Review: Dream a Little Dream

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
The Silver Trilogy #1
Kerstin Gier
Paranormal Young Adult
Henry Holt
336 pages
Available April 14th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yep, Liv’s dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially this one where she’s in a graveyard at night, watching four boys perform dark magic rituals.

The really weird thing is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They’re classmates from her new school in London, the school where’s she’s starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But they seem to know things about her in real life that they couldn’t possibly know, which is mystifying. Then again, Liv could never resist a good mystery. . . .

MY THOUGHTS
Dream a Little Dream is a bit darker than its cover suggests, the whimsy and vibrancy of the depicted dream sequence but a small moment in this tale compared to the prominent shadow of a possible demonic threat. (It should be noted that I wrote this review a while back with the original cover in mind, though it does still apply somewhat.) While the story itself has serious themes, Ms. Gier's sense of humor is present and accounted for, bringing a smile to our faces as we attempt to sort out just what Liv has gotten herself into with the young men at her new school. There's an ease to Ms. Gier's writing style that causes the pages to turn in rapid succession, drawing us in and holding our attention throughout until we find ourselves staring at the inside back cover far sooner than expected.

Liv is someone with whom it's easy to settle in, quick with a sarcastic quip and first (along with younger sister Mia) to roll her eyes at some of the sheer ridiculousness perpetrated by those at Frognal Academy for Boys and Girls. She's not one to swoon over the quartet of physical perfection that is Arthur, Jasper, Henry and Grayson, instead she calls them out on their insincere flirting, corrects them when they get her name wrong and mentally pokes fun at them when they allow the reactions of the other girls to stroke their egos. She does require the suspension of disbelief in one particular area though, diving headfirst into the dream/demon happenings with shockingly little thought as to the potential repercussions of meddling in supernatural affairs. Granted, she doesn't believe in the supernatural and therefore assumes her participation in the boys' rituals is harmless, but regardless of whether or not demons do in fact exist, we can't help but wish she might give her involvement the gravity it deserves.

Her lack of sound decision making with regard to the paranormal aspect aside, Liv is a thoroughly enjoyable young woman with a hilarious relationship with younger sister Mia. Mia is a highlight despite her relatively minor role, the sweetness of her young face always belied by the things that come out of her mouth, and we can do nothing but smile every time she appears on page. Overall, Dream a Little Dream is a fun start to this series, and while it's a little light on answers to our many questions regarding the dream world and the possible demon responsible for it, it's easy to free ourselves from those tangles and simply enjoy a well-told story.

Rating: 4/5

Find Kerstin

Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.