The Awakening

The Awakening, Book 1

By: Lisa M. Lilly

Narrated by: Jewel Greenberg

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Tara Spencer's mysterious pregnancy causes her family and fiance to turn against her, and sidetracks her plans for medical school. Only a stranger, Cyril Woods, believes her claim that she's still a virgin. The religious order that Cyril belongs to thinks Tara's child may be a new messiah. But when prenatal testing raises troubling questions the order becomes Tara's enemy, convinced she will trigger the first stage of the Apocalypse. Tara fights for her life, seeking a safe place to give birth and the answer to whether she and her child are meant to save the world or destroy it.

©2011 Lisa M. Lilly (P)2015 Lisa M. Lilly

will try book 2

started slow and I almost gave up, but will try next book. Really 31 1/2 stars

PREGNANT, yet a VIRGIN!!

This is the first story I've listened to by author Lisa M. Lilly and it was well written. She put forth alot of research into the religious beliefs that were centuries old. I'm positive that the author put forth alot of time doing the research to learn and find details to put into the writing of this story. Although I did like the story it did take me several chapters before finding myself connected to this story. Lisa wrote a story that was intriguing and unique. I wouldn't know what to do if I was in Tara's place, becoming pregnant, yet never having had sex before. I would definitely be scared, cry, and even run as Tara did. When she meets Cyril I found him to be unbelievable with saying her child was special, her being a messiah. Then towards the end, when I think Tara gave her virginity to Cyril, it seemed for a virgin she let it go too quickly. But, I was outraged at Cyril's behavior towards her band I wanted to choke the life from him. I thought to myself, how could he?Then the ending just wasn't what I expected it to be. I felt the author rushed the ending, leaving more questions than answers. This is why I only give it 4 stars.

Narrator, Jewel Greenberg did a fantastic job in her narration of this story. She brought this story to life and I felt the pain that Tara was feeling. The narrator did a wonderful job with distinguishing the accents of each character. I will definitely be looking for other stories Jewel has narrated. Overall, I enjoyed the story and I hope to see the second story, The Unbelievers on Audible soon. I received this audio in exchange for an honest review.

the Awakening review

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it's entertaining and enjoyable. Interesting writing and characters.

What other book might you compare The Awakening to and why?

None. I really can't compare this to any other book.

Which character – as performed by Jewel Greenberg – was your favorite?

The main character Tara.

Any additional comments?

I liked this.

Decent and Entertaining, but buy book 2 in print..

Yet another YA/NA book with a female main character who makes poor choices. I spent a good part of the book wondering at Tara's lack of common sense. With that said if you don't take the book too seriously it's enjoyable enough, and I was surprised by the ending.

If you do like this book enough to buy book two, I recommend you buy BOOK 2 in print instead of audio OR you download the audio sample first. The reader of book two is different and I found her voice so irritating that I returned the audiobook.

Thriller that challenges the patriarchal religions

I found it fascinating to see how a story of immaculate conception might play out in todays society. There was a lot of research done into different religions, but the book is not preachy. It is an exciting thriller that challenges the patriarchal religions.

I liked and related to the main character. This is the first book in the series, so it left me with lots of questions and a desire to find out what happens next.

I listened to the audiobook edition which I received free in exchange for an honest review. The narrator spoke clearly and at a good pace. She performed great characterisations and accents. Jewel didn't pronounce the "g" on the end of any "ing" words, which bugged me a little, but didn't take away from the story. She used her voice well to enhance emotion and build tension and suspense.

Worth the listen

I went through a couple different phases of feelings about this book. There were a few times when I wasn't sure I liked it, a couple times when I was hanging on every word, and then a couple times when I was happy to have it on in the background.
I had an issue with some of the narration though. When there would be a change in the story, there wouldn't always be a pause in narration. I would have to stop and rewind thinking I had missed something. Other than needing pauses in between topic/character/time line changes, the narration was good.
With the story, I at some times felt as though it was a familiar story to me with a bit of a twist, but at other times felt like it was completely different. I enjoyed it overall and think its worth a listen.
*I was given this book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A thrilling read.

Any additional comments?

Tara's life is changed forever the day she finds out she is pregnant. It's an impossibility because Tara is a virgin! She has never had sex, not even with her fiance, so how can she be pregnant? That's something she has to find out, but with her parents thinking she is loosing it, her fiance breaking it off because he thinks she cheated on him, strangers trying to kill her and everyone calling her a liar, it's harder than you think to get answers. That is until Cyril comes into her life. He has a crazy theory that she is either carrying the next Messiah or the next anti-Christ. From then on Tara's life is one fraught with danger, deception, betrayal and heartache. She needs to find answers before it's too late.

There is a lot to like about this book. It's fast paced, intense and an engaging read, but one thing that brought it from a 4 star down to a 3 star, for me anyway, was Cyril. I really enjoyed the way the story was going for the 2 of them until Cyril takes an about face and completely changes his personality in one night!! It was unreal and in my opinion, unnecessary. They were so good together and for him to treat Tara like that was horrible, and really soured my taste of him. I think I know why the author did what she did, but I still didn't like it!!

Anyway, with that being said, I still enjoyed this. It had a Da Vinci Code feel to it, in that it had so many conspiracies and beliefs in it. It's chock full of intrigue, mystery, suspense and twists. You can tell that the author did a lot of research and put a lot of effort into the idea of the book, because it shows. It's a well thought out and executed plot and will keep you turning the pages.

The characters aswell were well written. Poor Tara has so much to deal with, yet she stays true to herself and is firm about her virginity, despite so many people telling her differently. They tell her that it's impossible and she must of had sex, but she knows the truth and is adamant. I liked her strength of character, though thought she was a little naive at times, especially when it came to trusting.

In all this was a really good listen and I can't wait to see what happens next. The ending felt a little rushed and leaves us with a lot if unanswered questions but since book 2 is out already, I'm ok with that!! Lol.

Jewel Greenberg did a good job with the narration. She did great with Tara but didn't have enough of a different tone with some of the other characters. I also wanted her to be a little more intense with some scenes. It felt like she read the story great but didn't give much of a performance. She needed to give a little more.

*I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

The Awakening bk 1

Any additional comments?

Tara,a college student,finds herself pregnant.Since she is a virgin,this is impossible...or is it?Everyone thinks she is lying.She is followed by people telling her she is carrying the savior,and others wanting to kill her.We follow her through the mire of religious dogma from a few different forms of Christainity and her own belief that god doesn't exist.Narrated by Jewell Greenberg I thought the characters voices were ok,not great,but passable.
"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com."

Tara's Baby

I loved the idea of the story. Didn’t really like the execution. It seemed a bit disjointed as it jumped around a bit to areas I wasn’t expecting. The whole Jerry Springer style talk show was weird and uncomfortable and I didn’t think it fit the overall tone of the story. I knew this wasn’t going to be a great religious conspiracy style story like The Da Vinci Code, but I went back and forth on was this a serious story or just some ideas on religious issues that someone strung together. It takes you down some neat roads and then would go all sideways and take you down unbelievable paths only to drop you off in a different place. I didn’t like how chapters would sometimes jump forward in the story and I wasn’t sure where or how we got to this place.

Cyril, I dubbed Cereal, was annoying. I didn’t like his back and forth on who he was and what he believed. I hated him as a character from the beginning and hated him much more as the story was told. Tara’s like for him made me start to dislike her as even she said she wasn’t a good judge of people. Her lack of restraint with people and poor decision making made me not care what happened to her. She was that person in a horror movie you are just hoping to get killed. The only people I cared about were her siblings. Her sister and her story was the only one that actually moved me. I just felt no connection to the characters as the story went on.

Even though this was like watching a bad B movie, my guilty pleasure, where my wife would tell me to change the channel, I have to say I’m hooked. Wasn’t happy with how it got there but in the end it got to where I wanted the story to be. The ending was quite crazy and since there is no resolution I need to know what happens. So given all my complaining I will say that the story itself was different and something I completely plan on continuing on with.

I liked the narrator. I think her voice was excellent for Tara. I liked her other character voices as well but she really nailed Tara. I see that she doesn't continue on with the next book and that is disappointing.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

The Awakening

Any additional comments?

THE AWAKENING is a thriller with a huge concept. It turns on the concept of whether a virgin birth will herald in a new dawn for humankind or Armageddon. The plotting is fast-paced, with edge-of-your seat scenes and unsuspected twists and turns that are the hallmarks of well-done thrillers.. It is a provocative and literate thriller that will give you hours of reading pleasure and make you think.