Unique YA Mystery, Loud Awake and Lost, by Adele Griffin, Simple Fantastic...

I got back from lunch to find they'd cleaned out my room. They'drius even taken my nameplate off the door. According to Addington Hospital, Ember Leferrier had already left the building.

And I would be on my way, in just a few minutes. Strange that I'd slept in the narrow metal bed for eight months. Looking around, I could already feel my time here losing shape. I'd never felt real at Addington, I'd never been me ,  

lik. I'd been a restoration project, and now I was done... 

Yep, I was finished. I was gone... 

Fragile. Freezing. Lonely. I felt crudely refashioned, like a Frankenstein monster. Barely on this earth, like a ghost...

But the terror didn't hit me until I
buckled in. My parents had driven up
in their new Prius--a different car,
of course, from the family Volvo that
I'd totaled. They'd leased it some
months ago, but I'd never seen it...

loud awake and lost:

Which one of me has come home?

                                                                            By Adele Griffin

Don't mind telling you that I'd love to see this author write at least one adult book! This novel was my first of her books and, whether YA or not, it caught my attention and kept me totally unaware what would finally happen! Very cool ending!

Ember Leferrier had just been released from the hospital after having been in an almost fatal car accident. She had gone over a bridge and her injuries were so bad, including some head trauma, that she had been in Addington Hospital for 18 months. 

Ember had been aching to get out, but now that her parents had picked her up, in a new car, of course, she began to have doubts, concerns about living outside, even with her parents! Of course she'd seen them during that time, but even now, in coming home, she could feel some type of barrier...neither of them was comfortable and, of course, neither was Ember. She still didn't know or remember a lot about what had happened...and even before the accident! As of now, her doctor couldn't tell her whether any of her memories would return...

Her first surprise was going straight to her bedroom when they got home and seeing things she'd never seen before: A ticket stub for a German Movie???  A black business card for a club? and then the poster! (NOT the same band, closest I could get...)

My heart was pounding. But I hadn't heard this band's music. I hadn't tacked up this poster. Or bought those. Or seen that. Okay, okay, calm down. This must have happened inside the memory sinkhole. The missing weeks. Dr. P and I had shared multiple discussions about this...

Rachel's lips thinned as she glanced at the poster.

"Sorry, I'm not big on Weregirl. Sorta forgot that

 you went fangirl right before the accident."

                                            ~~~

Not very long after they had gotten home, Ember's best friend, Rachel showed up. Although she had ran upstairs and given her a big hug almost crushing Ember, there were a few times that Rachel caught Ember off-guard and confused with what she said, especially when she asked her about Weregirl's music... Like, she thought Weregirl sucked... 

Ember didn't know how to react, so she said something small back, sarcastically laughing that she was glad Rachel found it funny that she had lost part of her brain.

They kept trying to get over their having not seen each other for so long, but then Rachel said "I'm so glad you're back...And the best part is I can tell it's the real you..."

Ember quickly asked what she meant by the "real me?"

But Rachel had quickly just hugged her and talked about how she had missed her. Ember, though she might forgive Rachel, didn't stop wondering--what had happened to her in the weeks she was unable to remember?

Ember and her parents had always been close but it seemed to Ember that they were smothering her, especially her mother, who didn't seem to want her to do anything but go to stay home. She didn't even want her to go back to school right away--Ember didn't want to either but both her and her Dad said she was so far behind that she couldn't afford to take anymore time off.

Everybody was excited to see Ember back at school. She had been a member of the dance group and fairly popular, but she noticed that everybody, even kids who had not been her friends, knew about the accident and was anxious to learn more about what had happened. And as each little thing confused her, she wanted more and more to regain her memories. She decided to do as much as she could to out more about those things in her room, as well as followup on her parents comment that she'd been hanging with new friends!

On Friday of that first week, she forgot everything and went looking for the club that had been on the black card; she remembered the address... But when she got there it was just an old warehouse and she tried to find some place where she could look in to see more... Once she was there, she was ready to leave by a fire escape entrance but sat down to rest... She still got tired easily.

"You scared me!"
"You scared me, too." He laughed as he pushed the window up and then swung a leg out, then another, so that he was sitting on the ledge. I could tell he wasn't nearly as startled as I was as we stared each other down.
"But you really scared me. I'm serious." My hands flew to my flushed cheeks.
"Sorry," he repeated. "Once I saw you, I didn't want to lose you. That's all Red. I'm harmless." He smiled. "I'm Kai."

He was there when she awoke. His name was Kai and both knew they were immediately attracted to each other. But with everything happening she decided to keep her new friend a secret. When she got home, her ex-boyfriend, Rachel and parents were all in a panic! She had been scheduled for a party with her friends, who had already left, and she'd forgotten all about it!

She was remembering more and more and had connected with more of her friends, who had graduated, but were part of the dance activity when she was still in... And slowly, she began to hear about Anthony...

This is indeed an exciting, suspenseful mystery. But it was also about a "coming of age" for a young girl who had begun to feel lost in her own life. She had quit dance, had become involved with dancing in clubs and drinking instead. She was enjoying new friends, even though she still considered and cared for her old friends. But when her memory is lost and she had forgotten all that had been decisions she had already made but had not remembered, she was even more confused as all of her old friends came running back into her life, acting as if nothing had changed within her. But she knew it had--if she could only remember what had changed...

Thoughtful things for a young girl to think of as a learning experience while all wrapped up in the fabulous story! Highly recommended for YA and above! I loved it!


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