"Dreams of the Boardwalk" is a rather okay urban fantasy. It's a bit predictable and can verge on the boring. It's certainly not interesting enough to often keep my attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for release of this book for an honest read.

This was such good urban Fantasy. I did love NYC setting in this book. If you love a good uban book then you need to pick this book up. The plot and world building was very good and fresh.

Received from NetGalley
Completed 1/11/19
123 page ebook

This book started off alright but soon became repetitive and boring. The blurb is essentially the story, with a little bit of filler but not too much.

Sarah hates her life and so she goes walking and on one of the walks, she dreams a "dream boy" into existence. Because she can't cope with her real life, she goes back night after night to be with her dream boy, basically willing him to become real. The book starts out ok, then it's the same thing over and over, almost a groundhog day effect, only it's dull. There's paragraphs about how the boardwalk has changed and paragraphs about how they fool around and it's just dull and boring and there's no substance to it.

The best I can say is I didn't hate it, which is why I didn't rate it a 1. I'd say 2 1/2 stars, and I rated up to be generous, but I really wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than at 123 pages, it's a super fast book to read, but you aren't really getting much out of it.


Setting = B
Plot = C
Conflict = C
Characters = D
Theme = D

Twenty years of marital bliss and financial security went up in a puff of smoke with the signing of 'the papers'. Now forty-five-year-old Sarah found herself single and looking for employment in the job market. Taking whatever she could get she was forced to hold down two jobs just to get by. When not at work she found solace from her humdrum way of life by walking the boardwalk and the beaches at one of New York's treasured landmarks, Coney Island.

Barely scraping by, the main protagonist found herself immersed in a dream that transported her to a fantasy world that had been missing from her life - romance and adventure. Surfacing in a recurring dream of daring youth and unleashed vitality turned her life around. When lost in the dream-state of these special adventures, she would meet up with her boyfriend at the boardwalk. For Sarah, it was love at first sight. This was everything that had been missing from her present life. It was unbearable to find it all gone upon awakening.

In some mystical way, the younger version of herself in her dream fantasies carried over to her waking world. Astonishingly, for all to see, fifteen years of aging had been erased overnight. Almost unrecognizable, the few that knew her were dumbstruck. Unfortunately, it was not destined to last. The flip side of her romantic escapades revealed themselves as nightmares. Reality as she'd known it came crashing down. Her world was beginning to unravel.

I send my gratitude to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Dreams of The Boardwalk
by Matthew Keville
2017
BooksGoSocial
5 / 5

I absolutely loved this urban fantasy of New York City, the energy and vivaciousness of the streets--the trains and stations--the markets and vendors--the boardwalk and history of Coney Island--I felt the intensity and desperation, the constant flow and movement. New York City never sleeps.

The life of Sarah Brannigan has hit it's peak years ago, and now at 45, she finds herself divorced, alone and broke. Shes sharing an apartment with 5 others and is about to lose her job.
Sarah begins walking the streets of NYC, ending up in Coney Island. The boardwalks once loud and crowded and full of lights has long been a ghost town. The rides closed, the booths nailed shut long ago. It reminds Sarah of her own life, once full of hope and promise. When she falls asleep on the boardwalk she has dreams of her life as it coulda/shoulda been but the more she dreams of her failed life, the darker becomes the ending until she has nightmares she can't escape. The dreams, once used to escape, now are chasing her...

There is something for everyone in this book.
It is a short quick read, but full of charm and unforgettable dreams.