Published: Aug. 27, 2010
Words: 78141 (approximate)
Language: English

Description

My parents split up when I was little. I'm not sure why. My mom never talks about it. Whatever it was, it was bad enough to make my mom pack me up in the middle of the night when I was four years old and run to my Gran's condo in Jacksonville. My mom got the condo after Gran died. From that time on all I had known my entire life was beach life. Until four years ago. Until my uncle found me.

Tags

realms, guardians, guardian, mary parker, leeowyn blake, leeowyn, kahl nar, the mists

Available ebook reading formats

Single purchase gains access to all formats. How to download ebooks to e-reading devices and apps.

Format	Full Book	Sample First 15%
Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)	Buy	View sample
Online Reading (JavaScript, experimental, buggy)	Buy	View sample
Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Buy	Download sample
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Buy	Download sample
PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)	Buy	No sample available
RTF (readable on most word processors)	Buy	No sample available
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Buy	Download sample
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Buy	Download sample
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)	Buy	No sample available
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)	Buy	No sample available

Reviews

Log-in to write a Review   Log-in to add a Video Review

Review by: aobibliophile on March 28, 2012 :
What we hear while we are asleep continues to resonate with us upon awakening. - Henry Reed

Leeowyn Blake was still little when her parents split up. life was pretty much normal for her and her Mom in Jacksonville, Florida until she was fourteen when her Uncle Cyle suddenly showed up. four years later, her father's family is looking forward to Leeowyn's eighteenth birthday and her awakening...
reading author Mary Parker's debut novel was a pleasant surprise. i was hooked from the book's beginning to its cliffhanger ending. the story was fast-paced and intriguing. there were so many secrets concerning Leeowyn and her relatives and some of the other characters were quite suspect as to their real motives. it was like reading a mystery with fantasy elements on it and the combination worked well for me.
i liked how Leeowyn's visions were described. whether they were real or not just made the whole story more interesting.
i also liked the coming-of-age theme in this book. Leeowyn's character gradually develops when she experiences her awakening and finds out what she must face and what her responsibilities are. she may react like a typical teenager now and then but one can see the changes in her personality as she transitions from childhood to adulthood.
overall, i find Ms. Parker's first book entertaining and delightful. i hope the second book in the Kahl'Nar Saga would be the same as well.
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Tammy Sparks on Feb. 20, 2012 :
The first in a series, The Awakening of Leeowyn Blake is a young adult fantasy that tells the magical tale of a teenage girl who is not only trying to find her place in the world, but literally trying to find out which world she belongs in. Leeowyn lives in sunny Florida with her mother, until the fateful day of her fourteenth birthday, when a man claiming to be her uncle knocks on the door. The man has yellow eyes and red hair, just like Leeowyn, which convinces her that he must be related to her. After explaining that her father is dead, he tells Leeowyn he has come to take her back home, the home her mother took her from long ago. For the next four years, she splits her time between living with her mother in Florida during the summer and her uncle the rest of the year. Exactly where her uncle Cyle lives, however, is a mystery throughout most of the story. Cyle picks her up every September and during the drive to the family estate, Leeowyn always falls asleep and is never actually able to track her journey.

During the winter months she lives with her Grandmother and uncle and studies in the vast library. She befriends a girl named Peach and meets a boy named Alex, a potential romantic interest, but interspersed with the sameness of daily life, Leeowyn has nightmares about a dead girl holding a raven, and she’s convinced the girl is trying to tell her something important. It is only on her eighteenth birthday that she discovers why everyone in her uncle’s house has been so secretive: Leeowyn is actually a Guardian and she is about to “awaken,” or come into her powers. And her duty as a Guardian is to save the world, actually worlds, from the evil Ruok. This startling news and what follows makes for a truly fast-paced, page-turning read, as Lee realizes that she faces a truly difficult decision.

Although the story feels familiar, I found the characters to be engaging and likeable. Leeowyn feels like a real teen with real teen problems, not the least of which is how to handle her growing attraction to Alex. Her uncle Cyle and tutor Rodrick add a sinister air to the story, as the chapters alternate between Lee’s first person voice and the other characters’ third person point of view. There is clearly something going on that Lee is unaware of, although her recurring nightmares and her friends’ odd behavior should be enough to tip her off that everyone is keeping secrets from her. My only complaint with the story is Leeowyn’s use of pop culture references, which for some reason pulled me out of the fantasy world I wanted to stay in (although I understand why she did it.)

The book is short and the ending abrupt, and I’m sure I’m not the only reader who got to the last page only to cry “What? That’s the end?” I immediately wanted to start the second book, which I hope Ms. Parker is hard at work on.
(reviewed long after purchase)

Reason for report:
— Select a reason — Book is or contains spam Book infringes copyright Same content is published elsewhere with different author (for ex., by private-label rights) Duplicate Incomplete work (such as sample or serial) Should be marked adults-only Category is inappropriate Poorly formatted Nudity or other inappropriate content on cover Nudity or other inappropriate visual content in book Inappropriate erotica content Cover image is improper Content is inappropriate Other violation of Terms of Service Other reason not shown above.

Additional details: