The Nightmare Charade by Mindee Arnett

Series: Arkwell Academy (bk. 3)

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 final installment in a thrilling fantastical mystery series.

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare. Literally. Dusty is a magical being who feeds on human dreams.

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, not to mention the crazy events of the past year. Dusty may have saved the day, but there are many days left in the year, and with an old foe back to seek revenge, she'll need all her strength to defeat him and save her friends.

Mindee Arnett thrills again in this stunning final installment in the Arkwell Academy series.”

My Review:  Another wonderful finale. What started in The Nightmare Affair, and continued in The Nighmare Dilemma ends in The Nightmare Charade. Dusty Everhart is a Nightmare (and half-human). She can enter people dreams and feed off their dream energy known as fictus. Eli and her are Dreamseers (and call themselves the Dream-team). When she enters Eli’s dreams, they can see the future. They are given a task to look into the disappearance of Deaths Heart, which can steal souls.

I really like this series. It’s fun and entertaining. It’s set in a boarding school like a lot of paranormal series I’ve read. This school isn’t like Hogwarts. It’s not only for wizards and witches, but also for Dark-kind (demons, nightmares, sirens) and Nature-kind (fairies, dryads) too. It’s supposed to be in Ohio, which is cool because I’ve been to Ohio, but it’s not like the state setting plays a huge role. It’s where the author lives.

I think the coolest side character is Selene, Dusty’s best friend. She’s a Siren and she has black bird wings and can fly! She can also mesmerize like the other sirens, but chooses not to. She mostly uses spells and decides to try out for the gladiator team. I think it would be awesome for the author to write a spin-off series about a siren. It’s kind of cool to have a non-mermaid siren.

In this book when Dusty enters Eli’s dreams they see something that freaks them out. There’s this curse that Dreamseerers can’t fall in love because one will die. Lady Elaine has warned them and shown Eli her vison of what will happen if they continue their relationship. Eli can’t help that he loves Dusty, but tries to distance himself and tries to join the gladiator team. During the dream-feeding session, a Will Guard puts Eli to sleep before Dusty has a chance to talk to Eli. In the dreams, they cannot touch, which sucks. This forbidden romance is hard on them.

The ending is crazy and full of twists. I never guessed who was behind it all. There’s a lot of things I don’t want to spoil, so I didn’t mention the other plot points. There’s so much than happens in this book. It’s a great ending. I recommend this series to fans of paranormal romance series that take place in boarding schools, like Evernight, Hex Hall and Haven.

Cover Art Review: It’s a vector illustration and looks kind of fun. I just don’t like how the boat was rendered.

The Vast and Brutal Sea by Zoraida Cordova

Series: The Vicious Deep (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Fantasy Adventure

Subjects: adventure, magic, magical creatures, merfolk, mermaids, mermen, mythology, supernatural,

Setting: Coney Island, New York and in the Atlantic ocean

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Tristan Hart

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 317 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $16.99

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Summary/ product description: “This epic clash of sand and sea will pit brother against brother-and there can only be one winner

In two days, the race for the Sea Court throne will be over-but all the rules have changed. The sea witch, Nieve, has kidnapped Layla and is raising an army of mutant sea creatures to overthrow the crown. Kurt, the one person Tristan could depend on in the battle for the Sea King's throne, has betrayed him. Now Kurt wants the throne for himself. Tristan has the Scepter of the Earth, but it's not enough. He'll have to travel to the mysterious, lost Isle of Tears and unleash the magic that first created the king's powerful scepter. It's a brutal race to the finish, and there can only be one winner.”

My Review:  What and interesting and adventurous ending! Tristan and his friends must bring the pieces of Triton’s trident/scepter together and defeat the silver mermaid Nieve. He, Nieve and Kurt are after the throne. Kurt is also being manipulated somewhat and now wants to kill Tristan. Nieve of course want to rule the seas. I had a hard time remembering what happened in the previous books so I was lost for a while.

The first part of the book was really interesting and pretty different from the rest of the series. Tristan arrives at an island where the river tribe lives. He also finds Dylan, Brendan and Kai there. Time move differently there, it’s many days on the island before a day in the real world passes. The river tribes were not merpeople, but could turn into water. The leader was a woman and she was nice to Tristan, but secretive. One girl named Yara helped Tristan. He is given a task to defeat a creature called the Naga and he is given some training. Something happens and when he leaves the island, he has another addition to his group.

Tristan meets with more oracles and searches for answers in unexpected places. His circle of friends and followers grows and he gather’s a sorta-army to fight Nieve and her merrows. He gathers land locked merpeople, vampires, demon and other creatures living in New York City. His shape shifter friend Marty helps too. There’s fun along the way, including underground speed dating (hilarious) and a giant turtle.

This series has been fun and crazy. It may not be my favorite mermaid/merman series, but I really enjoyed the narrator and the humor. I love the mix of paranormal creatures too. There’s a touch of romance between Layla and Tristan. The action, adventure, magic and mythology. I’d definitely recommend the Vicious Deeps series to fans of Percy Jackson and The Olympians and Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown.

Cover Art Review: I love the big crystal scepter. It does look like quartz, but not the usually crystal structure. Way too pointy. The cover work well with the previous books’ covers. 

The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett

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: 1^st 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.