Really enjoyable read, full of strong feelings. Loved the characters and their development especially Milo. Very special story with a real food for thought

This was an incredible book and it kept me engrossed the entire book. The story line was fresh, the characters were believable. My emotions were all over the place with book. I can not recommend it enough.

What an interesting topic for a story - the ability to feel the feelings of others. I really enjoyed the strangers to friends theme - including Aiden being supportive of the single mother, not trying to control Milo. A pleasant read for your next weekend getaway to the cabin!

The Wake Up by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Brief Summary: Aiden is a cattle rancher who wakes up and can feel the pain that animals around him endure; forces him to wake up. He can no longer maintain emotional distance from those around him. He falls is love with Gwen a single mother of a difficult child and newcomer to town. This is my first read by Catherine Ryan Hyde and I was excited having heard good things about her work.

Highlights: I love that he saw a psychiatrist though not all psychiatrists do psychotherapy. I also thought she did a good job of incorporating the long term effects of abuse on the victims and their loved ones into her plot. I could also appreciate Aiden’s tendency to be emotionally closed off given my work as a clinical psychologist.

Explanation of Rating: 2/5; unfortunately, though this novel was an easy read it really dragged. I had a hard time getting engaged in the plot. The main plot component was just hard to imagine as it is fictional rather than realistic. I did like the psychological components to the novel.

Psychology Factors: This novel accurately portrays the long term effects of child abuse.

Favorite Quotes: You are only one person- Aiden’s wise psychiatrist

Unfortunately, in a world where there are too many book and too little time; I don’t recommend picking up this one. Given my level of respect for this author I will try her other reads.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Loved the thought and care put into constructing the characters and the details in the plot. Made it so believable and realistic. Not an easy read by any means, due to the traumatic experiences described, but it made my heart ache. Good books can do that- this one was well enjoyed.

I’m so sorry I missed the deadline for this book. It was AWESOME. This is one of my favorite authors and she never lets me down. Great book.

I am a huge fan of Catherine Ryan Hyde. Everything she writes always hits home with an emotional punch. "The Wake Up" is no different. The story of a gentle horse rancher and his efforts to help a fragile child is so touching. Readers can't help but cheer for Aiden, who struggles to cope with empathy for both people and animals, and Milo, a child impacted by emotional and physical abuse. Together, they "wake up" to see what can be achieved when strength comes from unlikely sources.

I love every Catherine Ryan Hyde book I read, and this one is no different. She understands human nature and looks for the good in people. I always come away feeling like the world is a better place when I finish one of her novels. The Wake Up is no exception. I received this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Excerpt from Review: "After reading Say Goodbye for Now, I was taken by Catherine Ryan Hyde’s writing and couldn’t wait to read more of her books. So, when the author reported that her latest novel, The Wake Up, would be available on Netgalley.com, I rushed over to download a copy. With my busy schedule, it took me some time to get to read it, but once I started, I couldn’t put it down..."

This book is about Aiden, a mature gentleman who has a "wake Up" , as he refers to it, episode that changes everything about him and how he handles his ranch. He meets Gwen, who is coming off of an abusive marriage and Aiden and Gwen are trying to expand their relationship to include her kids. Enter Milo, who has trouble connecting with anyone, this sends Aiden searching into his past to help
Connect with Milo
This is my second book by Catherine Ryan Hyde and I absolutely loved this story !!!

Catherine Hyde is a masterful storyteller and this was a exceptionally well done subject. This book centers on a cattle rancher who becomes a psychic and a empath. He soon has to quit ranching and cannot bear any pain of animals so he is ridiculed by his cowboy friends and ostracized. He begins dating a woman with a disturbed son who hurts animals and test his powers helping the boy.
As a vegan and strong animal.advocate I had to skip a lot of this book. But I applaud the author for highlighting the horrific pain and torture of the meat industry and the psychopath people that torture animals and murder them for a living.

I've loved every book I've read that Catherine Hyde has written. I felt so many different emotions while reading this story. Anyone, no matter their age, finds some sort of challenge in their life. Sometimes you may feel you've gotten over those challenges, when really you learn to "hide" them to forget....

You will want to read this book. It is interesting in so many ways,. This best selling author has done it again.

This author's books are so wonderfully powerful and touching. This one follows suit! Great characters and I always feel like I know them.

Favorite Quotes:

He wished he had a better bead on the greater worries, but they eluded him. Just shadows. Ghosts. Unknowable and indistinct. And yet so very . . . there.

He felt utterly unequipped to go home. Forcing himself back into a world that had put him in some role of authority felt akin to turning a puppy loose on a busy highway.

Aiden watched her go. As he did, it formed in his head, wordlessly, that she was a gift being given to him. Something rich and good coming into his life to make up for Milo and the rest of this mess. To give him back a little of the peace that was being stripped down and hauled away.

It’s a turning-point moment in people’s lives, when you look yourself in the face like that and realize that who you are, and who you become, and what you do seem to rely on a combination of factors that are partly out of your control.

She had been slimmer and better dressed before Grandpa died last year, but some thread within her had been working its way loose since then.

It’s like he drew all the curtains and I can’t see in. I know he must be in there somewhere, but I feel like I haven’t even seen him for two years… This little missing person.

My Review:

I am intensely frustrated with my inability to articulate the supreme level of expertise, quality, and poignancy of this compellingly written story. I was immediately captivated by the superlative writing and remained riveted and enthralled with every smartly honed sentence. Written from a third-person POV and crossing several timelines in memory, the ingenious and emotive storyline was highly eventful and densely packed with heart-squeezing, throat-burning and eye-stinging observations and staggering insights. Her well-crafted storylines were powerfully detailed, thoughtfully plotted, slyly observant, and pulled sharp visuals that kept the characters moving smoothly behind my eyes. The story was brilliantly paced, well-constructed, and flawlessly executed. I was totally mesmerized and continued to ruminate over the characters and story long after putting my Kindle to rest and attempting sleep. I had also saved four pages of favorite quotes. Catherine Ryan Hyde has mad skills and a new fangirl. I. Am. In. Awe. Five-Stars is not enough, it deserves at least ten!

The Wake Up is a well paced novel featuring individuals facing decisions and responding to crises, after living through multiple childhood traumas. The main character, Aiden, has been forced to reexamine his priorities after coming to a fork in the road regarding his occupation and relationships. Feelings long buried begin to resurface, resulting in his quest for answers, from both his past and within himself.

Along the way, he meets Gwen, a single mom with two kids, Elizabeth and Milo. Elizabeth is the good girl, going out of her way to make her mother's life easier. Milo though is the opposite, at least on the surface. He becomes the most pivotal character, the glue that ultimately binds them all together.

Hyde's writing is easy to read, though the story takes a few chapters to initially make its impact. About a quarter of the way in, I started to feel invested in the characters and their lives. Some of the language, phrases, and ideas are expressed in ways that made me pause and think. Hyde does a good job of setting up a scene and letting the reader draw the conclusion. By writing this way, I felt a stronger connection to the book and the situations they encounter.

I read the book on vacation, in just two days because it can be compelling, but it is not a happy beach read. However, the end is full of hope and promise which was a highly satisfactory way to finish.

Typical, enjoyable Catherine Hyde Ryan book. She portrays likable characters in everyday life but with a twist.
Would you want to feel the pain of the world ? Feeling every hurt , mistreated animals anguish ? Living through
human devastation ? Some people would want to be sympathetic, but to internalize all this pain ? Good for discussion.

I have loved all of Catherine Hyde's books, but this one feel a little short. Too predictable, unless it's because I've read so many of her books and they tend to be similar in theme. Character development wasn't as good as usual. I will try her next book and hope she's not just cranking out formula type books. I did like the story, just needed something more.

The Wake Up is a bit of a slow burn of a novel that sucks you in by then end. We first meet Aiden Delacorte as he is getting ready to meet his girlfriend’s kids for the first time. While Gwen’s daughter and Aiden seem to hit it off well, things do go so smoothly with her son, Milo. Withdrawn, barely eating, and with a propensity to hurting animals, Milo is clearly a damaged child, and not very likeable. Aiden has to grapple with whether he can forgive the boy for some things he has done, and come to terms with the terrible things that Milo endured. While any novel involving child abuse is a difficult read, there is a fundamental question in the novel that intrigued me – we can forgive a child’s bad behavior when we know it is a result of unspeakable things that were done to them, but when that child grows up and repeats those unspeakable things we are usually not as forgiving.

As a side plot, Aiden had something that he refers to as his “wake up.” After being shut off to all emotion after his mother left his father when he was a young boy, he one day starts to feel all of the emotions of his animals. The deer he shoots, the cows he raises, the rabbits about to be turned into dinner by his neighbors, etc. This makes him have to re-evaluate his life and his work. This semi-magical plot aspect was a little weird, but as someone who doesn’t believe in magic but fully believes in fairies that take my stuff and hide it from me, I guess a little bit of the whimsical is okay every now and then.

I have yet to read a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde that I didn't just fall in love with. The Wake Up is another wonderful story by this most wonderful storyteller. She once again put words together to create an incredible world filled with memorable characters.

Aiden finds that his gift of feeling other's emotions had been reawakened. Not knowing if this is a good thing or not, he opens his heart and his home to Gwen and her two children. But it's not as easy as it sounds. Gwen's little boy, Milo has issues of his own. As they try to heal and move on, the bonds that are created could be easily broken or they could make each other stronger.

Catherine is a must read author for me. I know each story she tells will be beautiful and emotional and that the words will flow off of the pages and into my heart.