Sleeper is a rollercoaster ride filled with thrilling drops and loops. I loved it!

This book was just flat out uncomfortable.

Sleeper left a bad taste in my mouth. Ignoring all the stuff I would normally have an issue with (instalove, underdeveloped characters, lack of world building, etc.), there's the glaring issues of sexual assault and an abusive relationship.

The abusive relationship was, at least in a way, acknowledged. The sexual assaults, on the other hand, weren't. If these two issues were handled differently, this could have been a pretty decent read. As it was, I was left disappointed.

Sleeper, or Adventures in Experimental Drug Trials as I like to call it, is a thriller with paranormal elements. Sarah has a sleeping disorder that causes her to act out her dreams, which can be preeeetttty dangerous for people around her. When an experimental drug is suggested by the clinic, she goes for it, and it seems to work, with the small caveat that now she is able to move in and out of a collective dream consciousness with ease. She meets another such dreamer, Wes, who has been through some tough times due to the illness, just like her. Together, they get high on their new relationship and the power associated with their drugs.

Now, the plot tackles the aspect of bullying head-on, with the story resting on a high-school vendetta gone wrong. Sarah is being bullied by her former best friend for attempting to strangle the latter during an episode, and when the opportunity presents to exact her vengeance, she doesn’t wait for the dish to get cold. She and Wes jump into people’s dreams and their bodies and violate their privacy and well, bodies. Sarah grows more and more hesitant as the plot furthers, because Wes starts to up the stakes every time and she realizes that she is a toxic relationship.

What the story doesn’t completely address, though is sexual and physical assault. Sarah is almost raped by an ex, but she doesn’t ever do anything about it. She instead focuses her attentions on the ‘mean girl’ who spread rumors about her. Sarah and Wes, while in other’s bodies, do things that would technically be considered ‘roofied’ sexual assault. The plot does address the violation of a person’s autonomy but not that. Also, the thing between them was nearly insta-lovey, with them declaring destiny and stuff within like a week of knowing each other *eyeroll*. And it is kinda weird to imagine all this escalation taking place in a matter of a couple of weeks!

The dream consciousness thing was an interesting aspect but isn’t explored much, with regards to world-building. And the burners aren’t exactly explained. Also, if they could enter the dreams of other dreamers without the drug, why couldn’t they do it before (with the exception of one instance)? The plot also leaves the story on a open ending, which I am kind of conflicted about. How much of it was the influence of the drug, and how much was their true nature, and does she still empathize with him?

In conclusion, an interesting concept of a book but it should have been executed better.

I requested this book because I wanted to try something out of my favorite genres. Ive been in the mood to read more mystery thrillers and I thought this might do the trick. I ended up reading it in one day for the Booktubathon challenge. That quick pace was one of the things I loved the most about this book. I also liked the concept and the mystery, but the rest just wasnt for me. I rate all the books I read based on my enjoyment and although I enjoyed the first half, the second half of this book went down hill quickly.

Knowing theres an abusive relationship might be a spoiler, but I still would have a appreciated a trigger warning. If I would have known I never would have read it. It just made me so angry and uncomfortable. I usually dont write spoilery reviews, but theres no way to explain why I didnt like this book without mentioning the abusive relationship. The fact that the relationship was abusive was mentionned, but not in a way that sat well with me. I also wasnt a fan of the outcome. Their relationship was my main issue, but not my only issue with this bok.

The characters were more immature than Im used to from a YA book, but maybe thats because I dont typically read books set in high school. Petty high school drama and mean girls annoy me to no end. The protagonist is almost as bad as the antagonist, but maybe shes suppose to be. At least she realizes shes not being a good person and tries to stop. Its hard to like a book when none of the main characters are likeable. I loved the side characters a lot more. Jamie was definitely my favorite, but I also liked Tessa and Grady.

The characters didnt feel very realistic. I think real people would have reacted differently to the situations they were put in. Who wouldnt tell the doctor about their side effects right away or that an employee was violating your privacy while you were sleeping. Also so of the writing was a little juvenile, like some of the physical descriptions. If books that feature abusive relationships dont bother you and you like books set in high school than you might still like this book. I think Im getting too old for these types of books.

Note: Sleeper will be featured in Books I Read in 1 Day Post, my Monthly Wrap Up, my Booktubathon & Biannual Bibliothon Wrap Up.

"I'll embrace my power and use it to do better, to be better. Of course, better is a subjective term. Just like one person's dream is another one's nightmare."

Sarah is a high schooler on the lacrosse team, and pretty popular. She also has a sleep disorder that causes her to act out her dreams. And this could prove to be embarrassing, but mostly it proves to be extremely dangerous. After almost strangling one of her friends, and bad girl Gigi. she instantly loses her popularity and becomes a target at school. If all of this wasn't bad enough, the boy who she saw in her dream that night, isn't just a dream. He's just transferred to her school. And she can't help but wonder if maybe her sleep disorder is something more.

Sleeper turned out to be more of an exploration of ethics and how if people are treated bad, does that make them want to treat others bad as well? And I feel like on that front, the book succeeded. However, there was a lot of talk about dreaming and an almost too crazy plot that went way further than just seeing her classmate's dream. In addition, a lot of the characters were too cliched, and had no real depth. However, Sleeper is a mostly fast-paced read, and an interesting read as it explores those tough questions about morality.

This one would have been a lot better if the story would have gotten started faster. It felt like it took forever for things to really get going and by that point I was kinda done with the book. If you don't mind that the story takes a while I would totally still try this one out. Because even though that happened the book wasn't bad just a little slow. This one centered around dreams was pretty good I liked the idea that you could take over someone else's body while they sleep thanks to this drug. That could be pretty interesting if done the right way.




Yep thats a pretty scary thought. The characters were all well and good and I liked pretty much everyone. This one would be great for people who love books about dreams and seeing the mean girls getting whats coming to them.

This book had an interesting premise, which completely disappeared for me, amid the slllooooooowww development of the story.

I could not stay interested - I struggled to care about the characters as the writing style was not appealing to me.

Great premise destroyed by a slow pace and not so great writing.

Sleeper is unlike anything else I've ever read. I don't read much thrillers in general, but I do want to rectify that! Then again, I haven't heard of a psychological thriller about sleep disorders either. Because of this, I wasn't sure what to expect and wasn't too critical when reading either. I had a great time reading Sleeper, and it flew by! However, there was one thing that kept me from loving the book.

The downfall of Sleeper is that nothing is truly developed. While the plot is unique, and the characters interesting, there was always something lacking. I didn't care for any of the characters, and the world building was shaky when it came to Sarah's side effects with the new drug she starts to take. I enjoyed myself when reading this, but everything felt rushed. The characters, especially the side characters as they all blended together, needed more development and the dream-world needed more development. Unfortunately, this led to a rushed and at times messy and disorderly mood.

Nevertheless, the thrilling plot kept my attention. Even though it wasn't developed as much as I would have liked, it still enthralled me. I loved the moral dilemma that was introduced, and Sarah's voice was believable. Sarah is a teenager, and of course that means she can be naive at times and make rash decisions. However, she also has times of grace and bravery that I also think are indicative of a teenager as well. Even though I haven't experienced anything like Sarah when it came to her sleeping disorder nor would I have made the decisions she did, I still understood her. When it comes to all the characters, she was the most fleshed out.

As for the other characters, most of them fell flat. I would have loved to see more of Jaime, Sarah's ex who is essentially used as a plot device (unfortunately) and Sarah's best friend, whose name I cannot remember. Obviously, the secondary characters did not bring much to the story. However, Wes was quite honestly the best character out of the whole novel. He wasn't as fleshed out as Sarah, but he was much more interesting. Wes was so morally grey, and I loved it. He's had a horrific childhood, and the actions he make are a direct effect of that. His personality was disturbing and left me unsettled in the best way possible.

At the end of the day, Sleeper was a super fun read. It wasn't the best by any means, but I am really interested in reading more psychological thrillers in the near future. I wish that Sleeper wasn't so rushed, because it adversely affected the book. The unique plot kept my attention even with its pitfalls. If Sleeper were to get a sequel, I would read it.

With that, I give this book

3.5 out of 5 Stars!

Sarah has lived her life with a sleep disorder that allows her body to act out each of her dreams since she was 10 years old. By high school she was used to it--well, as used to it as you could be, and has gotten the rules down for her life. Never go to sleep overs, be strapped down before going to sleep. Those rules are followed until the night she is invited over for a sleepover after a LAX win--she tells her mom she is going over to the only trusted friend's home for the night. Instead she falls asleep, accidentally, and almost strangles the captain of her LAX team.

After that the normal that she had achieved is rocked and because of a new medicine that she is trying out she is having lucid dreams. Lucid dreams that include the new guy at school. Things get even more out of control when she realizes that he recognized her from his dreams too, dreams that they each came remember clearly.

What then starts as a sweet romance turns sour as power and addiction build. Can Sarah stop the monster that she helped create? Can she help save those that she loves?

This was a good book, hands down. I read it very quickly because I was sucked in. I have given it three stars, though, because of the whiplash I felt in the change within the character Wes. He was sweet--and then he was acid. It didn't feel like there was any transition with him. I guess it might be explained by the drug--or something that was already there in his character. I just struggled with that part.

I am interested to see if there is a follow up-- Cadenhead leaves room for such.

Book Lovers,

This book is pretty fantastic. It is a YA thriller...totally wasn't expecting that!

Writing is fast paced, and all so intense! I found it moved quickly and kept me interested, a little creeped out too!

I don't think it is YA overall maybe NA?? its pretty heavy, and I wouldn't let a 11-13 maybe 14 year old read it!

overall the story itself is 3 stars and damn that cover is a 1 star... so all together that is a solid 4 stars!

Wow! This was so well written! I loved the plot of this book. It was pitched as Heathers meets Inception and it does not disappoint!

This was a very discombobulated story and the amount of syllables in that word mirrors that of the sub-plots present.
It could have been such a good story but there were just too many things happening and not in the 'keep you on the edge of your seat' way but rather 'wtf is going on?'. Having said that each of the MANY sub-plots were interesting in isolation and maybe two of them would have worked well together but simultaneously and in one novel it become overloaded and ridiculous. It felt like maybe the book should have been split into a series where these events could have been developed and explained better rather than the rushed delivery you get.
The writing was ok but immature in places especially relating to the MCs which could have been fleshed out a little more so that the morality questions held more resonance.
I didn't end up finishing this book I really tried but my interest dwindled and by 78% I threw in the towel. Perhaps I'll come back to it at some point but for now we're on a indefinite break.

This was unlike any book I've ever read. It is in a league of it's own. I enjoyed every second of this book from page 1 to the amazing end.

I received a copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley and SourceBooks Fire in exchange for an honest review. I'm keeping the review short on purpose so that spoilers are avoided.

I have to admit, the summary was what drew me to want to read this and not the cover. It does what it says on the tin, pardon the expression, and Sarah's story really does seem like Inception meets Heathers and it's done in such a way that feels new. It wasn't something I had read before but it was something I greatly enjoyed and would read a sequel.

"Sleeper" is chilling, suspenseful, thrilling, and intriguing. The summary drew me in right away as I wanted to know who the boy from her dreams was and discover more about her REM sleep discover. I would recommend this highly to others as an action filled suspenseful YA novel. I can definitely see this novel being turned into a series and I seriously would buy the rest to read more of Krista's story.

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Sarah! “Stop!, You’re going to klll her!” a familiar female voice shrieks. Sarah has her hands locking firmly on Gigi’s chin and forehead, as she is about to snap her neck.

The first line of this book had me hooked and I couldn't put this down! Beautifully writes and flowed together smoothly. The characters where well thought out and put together. This book was right up my ally and is a must read for everyone!

(ARC via netgalley/sourcebooks fire- thank you so much!)

While this is categorized as for the YA audience, I found it interesting as an adult, as well. Lots of twists and turns, lots of teens being easily-distracted teens, and plenty of young angst. The plot was devious and the pace brisk; all you could ask for in a weekend read. Definitely recommended.

I went from always reading thrillers to loving ya books! I wasn't too sure if I would like this one but it was very well written. The storyline flowed smoothly and kept me glued to the pages! I would strongly recommend this book!

This was a really difficult book for me to read and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It’s not something I’d recommend to anyone under late teens due to some difficult scenes. The writing was intense, thrilling and suspenseful but at the same time parts of the storyline seemed disturbingly heavy for a YA book that didn’t carry any implications to the reader for what lay in the pages. The plot is fast paced and a real page turner even through the parts that made my skin crawl. I felt like I needed a shower after reading some of those scenes. Sleep disorders, astral projection, pseudo possession and medication effects of experimental drugs were all intriguing concepts particularly how MacKenzie Cadenhead uses them as plot devices.

Why I’m having such a hard time with this book were the areas where it was implied that Sarah and possibly others were assaulted but it wasn’t handled well. No one was held responsible for what they did and their actions weren’t held to the scrutiny of being considered assault. There was no true discourse on Sarah witnessing her own violation without being able to do anything about it or what she did in response. The controlling and psychologically disturbing relationship between Sarah and Wes made me want to stage an intervention while filing a restraining order against him; there was way too much realism in that to feel comfortable reading any scenes with them together.

I think Cadenhead’s writing style is vivid and she has done a great job capturing the difficulties of social bullying, psychological torture, fear of physical assault as the “Mean Girls” take things to a new level and peer pressure. However, I felt a huge disservice was done to assault victims when there was this incredible opportunity to showcase the realities of those who take advantage of others when they’re vulnerable and the consequences they should face. The closest we get to a moral understanding of the severity of what is being done is when one of the characters admits they’re abusing the power that’s been given to them but it took a tragic incident to get there.

“Sleeper” is a unique YA thriller- that wasn’t like I expected from the summary. Sarah is a high schooler who suffers from REM sleep disorder, where she physically acts out her dreams. While she has tried therapies in the past, nothing seems to work except putting her into restraints at night. This has been a killer to her social life. One night, she pushes her limits and hangs out with her friends from lacrosse, including Gigi, the most popular girl in school. Unfortunately, they all fall asleep. Sarah is dreaming of a deer she needs to put out of its misery while a shirtless hot guy watches, when suddenly she hears shouts telling her to wake up. When she does, she’s confronted with Gigi in her death grip. Being the stereotypical mean/popular girl, Gigi sets out (and does) make Sarah’s life a nightmare for her unconscious disease. To make things more complicated, the guy from her dream turns up at school.

When a new drug, Dexid, comes up as a possible trial, Sarah is willing to give it a try- she wants her shot at normalcy. Dexid seems to work- in that it keeps her from moving during her dreams. However, she suddenly begins to see these new creatures, named Burners by Wes. They are horrifying and chasing her and Wes at every turn. The dream world consists of a train station where they can follow the passengers into their dreams off the trains. The Burners are there to stop them from entering others’ dreams. As Sarah learns, this is not all Dexid helps her to do, but it also helps her to possess the dreamer’s body and control their actions.

When the Burners attack, you wake up into a paralyzed body for a few hours- a fact which becomes terrifying when Sarah witness the violation of her body by one of the workers at the sleep center, Josh, and Gigi. This violation sets the stage for her subsequent violation of others when she takes control of their bodies. I would think this book would need warnings for sexual assault. If you don’t want to know more about it (this may be considered a spoiler) then skip this, but I want to include for people who might be sensitive. <spoiler>The lack of control over one’s body is really a pretty frightening concept, and there is a dubious moment of sexual assault during her paralysis (not clear if she was actually assaulted/how far it went), but this is not handled well, since the Josh is never brought to justice and may be doing any number of things to other sleepers (he comments about them all being zombies, so you can do whatever you want). I found this to be a bit horrifying and wish this was handled better by the characters in the book. The main characters then also sexually assault some classmates (stepsiblings) while on Dexid, and this is never brought to justice either and is really disturbing.</spoiler>

The writing is fast-paced and intense, moving quickly and making the book difficult to put down. I felt pretty uncomfortable at the events in the book (particularly what I mention above and the callous attitude towards it all), and for that reason, I’m not sure how I feel about it- I liked the writing style and the idea of the book- but the events were pretty disturbing. The concept of sleep disorders and astral projection is interesting but it is not really clear how the medication gets there (some explanation is offered, but a certain amount of faith is needed). I have some mixed feelings about it overall. It’s pretty heavy for a YA book, so I feel this is better suited for an older audience. Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.