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>

I received this book from Netgalley. It was well-written and very readable, but the combination of juvenile language and the extreme death depicted as well as other adult themes was a little confusing when put together as it made it hard to work out who this was aimed at. I guessed the ending about halfway through and didn’t really grow attached to any of the characters. It had the promise of my sort of book, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I didn't finish this book and stopped at the half. Not because I didn't like it at all, I was rather entertained, but because of some important things lacking and suddenly some insufferable ones appearing.

From the very beginning I had some great difficulties suspending my belief about one particular point: the sandman is not human and is ageless: he exists since forever, since the first humans. But in this story he's also and mostly a seventeen years old boy with magic powers. He had the exact personality of your random sweet YA literature love interest. I couldn't fathom why this ageless non human being suddenly falls in love with Nora (only one year ago we learn, how convenient since he knows her since she was twelve years old while he was....already millennias old). To be honest the heroine also wonders about it, but the book doesn't offer any satisfying answer.

Well this part wasn't so bad, the story was good and easy to read, and this kind of stretch is frequent in fantasy romances. But in my opinion the story would have been more touching if it had begun earlier, if we could have met the characters when they were falling I love, attending to their interactions. With more showing not telling.
In this book the two main characters aren't three dimensional ones, just very classic YA characters, not bad, not good.

Still, since the passage that made me brutally stop reading, I was about to put one more star to my review. But if approximative psychology is acceptable in YA reads (it shouldn't, but there we are) some misuses are not.
To explain myself clearly I'm going to write an extract and also make some small spoilers. If you want to read this book whatever it be and don't want it be told any detail about the story, please stop reading now.

At the middle of the story our heroine, Nora, has suffered a lot. Since the age twelve (she's now seventeen), she dreams every night about the sandman, who became a dear friend. She has been psychiatrically treated and used to think that she may be crazy, as her sandman can't exist in real life. If the reader understands that the sandman actually exists, in her dreams but also since the beginning of the book in human form, Nora has just found about it. Nora and the sandman also have just confessed their love to each other. So far so good.

But Nora has also just learned that the Weaver (the bad guy, the one like the sandman but for nightmares' side) has killed one of her acquaintances. Thanks to him, she has seen a young girl stabbing herself to death with a pencil, has discovered the gory mutilated corpses of her two best friends (incidentally there wasn't any therapy envisioned for her after that, so weird), have learned that her (rather estranged but still) father have just died, and is now desperately searching her missing sister, who has been abducted by the Weaver and is actually asleep, having such horrible nightmares that the experience will probably lead her to permanent insanity.
And here's the scene between her and Ben, aka he sandman, aka her brand new boyfriend:

"We rushed up to the nearest building, and I plastered myself against the back porch. The Sandman smirked. 'I don't think that's necessary ', he said.
I stuck my tongue out at him. 'Says you. If we get caught you can magic your way out of here. I waved a hand a hand at the shed. 'Check, please'.
'Sure, let me get my invisibility cloak out first.
'Sandman', I growled.
He laughs. 'Hold on, Nancy Drew'."

So, a few pages before Nora was falling to pieces - which was perfectly normal. But suddenly she has the heart to banter and flirt with the sandman while searching for (the body of) her sister?!
It was the final straw, I just can't read this kind of incoherent story. It's a shame as the author has made some commendable efforts for some many other points, as the difficulties of Nora's situation (she can't say anything because she knows she'd be immediately directed to a psychiatrist), or the fact that the police, if not believing her guilty, still believe that she's hiding something and don't stop interrogating her.
It's just that I don't believe possible to tell such a story. A sweet teenage love story can't be told in such a dramatic and horrible context, one must chose the book's totality at some point.

To conclude if you don't mind such logical flaws in your readings, and if the pitch of the book appeals to you, you may like it much more that I did.

I freaking LOVED this book.
The characters are relatable, the fantasy world rich and lovely, even during nightmare sequences, and the abilities of the Sandman and Nightmare Lord were a joy to see in action. I’m excited to see this series continue.

I have never read a book by this author before but I am so happy Dream Keeper was the first. I'm soooo excited to read more from this world!!
This is an amazing YA Fantasy that I cannot recommend highly enough.

The Sandman and the Weaver of Nightmares. Wonderful writing and world building, just wonderful, I tell you. It’s days later, and I’m still thinking about the picturesque night realm that author Amber R. Duell has created.

The characters are relatable, the fantasy world rich and lovely, even during nightmare sequences, and the abilities of the Sandman and Nightmare Lord were a joy to see in action. I’m excited to see this series continue.

This is an amazing YA Fantasy that I cannot recommend highly enough. Especially for fans of A.G. Howard’s ‘Splintered’ series.

‘Dream Keeper’ will be available on January 29, 2019.

#DreamKeeper #NetGalley - I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

Dream Keeper was an entertaining and captivating read. I loved the premise, and I enjoyed the presentation of the characters, especially the Sandman and Nora. The potential romance was nicely handled, and the pacing was good, keeping me always keen to turn the page and find out what would happen next. The ending went a different way than I'd expected, and I would be interested to read on to book two of this trilogy, to see how things work out. This is something a little different from the usual YA fantasy fare, so I'm sure it will appeal to many readers looking for a story that's fresh and new. 4.5 stars