From Goodreads: For eighteen year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. Up until recently, she has been incapable of feeling emotion. And when she’s around Alex, the gorgeous new guy at school, she can feel electricity that makes her skin buzz. Not to mention the monsters that haunt her nightmares have crossed over into real-life. But with Alex seeming to hate her and secrets popping up everywhere, Gemma’s life is turning into a chaotic mess. Things that shouldn’t be real suddenly seem to exist. And as her world falls apart, figuring out the secrets of her past becomes a matter of life and death.

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I was worried when I started the first chapter of this novel; a lot of what was happening seemed cliché and overdone, so I began to mentally prepare myself for an “okay” read.  However, as the story progressed, it began to get better and, having now finished the novel, I must say that both Sorensen’s writing and storyline did improve with time.  The aspects of the novel that I originally found cliché and overdone began to taper off and Sorenson began creating a very original piece with much action, pulling me into the story.

I found Gemma to be an interesting charcter in her own right, having never felt emotions before.  Hence, she is a bit of a mess when we first meet her, confused and jumpy, especially as new emotions keep creeping up on her.  I understand where her low self esteem comes from, based on this sudden ability to feel and not understanding it; however, I like my protagonists to be a little bit stronger than she happens to be.  Gemma tends to lack willpower, which had me yelling at her on more than one occasion and, while she does progress throughout the novel, she never really takes over her own life.  Instead, she allows Alex, a boy she believe hates her, to control everything she does.  For some reason, she cannot resist the urge to be around him, even though she knows he looks down upon her and dislikes her immensely. Though I wasn’t a fan of this disposition, I did enjoy it when Gemma began to push back, demanding answers and attempting to take over her own destiny, especially as the man from her dreams becomes more vivid, and the yellow-eyed figures hunting her in her dreams step into the real world.

Now, aside from the main characters, I really did enjoy the plotline as it progressed.  Sorenson has a very vivid imagination and she really fleshed out her story by creating new worlds and situations.  I enjoyed learning about Gemma’s abilities as well, and her many brushes with death kept me glued to the pages, even though she sometimes got on my nerves.  The ending, of course, was a huge clincher for me as we find out who the man from her dreams really is and everything comes to a head, leaving the reader with a huge cliffhanger.  It’s so huge, in fact, that I went right out and bought the sequel, The Underworld, which is thankfully already out, because I have to know what happens next.  Three and a half stars.

I won a copy of this novel from Goodreads First Reads.