Series: Arkwell
Academy (bk. 2)
Genera(s): Paranormal
Romance
Subjects: supernatural,
boarding schools, dreams, humor, magic, magical creatures, mystery, mythology,
nightmares, sirens
Setting: Somewhere
in Ohio (Chickery) at Arkwell Academy
POV/Tense: 1st
person, past tense: Dusty
Age/Grade
Level: Teen
Length: 380 pgs.
HC/PB:
Hardcover
List Price: $17.99
Publisher: Macmillan:
Tor
Summary/
product description:
“The second in a thrilling new fantastical mystery series
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.”
My Review: As far as sequel go, The Nightmare Dilemma
was pretty good. Not as good as the first book, but good enough. I love the
narration and the humor. Dusty is a great main character. She’s funny and
always saying smart-remarks to people.
This series is
riddled with clichés of other YA PNR books about boarding schools. But the
humor and twists in the story make it more unique. It’s not a vampire boarding
school, it’s more like Hogwartz for all paranormal being. You have the
nature-kind: fairies, mermaid, and dryads. Dark-kinds: demon, hags and sirens.
Witch-kinds: wizards, witches and psychics. Dusty is a half-kind. Half
nightmare (which is a dark-kind). She can go into people dreams. Her and Eli
together can see the future in dreams.
Dusty and her
friends make a great team. They actually call themselves the Dream Team when
they investigate stuff. Eli is very attractive and seems like a great guy. He
and Dusty are not really romatically involved, but the dream-seeing thing
forces intimacy. Selene is a good friend. She and Dusty act like sisters. They
are roomates and it reminds me a lot of the House of Night series with Zoey and
Stevie Rae. And Selene is a siren, and she can fly.
The plot was
not as interesting as the first book. There wasn’t some huge mystery, but I
never expected who specifically was behind the attacks. It wasn’t just one
person. The Nightmare Dilemma is still worth reading. This series is worth
reading if you like House of Night, Vampire Academy, Harry Potter, Touch of
Frost by Jennifer Estep, Winterhaven trilogy by Kristie Cook, Legacies by
Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edgehill or any other paranormal boarding schools.
There’re new characters to love and a lot of magic!
Cover Art
Review: The vector art on the cove is cute and fun. It fits the story.
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