Book Review: The Nightmare Affair

Author: Mindee Arnett
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: The Arkwell Academy # 1

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.

“She was one of those mythic creatures who sat on your chest while you were asleep and gave you bad dreams, the kind where you woke up struggling to breathe. Some stories said that Nightmares were demons (not true), while others said they were “hags,” as in scary old women who lived in the forest and abducted lost kids to cook for supper (more true, although I didn’t recommend saying so to my mother).” – Finished Copy pg. 12

 

“Sprawled on the ground lay a pale-faced girl whit bright blond hair, the kind I would’ve killed for in real life. Only, it looked as if someone had killed her. She was perfectly still, her eyes open but staring at nothing. Dark, purplish bruises rimmed her throat like a grotesque tattoo.” – Finished Copy pg. 18

 

“News about Rosemary’s death spread through the student body the next day faster than a Facebook chain post. It didn’t help that there were now werewolf police officers walking the hallways and patrolling the grounds. The atmosphere in the underclassmen’s cafeteria at breakfast hummed with voices, the sound a mixture of fear and excitement. I tried not to listen, but it was impossible.” – Finished Copy pg. 38

 

“A chill went through me at her words. It all sounded a bit too much like A Nightmare on Elm Street for my tastes. I understood the danger of that much power, having experienced enough bad dreams in my lifetime to know how scary and real they could be.” – Finished Copy pg. 88

This interesting new series takes readers into a world that is extremely paranormal and reminded me of the Harry Potter series in some ways. Our main character, Dusty Everhart, goes to a magical school called Arkwell Academy where she is currently learning to fulfill her destiny as a Nightmare. Yes, a Nightmare, like the bad dreams we have when we go to sleep at night. This is the first book that I have read with this concept, but I am told that there are plenty more. Dusty’s story begins when she sneaks into the dreams of the hottest boy in school, Eli Booker, and witnesses a murder. That’s not even the best part. The murder wasn’t just in Eli’s dreams; it actually happened. Dusty may be one of the few that is able to solve this mystery, and trust me, you will want to make her Mindee Arnett’s first in this new series your next adventure.

 

It’s not surprise that Dusty and Eli are my favorite characters. Dusty’s character just makes the story all that it is. However, after the initial introduction of Dusty and her magical ability, Arnett starts working on her world building. The school Dusty attends is developed as well as many amazing secondary characters. I loved Dusty’s mom and her best friend almost as much as I loved Dusty. Dusty’s mom is the type of rebel character that I look for in the books I read. She has somewhat of a reputation, and one that Dusty is expected to live up to. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series as soon as possible just for the simple fact of reading more about Arkwell Academy. Ever since falling in love with the Hogwarts, there is just something about the magic school and its surrounding that draws me in like ice cream on a hot day!

 

Eli’s character was intriguing to me mainly because I could tell that he may cause problems early on. He just seemed to have the bad boy persona, and I was also correct about that too. Don’t we girls long for this in the books we read though? We know we can’t date them in real life because they will only break our hearts, so we live through our naive female heroines like Dusty. By the end of the book, we are faced with a love triangle and possibly more than that! Between Dusty’s romantic possibilities and the fact that she must track down a killer, I would say that I was kept highly entertained. The end became somewhat predictable to me, but I loved the characters and the paranormal world surrounding them that I didn’t mind the predictability so much!

 

***A HUGE thank you to the publishers at Tor Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***