The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: December 18, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
304 Pages
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.
Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.
A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
304 Pages
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.
Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.
A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.
Indigo Awakening is the first Jordan Dane novel that I've ever read, but a lot of people I follow rave about her and this cover is absolutely phenomenal so I was like, "Gimme, gimme, gimme." The synopsis also really intrigued me. Basically, I believed this to be a "Emily Must Read You" from the get go. I was bouncing when I was downloading the galley onto my kindle to read for a blog tour. Too bad it was actually pretty horrid.
Fifteen-year-old Lucas Darby has always heard voices, that's what got him sent to Haven Hills Treatment Facility, a private mental hospital. When he realizes his life is in danger, he runs away in search of some random girl, who tries to mentally communicate with him. Rayne, his older sister, seems to have pretty much forgotten about her brother until their older sister, Mia, who is an absolute wack-job, contacts her asking if she's seen Lucas. She hasn't, but she does receive a voicemail from him that leads her on a weird and unbelievable journey that will change everything she's ever believed in - or something to that effect.
Indigo Awakening dives face-first into the story. You immediately see into Lucas's mind and his fears, then you switch to Rayne's point-of-view where she is determined to save him from their sister, from the hospital and from those who have him running away in terror. Then you see five thousand other points-of-view and get utterly confused because the author starts off some passages by saying "Downtown LA, seconds later…" Over how long does this book take place? Don't ask me. I lost count of the seconds/minutes/hours. I wanted to bash my head against a wall because I immediately noticed that and hoped the author would go lax as the story continued. False hope, guys. False. Hope.
I'm honestly surprised I finished this novel. From the very beginning, I noticed several things that bothered me. I should've known this would be trouble when the author mentioned that Rayne, one of the main character's uses MySpace, which has been on the decline since 2008, and another flag was thrown when the author mentioned Rayne finding joy in picturing Mia, her evil older sister, with a zit ready to harvest. …I will never think of the fall harvest the same way. What makes it worse is I've been told that the author has used this description before, in another novel. WHY. PLEASE. WHO SAYS/THINKS STUFF LIKE THAT. There are many points-of-view and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the change in perspective. It's so random and I lost track of who I was reading about several times.
This has such a great premise, but the execution of it was terrible. It's like the author took every cliche she could think of a meshed it into a three-hundred-something page book. There is a nasty case of insta-love. There is somewhat of a love-triangle. There's a mysterious and misunderstood "bad boy." There is a main character with serious "women are feeble creatures, who can't decide for themselves who they love" complex. COME ON. There is almost no originality - besides the unique abilities of the characters… which still don't make sense to me.
I was left with too many questions to even want to continue. Especially - whatever happened to Mia? She just like dropped off the face of the Earth… And I could've sworn that Rayne had an iguana… Is it dead? It had to of died from neglect because it, like Mia, just disappeared. The end of the novel had me laughing because everything about it was so obvious. The "cliffhanger" could be seen from miles away. This book was just a hot mess. I, personally, won't be continuing the series, nor will I read anything else Jordan Dane has written. I can't in good faith recommend it to anyone. Indigo Awakening left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
