Jessica's books

The One and Only Ivan
Pollyanna
Revolutionary War on Wednesday
Leprechaun in Late Winter
Ella Enchanted
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Plain Murder
Gone-Away Lake
Circling the Sun
Maggie and Max
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
The Night Sister
Tuck Everlasting
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Bedknob and Broomstick
Mister Monday
Alice Through the Looking Glass
The Birchbark House
The Hobbit
The Witch's Daughter


Jessica's favorite books »

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Book Review: The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

**I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review**

Synopsis (from Goodreads): 
Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.


My Thoughts:  Dusty is a nightmare who feeds on fictus, the stuff dreams are made of.  She has a set schedule on when to feed so she doesn't get too strong in her magic.  One night, she finds herself in the bedroom of Eli, a hot boy from her previous school.  As she feeds on his dream, she realizes that this dream is different from others.  It's more vivid, more real and dealing with murder of someone she knows who is another magickind.  When Eli kicks Dusty out of his dream, not only is she mortified but she finds herself being picked up by the magickind police (who happen to be werewolves) and taken to the exact scene of the dream.  That's when Dusty finds out that she is a dream seer.  What's worse is that Eli is her partner and even though he isn't magickind, he has to transfer to Arkwell Academy, a school for magic.

Dusty is a very likeable character.  She is funny and gets herself into all sorts of trouble.  She also has to deal with her mother's reputation as a rule breaker.  Her mom left her (human) father and Dusty when Dusty was young and visits only occasionally.  Dusty is not happy to find that her mother has showed up at the school to forbid Dusty to have any part in this investigation.  

Eli is your typical popular, hot guy that everyone swoons over.  At first, he isn't impressed with Dusty or her dream seeing skills.  He really wants no part of it but as they continue to help in the investigation, Eli warms up to Dusty and becomes sweet and protective.  He and Dusty have a chemistry but since they are both dating other people, they don't ever officially date.

I thought this book moved at a pretty fast pace and really had fun reading it.  I did, however, figure out who the "bad" guy(s) are/were before the end.  In fact, as soon as one particular character was introduced, I knew that he/she had to play a major part in the mystery.  It wasn't shocking when I found out I was right and I am sure that you will figure it out as well.  The other person involved in the mystery was a little more unpredictable for me.  

I loved the fact that this story was about a nightmare, something I had never read about.  It was a fun and fast paced story that kept me entertained throughout.  



1 comment:

  1. I thought this book was pretty good and I had a lot of fun reading it-I was impressed with myself for puzzling out part of the mystery because I'm usually pretty bad at that. There is definitely room for improvement in future books but I'm eager to give them a try as well.

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