Lucid [Hardcover]

First Thoughts:
I was super excited to read this book. The blurb grabbed my attention right away. I had also read some really great reviews, so I had high hopes and expectations coming into it. Let's just say that I was not disappointed!

Final Thoughts:
The plot was ingenious! I loved the concept of the sort of alternate lives that the main characters Maggie and Sloane lived. Each girl was conscious of the other, even though they didn't know whether each other was simply a figment of their imagination or something more. They knew that when one fell asleep, they dreamed the life of the other and vice versa. As a reader, you take the ride along with the girls, as they try to live their own lives, while also worrying about this "other" part of themselves and what it might mean. It is NOT one of those situations where, as the reader, you will know what is really going on while the characters are left in the dark. I could not figure out for the life of me why or how this was happening to the girls. Or even if one girl was dreaming the other. For the entire book, you will be constantly trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and I mean that in the best possible way. It is one of the things I loved most about Lucid. Most of the time, I can figure out the mystery long before it is revealed by the author. Ooh no. Not this time.

The characters were beautifully written. You really get to feel as though you know both Maggie and Sloane personally and they were both amazing! Sometimes I wanted to reach into the book to smack some sense into them, but in a good way if that makes sense. They makes mistakes that all teenage girls make when it comes to life and love. I came to care for both characters so much that it was incredibly wonderful to see them going through the process of finding themselves.

Lucid is an amazing mix of beautifully developed characters and a truly clever plot. You will get two completely different girls, with different lives, while at the same time, everything is connected in an eerie way. I absolutely loved this book and I recommend it to EVERYONE! No matter your preference, you will find something to love about Lucid. At the end of the book, I literally sat there for about five minutes just staring at like final sentence. I was captivated! You will not understand what I mean until you read it, and to say anything more would be a spoiler. I was still thinking about this book for days after I finished reading it. It was that good. It was romantic, thrilling, happy and sad. First Thoughts:
I was super excited to read this book. The blurb grabbed my attention right away. I had also read some really great reviews, so I had high hopes and expectations coming into it. Let's just say that I was not disappointed!

Final Thoughts:
The plot was ingenious! I loved the concept of the sort of alternate lives that the main characters Maggie and Sloane lived. Each girl was conscious of the other, even though they didn't know whether each other was simply a figment of their imagination or something more. They knew that when one fell asleep, they dreamed the life of the other and vice versa. As a reader, you take the ride along with the girls, as they try to live their own lives, while also worrying about this "other" part of themselves and what it might mean. It is NOT one of those situations where, as the reader, you will know what is really going on while the characters are left in the dark. I could not figure out for the life of me why or how this was happening to the girls. Or even if one girl was dreaming the other. For the entire book, you will be constantly trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and I mean that in the best possible way. It is one of the things I loved most about Lucid. Most of the time, I can figure out the mystery long before it is revealed by the author. Ooh no. Not this time.

The characters were beautifully written. You really get to feel as though you know both Maggie and Sloane personally and they were both amazing! Sometimes I wanted to reach into the book to smack some sense into them, but in a good way if that makes sense. They makes mistakes that all teenage girls make when it comes to life and love. I came to care for both characters so much that it was incredibly wonderful to see them going through the process of finding themselves.

Lucid is an amazing mix of beautifully developed characters and a truly clever plot. You will get two completely different girls, with different lives, while at the same time, everything is connected in an eerie way. I absolutely loved this book and I recommend it to EVERYONE! No matter your preference, you will find something to love about Lucid. At the end of the book, I literally sat there for about five minutes just staring at like final sentence. I was captivated! You will not understand what I mean until you read it, and to say anything more would be a spoiler. I was still thinking about this book for days after I finished reading it. It was that good. It was romantic, thrilling, happy and sad. A truly breathtaking novel!

Aside from sharing the same full name, Sloane and Maggie couldn't be more different. Sloane is the good girl, a dedicated student and loving daughter; for the most part, she's content with the life she has, though sometimes she wishes it were a little more exciting. Maggie, on the other hand, is living the high life as an up-and-coming actress in New York City, though she rarely admits that it sometimes gets lonely amidst all the glitz and glamour. But even though these girls' lives seem to be the complete opposite, they're actually not--because every night, each dreams that she's the other. At first, it's a delicious little secret, a sweet escape from their own lives once they close their eyes, but soon, things start to get messy. As people from their dream worlds start to bleed into their waking states, neither Sloane nor Maggie is sure anymore what's real and what's imaginary.

For me, Lucid was a book that held so much promise. I was captivated by the idea of two different people who dreamed each other's lives, only to find out that only one of them might be real. And for a while, I was quite enchanted by this; I enjoyed watching how Sloane would react to what went on in Maggie's life and vice versa. After a while, though, I started to get bored because unfortunately, I just couldn't quite connect with either Maggie or Sloane and the pacing was lagging too much to maintain my interest, though I briefly became more interested in the plot again as it began to pick up, once the dream and waking worlds started to blend together. Ultimately, though, I was rather dissatisfied. The ending was too ambiguous and open ended that it felt like none of the questions of identity that were posed in this story were answered. Unfortunately, while I loved the concept for this book, in the end, I felt that it failed to fully deliver.

Lucid will still be enjoyed by fans of Dream Girl by Lauren Mechling, And Then Everything Unraveled by Jennifer Sturman, and Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson.

I absolutely loved this book. It is an honest and thoughtful tale that kept me engaged for the entire read. The character development is superb and the story is great. I believe this is labeled as a teen read but i think it is a teen-adult book.