4 Star Review: The Wicked Awakening of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe #BookReview @jruthwiebe

Title: The Wicked Awakening of Anne Merchant (The V Trilogy, #2)
Author: Joanna Wiebe
Publisher: BenBella Books
Genre: Teen, Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: January 20th 2015
Source: Publisher for Review
Purchase: Amazon

Life and death, light and dark, spirit and flesh-on Wormwood Island, the lines are always blurred. For Anne Merchant, who has been thrust back into this eerily secretive world, crossing the line seems inevitable, inescapable, destined.

Now, as Ben finds himself battling for the Big V and Teddy reveals the celestial plan in which Anne is entwined, Anne must choose: embrace her darkly powerful connection to a woman known as Lilith and, in doing so, save the boy she loves...or follow a safer path that is sure to lead to Ben's destruction at the hands of dark leaders. Hoping the ends will justify the means, Anne starts down the slippery slope into the underworld, intent on exploring the dark to find the light. But as the lure of Lilith proves powerfully strong, will Anne save others-only to lose herself?

When I found out there was going to be a book two to the totally awesome first book, The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant, I was totally thrilled. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it and start reading, simply because I absolutely loved the first book (find my review here). However, it took me some time to jump right back in the swing of things at Cania Christy. Although it had been a year since I read the first book, I thought that I would be immediately swept right back into the story. And that wasn't the case, sadly.

It seemed as though this one took a little time catching my attention. This one introduces us to a lot of new characters and also reveals some ugly truths about old characters. We find out who to trust and who not to trust in this one. It took me a while to get into this. It wasn't until I got to page 170 or so where it really started to grab my attention to where I didn't want to put it down.

What started out as a 3-star and started to slowly move down to a DNF quickly regained momentum for me and soared right into a 4-star rating. This has a great cast of characters and great story once you can get past the slow beginning.

Disclaimer: *I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

By day, Joanna is a copywriter and the co-founder of CopyHackers.com and Page99Test.com, a critique site for published and unpublished writers. As an undergraduate student, Joanna won several academic awards for excellence in creative writing: Canada's James Patrick Folinsbee Prize, which she won twice, as well as the Godfrey Prize.

After graduating, she lived for a year on the remote northern island of Hokkaido, Japan, which is the inspiration for the verdant Wormwood Island of the V Trilogy. She holds a BA in Honors English and an MA in Communications from the University of Alberta and lives with her partner Lance in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant is her first novel and the first installment in the V Trilogy.

Find Joanna: Website | Twitter | Facebook