Awake by Wendy Raven McNair.

Ok, so last night I finished reading the second instalment of Wendy Raven McNair's Asleep trilogy, "Awake".

It is SO GOOD. I love Adisa, she shines in a sea filled with selfish stupid YA heroines as a beacon of all that is good, and she's NOT a mary sue. A feat only a few writers can pull off.

I like that even when she's overwhelmed with adversity, overcome in one of her "rages", with everyone around her man-handling her, or keeping her in the dark, or basically using her for their own purposes, she still manages to think, to keep her priorities straight, to never lose sight of what she wants.
And when she makes mistakes she realizes them and she does her best to make it better, to apologize, to learn from the experience.
She doesn't lie to herself, even when she compartmentalizes, like Pearl.

Speaking of Pearl. OMG. I kind of figured Adisa would have to go to extremes to get out of Kubanza, but gosh, when the moment came... it had me in tears!
Also, I'm having a hard time making the Sps as the bad guys, as Adisa seemed determined to do in the beginning. It's not just "cultural differences" that separates earthbounds from them. It's so much more. It's gonna be pretty interesting reading how Adisa will make sense of both her heritages merged in herself, which is what I think will have to come next (after she saves Micah, of course, LOL).

And Micah *melts* that boy- sorry, that man... how dreamy can he be? even with the Sp. creepiness- sorry, cultural differences... LOL. I was starting to mourn when he became Guardian and the whole permanent shield, and then he goes and kisses Adisa like he used to... AWWWW!!!
Ok, that felt a bit like forced HEA, but the kids deserve it, dammit!
I mean, The Authorities making an exception just for him? it sounds too good to be true if you ask me, suspicious.

Anyway. This series rocks. That's the bottom line. Thank you dear niece for sharing it with me *hugs* ♥♥♥

P.D.: LOL, I'm ashamed to say... that I'm gonna have to google King Musa, just like Adisa. Oh, and the "cinnamon balls" joke, still cracks me up like a juvenile.