I thought that the world created here was interesting and the nightmare realm especially fantastic and descriptive. Unfortunately, it simply lacked something to truly hook me.

My absolute favorite character here was Kail. We got very little of him, and all towards the end, but I just loved him. He's part of the Weaver's blood army, though his motives are questionable. Aside from him, the Sandman was probably the next best character. Especially when he was serious about something and when he was fighting the nightmares. An angry Sandman is awesome. My problem was something that has been getting to me more and more lately with these YA books. I'm starting to get really annoyed when these characters that are thousands of years old act like friggin teenagers. At this point in their existence that should simply be impossible, but every goddamn time they're around the girl they love they act like an awkward teen. I get it, the girl is a teenager and that's who the books are directed to. Still. It's getting really old because it makes no sense.

As for Nora, I started out liking her a lot more than I ended up. I thought that she was mature for her age and tried hard to be normal. Considering her past and her questioning her own sanity, it's not always easy. But she made a good go of it. It wasn't until later that she started to irk me with her decisions and I began wanting to smack some sense into her.

So basically what happens here is that five years ago the Sandman bound the Weaver because he was releasing his nightmares into the day world and that was unacceptable. To protect everybody, the Sandman then hid how he did it in Nora's mind as a dream. Making her the Dream Keeper. Unfortunately the Weaver's binds are weakening and he's determined to get that dream from Nora and free himself. He has no issue with killing those she is closest to in order to get her to submit. The Sandman does what he can to protect her, but his power too is weakened and limited.

After so many years of questioning her own sanity, Nora is relieved to find out that the Sandman is real. But along with that truth comes other truths harder to accept. When her sister is taken captive by the Weaver, she vows to save her and to kill the Weaver for all he's done. But to do that she must enter his nightmare realm. Things go from bad, to good, to worse rather quickly and now Nora is faced with deciding if her vengeance is worth losing the trust and love of the Sandman. In the end she makes her choice, and nothing will be the same again. Not even her relationship with the Sandman that she loves so much.

I have to say, the ending was rather predictable. And honestly, I have no idea if I want to see what happens next.

Dream Keeper is the first installment in author Amber R. Duell's The Dark Dreamer Trilogy. A fair warning, this story is dark. There are grotesque death scenes that may not be suitable for those who are triggered by blood and more blood. Personally, none of this affected me in the way I rated this book overall or my desire to read the sequel. This story alternates between 17-year old Nora Gallagher, and the Sandman who is the only one who has kept her sane since her parents divorce.

Nora has had an ongoing relationship with the Sandman every night for the past 5 years. The same Sandman who is supposed to keep the nightmares away while you are sleeping. Nora learned that talking about the Sandman to her friends and family was a no no as it would only land her into treatment yet again. 5 years ago, the Sandman placed a dream inside of Nora's mind thus making her a Dream Keeper.

The Dream is the key to unlocking an invisible barrier keeping the Nightmare Realm from spilling into the Dream Realm, or even the Day Realm. But, the Weaver is pushing harder and harder for Nora to release the Dream to him. The pushing ends up with several people that Nora knows being murdered in a brutal manner and her older sister, Katie, being kidnap and held in a world where nightmares are actually alive. As Nora weighs in on this new reality she thought was a safe harbor, and ends up in a battle between the Dream Realm and the Nightmare Realm, the Sandman will need to use every trick in the book in order to save her. But, will it be enough, or will the Weaver get what he wants?

The Nightmare Lord is one of the creepiest and disturbing villains you will meet. He keeps the creep factor constant throughout the story. The real terror unfolds with the vivid death scenes, each more brutal than the last. The tension remains high and there's definitely tons of unexpected twists and turns. In other words, there's a lot to make this a read which is hard to put down.

Book # 2 - Dark Consort
Book # 3 - Night Warden

Je ressors donc de cette lecture très mitigée car j’ai adoré l’intrigue et l’action. C’était plein de suspense et c’est un bon récit d’horreur. Cependant, le bât blesse sur l’héroïne car ses qualités ne suffisent pas à contrebalancer ses défauts.
Elle n’a pas ma sympathie mais la fin de ce tome attise tout de même ma curiosité car je sens qu’il va y avoir énormément d’action. Le potentiel de l’intrigue est certain alors il est probable que je passerai outre ma non-sympathie pour Nora pour lire la suite.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my thoughts in any way.

Dreams have always given me a certain kind of fascination. I don't think I've read much books about dreams except for Dreamology which is a contemporary. But this... This is exactly what I've wanted! When I first heard of Dream Keeper, I was—to put it midly— interested. And when I saw this available for request on NetGalley, I was very excited. So I guess you can imagine my (joyous) outburst when I got approved for it!

This is nothing like I've read before. Dream Keeper is told in two perspectives, Nora and The Sandman, and it follows both their journey in saving the people they love (for Nora, her sister, and for The Sandman, well, Nora) and the whole world along with it.

The Dream Realm and the Nightmare Realm, a whole other world once everyone falls asleep, were really amusing to read about. Written very well, I especially loved the spooky vibe that the Nightmare Realm gave and the ghastly things inside it.

The death scenes mentioned in the synopsis really were horrid so fair warning if you're not comfortable with that, maybe skip those particular parts? But I'm not really bothered by that kind of thing so those scenes combined with the vivid description of each and every nightmare, added much more to the eerie reading experience.

Nora, our main character, can be a bit immature at times and although I don't agree with some of her decisions, I still very much like her strong personality. Despite her overwhelming fear, and even though there's nobody she can turn to except for The Sandman, she maintains headstrong to save her family and the whole world along with it. I mean, who wouldn't admire that? Her mother thinks she's crazy, people around her are dying and she's considered the main suspect. If I were in her shoes, I would have broken down in a heartbeat.

A very interesting and unique plot? Check. Amazing world building? Check. A strong female main character? Check. Fantastic writing? Check. I highly recommend you include this book in your TBR—or, much better, read it immediately!

First I would like to say thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book! I really really enjoyed this book. The second I saw it I was intrigued. The cover art is beautiful and I really enjoyed the summary. There is not a lot out there about the Sandman and I think Duell has an interesting interpretation of the myth. I really like we get both Nora and the Sandman's perspectives throughout the book, it makes for a more engaging tale. I . can't wait for more people to read this!

In exchange for an honest review, I got an e-arc of dream keeper via netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Dream Keeper is an inventive and dark YA tale that is truly unlike anything I’ve read. That’s hard to come by nowadays, and I appreciated how new and fun this world felt. While the plot was intriguing, the main character became a bit tedious, making the same mistakes over, and wish there was more development on the secondary characters so the emotional impact could have resonated more. 3 Stars!

I had the pleasure of reading this and it blew my mind! I've read stories about the Sandman, dream realms, and fantasy before but this one is dark and deliciously twisted. I really liked this book. It's new and fresh. The writing style is definitely unique and the characters are evolved. I love the world building and the insight into her frame of mind when certain scenes happen. I'm actually really glad I requested this book and I can't wait to read more from this author. In most books about The Sandman, you expect an air of whimsy and sweetness, but definitely not the depth of emotion and terror the characters feel in this story. I absolutely loved it! 5 stars and definitely 2 thumbs way up!!

As soon as I read the synopsis for Dream Keeper I knew I had to read it. The story is very unique and, honestly, really interesting. I love that the story is set between two worlds and also in two different points of views. The entire time while reading I was incredibly engaged in the story. In fact, I had one heck of a time putting the book down. Thankfully while I was at work, I was upstairs answering calls and could read between calls.

The world building was very unique and I had an easy time painting a picture of the worlds and characters in my mind. I especially loved the Sandman and the Weaver as characters. Nora was great, too but she didn't stand out quite as much as the other two. I do really hope that we get a little more background on the Sandman in the next book. I have so many questions! All in all, Amber R. Duell is a great writer.

In regards to the story line, it was great. The book was hard to put down and I couldn't help but NEED to know what happened next. There was a bit of gruesome content, but I loved the realness of it. Not to mention, all of the nightmare creatures were very interesting and unique! Lastly, that ending had me on the edge of my seat. I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Fabulous, fast paced story that is not your childhood fairy tale of the sandman. It grabs you and takes you on a ride that’s horrifying yet kind of romantic.

I liked the premis of this story. I love the whole idea of the Sandman so I’ve been on the lookout for a story that does him justice. So far it’s not been a great success. Before this one, the only other book I’d that was similar was the Lullaby and that was just so awful but that’s another story, back to this one. In this book, the Sandman is friends with Nora a girl who he has been protecting for the last few years after hiding a secret inside of her. This is all complicated by the fact that he has fallen in love with her and his nemesis the Weaver is now trying to get to Nora in an attempt to steal back what the Sandman has hidden.

The characters were fairly well developed but I didn’t feel that much of a connection with them. I think this is mainly because of the angstiness of them, particularly Nora – I don’t know something about her just felt off, she came across as very childish.

The Sandman was a very interesting character, I would have liked to have known more about his past and his relationship with the weaver, there’s not a very in-depth back story to them and I really feel like it would have given then the story a more solid foundation, however this is a trilogy so perhaps this will be explored in further books.

I don’t really have much more to say, this was an ok read but nothing to shout about. I think I’ll probably read the next book just because I’m curious about where it’s going to next.

I Recommend This Book










Strongly
This is another fun fantasy read and I would recommend it. The story is unique and interesting. It is well written in a style that is easy to read and keeps you interested. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this novel.

The concept of this book really intrigued me, we don't see a lot about the Sandman in fiction and I think it was really well executed but in the end I didn't enjoy it that much because of some things. For one thing, the deaths around Nora are an important part but she didn't seemed affected that much. I could understand when it was people she didn't know well but when it was her (best?) friends she just seemed to accepted it like "oh ok" after the initial shock which was really weird for me. All the rest was predictable -- like the romance, I had to sigh at some points -- especially the end which didn't surprised me at all.

I'm so sad to say that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I was expecting too. I was so excited to read about this world of dreams and nightmares, but as the story went by my excitement decreased until it vanished. The darkness in the plot was involving, but as the story went by the story became overly dramatic - something worse would happen chapter after chapter - and predictable. Also, I feel the characters should have been more developed (I could not feel sympathy by them, even for Nora who goes through so much loss) as well as the relationship between the Sandman and Nora.

Well now, I have to admit that the first thing drawing me into Dream Keeper would have to be that beautiful cover. But once I took a glance at what the book would be about I couldn’t help but be curious. As a long time fan of horror the line “start mysteriously dying gruesome deaths in their sleep” stood out like a sore thumb and made the think of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, sign me up please. While Dream Keeper isn’t exactly horror it is a darker young adult fantasy with some gruesome deaths involved so it may not be for everyone.

Seventeen year old Nora has had an ongoing relationship with a figure in her dreams known as The Sandman every night for years. Nora learned a while ago that talking of The Sandman to her friends and family was a no no as it would only land her into treatment yet again. However, now another entity of the dream world has found Nora and this one is not her friend. The Nightmare Lord tracked down Nora after The Sandman hid the key to his escape within Nora making her the Dream Keeper and when others around her begin to die violent deaths Nora knows she needs to face The Nightmare Lord in his territory.

The Dream Keeper by Amber R. Duell is the first book of the young adult fantasy The Dark Dreamer Trilogy. One thing I can say is it’s certainly different and didn’t take long to grab my attention. While it has the darker almost horror vibe to some of it the story also has a bit of romance making it one of those that crosses genres and I do love a good mix to a story. Obviously being part of a trilogy there was an ending that left the door open for more in the series which will certainly be interesting to see what the author comes up with next.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book is incredible, and I could not put it down. In fact, it is so good that you should not even be reading this and be figuring out a way to get this book now. I need more Sandman and Nora...

To read my full review check out my blog at https://bookgirlreviewsbooks.blogspot.com

5/5 stars (if I could give more I would.)

Such an incredible read. So honored to have been able to review such an amazing book. Will post a full review at release time so as to avoid spoilers but really looking forward to more

I had a great deal of things that I liked about this book. It is very well written and the plot is defiantly new. I liked the idea of a young woman and Sandman having a romance, but once the relationship peels back a little there are some strange feelings. He is in spirit way older and should be much more mature than Nora, but he seems stuck at 17. The death doesn't seem to be taken very seriously in parts of the book. I had a weird feeling from this because of today's society.

This book is vividly full of nightmares that will make your skin crawl. I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this book up, but descriptions that made me truly shudder was not one of them. This book propels readers into a world of dreams, somewhat reminiscent of Freddy Krueger, and just as chilling. While I enjoyed the premise and world building, I struggled to find a true connection with the characters. I was rooting for them for sure, but never truly felt as though I got to know them, which made plot points plod on at times and also built confused feelings surrounding some character choices. However, these slow paced moments coupled well with moments of exciting action. Overall, this was a very well written, young adult adventure that I am sure the targeted demographic will love.

*** A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. ***

I was lucky enough to get a copy of Dream Keeper off NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I know it's early in the year but I've already got one of my favorite books for the year. I started at 8am this morning, had work and then read again until I finished this at 9pm.

Dream Keeper follows the story of Nora and the Sandman (yep the one from stories who gives you dreams). I hadn't read anything like it before and though I was initially intrigued by the plot I was skeptical because I felt it could be either brilliant or horrible. Turns out it was well written, fast paced but with enough world and character building to connect your with the story and just an overall enjoyable book.

The plot is solid and progresses at a quick pace from early on but does give you a couple of twists and cliffhangers that will leave you wanting more.

Nora is incredibly likeable. Unlike a lot of fantasy Nora actually questions her sanity and has had to face the contemporary ramifications of claiming you are friends with the Sandman (think psychologists, therapy, hospitalisation). As someone with anxiety and PTSD it is brilliant to see a strong, independent, desirable character that you can relate to and has felt it thought things you have too.

The dynamics between Nora and the Sandman are genuine and sweet. Things make sense romantically and it's not insta-love, not love to hate and not an excessively slow burn either. A stranger to friendship, to confidante to crush, to love.

The ending is satisfying in that it wraps up the main plot line but also leaves us on a cliffhanger making way for a sequel (which I will definitely be reading and can't wait to do so!)

<b>4/5 stars</b>

Really loved this take on the Sandman and Nightmare (aka Weaver)! You never really see books focused on this story/guardian, so this was a really nice breath of fresh air! The plot of Nora being a Keeper of a very important dream, one which the Weaver is determined to get ahold of, makes for an interesting plot. I absolutely LOVED the Sandman in every single way possible. While there were times where I was slightly unfocused in the story, a few pages later always brings me back in. I thought this was a really nice read! I definitely would recommend it.

<i>Thank you to The Parliament House for giving me this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.</i>