The Big Love Letter Event: Mindee Arnett

Welcome to week three of The Big Love Letter Event! For those of you who missed the introductory post several weeks ago, this event will run every Friday through March 13th and will consist of love letters written by some truly amazing authors. Danny from Bewitched Bookworms and I will each be hosting different letters every week (hop over there today for a little something special from Anna Banks!), so be sure and check out both blogs for a bigger and better celebration of all things swoon-worthy. We'll also be hosting a fantastic giveaway, so don't forget to check the bottom of the post for all the details, as well as links to all the previous love letters in case you didn't get to them!

I have the great pleasure today to welcome young adult author Mindee Arnett back to the blog to share a letter from Eli to his love interest Dusty, two characters from her hugely entertaining Arkwell Academy series. Book one, The Nightmare Affair, is where I first discovered–and fell madly in love with–Mindee, her sense of humor shining through Dusty and endearing her to me forever. People who love to laugh are my kind of people, and, I say this in the least stalkerish way possible, Mindee is someone I consider my people. If you haven't tried the Arkwell books or her amazing Avalon series, then get on it because Mindee's books are the kind it would be a travesty to miss!

Dear Dusty,

Summers shouldn’t be like this. So long, so slow. Before I met you my summer breaks flew by fast as anything, the days blurring into one another. Then again, this one would be flying by too, if you were here. But you’re not. You’re touring Europe with your mother, although we both know the trip is just an excuse to keep us apart. Your mother believes the dream seer curse is true. But we don’t. We know better.

I think. I hope.

I wish you were here. But I’ve been doing my best to stay busy. Some days are better than others. But the nights are the hardest. You’re in my dreams every night. That sounds incredibly sappy, but we both know that our dreams are different, special. Or at least they were when you were here. But all summer my dreams have been my own. Lonely. Empty. The dream you my self-conscious keeps supplying isn’t good enough. She’s not the real thing, but a shadow. Sometimes when I first arrive in my dream and spot her, I think she’s really you, that you’re really here, and for a few minutes everything is right. Then I realize the truth and it’s worse than ever.

Not only that but my dreams lack the substance of the ones we share together. Is it weird that I miss that, too? I know I shouldn’t. Dreams that aren’t fraught with danger and symbols of impending doom should be welcome, but I’d rather face the danger—with you. And there is still danger out there. We need to be together to fight. Apart we’re blind and vulnerable. Why can’t the Magi Senate see it? Why doesn’t your mother understand? I wish we could make them all see the truth. Then again, it’s just a few weeks, right? In reality it’s no time at all, no matter that it feels like eternity.

Honestly, I’m not sure why I’m even writing this letter. It’s not like I can mail it to you. Where would I send it? I don’t even know where you are exactly. And emailing is out of the question since you’re mom confiscated your phone. I know the coverage rates are crazy expensive over there, but it seems a ready-made excuse to keep us apart. I hate it. I guess this means that you probably won’t ever see this letter. But I’m writing it anyway. What does that mean?

I guess it means that…that…I love you. Wow, writing it feels strange like gravity has suddenly become less somehow, like if I jump in the air I might lose my hold on the earth. I’ve never said it before, never admitted it, not even to myself. But it’s true. I love you. Maybe someday, when you’re back, I’ll finally get to tell you.

Love,
Eli

Dammit Eli! Way to make a girl cry ugly tears. *wanders off to call the husband and berate him for not writing me heartfelt and gloriously sappy love letters*

*Book 3, The Nightmare Charade, releases in August from Tor Teen.

 • • • • • • • • • • • • •

THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR
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.

Amazon • Goodreads • B&N

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

THE NIGHTMARE DILEMMA
Arkwell Academy #2

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.

Amazon • Goodreads • B&N

• • • • • • • • • • •

MINDEE ARNETT

Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares. 

Website • Facebook • Twitter

• • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

Danny and I have (what we think) is a pretty fabulous giveaway that will run for the entirety of this event with 5 winners in total when all is said and done:

• Winners 1-4: Each will get a book of your choice from one of the participating authors. (Open internationally as long as Book Depository ships to you! )
• Winner 5  : Hardcover copy of LAILAH by Nikki Kelley plus some awesomely cute swag (international ). Prize is provided by author - thank you so much!
  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check back both here and at Bewitched Bookworms every Friday in February for more letters and a whole lot more love from these fantastic authors:

• Kristen Simmons (The Glass Arrow)
• Mindee Arnett (Polaris, The Nightmare Dilemma)
• Melissa Landers (Invaded)
• Sara Raasch (Snow Like Ashes)
• Emery Lord (The Start of Me and You)
• Liza Palmer (Girl Before a Mirror)
• Anna Banks (Joyride)
• Heather Demetrios (I'll Meet You There)
• Nikki Kelly (The Styclar Saga)
• Paula Stokes (Liars, Inc.)
• & More!

Review: The Nightmare Dilemma

THE NIGHTMARE DILEMMA
Arkwell Academy #2
Mindee Arnett
Paranormal Young Adult
384 pages
Tor Teen
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
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 THOUGHTS
The Nightmare Dilemma is a solid, entertaining sequel to The Nightmare Affair, beautifully avoiding some of the pitfalls so common in second books of a series and taking us on a complete journey with Dusty instead of leaving us on the final page but only mid-story overall. The synopsis is a bit misleading in a way that doesn’t do this book justice, giving readers the idea that we’ll have to deal with a love triangle when Dusty’s ex-boyfriend reenters the picture to give Eli a run for his money, but thankfully once we crack the spine we find no triangle in sight. Dusty’s ex does make a return appearance, however, Dusty’s history with him is a complicated one and she’s in no hurry to replace her anger with any type of rekindled romantic feelings, her every action in this story making us want to open our arms wide and simply hug her.
 
Dusty’s snark and quick wit were highlights of the first book, but we find a bit more subdued version of her in this second installment, and though she’s still a joy of a heroine, we can’t help but miss her smart mouth just a touch. That infinitesimal niggle aside, Dusty remains someone extraordinarily easy to root for, never once slipping into the tendencies that seem to plague young adult heroines in sequels by thankfully limiting herself to a romance with just one boy rather than waffling between two, and that relationship is in fact a non-relationship for majority of the book. There’s a great deal of tension and unspoken attraction between Dusty and Eli, but it’s more a friendship that has the potential to be something special if both they and the world they live in will let it.

Dusty’s inability to keep a secret is another aspect of her character that has us falling a little more in love with her in this tale, her openness with both best friend Selene and Eli something that brings a huge smile to our faces. She doesn’t always open up to one or both of them immediately, but never does more than a day go by before she’s filling them in on what’s going on with Arkwell's latest mysteries. She’s perhaps not as quick to share personal feelings with Eli as we might like, however it’s all too easy to remember being her age and the sometimes paralyzing fear of rejection that comes with a friendship on the precipice of something both scarier and more exciting. Her tongue doesn’t stay frozen forever though, and we can’t help but want to applaud when the questions that have been tormenting all of us finally burst forth.

As with the first installment, we’re given a complete story in The Nightmare Dilemma, bits and pieces from book one beautifully continued and expanded in this second book, linked together but separate enough that the mystery elements could stand alone should a reader pick the series up out of order. There is a hugely significant revelation toward the end that will inevitably play a big role for Dusty and Eli moving forward, but we're left at the final page with this book’s big puzzle solved and a triumphant grin on our faces, ready for what awaits our dream-seeing pair in the next installment.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Mindee:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • 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.

Interview: Mindee Arnett + Avalon

I'm super excited today to welcome young adult author Mindee Arnett back to the blog to answer a few questions about her new sci-fi release, Avalon. I fell a little in love with Mindee after reading least year's The Nightmare Affair, and Avalon only further solidified that love. She writes fantastic characters and hugely entertaining stories, so if you haven't had a chance to read either of her books I hope you add them to your lists immediately!

If you could spend one day aboard a fictional spacecraft from any book, movie or TV show, which one would top your list?

Ah! I love this question. I would definitely have to go with the TARDIS from Doctor Who. It can go anywhere in space and time. Plus is has a swimming pool, a library, racquet ball court. Heck, it probably has stables in there somewhere. That makes it impossible to beat.

Jeth is our protagonist, so we get glimpses of his thoughts and feelings toward every member of his elite team of thieves. What’s one word each member of the team might use to describe him?

Okay, I’m going to cheat with this one and provide phrases.

Lizzie: “butthead but I love him”
Celeste: “handsome but not my type”
Flynn: “can kick my ass but I’m okay with that”
Shady: “thinks he can kick my ass but I’d like to see him try”
Milton: “hard of hearing and thinking”

Of course, you could really add “but I love him” to all of these phrases, because Jeth’s crew definitely does.  

You’ve joined the crew aboard Avalon and are hovering just outside the boundary for the Belgrave Quadrant. What’s the last thought running through your head as you cross into it?

Is there any way to leave a trail of bread crumbs in space?

There’s some pretty fabulous futuristic technology in this book. What gadget from Jeth’s world do you wish existed in ours?

Metatech all the way. I know, of course, that faster than light travel is impossible, but if it were, could you imagine what we might learn and discover out there in the big wide universe? So often in our modern world it feels as if there’s nothing new under the sun, but that would all change if we could travel through space without it taking multiple lifetimes.

Jeth is clearly a very capable team leader, staying cool and calm even when his mission seems like it might be headed south. Celeste works closest with him in the field, so she must have witnessed an episode or two where Jeth wasn’t quite as together as he is when we meet him. Does she have a funny and/or embarrassing Jeth moment she can share with us?

Celeste definitely does! More like repeat offenders. The truth is Jeth was very clumsy at fifteen when they first started working together. He just hadn’t grown into his body. So early on, Celeste dreaded anytime she had to hand him something on the sly. He had a tendency to drop it. Oh, and she is extremely grateful that none of their jobs ever required them to dance. Her feet wouldn’t have survived. Fortunately, at 17 Jeth has grown into himself and is much slicker.

Let’s say Jeth and his crew grew up in today’s world rather than their world of intergalactic space travel. Obviously they wouldn’t be able to pilot various spacecrafts, so who would you guess might accumulate the largest number of traffic tickets or moving violations?

I think Jeth and Celeste would be tied. They both love to go fast.

For the entire crew, but particularly Jeth, Avalon is more than a ship; she’s a vital member of the team and a character unto herself. Even though she’s inanimate, how might Jeth describe her personality?

Jeth would describe her as steadfast. It’s an old, kind of hokey term, but also true. Avalon is like his noble steed that will carry him safely through any battle. She’s the Silver to his Lone Ranger, the Black to his Alec, the Artax to his Atreyu. Minus the drowning in the Swamps of Sadness thing, of course. At least in book 1. Book 2 however…joking…mostly…mwhahahaha!

*The mere mention of Artax in this interview had me sobbing via email to Mindee. I can't help it, okay? I simply cannot deal with that horse sinking in the swamp! *curls into a fetal ball*

As always, thanks for such a superb interview! Truly a highlight :)

*Thank you so much, Mindee!

• • • • • • • • • • • 

AVALON

Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long.

Goodreads • Amazon

• • • • • • • • • • •

MINDEE ARNETT

Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares. 

Website • Facebook • Twitter 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Nightmare Dilemma

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

THE NIGHTMARE DILEMMA

Arkwell Academy #2

Mindee Arnett

Releases March 4th, 2014 from Tor Teen

From Goodreads:

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.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Nightmare Affair earlier this year, so I'm extremely excited to get back into this world and see what trouble Dusty will stir up next. I'm slightly concerned over the mention of Dusty's ex-boyfriend given my full approval of the budding romance with Eli–my love triangle radar is pinging warning after warning in my head–but seeing as the first book was relatively low in the angst department, I'm going to pick this one up hoping it continues in the same deliciously relationship melodrama-free vein.

Also, anyone else see screaming faces in the black shapes above each of the character's heads on that cover? Or is that just me? At first I thought they were branches or flourishes, but I think they're creepy-yet-cool faces with pointy noses and open mouths, and the one on the right seems to be sucking the "a" of "dilemma" right in. Awesome. I'm a big fan of illustrated covers, so both of the covers in this series have worked really well for me:)

Interview: Mindee Arnett + The Nightmare Affair

I'm chock-full of giddiness today because I have the pleasure of welcoming young adult author Mindee Arnett to the blog to answer a few questions about the first book in her new series, The Nightmare Affair. I absolutely adored this book (read my full review here), it was full of snark and romance and mystery, and I simply couldn't put it down. A huge thank you to Mindee for taking the time to answer all my questions, and I hope you all enjoy the interview!

If you were a Nightmare like Dusty, what would you dread seeing most in someone’s dreams?

Oh my, probably all the naked people? I know that some of my worst nightmares growing up were the ones where I would find myself at school without any pants on. Even thinking about it makes me embarrassed. And really, witnessing someone else’s mortal embarrassment can be just as bad.

Let’s say you find yourself in Eli’s shoes, attending a school for magically gifted students when you yourself are ordinary. What would you love and hate most about the experience?

I would love just seeing and experiencing the magic, especially combined with all the history of it. I think I would be paralyzed by wonder. But eventually, I would hate not being able to participate. It would be pure torture. Poor Eli. I’m feeling sorry for him all over again.

Dusty is given an extra assignment thanks to her smart mouth. She has to travel to the world of any young adult piece of fiction and witness the dreams of a character of her choosing and then report back with her findings. Whose sleepy mind would she most like to see into?

I think she would pick Cas Lowood from Anna Dressed in Blood. I imagine Cas’s dreams are pretty scary given his day job, but I think Dusty would have a fun time making him dream about fluffy kittens and unicorns instead. Plus, who wouldn’t want to meet Cas? He’s the epitome of cool.

If your computer was to develop a personality like the technology at Dusty’s school has, what type of personality would it have and what kinds of things would it do to express itself?

My current computer is a brand new Mac Air, and I’m quite sure it would have a brainy- chic attitude. I think it would mostly express itself with quirky Doctor Who sounds and wiseass remarks when I make silly typos.

My previous computer was a Dell, and it would be stubborn and crotchety, a bit like an electronic mule. It would express itself with loud, annoying noise and unnecessary commentary, a lot like the computers at Arkwell.

Eli can’t manipulate his own dreams the way Dusty can, but if he could, is there any one place he would like to show her while he has her all to himself away from the real world?

Such a tough question! I think Eli is a bit of a rugged romantic. I think he would take her somewhere very remote and naturally beautiful, like the top of a mountain. This song is a little dated, but I think Eli is a bit like the “cowboy” in the Dixie Chicks song “Cowboy Take Me Away.”

What’s the strangest or most inconvenient place you’ve found yourself when a brilliant idea for a story has popped into your head?

I get a lot of ideas in the shower or while cleaning stalls. Pretty strange, I know, but I guess it’s because both activities are physical and methodical, the perfect activity for the creative mind to wander.

Dreams are rarely straightforward and often times deliver meaning only through symbolism. If Dusty was to get a peek at the events of book two in dream form, what’s one symbolic element she might see there?

Birds. I won’t say what kind of bird or anything, but definitely birds. And funnily enough, I think the cover artist for The Nightmare Affair, the lovely Kate Forrester, must be psychic because she put this on the cover long before I started writing book 2:

 

Thanks so much for such a fabulous interview!

• • • • • • • • • • 

MINDEE ARNETT

Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares.

Website • Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

• • • • • • • • • • 

THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR

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.

Review: The Nightmare Affair

THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR
Arkwell Academy #1
Mindee Arnett
Paranormal Young Adult
367 pages
Tor Teen
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
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.

MY THOUGHTS
The Nightmare Affair is a joy to read from first page to last, a rather unique paranormal entity combining with magic, mayhem and murder to ensure we while away the wee hours of the morning in a desperate attempt to devour Dusty’s story in one sitting. While a boarding school housing young men and women with extraordinary abilities is certainly nothing new, Ms. Arnett twists and molds the familiar into an entirely different shape with the introduction of Dusty as an actual Nightmare–someone who gets her sustenance from the dreams of others–and we can’t help but flip the pages as quickly as possible to learn everything there is to know about the ins and outs of dream invasion.

Dusty is a spectacularly entertaining protagonist, her sharp tongue eliciting a snort from us every time she puts it to use, and because she wields her wit and snark expertly, she never comes across as whiny or annoying. She remains firmly planted on the amusing side of the sarcasm line, making us laugh with her even as we highlight her responses and one-liners for future personal use. She also has admirable sense of self-preservation (something that causes us to rejoice), often finding herself in trouble but always reaching out to others for assistance instead of clutching her dangerous responsibility close to her chest and going it alone.

The romantic tension between Dusty and non-magical Eli is thick and palpable throughout, and Ms. Arnett proves again and again she is gifted at creating intimate moments without so much as the briefest of touches. Their relationship is not the typical new-hot-boy-at-school scenario despite its initial appearance as such, and we easily get sucked into their antagonism as they both struggle with the circumstances that require their close proximity, smiling hugely as things slowly change for them even as they both find themselves with other people. Theirs is a connection full of promise in this first book, declarations of love blissfully absent as a weighted friendship and a unique bond take their place, and we must resist the urge to fall to our knees and kiss Ms. Arnett's feet for the gift she’s given us in Eli and Dusty.

The only small flaw in an otherwise outstanding story is the predictability of certain players in the murder plot–a couple of them either easily recognizable or easily discarded from the onset–but others are a surprise, and we continually battle with ourselves throughout as we wonder whether or not certain people can be trusted. We’re left with a fully concluded story by the end of this first installment, a larger story arc in place but the smaller mystery solved in its entirety before we close the back cover, satisfying our need for the how’s and why’s of it all even as we look forward to seeing what’s in store for Dusty next.

Rating: 4/5

*For those of you in the Columbus/Dayton/Cincinnati (OH) area, Mindee is celebrating the release of The Nightmare Affair tonight (3/5) at 7pm EST at Books & Co in Dayton. Details can be found here!