Welcome to my stop on The Nightmare Affair Blog Tour! I have my review and the tour giveaway for you on my stop. For the full tour schedule click on the banner above to be taken to the tour page.
- Publisher: Tor Teen
- Publication date: 3/5/2013
- Source: eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley for review
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
I loved the idea of a Book about a Nightmare. I have read books that have Nightmare's in them, but have never read one where the main focus is on one. I thought this was a fun and entertaining read with a little bit of mystery. Though with me being such a sleuth, it's hard to keep me confused for very long. That didn't mean that I didn't still enjoy this though. I found the characters to be interesting, and the storyline and all the different paranormal elements kept me turning pages. I think it could have been a bit shorter with a little less filler material, but overall it was a great read.
Dust was a really fun character. She is pretty much the low of the low on the social ladder being that she's not only a Nightmare, but a halfkind too. She is also pretty new at the school since she only recently came into her powers. She has lived with her ordinary dad since her mom left when she was little so she really doesn't know a whole lot about her kind at all. I really loved her personality though. She is a little awkward, funny, and in general just a good person. She has quite the mouth on her, but it's really funny. She is not beyond snark to piss off teachers or other people and I found that to be very entertaining. She is bit aggravating at times with her mother, but I can understand where she is coming from. She's hurt and that doesn't just disappear overnight. It will take a lot more than her mom just finally deciding to step in to fix their past. She is totally the type of girl I would hang out with.
We have a lot of other great characters too, like Selene, her roomate. She is a Siren, but she hides under a tomboy look. She doesn't like how they are objectified as sex symbols. She is such an awesome friend to Dusty too. She is always there for her, and will help her through anything. I couldn't do this review without mentioning Selene because she is just really awesome and the best friend that Dusty could ask for.
Now the romance is definitely present, but I don't feel like it takes over the story at all. It is woven in very well. Obviously she is super attracted to Eli because he's totally hot, but let's get back to that. The romance isn't with Eli, it's with Paul. He is the first person to ever really show interest in her and she is very into him. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely something between Eli and Dusty, but neither is acting on it. Their friendship is what I consider the real romance of the story though. You watch them go from hating each other, to tolerating each other, to actually caring about each other. Dusty is caught off guard at times by the sincerity of Eli when he wants to know how she is doing and know if she's okay. I found it sweet that he was so different from how she really thought he was, and I loved that they have their friendship and know that they care.
Overall I really thought this was a great book. I loved the paranormal aspects, the mystery, and the characters. I thought that the world-building was done well. I could imagine a lot of the places that they went to or dreamed about. I thought at times the book was a bit drawn out and there were things that weren't necessary to the story, but I did enjoy reading it. The ending left this book resolved, but open for the next book in the series. So for those of you who hate cliffhangers, no worries about that here.
About the Author
Mindee
Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a
couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to
jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space.
She has far more dreams than nightmares.
There is also a tourwide giveaway for 2 signed copies of The Nightmare Affair. It is open Internationally!! Just fill out the rafflecopter form below.
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