The novel begins with the death of the protagonist’s mother. Calla Delaney’s mother dies in a freak accident in which she falls down the stairs and breaks her neck when she lands on the ceramic tile floor below. Calla has difficulty accepting her mother’s death because she claims that her mother was the most coordinated, graceful, sedate person on earth. tOnly mouths before her mother’s death, Kevin, Calla’s boyfriend, sent her a text message ending their relationship. tAfter being dumped by her boyfriend and the death of her mother, Calla’s life begins to change. At the funeral, she notices a person standing a bit distant from the rest of the group. Within seconds, this person was gone. tBecause Calla’s father is going off to California for a sabbatical, Calla needs to find a place to stay. She refuses to stay with her uncle because of his chaotic household and refuses to stay with her friend Lisa who happens to be Kevin’s sister. Talk about awkward.tEventually, Calla convinces her father to let her stay in Lily Dale with her grandmother, Odelia. Stephanie, Calla’s mother, and Odelia were estranged and therefore Calla does not know much about her grandmother; in fact, she is a complete stranger. tOdelia is quite strange. She is wildly creative and is a physic and a medium. She is able to communicate with the dead, which Calla is skeptical to believe. However, Odelia is not the only medium in town. In fact, Lily Dale is a town almost entirely populated by spiritualists who can communicate with the dead. Calla stays in her mother’s old room and on the first night she sees and feels something in the room. Calla is unsure if she had seen something or if it was just a figment of her imagination. Her mother taught her to look for the evidence and Calla sees no evidence of a ghost or some other supernatural being. She is unsure if she should remain in Lily Dale. Calla feels guilty that she kept her grandmother’s abilities a secret from her dad. However, Calla knows that she does not want to leave Lily Dale and telling her dad about her grandmother would buy her a plane ticket back home, wherever that would be. Calla wants to learn about her mother’s past which Stephanie kept secret. Stephanie did not like to talk about her past nor did she like to talk about her relationship or lack of a relationship with her mother because they never got along. Calla is curious to know more about Lily Dale because her mother grew up there and because she is intrigued by the idea of a town filled with physic mediums. Because Calla saw a figure in the cemetery, one in the mirror and Miriam, Odelia’s spirit friend, before she figured out that the town is inhabited by physic mediums, she begins to question if she has the “gift.” Even so, Calla continues to doubt that ghosts exist and that people can communicate with the dead because her mother would tell her to use her common sense. And her common sense tells her that there’s no such thing as ghosts and that you cannot communicate with the dead. Later on, Calla begins to think that she is a physic medium. Throughout Calla’s stay in Lily Dale, she has a reoccurring dream about her mother and grandmother getting into a fight. In their fight, Stephanie says that they must dredge the lake to find out the truth. Of course, Calla does not know if this dream is real or made up. If it’s real, what does it mean and what is the truth? Further into the novel, Calla has a conversation with Odelia in which Odelia commands Calla to never go into the lake. In addition, Calla begins to ask herself more questions: Am I a physic? Was my mother’s death an accident or a murder? What does her dream mean? What does her mother mean by dredging the lake? You will only be able to find the answers to these questions if you read this novel and the subsequent novels. Of all the characters, I predictably liked Calla the most. Although she did not narrate the entire novel, the parts that she narrated were incredibly natural. I was able to relate to her and felt myself saying, Wow, I would definitely think something like that or react the way she did if I were in her shoes. The book does appeal to me on in an emotional way. How could it not? The protagonist deals with the death of her mother and because of how well written the novel is, I really related to what she was going through. Even though, I have fortunately not dealt with the death my mother or father, I felt Calla’s pain as she cried and felt the emotions she was feeling. One moment in the novel really stuck out. Calla is talking to Odelia about the clock and how it mysteriously got set. She asks Odelia if she came into her room in the middle of the night and set the clock, which frequently got reset due to the power outages. When Calla figures out that Odelia did not come into her room during the middle of the night, she feels afraid and confused. I was able to feel how scared she was and I felt my body tingle thinking if this were to happen to me. Lily Dale: Awakening by Wendy Corsi Staub is actually the first paranormal suspense novel I have ever read. I remember going to a bookstore in Monterey with my cousins and buying this book, thinking this could be interesting to read. Although I was a bit skeptical at first, I ended up loving this book. Every page kept me wanting to read more and I was always on my toes. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a real page-turner however cliché that sounds. This book made me think about the “supernatural” world and if ghosts really do exist. It reminded me of our Humanitas class and how people believe that our souls are always with us even when that person passes away. Of course, I have to mention that I am a huge fraidy cat and hate anything scary. Why I chose this book I have no idea. But, I am definitely glad I did.
I've always been curious about the paranormal, so much now that I'm not even scared of so called ghosts. Friday nights at home were all about ghost stories and shows, so when I first read the blurb having to do with this story it caught my attention and piqued my interest immediately and kept it throughout the story.Lily Dale Awkwakening is written by New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub. She is an award-winning author who has over seventy published novels and who has sold more than three million books worldwide. Wendy achieved New York Times bestselling status with her psychological suspense novels which have also appeared on the USA Today, Barnes and Noble Top Ten, and Bookscan bestseller lists.This story tells about a girl named Calla Delaney, who can be described as a vulnerable, broken, teenage girl, whose life has been turned upside down ever since her mother’s unfortunate death. Now, months later, trying to move on with her life, her dad has decided to move them from Florida to California. Not being able to handle the pressure, Calla ultimately decides to spend her summer alone with her grandmother Odelia in Lily Dale, New York while her father searches to find them a new home. Being not what she expected, Calla was at first disappointed with her new town, but as time goes on she begins to notice strange and rather curious things such as that the majority of the residents in Lily Dale are registered mediums; Odelia being one of them. Calla doesn’t know whether or not to believe in her grandmother’s gift, that’s until she begins encountering the strange phenomena herself. From there she begins to uncover secrets, to which she’s afraid, but since her curiosity and presence won’t make the spirits go away, decides to make an attempt to understand and reveal her mother’s past as well as making her future in this place a little clearer.Throughout the story Calla begins to change, going from broken, to having a stronger more curious perception on things due to her eyes being opened by her Lily Dale experiences. The people she meets such as Evangeline, and Jacy and Blue all help her through the awkward stages of being the new kid in an unknown place as well as help her understand her gift. Odelia, being one of the more significant characters, also helps her unravel her gift and help her through the process by answering her questions and taking her to town meetings where they all discuss and communicate through to the spirits who have passed on.Lily Dale Awakening had its up’s and down’s. I really enjoyed reading this book but the ending was rather frustrating. I won’t put it into detail, but it does build suspense. Other than that the story kept me wanting to read more and I could see things start to develop through Calla’s eyes. The story shows her struggles leading to her strengths, which is ultimately rewarding because we all face tough times and have to move on from them.
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This short series of Teen Fantasy books is an odd oxymoron. Clearly aimed and written for a young teenaged audience, there are moments of violence, deep emotional devastation, and adult emotional themes. (not sex. there is no sex.)Calla has just lost her mother, who buried her own teenaged years behind a wall of efficiency and 'normalcy.' This death is handled very well, and gives good insight into the grieving process. Now Calla is trying to figure out who she is, and who her mother was at the same time. Maybe teens are ready for the level of fear that this book would have raised in me at 15, but I found it a bit shocking. Each book stands alone, although they really should be read together and in order. The writing was overly simple, and repeated to carry on through the four books in case someone picked up one out of sequence. While the emotions dealt with in grief were complex, some of the other parts of the book were unsatisifyingly glossed over or not explored in depth.
—Robin Brown
Enjoyable story with well drawn realistic characters. No one is all good or all bad. For example Calla's ex-boyfriend Kevin dumped her by text for a girl he met in college but you can see he still cares about her. And Calla's behaviour and feelings about Kevin are realistic. She his hurt and heartbroken and wants to avoid him which is natural but she also struggles with not being over him and remembering the good times. And Calla & Blue's interaction (one of the hot guys in Lily Dale where she moves in with her grandmother after her mother's death) is realistic too. She wants him to ask her out because he is good looking, he is probably interested because she is pretty and new in town. Neither of them are madly in love with the other - it is all very casual they go out a couple of times and have fun. The main problem with this this book was the abrupt finish before the story was complete. The story arc with her mother is obviously intended to span the series (4 books) but the book would have felt more complete and finished if the storyline about Kaitlyn was concluded in this book instead of the next. Having read both it feels like books 1 and 2 were written as one story then randomly split in half. Don't let that put you off reading it though - just make sure you have both Awakwning and Believing beofer you start reading.
—Sandra
3.5 stars - Awakening is a young adult paranormal book centered around Calla, a teenager who just lost her mother and goes to stay with her grandmother, Odelia, in the town of Lily Dale. Calla soon discovers that Lily Dale is not your typical small town. Instead, it comprised primarily of mediums, psychics and others with supernatural abilities. I thought the book had a good flow and kept me interested in not only the different characters, but also the town and mysteriousness of the ‘people’ Calla sees. I think some readers had a hard time relating to the main character, Calla, but if you read from the perspective of a teenager that has not experienced much in the world (use your imagination), it makes a good, more believable story. I really enjoyed this book, but was frustrated with the cliff hanger ending. I may just have to read the next book in the series… at least they are short (under 300 pages).
—Jennifer
