5 stars. It was okay, but nothing special and it was slightly annoying. I'm sure the right people will enjoy this very much but it's not my kind of read. If you're looking for something fun like The Mummy this isn't it. You will be disappointed.

Recommended Audience: Girl read ages 15 and up. If you like Egyptian mythology and YA romance then this is for you. 

(Read this review with spoilers on Goodreads)