Book Blurb:
DREAM KEEPER by Amber R. Duell
Pub. Date: January 29, 2019
Publisher: The Parliament House
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 288
The Sandman is seventeen-year-old Nora’s closest friend and best-kept secret. He has to be, if she doesn’t want a one-way ticket back to the psychiatrist. It took her too long to learn not to mention the hooded figure in her dreams to her mother, who still watches Nora as if she’ll crack. So when Nora’s friends start mysteriously dying gruesome deaths in their sleep, she isn’t altogether surprised when the police direct their suspicion at her. The Sandman is the only one she can turn to for answers. But the truth might be more than she bargained for…
For the last five years, the Sandman has spent every night protecting Nora. When he hid the secret to the Nightmare Lord’s escape inside her dreams, he never expected to fall in love with her. Neither did he think his nemesis would find her so quickly, but there’s no mistaking his cruel handiwork. The Nightmare Lord is tired of playing by the rules and will do anything to release his deadly nightmares into the world, even if that means tormenting Nora until she breaks.
When the Nightmare Lord kidnaps Nora’s sister, Nora must enter enemy territory to save her. The Sandman is determined to help, but if Nora isn’t careful, she could lose even more than her family to the darkness.
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
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My Review:
5 Out Of 5 Hearts
Genre: Another-World, Mystery, Romance, Scary, Supernatural, Suspense, Teen--
Every night Nora visits the Sandman on the beach in her sleep. He is her best friend, greatest confidant, and escape for the last five years- but he does not exist, and if her family found out she was still "seeing him" then she would become permanently medicated to fix her mental instability. But recently, it seems like even more strange things have been going on outside of Nora's dreams, things that make her wonder if she really is crazy. What Nora does not know is that the Sandman is real and battling the Weaver, the keeper of nightmares, from his pursuit of escaping his realm- and Nora is the key to freeing him.
Now this, this is not your mother's Sandman. Oh my gosh, this book was fabulous, unique and completely terrifying! I was in love with the cover when I first saw it, willing to read the book regardless of the subject matter because I had a complete case of cover love hard core- do you blame me, it is so gorgeous! I think I will need to purchase a physical copy of this to grace my bookshelf when it becomes available. So tangent aside, this story completely surprised me in the best of ways. There was so much going on, the plot was twisty and I could never predict what Amber would throw out next at Nora, which kept me on my toes and reading "just one more chapter" (that lie!) until the book was finished just because I needed to know what would happen next. And when I mentioned scary, there was some crazily detailed imagery and awful events that occurred in the pages, shocking to the characters and to me. But it was so fantastic, totally inadvertently hitting the creepy/horror vibe I have been looking for for the Halloween season. Don't expect a light fluffy read because that was not this. But if you are looking for a compelling, 100% new read then you are in the right spot.
I love stories narrated by multiple voices with different points of view and Dream Keeper was dual narrated by Nora and the Sandman, making for the full immersion that I love so that way I don't feel left out on anything! Nora was an interesting character, very introverted to keep her secrets and make her mom think all the crazy with the Sandman was in the past. I felt really bad for her pretty mush the entire story, so many terrible things happen to her and she was completely in the dark about everything. She did become really intense and super capable as the book progresses and I am very interested to see how her character develops in the rest of the series. The Sandman was instantly liked by me, I could not have resisted him if I tried. He was so very earnest and his feelings and effort for Nora made him endearing to me. His emotions were so near the surface, his struggle felt real (even while it was a supernatural thing that was so extreme!) that I connected to him from the first page of the book. I am so very concerned for the future fate of these two characters that I was lucky enough to get to know.
I have one complaint I will vocalize here and that is that this is the first in a trilogy. That means there is unanswered questions and overall conflicts that currently have no answers and I have yet to develop patience (even though I keep trying, I swear!). I probably would not have read this book if I knew it was a trilogy that was not finished so I could binge read it all in a sitting. Now I will just have to re-read the book(s) after each of the next is released. This is my first book from Amber but as soon as I finish this review I will see about getting my grabby hands on all of her other currently available books because Dream Keeper made a fan out of me. This needs to be added to your to-read list, stat!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this title but I will be getting myself a physical copy as soon as available.
Author Bio:
Amber R. Duell was born and raised in a small town in Central New York. While it will always be home, she’s constantly moving with her husband and two sons as a military wife. Before becoming published, she had a wide range of occupations including banking, bartending (though she’s never tried alcohol), and phlebotomy (though she faints with needles). She also volunteered as a re-enactor at the local Revolutionary War fort and worked near shelter cats which led to her previous crazy cat lady status.
She does her best writing in the middle of the night, surviving the daylight hours with massive amounts of caffeine. Her favorite stories are dark with a touch of romance and a villain you either love to hate or hate to love.
When not reading or writing, she enjoys snowboarding, embroidering, snuggling with her cat, and staying up way too late to research genealogy. She loves to travel and has visited more countries than states. Kissing the Blarney Stone and hand-feeding monkeys in the mountains of France will be hard to beat, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to find the next real-life adventure.
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10/22/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review
10/23/2018- A Court of Coffee and Books- Review
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Week Two:
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10/31/2018- Adventures Thru Wonderland- Review
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Review tour provided by Rockstar Book Tours
This sounds quite original with the Sandman character!
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favorite genre to read?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cover.
ReplyDelete