{Audiobook} Review: Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier

Title: Dream a Little Dream
Author: Kerstin Gier
Narrator(s): Marisa Calin
Series: The Silver Trilogy, book #1
Length: 10 hrs 6 mins
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: April 14, 2015
Source: ARC received from publisher, purchased audiobook
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.

The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know--unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute....

Narrated by Marisa Calin, who also narrated The Ruby Red Trilogy on audio for Macmillan, Dream a Little Dream is a funny little jaunt into the world of witchcraft and demons and lucid dreams. It never deigns to take itself too seriously, much as the Ruby Red books never got overly technical when it came to time travel. Both stories are cute and enjoyable in their own right, but I'd have a dickens of a time deciding which I liked better. Especially seeing as how I like cheeky, talking inanimate objects, and those are present and accounted for in both. :)

I listened to this back in April I think and promptly forgot to review it. D'oh. So, I listened again a few days ago as a refresher. Some books I can read over and over again and others, it's a pain to read or listen to even once more. No problems listening to this one again because the main character is completely adorkable and the narrator does such a good job with Gier's books. It's actually rather interesting to experience this lighter take on dreams and the demons they harbor, considering I'm also reading the last book of the Nevermore trilogy, which takes a much darker look at this same subject. Completely different stories and the atmosphere is the exact opposite, but still interesting to compare.

Magic rituals. Cute boys. London. All things that appeal to me. And I love the new cover. The original cover wasn't bad, per se, but it was a little too cutesy for this story. And while this story is cute overall and kind of silly -- I mean, they found a book and raised a demon and he agreed to give each of them their dearest wish? -- it does have a darker side, especially when it comes to the lengths some will go to in order to appease said demon.

The dream interactions were my favorite aspect of this story, especially when Liv still believed that they were just dreams. But when she discovers that those four cute boys from school share her dreams, things really get interesting. I was admittedly a little worried about so many hot boys available for the choosing, but they're not really...available, I mean. :) One is soon to be Liv's stepbrother, another is in a long-distance relationship, another is a wanna-be player who's still hung up on his ex. That leaves just one, and he's the one I would've have picked for Liv from the beginning, so it all worked out. No strange love shapes to be had here. =)

I read a story the other day that mentioned "surface" friends, and that's kind of how I felt about this book: it's only just scratching the surface of what Liv and her new friends might be capable of -- or what they might be in store for. I'm sure the next book will dig a little deeper. And I'm just glad I didn't have to wait until the third book for the romance to really heat up, like in Gier's other series.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Kerstin Gier is the bestselling author of the Ruby Red trilogy, as well as several popular novels for adults. This series was translated by Anthea Bell into English.

Find Kerstin:

Website | Goodreads | Facebook

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Labels: audiobooks, beautiful covers, demons, kerstin gier, lucid dreaming, macmillan, magic, reviews, the silver trilogy, translated novels, witchcraft

Review: Covet by Melissa Darnell

Title:  Covet
Author:  Melissa Darnell
Series:  The Clann #2
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Publication Date:  September 25, 2012
Source:  Netgalley
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Dangerous to be together. Painful to be apart.

Savannah Colbert knows she broke up with Tristan Coleman for the right reasons. Most of all, to keep from killing him with her new vampire abilities. But try telling her heart. Now, lost in a sea of hostile Clann faces, Sav tries to come to terms with what she's becoming and what that means for her future. And that someone is doing their best to bully her into making a terrible mistake.

Tristan can't believe Sav won't even talk to him. If being apart is her decision, fine. Just don't expect him to honor it. But even as he prepares to fight for the girl he loves, forces beyond their control take them both in directions neither could have foreseen or prepared for.

A reckoning is coming -- and not everyone will survive.

This cover had me worried.  The cover for the first book wasn't great, but at least it didn't scare me away from reading the book.  I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover.  I know that.  But other than the forest in the background, I couldn't see what this cover had to do with the story.  Plus, Savannah has red hair.  I know the girl is in black and white and so her hair color is ambiguous, but it would have been more striking if the rest of the cover had been faded out and only the girl's hair was shown in red.  Just my two cents.

The story itself picks up right where we left off in Crave.  It's been about a year since I read that book, but there's a brief refresher in the first chapter before the story dives into old territory.  Yep, we're back to that "I love you, but I can't be with you" spiel.  At least we know there's a legitimate reason for it.  But does it have to last the entire book?

Covet takes an interesting turn half-way through, but unfortunately, it's one I saw coming from a mile away.  All of the twists were predictable and the story could have used better, more believable foreshadowing, especially if it has any hope of sneaking anything by the well-read reader.  If it weren't for the brief moments of levity and some of the giggle-inducing situations Sav found herself in, this book might not have been as enjoyable.

As it was, I still found Savannah a little annoying in her naiveté, but Tristan's determination to find a way for them to be together made up for it.  Savannah was steadfast in her decision to remain apart from Tristan for his own good, which kind of made me respect her a little more, even if she did grate on my nerves with her inability to draw basic conclusions.  I also found Anne irritating as the tough, in-over-her-head sidekick to Sav.  She proves a loyal friend to the gang, but she's a little inconsistent with her acceptance of certain weird goings-on in Jacksonville.

I didn't set out to write a negative review...I really didn't.  I actually had fun reading this book for the most part.  But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the things that bothered me while I was reading.  I should also point out the things that I liked, though...like the setting.  I've lived in East Texas practically my entire life and have been to Jacksonville many times.  The author does a great job of presenting the hot, wooded surroundings of this East Texas town focused on high school football.

All in all, I liked Covet.  It was entertaining and makes a great addition to this series.  It briefly gave a history of both the Clann and the vampire council, and it did so without a ton of info-dumping as many sequels are wont to do.  I'll definitely be picking up Consume when it's released next year...especially after that ending in Covet.  Sure, I expected it, but that doesn't make it any less fun!

Rating:  1/2

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Labels: harlequin-teen, melissa darnell, reviews, the clann, vampires, witchcraft

Review: Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title:  Spellcaster

Author:  Cara Lynn Shultz

Series:  Spellbound

Publisher:  HarlequinTeen

Publication Date:  March 27, 2012

Source:  Netgalley

Finding your eternal soulmate - easy.

Stopping a true-love-hungry evil - not so much…

After breaking a centuries-old romantic curse, Emma Connor is (almost) glad to get back to normal problems. Although...it's not easy dealing with the jealous cliques and gossip that rule her exclusive Upper East Side prep, even for a sixteen-year-old newbie witch. Having the most-wanted boy in school as her eternal soul mate sure helps ease the pain-especially since wealthy, rocker-hot Brendan Salinger is very good at staying irresistibly close...

But something dark and hungry is using Emma and Brendan's deepest fears to reveal damaging secrets and destroy their trust in each other. And Emma's crash course in über-spells may not be enough to keep them safe…or to stop an inhuman force bent on making their unsuspected power its own.

So, as per my recent promise to myself, I didn’t read the synopsis of Spellcaster, though having read the first novel, Spellbound, when it came out last year, I had a general idea what it was about. I liked Spellbound well enough that I wanted to continue the series…or at least I thought I did.

I found Shultz’s sophomore novel to be rather tedious and terribly predictable. I had planned to have it finished before the release date, but other books called to me in the interim in a way that this novel simply didn’t. When considering the premise of Spellcaster, and the series as a whole, it should make for an entertaining story, but I was never drawn into it. I thought there would be witchcraft aplenty and we’d follow Emma and Angelique as they studied spells together and put them to use. Instead, it was almost a repeat of the first novel, with the bad guy trying to rip Emma and Brendan apart again, partly because of jealousy and partly due to a homicidal rage not often found in your average prep school teenager.

Once again, I’m left feeling that the author has a character generator that delivers up stock characters, and she simply added a few of her own touches in order to call them her own. I felt this way about the main characters and supporting cast in the last novel, but I had hoped that they would be more developed in this latest installment. The dialogue didn’t get any better either. It’s horribly immature and though the setting of the story is New York, the dialogue read as if I were hearing a conversation between two girls from “the Valley”.

The second half of the book was better than the first as the characters delved a little further into practicing witchcraft as they tried to figure out who was trying to harm Emma and how they could stop this nefarious person. But between the obvious plotline and the odd switch in POV – from Emma to Angelique for two chapters out of 19 – the second half simply couldn’t redeem the novel.

The only thing I really enjoyed about this book was the love story. There’s no love triangle. There’s no intense guy who’s pushing the girl he loves away in order to protect her. Just two reincarnated soul-mates who find each other in every life, only for the girl to die once they fall in love. But they’ve broken that curse and can now love each other freely. And they do. It’s sweet and innocent and even though it’s the second novel and they’ve been through hell together, he’s not pushing her to take their relationship further, though he’s been around the block a few times. Simply put, it’s refreshing.

I wanted to love this book. I’ll settle for not hating it. And for being able to say that I actually finished without throwing my Nook across the room. (Thank goodness!)  I'm not sure if there are going to be any more books in this series.  I'm also not sure that if there were, I'd continue the series myself.  The story is interesting enough, I suppose, but I feel comfortable with the way that this book ended, so I wouldn't be put out if I didn't read it any further.  And that's saying a lot because I really hate to start something that I'm not going to finish, especially books or series of books.

Rating: 

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Labels: disappointments, spellbound, src 2012, witchcraft