Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith is the story of seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd, who is left alone for the summer. She has the perfect vacation planned out, but a call from a stranger who claims to have some things that belonged to her deceased sister forces her to abandon all her plans. Kiri sets out to meet the stranger on a life-changing trip.

The realistic and complex main character is easily the best part of this novel. Unlike many annoying female Young Adult novel heroines, Kiri is a normal girl I couldn’t help but like. Like any normal girl, she has her vulnerabilities, most of which slowly come out after the mysterious stranger’s phone call. I found myself cheering her on and empathizing with her, but there were also moments where I wanted to stop her from making stupid mistakes. Kiri is not a perfect character, but she’s honest, real, and completely relatable.

Though the novel contains themes like grief and murder, Smith’s upbeat, lively writing style kept it from becoming excessively dark and depressing. Her style is a bit different and it definitely took me some time to get used to it. Smith’s writing gives the impression of being inside Kiri’s head and knowing every single thought than runs through it.

The main problem of this novel is it’s plot. Many events seemed to happen for no apparent reason. There were some really confusing moments and messy scenes. After a while, the novel just seemed to be dragging on.

Overall, Wild Awake is an unexpectedly unique novel. What first seemed like a typical coming-of-age movie is actually a refreshing take on a typical story.