Dream Student Dream Series
Paranormal Romance/Suspense
Writing Dreams
November 26, 2013
294
Reviewed by: Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Twenty-one year old Sara Barnes is a pre-med student and has been having nightmares night after night. These nightmares are leaving her screaming at night and drained in the morning. She confides in her best friend and roommate, Beth, about her nightmares, since Beth is the one that comforts her when they happen.
One nightmare, which is actually more like a dream, is of a young man watching her perform as a cheerleader, the other, which can be nothing other than a nightmare, is of a large man dragging a young girl into a bedroom, throwing her on the bed and killing her. This nightmare goes on for days, until her last view of this young girl is her being put into a black Cadillac and thrown on the side of the road. The next day when an article appears with a picture of the girl and the exact place she saw her dead body left, Sara knows she is seeing the killer’s dream.
Sara begins to understand about her dreams and what they mean when she meets the boy from her first dream, Brian Alderson. She is instantly attracted to him, and she thinks nothing of going over to him and taking his hand. After talking awhile, she realizes she had dreamed about her, and she saw his dream. He is a freshman in the dorm right next to hers, and he is two years younger than she is. His age, and the fact that he is a freshman mean nothing to Sara, she loves him and he loves her, and that is only after about three days of knowing each other.
I had some serious problems with this book. It dragged on a lot and, at times, it felt like I was never going to get through the story. The story, which had the potential of being very suspenseful, got lost in the constant descriptions of other dreams Sara had. The second problem was there was too much emphasis on various tests, studying, doing reports, and the bad food in the dining room. I also found it a little unbelievable that nineteen-year-old Brian was a virgin when they first had sex, and he had never had a girlfriend before Sara, yet now he is in love. Does he even know what love is? She has years of studying and interning to be a doctor, and he is just a freshman where can this relationship go?
The first half of the book was very slow going, but the second half picked up especially when there was more focus on the killer, rather than which boy loved which girl, etc. The only interesting part of the story was who the killer was and when Sara would be able to help the police in putting this man behind bars.
If the author had condensed this story, it would have been much better. Sometimes less is more. This is the first book in the Dream Series. I look forward to seeing if the author has made some changes in the next books to come.