~ BOOK REVIEW ~ Soul Awakening ~ by Paul Lonardo
~Description~
Something otherworldly is happening in a small Texas town.
As a small Texas town mourns the tragic death of its high school football star, Alecia is struggling to adjust to life without the boy she has dated since sixth grade and thought she would be with forever.
When Braden comes to her as an apparition, she finds herself falling for Riley, Braden’s best friend and teammate. Has Braden returned to spy on her, or for some other reason?
Alecia’s not sure, but she soon realizes she must find a way to accept Braden’s death and welcome love back into her life, or risk losing everything.
The Power of Secret Love changes everything…
As a small Texas town mourns the tragic death of its high school football star, Alecia is struggling to adjust to life without the boy she has dated since sixth grade and thought she would be with forever.
When Braden comes to her as an apparition, she finds herself falling for Riley, Braden’s best friend and teammate. Has Braden returned to spy on her, or for some other reason?
Alecia’s not sure, but she soon realizes she must find a way to accept Braden’s death and welcome love back into her life, or risk losing everything.
The Power of Secret Love changes everything…
~My Review~
4 out of 5
stars
This was a very quick, very sweet read. Emotions are a tough thing
to handle in high school, especially when everything you do or feel is watched
by every single person around you. It’s really how high school works, but even
more when you are one of the popular cheerleaders, and the popular quarterback
who’s also your boyfriend suddenly dies.
Add the fact that you think you’re losing your mind because your being
haunted by said boyfriend, and you’ve now entered the life of Alecia.
I admit at first it was hard to understand where Alecia was coming
from, mostly because it felt like you came in after the biggest event of the
book – when Braden dies. You miss the buildup
of their relationship, and of their friendships with others. I felt a bit disconnected from the story, as
an outside observer, rather than invested in what each character was
feeling. However, by about halfway
through, I started to get more of a feeling of the characters and their feelings.
Although I had a hard time connecting to the characters in the
beginning, I gave this book 4 stars because what I found most interesting about
this book is that by the end of it I was so connected either to the characters
or the situation they were in (it was honestly hard to tell which), that the
ending made me very emotional. And
considering this entire book can be read in about an hour, that’s quite a
turnabout in emotion! In the end, I was intrigued, and I truly loved the message
of the story. I would certainly read it
again if I was looking for a book with a quick feel good message, and I
recommend it if you’re looking for the same.
Buy Links:
Excerpt:
“Alecia.”
Her name had come out of Braden’s mouth countless times
before in so many different inflections and every possible situation. This
time, he spoke her name tentatively, almost warily, his tone unfamiliar even though
it was clearly his voice. It had been about ten minutes after she’d gotten off
the phone with Riley. She couldn’t sleep, and she was lying in bed, streaming
some music on her phone.
“Alecia.”
She raised her head, and her eyes instantly widened. She
lifted herself upright on the bed and gazed directly at Braden, who was
standing in the middle of the room. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
She didn’t know if she was awake or asleep at first. If she was dreaming, it
was the most realistic dream anyone could ever have. If Braden was an
apparition, then so was everyone else she’d ever encountered. Alecia had never
seen a ghost before, but she would have expected one to have physical qualities
that were vastly different from those of the living. This was Braden, in solid
human form, not an ethereal manifestation or translucent likeness. He wasn’t
floating in the air, his orange Nikes were planted firmly on the wood floor of
her bedroom. His voice wasn’t accompanied by moaning, shrieks, or rattling chains.
It was uncanny. Not only was Braden here in the corporeal
sense, he looked exactly as he would have if he’d survived the accident. His
hair had been cut short the day before the accident. Now, however, it had
almost two full weeks of growth. And while he didn’t have much in the way of
facial hair, he was sporting a stubbly beard and mustache. It was a new look
for Braden, and Alecia was not hating it.
About the Author:
Paul Lonardo is a freelance writer and author. He has had
both fiction and non-fiction book published, including titles that have been
excerpted in Reader’s Digest and reviewed in Publisher’s
Weekly.
Soul Awakening is his third romance
novella. Reunion of Souls was published by Liquid Silver Press
in 2105, and last summer Wild Rose Press releasedEnchanted Desire.
From the Ashes, a collaborative book written with
a Gina Russo, is a true story of her survival from the deadly 2003 Station
Nightclub fire in Rhode Island which claimed the lives of 100 people, became
the basis of a 2013 documentary web series, The Station, which Paul
produced.
Paul has been interviewed as part of several
documentaries, including NBCUniveral’s I Survived a Serial Killer,
featuring the true crime story depicted in the book Caught in the
Act, A Courageous Family’s Fight to Save their Daughter from a Serial Killer.
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