Review: The Nightmare Affair, by Mindee Arnett

Release date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Tor Teens
Format: Hardcover, 367 pages

Goodreads description:
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. The setting is Arkwell.

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.

Amazon     The Book Depository

The following review is based on a copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.


Review:
As soon as I read the description of The Nightmare Affair in someone’s Waiting on Wednesday post a couple months ago, I knew that I had to read it! Boarding school, magic, mystery, and Nightmares – ever since I read Sabine in Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series, I’ve been interested in that paranormal creature. And let’s face it, it’s rather rare in YA. Dusty is nothing like Sabine, but I didn’t expect her to be and I still really enjoyed the novel and the world Mindee Arnett created!

We meet Dusty when she climbs into her ex-school mate Eli’s room to feed on his dreams, as she must at determined times to keep up her energy level and magic. Who she feeds on, how long, and when is determined by The Will, a complicated spell keeping magickind’s abilities in check so that they don’t wreck havoc on the human world – believe me, with some of the nastier demon types and the vampires, you really don’t want that to happen! However, Dusty’s feeding trip goes horribly wrong when she first witnesses a horrible murder at her new school, Arkwell Academy, and is then noticed by Eli in the dream! He shouldn’t know about the Academy, and he shouldn’t notice her!

It turns out that Dusty is a dream seer and Eli is her connected partner, and the magickind senate now wants to use them to solve the murder. The thing is, with The Will keeping everyone in check, magickind shouldn’t be able to physically harm one another – so how was that girl killed? As Dusty and her friends try to solve the murder, much of what she believes to know about her family and her world is called into question… and she might just have made herself the murderer’s next target.

First off, I have to say something about the voice. The story is told in the first person from Dusty’s point of view, and while she’s plenty snarky and courageous, her voice seemed very young to me at first. More middle grade than YA. I don’t know whether I got used to it or whether it changed later in the novel, but it then felt more YA to me after a while. I liked Dusty, but sometimes I also wanted to yell at her because of some stupid decisions she took and how she thought she had to solve it all on her own. What I enjoyed about her is her resilience – she’s an outsider at Arkwell, first off because she’s the only nightmare and her mum isn’t exactly everyone’s darling, second because she’s half human. Her magic abilities manifested only about a year ago, so she’s way behind in her skills compared to her school mates and they often treat her as if she were disabled or magically deficient. That’s also why it sucks for Eli to be transferred to her school – he’s now the only one without any magic at all, and being transferred in your senior year sucks anyway.

I loved how quirky Dusty and her friends were! Her room mate and best friend is a siren. All sirens are naturally beautiful and alluring, but Selene doesn’t use this like many of her kind do – instead she protests against the sexual objectification of sirens. There’s also fairies, various shifters, demons… the world building and magic were among my favorite things in the novel! It takes a while until the workings of The Will are explained, but once that happens I got a way better understanding of the parallel world Dusty inhabits and how it interweaves with the human world. Her magic classes and some of her teachers were also awesome! And there were a lot of details I thought were really imaginative, as well as a creature that was an allusion to a poem I really like (I asked Mindee if I got it right) and to Arthurian legend.

Now I’m sure you guys want to know about the romance… Well, there is romance and also some steam-ish scenes, but it doesn’t go overboard. Also I think some people will label the constellation a love triangle, though I’m not so sure about that. No question, Dusty thinks Eli is hot, but that doesn’t mean she’s in love with him. In fact, it’s hard for them at the beginning to even be friends. On the other hand there is Paul, who is super smart, fun, and as I first thought a great match for Dusty and a help in her cause. Paul surprised me several times in the story and was also used to broach an issue I had not expected in the novel but was glad to see included. There’s chemistry with Dusty for both guys, eventually, but I’m not going to say more than that. In any case, if it is a love triangle then it isn’t your typical one, and the romance isn’t the main focus of the novel.

Something I didn’t expect was for Dusty’s mum to be so involved – parents tend to be rather absent in YA and while I liked that it was different here, I also empathized with Dusty’s annoyance at her mum’s meddling after she pretty much left her alone with her dad (they’re divorced) before she showed any Nightmare abilities. Also, her mum’s a trouble maker and at times does very suspicious things… but she’s also pretty badass ;)

Overall, I really enjoyed The Nightmare Affair. I liked the world building and characters, it was something new! The book was fun but also serious because, well… it’s about murder! I never suspected who the bad guy was. Maybe I should have, but I really didn’t see it coming! There were some minor issues with the pacing, it wasn’t as creepy as I had hoped, and I thought some of the minor characters were pretty standard, but the other aspects more than made up for it! The novel is a great debut, and I’ll definitely be reading the next book in the series!

Have you guys read The Nightmare Affair? What did you think of it? I'm especially curious about your perception of the love triangle and voice thing that I mentioned...
If you haven't read it, does it sound like something you'd enjoy? Can you maybe recommend any other books featuring Nightmares to me?

The Nightmare Affair Blog Tour: Favorite Quotes and Giveaway (INT)

Hello lovely people and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Mindee Arnett's upcoming YA novel The Nightmare Affair! Below you will find info about the book and author as well as some of my favorite quotes. Oh, and there is a giveaway for two SIGNED copies, and it's international! So summon your luck and enter, because this is a fun and entertaining read ;) My review should be up by next Tuesday, which is when the book will be hitting the shelves.


THE BOOK

Release date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Tor Teens
Format: Hardcover, 367 pages

Goodreads description:
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. The setting is Arkwell.

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.

Amazon     The Book Depository

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.  

Website     Twitter

SOME OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES

When Eli comes to the magickind-only academy and first enters the cafeteria:

Eli was the true weirdo here. He was one hundred percent ordinary. Talk about being a disadvantaged student.

Dusty and her mom:

"You are so stubborn." Moira shook her head. Encouraged by her frustration, I added, "You forgot rebellious and smart-aleck."
She glowered at me for a second, then grinned. "I know. I'd expect nothing less from my daughter."

The sheriff upon hearing one of Dusty's excuses:

"I expected a little more originality from Moira's daughter."
"Yeah, well, the dog ate my notebook with all my good excuses."

A bit of trivia:

Most  magickind teenagers were fanatics about ordinary pop culture. Almost everybody was a Comic-Con-attending, play-dress-up fan boy. And he had the nerve to make fun of me. Go figure.

About Nightmares:

"That's one reason why the Magi only want you to feed every other week. A fully charged Nightmare can do whatever they want inside a dream. Here, we're like gods."

TRAILER

What do you guys think of my quotes, the trailer, and description? I'd love to hear from you in the comments :) Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway below :)

GIVEAWAY

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This tour was organized by Shane Morgan from Itching For Books. Click the banner below.

 

Review: Dance of Shadows, by Yelena Black

Hey guys... I'm really sorry I was MIA for a week, but I had to finally get off my lazy bum and write a paper for one of my university courses. I think the time-out was actually good for me because I feel more motivated for blogging and writing reviews again, and I realized that while I can live without blogging for a week, I also really miss interacting with you guys and commenting on each others' posts :)

Release date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Hardcover, 447 pages

Goodreads description:
Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . .

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed .

The following review is based on an eARC provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review:
I’m going to be honest: I first became aware of this book when the beautiful cover was revealed (and it’s perfect for the story), but I was also immediately drawn to the description. It made me think of two movies: Suspiria (horror film from the 70s) and Black Swan. And I guess there kind of are parallels to both, but also tremendous differences… anyway, I was hoping for creepy, and creepy I got, albeit not in a way I thought. This song from the Suspriria soundtrack fits really well though...

At first, I immediately bonded with Vanessa because of her love for her older sister, Margaret. Vanessa only really started dancing because of her, and only began to aim for excellence after Margaret disappeared, because she realized it was helping her mother feel better. Everyone thinks Margaret ran away because she couldn’t take the pressure at the NY ballet school, but Vanessa doesn’t really buy it. She hopes her sister is still out there somewhere and she wants to find out why she ran away. I love sister relationships, and I don’t even want to imagine what I’d feel like in Vanessa’s situation. If my younger sister disappeared, I’d do absolutely anything in the hope to find her!

At her new school, Vanessa makes friends pretty much immediately, and I liked that the group was fairly diverse. I’ve read that other reviewers found those secondary characters flat, but I’d have to disagree. They are clearly distinguishable, but their personalities are often revealed indirectly between the lines. The conversations among them reveal the hardships of being a dancer at this level: the pain, the fear to gain weight, to not be good enough, the jealousy of others’ success, how hard it was for some of them to get into the school… it's a struggle for body and soul.
The character I loved most is Blaine! At first you think he’s this typical effeminate gay boy, but there’s so much more to him! I felt that his understanding and experience of dance was closest to Vanessa and that as it became clear that she’s an outstandingly talented dancer, he was the only one to really stick to her without jealousy and try to profit from her example.

There is something Vanessa rarely admits to anyone: sometimes when she’s really losing herself in the dance, the steps just fall into place, and she feels like she’s disappearing and the room is starting to spin around her… this scares her. But those moments are when she’s best. So good, in fact, that she gets cast as the lead in the production of the Firebird as the second freshman ever.
Turns out the first one was her sister. Also turns out that quite a few other principal ballerinas in that role disappeared over the years, so Vanessa and her friends start trying to figure out what is going on, and what it might be about this particular ballet that makes it so difficult. Is it that special, arrhythmic ‘Danse du Feu’ that their harsh instructor, Joseph, makes the core cast practice every afternoon, the dance that gives Vanessa so much trouble? And why are the walls of that practice room charred black anyway? And what is that strange-smelling rosin Joseph keeps in his room? As Vanessa tries to uncover and connect the pieces of this puzzle, she is drawn ever-deeper into a web of deception, ambition, and dark powers… for the right dance and the right dancer can open doors.

I admit that while I liked Vanessa, I also often felt frustrated with her. Why didn’t she do more to look for her sister? Why did she cave so easily to the ones around her? The again she was very obstinate at other times, but never the right ones. Also, there’s a love triangle… sort of. Vanessa’s dance partner, Zep, is seriously gorgeous… the prince of the school. At first I thought he’d be this shallow, perfect character, but when he takes Vanessa out for a date we learn that there’s more to him and he’s apparently a good guy. The two of them are really cute together and Yelena Black captures a great New York atmosphere in those scenes! But then Zep gets really distant and weird and starts avoiding Vanessa. And Justin, who was nothing but a jerk to her before but whom she nevertheless had a reaction to, comes to the forefront again. I was really exasperated with Vanessa at times about how she behaved around the both of them! Then again, she’s only 15… I just wished she would have put her foot down once in a while and demanded answers – from both guys!! Because Justin makes all these obscure remarks about strange things that happen at the school, and he knew her sister. It soon becomes clear that Vanessa can only trust one boy… but who is it?

What made this book great for me despite my sometimes-problems with Vanessa is Yelena Black’s wonderful writing. I don’t know all that much about ballet, but the way she described the dance allowed me to picture it all perfectly – the grace, the pain, the exhilaration… all the emotions the dancers participate in, the way they strain their bodies for the perfect expression. The writing was fluid and beautiful, capturing the atmosphere and passion of the dance along with the movements.

Her style was also responsible for giving me goose-bumps a few times as Vanessa grows more paranoid and, after a middle part that sometimes felt a big sluggish, things unravel and twist very quickly towards the end! There were some issues I’d seen coming for a while, but there were also developments that left me going ‘what the hell just happened?!?’ The paranormal element is revealed much later than I expected, but now that the cards are on the table I’m really intrigued by the world building around it, and very curious about the next book in the series!

All in all, I can recommend Yelena Black's debut to anyone who loves lyrical writing, mystery, and has an interest in dancing. Despite a flawed heroine, there was always enough going on to make me want to keep reading and I really couldn’t figure out which guy was the right match for Vanessa. I also liked the structural concept of the novel, regardless of what I said about the pacing. It’s a slow build up, but ultimately very much worth it!

Have you read Dance of Shadows? What did you think of it? If not, are you intrigued? Did my review even make sense? Have you read other ballet-themed novels you can recommend?

Top Ten Tuesday: Settings I'd like to see more of

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, they will post a topic on their blog that the participants draw up their on top ten list for.


Today's topic is about settings we'd like to see more of, or at all.

I actually had to think about this quite a bit. The list I came up with is about settings I'd like to read more of, which I think makes a difference because quite often there are plenty books already out there, I just haven't gotten to them yet.

1. Russia / Prague / Eastern Europe
   I've always found the culture interesting, and after having seen Prague myself I've been a sucker for the setting! I'd also like to read more fantasy/paranormal books set there because I find the lore fascinating and I'd like to know more about it.


2. Ireland
   I've read a few books set there, but I'd like to read yet more :)


3. San Francisco
   I've never been there (or anywhere in the US for that matter) but somehow I think this is a city I could fall in love with. I haven't read many books set there though, so recommendations are very welcome!


4. The North
   You know, Finland, Sweden, Norway... never been there, always been fascinated. I've read a few because it's a more frequent location in German books, but I'd like to read something paranormal set there. I think there's plenty in that setting that one could work with.


5. Boarding School
   I know many people are sick of reading about it, but I'm not! There are still tons of series I'd like to get to. However, I do agree that it depends a lot on what the author makes of this particular location. I love the ones that make the setting integral to the novel and manage to transform it into something unique. I just like the way these schools can form a self-contained little universe with its own rules.


6. Hell / The Underword / Wherever Demons and the Badies Live
   I know there are tons of books drawing from that tradition with angels and demons and devils and whatnot, but we rarely get to go to the place they actually come from! I really enjoyed the parts in Kim Harrison's books that play in the Ever After. I'd like to see more re-imaginations of Hell.


7. Travel
   Road trips, city trips, interrailing... I'd like to see a bunch of characters in their early twenties travelling from place to place and meeting people and having adventures :)


8. Tokyo / Japan
   Love the culture. If Fukushima hadn't happened, I would have been there already, but as it is it's still a destination I want to see in the next 10 years. I used to read a lot of books by a Swiss author (Federica de Cesco) set there but I think I've read them all. I want more though, and I mean good and reflected ones that don't just exploit the 'exotic' setting but actually show some reflection in the way they depict the culture. I'd like to somehow move beyond the 'Western gaze'.


9. Completely made-up worlds
   I know there's plenty of high fantasy out there, but somehow I've been reluctant to read any in the last few years. I'd like to change that again, to fully fall into a new world and culture that just takes my breath away and comes vibrantly alive in my mind.


10. Zurich
    I know, completely self-indulgent. But I'd like to see more books set in my own city. All I get here is books by Swiss authors and they focus on stuff I'm not interested in. A paranormal set in my city that makes it magical to me would be awesome! Or a contemporary about American teens going there for a trip or whatever. It'd be interesting to get an outsider's perspective on my own culture!

I've probably forgotten a couple glaringly obvious settings, but I guess this is my list. Do you agree on some of my settings? Are there a few among them that you're sick of? Can you recommend me a read? Please leave a link to your own list, I'm sure there will be places on it that I totally forgot about :)

Book Blitz & Giveaway: Phoebe Pope and the Year of Four

Hi everyone! Today I'm part of the book blitz for Phoebe Pope and the Year of Four by Nya Jade. Below you can learn more about the book, and there's also an excerpt as well as an international Kindle Fire HD giveaway!

Release date: October 30, 2012
Publisher: Dreamwell Publishing
Format: eBook

Description:
The students of Green Lane Academy roam their halls unaware that below their manicured campus exists a prestigious school of an entirely different kind . . .

Sixteen-year-old Phoebe Pope has enrolled at the Campus Below: a spy academy for shape-shifters hidden deep beneath the grounds of a boarding school whose humans unknowingly protect it. There, thanks to a carefully planned schedule, she leads a double life: spy trainee Below and normal teenager Above.

As if two course loads, concealing a secret power she alone wields, and coping with her father’s recent death weren’t enough, Phoebe finds herself developing major feelings for actor and teen heartthrob Colten Chase, who attends the Campus Above and appears to be majoring in winning Phoebe’s heart. But when officials learn that Phoebe may be at the center of a startling prophecy, she becomes the target of shape-shifting assassins who will stop at nothing to suppress the truth.

Now Phoebe’s lessons about Shaper’s enemies and spycraft take on great importance as a menace stalks the campus, with Phoebe as its target. Meanwhile, what began as an unlikely relationship with Colten, quickly morphs into heartache when she suspects that something sinister lurks beneath this movie star’s glitter and fame. Suddenly, Phoebe’s caught in a mesh of lies, betrayals, and danger where she doesn’t know who to trust, and needs to rely on herself—and her secret power—to get to the truth and to stay alive.


The novel is on sale on Amazon for only $0.99 for all of December!



Author Bio

Nya Jade is a singer-songwriter and author based in San Francisco. Her music videos have aired on the VH1, BET, and MTV networks. USA Today hailed Nya as a “young female troubadour worth keeping your eyes and ears on,” in an entertainment feature on up-and-coming singer-songwriters. “Her cool singing voice recalls Sade,” said the LA Times.

Between writing and performing new music, Nya took a musical sabbatical to focus on writing a novel—an endeavor she found quite daunting, until she began looking at each chapter as a verse in a very long song. Phoebe Pope and the Year of Four is her first novel.

In her free time, Nya enjoys hanging out with family and friends, searching for amazing gluten-free desserts, and bargain hunting for her next pair of funky shoes.
Nya holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in Sociology, both from Stanford University.

Website     Goodreads     Facebook     Twitter

Excerpt:

One

Phoebe was too far away to sense whether the boy had one heart or two. Through the maze of trees with clattering leaves, she could see him moving with purposeful speed. He was headed toward her destination—a brownstone chapel perched at the top of a small hill. Not knowing the boy’s nature made Phoebe hesitate. Then came the sound of tower bells. Eight o’clock. There was no time to think of an alternate route. She was officially late for the Conversion.

A loud, echoing crack quickened Phoebe’s pace as lightning slashed the indigo sky above her. She had barely reached the base of the hill when rain began pounding down. Clutching the camera that hung from the strap around her neck, she sprinted the final stretch, arriving breathless.

Phoebe wiped the rain from her face, and then entered the chapel. Inside, light from moon-facing windows cast a misty glow across the sanctuary, the air redolent with the smoke of a blazing fireplace. She glanced around the heart of the nondenominational Green Lane Academy. It seemed so ordinary, so quiet, even peaceful. Rows of pews with velvet cushions ran the width of the room. She moved between them, taking care to remain in the shadows. An irregular shape in a dark corner caught her eye and Phoebe could just barely make out the outline of the boy. He knelt with his head between his hands, his body huddled against a pew. Praying.

Phoebe paused several feet away and waited. After a moment she felt energy seeping from the boy’s skin, raising the hairs on hers. Cold and electric, it meant one thing: the boy had only one heart. She couldn’t risk him seeing what she had come there to do. That meant waiting. Just then, something stirred behind her.


Intrigued? I love the setting of the academy with a Campus Above and a Campus Below, and it sounds like there will be plenty of action! What do you guys think of the cover & description?

Giveaway (INT):
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