“Don’t Wake Me Up”: A Young Girl’s Journey to Find Who She Truly Is

Don’t Wake Me Up, by M. E. Rhines, is an intriguing YA paranormal romance dealing with out of body experiences. However this story addresses the issue of teen date violence, and handles it in a very believable way.

When Colleen’s boyfriend, Jimmy, assaults her, her thoughts and emotions become confused. Her mother has him arrested and forbids her to see Jimmy when he’s released, and one BFF warns her away from him while the other acts as if she could excuse his behavior. Jimmy acts as if he owns her and suddenly she is afraid of him, afraid like she never was before. But, he has her undying love, doesn’t he? And she’d do anything to be with him, wouldn’t she? Suddenly Colleen is not so sure how she feels.

She has had the ability to travel in the astral plane ever since her father was killed in a fire five years ago, but she never expected to find romantic love there. The whole idea is ridiculous. After all, the only people she meets there are the spirits she helps to cross over and her spiritual guiding angel, Gina.

Colleen is an active character who is very likable, as are her two BFFs, Lilly and Eva. Jimmy not so much, but then, he is the story’s antagonist, so we really aren’t expected to like him. The secondary characters all could have been more developed, but then again, for the purposes of this story, perhaps they didn’t need to be.

I found Don’t Wake Me Up to have an original plot line, with three basic story arcs, which cross over each other in spots, but are all skillfully drawn together at the end. I give it four quills.