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Showing posts with label Nightmares. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nightmares. Show all posts

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett

Pages: 384
Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy
Series: Arkwell Academy #2 
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: Mar 4, 2014
Dusty Everhart might be able to predict the future through the dreams of her crush, Eli Booker, but that doesn’t make her life even remotely easy. When one of her mermaid friends is viciously assaulted and left for dead, and the school’s jokester, Lance Rathbone, is accused of the crime, Dusty’s as shocked as everybody else. Lance needs Dusty to prove his innocence by finding the real attacker, but that’s easier asked than done. Eli’s dreams are no help, more nightmares than prophecies. 
To make matters worse, Dusty’s ex-boyfriend has just been acquitted of conspiracy and is now back at school, reminding Dusty of why she fell for him in the first place. The Magi Senate needs Dusty to get close to him, to discover his real motives. But this order infuriates Eli, who has started his own campaign for Dusty’s heart.
As Dusty takes on both cases, she begins to suspect they’re connected to something bigger. And there’s something very wrong with Eli’s dreams, signs that point to a darker plot than they could have ever imagined.

I have to admit, I loved The Nightmare Dilemma a lot more than The Nightmare Affair and I was absolutely thrilled to get an early copy!
Writing a review of this is actually going to be pretty hard, so expect this review to be short guys! All you really need to know, though, is that I absolutely loved it.

Dusty is a fun character and there was absolutely no limit to her snark and she's just as smart alack-y as in The Nightmare Affair. She's a lovable character who brings some comic relief to the story and I absolutely adored her loyalty to her friends and how determined she was to protect the people she loved.
All the side characters were just as amazing and all their personalities were developed more. Selene, while I felt like she didn't get much face time, still had her awesome siren rebellion going on and Lance, while he was still a bit of a jerk, was a bit less hostile and I liked him a lot more. (Also? Him with Selene would be absolutely adorable.)

The romance again took a back seat to the plot and I really loved it this time, though there were romantic moments that made me absolutely squeal. Paul is back and while I was a bit worried about a love triangle, it's clear that's not really a problem. The surprise complication between Eli and Dusty, however, was a bit shocking, though I felt like it was a bit cliche, though it definitely made for some intriguing romantic tension!

And speaking of intrigue, that's what this book was filled with. The mystery had me on my toes and, unlike in book one, I was at a complete loss as to what was going to happen. There were twists I didn't expect and everything from powerful, corrupt people, to betrayals, to sinister cults were mixed in with the mystery and I was completely hooked in.

The Arkwell Academy series is a cute paranormal series with dark twists and The Nightmare Dilemma, thankfully, doesn't suffer from Sequel Syndrome at all! It was a magnificent read that grabbed my attention and made me fall in love with the characters all over!




Saturday, May 25, 2013

Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett


Goodreads Blurb
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.

Haha, remember how excited I was for this? So much that I sent in an ARC request the DAY the cover was released? And then I put Nightmare Affair TWICE without knowing? Yeah.

The Nightmare Affair definitely lived up to my expectations!

I loved Dusty! She was such a smart alack and I loved her recklessness! Most of the time! As fiery as her red hair, Dusty was definitely one of those headstrong characters you just had to love--those she does act impulsively often. But she definitely made up for it with her wisecrack jokes that made me LOL (no seriously.)
But, my favorite character by far, was Selene. And no, not just because I ALWAYS wanted to change my name to that. She was a Siren who was against the "objectification of sirens as sex objects" which was so AMAZING. I loved her! Seriously. 

The romance was seriously amazing. It wasn't slow at all and you could just feel it coming! Not to mention, Eli was perfect for a YA love interest! Though he did have his moments. You know when you want to shove two people who you KNOW like each other, but won't admit it, together? Yeah. It definitely made things interesting though! And made for some hilarious moments.

The plot was a bit predictable though, and I desperately wanted to point out the obvious to Dusty. She seemed to have a habit of trusting the wrong people. Although, admittedly, I wasn't even close to discovering who the biggest antagonist was. I was too caught up in...other things.

The first half of Nightmare Affair was a bit slower than I'd expected, but still enjoyable! We learn about the world of the paranormal and it was so much better than typical werewolves and vampires, faeries, and the regular ones. Mindee Arnett manages to mention Sirens, Psychics, Wizards, Hags, Faeries, Mermaids, Demons, and more! I loved the world she created with the world split into 3 different magickinds based on how they get their power--it was fascinating to learn! The author manages to twist the usual typical paranormal school/camp and turn it into something original which, by the way, is super hard to do considering all those books! Not to mention--hello? Nightmares?

Absolutely, I'd recommend this for fans of the Shadow Falls and the Hex Hall Series! The Nightmare Affair is a perfect read for readers who are looking for an original paranormal mystery and it definitely has me waiting for the next one! (I promise that's not just because of Eli and Dusty though.)


Pages: 367
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Arkwell Academy #1
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: MArch 5, 2013
Rating: 3.5--->4 stars



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