Monday, February 18, 2013

Blog Tour: The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy #1) Review and Giveaway!




Title: The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy #1)
Author: Mindee Arnett
Published: March 5th, 2013
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
Goodreads Summary:

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 am so excited to get to be a part of this awesome tour for a great book! Ever since I saw this book last year I couldn't wait for 2013 to come along so that I would get to read it. The very first thing that drew me to this book was the cover, I loved how different it was from most of the YA covers out there, no girl in a pretty dress yay! But after reading the book I really like how much it says about the plot and what happens in the story, Mindee Arnett did an amazing job of mixing paranormal and mystery into an amazing plot that kept me flipping the pages dying to know what was going to happen next. 

Dusty Everhart is a nightmare (side note: when I first read about her being a nightmare the first thing that popped into my head was Sabine from Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamer's series, she is the only other nightmare I have read about but, don't work Dusty is much nicer then she is!) The only one that goes to her school, Arkwell Academy. As a nightmare, Dusty has to feed off other people's dreams. She is new at being a nightmare and to top it all off  her mother is very well known in the magic kind community and not in a good way, she is always being questioned by her teachers because they believe she is just like her mother but, as far as Dusty is concerned she couldn't be less like her mother if she tried. Dusty's dad is human and until she came into her powers she lived with him and went to a normal human high school. As the book begins we are witnessing Dusty on a nightmare run, Eli Booker who she was embarrassed to s ay she knew from her human high school is her target. but, as Dusty enters his dreams she finds out that his are unlike most other people's she has visited. Eli is dreaming of murder, not so weird considering his dad is a cop but, what's weirder is that it's not just a dream it becomes reality. Now Dusty is stuck with Eli and using his dreams as clues to find out who the murderer is before it is too late.

Dusty was such an awesome main character, I immediately connected with her and she made me smile throughout the entire book, her inner dialogue was funny and perfect, it gave you great insight to her as a person and you couldn't help but connect with her. She is coming into herself as a person and having to deal with having magical powers, going to a school where she feels out of place, and mommy issues. She has a lot on her plate, the fact that she has just came into her powers and that she grew up with her human dad going to regular school has not helped her win friends at her new school. Many of the other kids have grown up in the magic world and normal pop culture, music, etc. is lost on them. Her relationship with her mom in the beginning of the book was so hard to read because I know how much a girl needs her mom but, I enjoyed seeing their relationship evolve throughout the book.

Another aspect that had me really interested in this book was the different magic kind that belonged to Dusty's school, it wasn't your usual witches and wizards there was so many different kinds of characters that I wasn't expecting like Sirens and Mermaids. 

Overall, Arnett has created a great beginning to a new series that I am definitely looking forward to reading in the future. If you are a Harry Potter fan I really think that you will enjoy this book it had a lot of similar aspects but, different at the same time. This book is perfect for a younger audience but, still definitely a great read for teens! If you enjoy paranormal and mystery then this book is something you need to check out!!

 
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.

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11 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for participating :)

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  2. When I was younger I had a nightmare where I was being chased.

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  3. I don't usually remember any nightmares, my dreams always shifting and they became mixed together. But I have been into sleep paralysis twice, I'll count that a nightmare in real life.

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  4. Glad it was a great start to a new series. I haven't heard much about this one, but will look more into it after your review because Dusty sounds like a great main character.
    Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog

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  5. I once had a nightmare where I was lying in bed, and the bedsheet lifted up off of me and became a monster. I woke up, terrified to go back to sleep.

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  6. My worst nightmare was mostly when i was little about clowns. My father was watching a movie called Attack of the killer clowns from outerspace and i had watched it too.. I dont dream or have nightmares now, though..

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  7. My worst nightmare was mostly when i was little about clowns. My father was watching a movie called Attack of the killer clowns from outerspace and i had watched it too.. I dont dream or have nightmares now, though..

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  8. I honestly just can't tell you. I have incredibly horrible nightmares a lot and I just can't talk about them. They are pretty darn bad. Horrifying. I do have some silly scary dreams. Like getting chased around a disappearing house by Jim Carrey with a big pair of clown sized scissors that are not made for clowns. Crazy, by freeeaky I tell ya.

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  9. Christina K. in the rafflecopter

    My worst nightmare was being stuck in a basement that's being filled with gravel!!

    Thank you! Lovely review:) It sounds awesome:)

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  10. Worst nightmare...well that's hard to say. I have night terrors and I'm prone to some crazy dreams and sleep walking and stuff. I don't think it was the worst, but the most vivid was one where I was being stabbed repeatedly in the chest. In the dream I kept thinking I have to clean up the blood to see how bad this is, so I started sleep walking into the kitchen, filled a glass of water, went back to bed, laid down and poured it all over my chest. It was a rude awakening for sure! LMAO

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  11. Worst nightmares are the ones that don`t allow me to wake up, it`s crazy!
    Thanks! ;)

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