Dream Boy

June 1, 2014
The worlds of dreams and reality mix in chem class.Sixteen-year-old Annabelle can't believe it when the boy of her dreams-her actual dreams-walks into her chemistry class. Even better, he takes an immediate interest in her and admits he really has come from her dreams. However, the handsome Martin isn't the only person Annabelle has met there; she also frequently sees a little girl in a white dress who frightens her. Meanwhile, she navigates the usual high school social scene, with her place on the ladder several rungs below the beautiful Stephanie. Annabelle plans to go with Martin to the homecoming dance, but as the nightmare girl becomes ever more threatening, she worries that since she somehow made Martin real, might the girl also make her way into the real world? Crockett and Rosenberg build tension as a confrontation looms between Annabelle and the nightmare girl. The authors keep the story chick-lit friendly, with some common, high school social tension and a bit of girl-girl rivalry. Most intriguing for many readers, however, will be their treatment of the fading line between dreams and reality. Just who is real in the book, and who is a dream?Hits the chick-lit and romance buttons, adding suspense and an intriguing idea as well for nicely rounded entertainment. (Paranormal romance. 12-18)

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September 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Annabelle has always had vivid dreams, especially about one particularly cute boy. But when that boy walks into her chemistry class, she knows that everything is going to be different. Her dreams are coming to life, but it isn't the perfect reality Annabelle has wanted. Instead, her nightmares are also coming true. The novel is slow to start, focusing mostly on Annabelle's romantic relationship with Martin, the boy from her dreams. In the second half, the story picks up once the action begins. The fast-paced plot lacks tension due to superficial character development. Readers are supposed to feel like the stakes are high, but since they do not really get to know some of the secondary characters, it's hard to be fully invested. The relationship between Annabelle and Martin is a little too instantaneous, even with their dream connection. Some revelations that are meant to be shocking fall flat due to a lack of hints about the eventual reveal. The end is satisfying but underwhelming. Purchase for collections where paranormal romance are still popular and desired.-Paige Garrison, Aurora Central Public Library, CO

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Grades 7-10 After a bad breakup with a popular boy who never really got her and a rough divorce between her parents, Annabelle, part of a group of nobodies in her high school, dreams. Reality and dream blur together, though, when the literal boy of her dreams shows up, live and in person, in her chemistry class. It appears as though she has conjured him from her subconscious, and he is drawn to her, reading her mind and seeking her out. At first, she is excited, because he is completely perfect and everything she would ever want in a boyfriend, but the story twists when she realizes she is not the only one who can dream up people and things. What's really real and what's merely dreamed-up vapor is unclear, which makes for an original, twisty paranormal romance. Some of the metaphors fall flat (eyes compared to windshield wiper fluid, and lakes to blueberry jellybeans), though they only add to the surreal quality of Annabelle's dreams, where things are brighter and stranger than her real life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)