This book initially caught my attention due to the stunning cover yet when I saw how it had been pitched I had extremely high hopes. When I requested it I saw the premise and thought that it was trying to compare itself to a lot of great books. When referred to as for fans of ‘Crave’, ‘Hush Hush’ and ‘The Vampire Diaries’ you are setting yourself up for a brilliant book and I felt as if Awakened nearly lived up to it.

Awakened follows Hannah after loosing her parents in an accident. Desperate to leave her old life behind and escape the past Hannah moves for college at Bellcliff University. Once there she discovers that she can feel the magic around the school before accidentally awakening a witch in a hidden cave by the campus. Hannah is forced to face the fact that she has brought magic back to the world as she struggles to realise that she has been a part of this narrative for a lot longer than she remembers.

The story in this book had such good potential and it did deliver in some aspects. The dual timeline narrative really added to the story-line by letting you see the story play out in both the present and the past. The history aspect of the book was the most interesting to read about and seeing how the witches developed made the book so interesting.

The main character Hannah was really fun to read about as she had very relatable moments to discovering the magic. The representation of anxiety through Hannah’s character was interesting however, in some points it felt like the anxiety was not portrayed in the right way.

On the other hand some aspects of the book were a little hard to read especially with the matter of insta love. The two main characters instantly fell for each other and although it was explained within the book it still felt a little too much. A lot of aspects of the story felt as though they were not expanded as much as they needed to be.

Overall I feel as though the book needed to be developed more with the story line as well as more focus on the side characters which is what resulted in it being a three star book for me. The characters were interesting and the magic system was captivating however needed more detail in order for this to be a higher rated book. I would maybe read more of the series if it developed the characters and the story.

Thank you for NetGalley for this book in exchange of an honest review!!