*ARC received from Netgalley in return for an honest review*

I am late to the game in reviewing this one and I feel so bad. Not only was it an interesting world, but also a fun romp. The plot kept the story going keeping me intrigued for what was going to happen next. I also enjoyed all the relationships between the different characters. For once, the sister felt like her own person and not just a prop for the main character which is great! I love when family members actually have a point for being there. All in all, I would recommend this book for those who want a fun LGBTQ fantasy read.

This is a story filled with whimsy. The story of Kane, gay teenage boy with missing memories with powers and friends he has yet to discover. How he lost those memories and his abilities is a mystery and as those answers come to light this story begins to take shape. With those memories also come the reveries.

Reverie starts off slow. As the reader following Kane you are as disoriented and confused as he is. That takes some getting used to. You are completely unsettled and off kilter. Finding your footing in this novel takes time. And once you think you have a grip on Kane’s reality, the world shifts and your calling into question the motivations of everyone around Kane and even his own character. It’s a slow burn to the truth.

But I really enjoyed this. The first 50 pages or so take effort to get through though. It’s almost too confusing. You never have a leg to stand on, so you are lost in this would. Once you gain your footing the story takes off. It’s imaginative with really intricate, descriptive world building. There’s a running commentary throughout that I also enjoyed and found really witty and entertaining. The characters really come through in the powers that they possess and the bond they create with each other. I ended up finishing this book rather quickly. Like I said once the story came together it took off and I was intrigued. Definitely recommending this novel. It’s extremely imaginative with great world building, a villain you come to hate and a main character you see grow into the hero he needs to be.

In a world where dreams manifest into alternate realities that swallow up the world around them, Kane Montgomery and his friends are the only ones that can save their reality and the dreamers. Kane Montgomery is an average young man who woke up from a coma with a big chunk of his memories. As he works to piece together what he is missing, he discovers that he has powers and friends that work to unravel things he calls reveries, when a person’s inner reality slips out and melds with the world. Following a mysterious accident, Kane meets Poesy, a magical force who collects reveries and their creators, who is searching for the loom, a powerful item that can weave a new reality. As Kane and the Others, his powerful friends, work to unravel the various reveries that pop up, he discovers that Poesy isn’t who he thought, and that he had found love in a servant of Poesy’s, Dean. When he realizes Poesy’s true mission, Kane, Dean, and the Others work to end Poesy once and for all in the reverie Kane never wanted – his sister Sophia’s.

This book was a wild ride. I had expected a mystery or a thriller, but instead found myself in a world of magic with a premise I have never seen before. La Sala’s story is unique and gives representation to a marginalized group, with the main character and his sister being gay. Reverie explores the bonds of friendship, love, and trust as Kane and his friends fight to save their world. I loved this book, and I usually don't enjoy books written from a man's point of view. It was very well-written, featuring real characters with their own secrets and problems, an antagonist that didn’t start off that way, and a very real threat in the form of dreams manifesting. I wish I could give more than five stars. I only hope that there is more to this world and that Ryan La Sala will write it.

Reverie is a really kooky and fun book, but I still felt it was just okay overall and found myself skimming parts.

High school student Kane gets into a fiery car accident which burns down a historic building, but he can barely remember anything about what happened, and people are acting weird. It soon becomes clear that his friends know more than they let on, and that the drag queen counselor who interviewed him at the police station is super sketchy.
As Kane and his friends get drawn into sudden dream-like sequences, he must figure out what is causing them, how to stop them, and how to tap into and control his strength and power, which happens to sometimes come in the form of rainbows shooting out of his fingertips.

While this particular area of fantasy is normally not my interest, anytime I can check out a book by an LGBTQ Author, I try! This book is painted with beautiful words. Ryan's sentences are clearly lovingly constructed, and he has described some of the most beautiful mental pictures. The drag queen godmother/villain is the best. Posey made me full-on cackle as I read, and I thoroughly appreciated the levity and fear she brought to the book. The plot is...a lot. That isn't a bad thing, but as the person who has a very hard time remembering 3 characters' names, remembering what was happening wasn't very easy for me. But, I think this will be such an easy sell for fantasy readers, LGBTQ YA fans, and teens looking for some fun and adventure.

*Disclaimer* I am presenting on this book at YALSA, but I requested and read the ARC mostly before I knew this was happening or was even a possibility. I was offered the chance to talk about this book when I was already more than halfway through it. This is a fair and balanced opinion.

Having these books fall into my hands was a godsend given that we are looking to add more LGBTQ+ leads into our library collection. The main character is fantastically gay and is a very well-developed character. It is so hard to find books that are written well in character development, plot, and situations in which a character is gay, but I think we’ve found a great one. The character design in this book is and was exquisite. I enjoyed reading all the descriptions, development, and love put into the characters from the very beginning. Many of the characters have found their way in the world that is so important to that character that I can’t help but love them. Kane awakens to a “new” world in which he has no memories and is haunted by some huge, creepy, ghastly thing in which he cannot stand. He makes his way through the world without knowing anything of his life and has to go through complex situations—we don’t lose the character here, he stays IN TACT which is fantastic.

There are many themes and ideas that come into this novel such as love, heartache, self-respect, protection, and more. I really loved delving into the world that the author created as it is such a magnificent creature in and of itself. The many traditions and customs that she created was great and I really enjoyed seeing that in a book—we don’t see that written so great often. The characters in this book caught my attention so much and I believe that students would be able to connect to the different characters as well (there is someone for everyone). This can be utilized for many grades and many different groups of people—it would be a great book club book.

There is a lot of backstory that can help you understand what is happening cover to cover. I would suggest this book for a book club or even independent reading as it is not a difficult read and definitely has the high interest aspect to it that all students can get with. The characters that rush into danger is immediately something that my students would gravitate to and love to read—because who doesn’t love action in every form? Especially with a gay character at the helm who is tough but also gentle at the same time.

Quick Star Rating: 4.5/5 stars

So I absolutely adored this book so so much! It was such a wild, crazy adventure! You didn’t ever know what was going to happen, but it worked so well because in dreams nothing makes sense half the time lets be real. I loved the idea of reveries invading our world. It’s something we probably even as adults wouldn’t mind happening well maybe if there wasn’t an evil villain trying to enslave and command us.

Kane is hands down one of my new favorite characters. I love seeing his journey come to a circle with learning not only things about himself, but others! I love seeing growth this way. No one is perfect so to see mistakes being made was so realistic. Plus Kane’s comments killed me (see quote below)

“Kane absolutely did not want to fight the Dreadmare. He wanted to kiss the Dreadmare. Maybe. He slumped, defeated.”

I really loved the representation of this book. It was such a wonderful thing to see all the different pieces and thoughts. Also this is my first book I’ve actually seen a drag queen character in, it was like icing on top. Okay maybe the mini easter eggs for like sailor moon and xena was icing on top and the rest was the yummy middle. Either way, do yourself a favor and add this book to your tbr! The cover is perfection, the story is lush and full of queer representation and KANE IS AMAZING!

I wanted to love Reverie by Ryan La Sala so much!

Reverie has a wonderful cover that draws you in immediately. The plot mentions a boy and a fantasy world that revolves around dreams. Everything I hoped this book would be – it wasn’t.

Kane is a gay teenager who is trying to pick up the pieces of his life back together after an attack leaves him with no memories of the past. He is in the search of who he is and who he was, and he discovers an alternate reality that he was involved in.

Reveries are worlds born from a person’s private fantasies, and once they manifest they can only be unraveled by bringing their conflicts to a resolution. Reveries have rules and plots, magic and monsters – anything you could wish for. And one wrong step can twist the entire thing into a lethal nightmare maze.

Sounds complicated already?
What if I told you that this is only from the blurb and the book doesn’t really explain these things at all?

Kane is an unraveler, together with The Others. Or at least he was, until one of The Others purged Kane of his memories. And here we are now, with Kane trying to solve the mystery and fight against evil.

I jumped into this book very eagerly, and was disappointing immediately, within the first couple of pages. The reveries and their whole concept were quite confusing, to the point of me not knowing whether the characters are now in a reverie, or in their real world.

Reverie had an amazing concept and it could’ve been done way better than this. I am just disappointed. It all seemed a bit messy and felt like it wasn’t thought through…

I didn’t connect with any of the characters, except for Kane, for the below reasons. And that was it… I didn’t care about any of the others, and there were quite a few characters.

One thing that annoyed me about Reverie, was the exaggeration of the #OwnVoices.

I am not against it, on the contrary! I love equality and I love diversity, and I share love everywhere and to everyone, and if you know me in real life, you will know this about me. We are all equal and different at the same time, and that is the unique thing that connects us all.

However, this book keeps mentioning that Kane is gay. And Kane is a lovely character. He is smart and he is brave. His memories were lost and is desperately trying to find out who he is, who he was, who are his true friends, who is good and who is evil. He doesn’t take for granted on what people tell him. He is AMAZING. Kane was so much more than just gay. But the author kept trying so hard to put an #OwnVoices hashtag on this book, that is was quite aggressive and off-putting. I love books that feature #OwnVoices, but Ryan, please – a little bit of modesty would’ve been nice.

I keep feeling this pressure of trying to write a book review that will not offend anyone, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I need to say that sometimes, there can be such a thing as “too much OwnVoicing” in a book. And we shouldn’t be afraid to point it out!

I am really sad about this one, guys. Honestly, I expected it to love it so bad, and now I feel down. I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you think you will love it, please pick it up. You are valid!
Thank you to the team at Netgalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, for sending me an ARC e-copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

In a world where anything is possible, Kane wakes up with no memory of certain people and events in his life. What's more, he lands himself in a reverie, a daydream made possible by magic. He and his friends, the Others, work together to keep the reverie as calm as possible before unraveling it. But there are people that are interfering that don't have Kane's best interest at heart. Who can he trust when he can't remember anything about what he used to do and it seems that everyone has lied to him?

So I know advanced reader's copies usually go through a final round of editing before publication, but this one had more than the usual amount of errors in an ARC. Also, some of the sentences were just poorly written. "It smelled like her smell...". Also, we're told that the reveries tend to be mild, and then they are anything but. I liked that La Sala was inclusive in the characters, but I felt Sophia's interest in females felt forced next to her brother.

There was a big cast of characters who all had very unique talents in working with the reveries, though outside of Kane, I don't think we got to know too much about them outside of the reveries. Kane himself was a very angry person, which I can understand because of him having no memory, but I don't think that's a justification for how he treats people and expects what he does. The reveries themselves were colorful and highly imaginative.

This has a bit of a slow start, but once the book started to pick up, there was always something going on to hold your interest. I think with some editing this book could be turned from an okay book to something really great.

Reverie is one of those great books that keeps you on your toes and offers twists and turns you did not see coming. Having the entire story told from Kane's POV was a great way to introduce readers to the world of reveries - you learn along with Kane as he struggles with the loss of his memories, but also do not know who to trust just as he does not. Kane is an interesting protagonist, as a teenager he is impulsive and does not always think before he acts. This makes him a more real (albeit frustrating at times) character. The supporting characters are interesting too and they are given something to do other than just be Kane's sidekicks. I would have liked to have had a scene where Kane explains everything he learns about what happened in the events in which he lost his memories just so that some people would be a little kinder about the decisions Kane made. There was a slight pacing problem right before the big showdown, but it did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book as a whole. I also really liked that this is written as a standalone novel. I do not think there are enough of these types of stories as everyone is feeling the need to write trilogy series. That being said, I also like that it ends in a way that if the author wanted to continue to write stories from this world he can - I would definitely be up for some short stories featuring the Others and the reveries..

This book made me laugh so many times, I cried. It was a very fast read. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC, I really enjoyed this fabulous read. If you are looking for something strange, unique, that will make you laugh out loud and cry at times. This is the book for you.

This book is queer and magical all rolled into one. What more can you ask for? This is one with strong characters that I would DIE for. The magical and fantastical aspect was beautiful. What a beautifully written book. I can't wait for more from this author.

How do I describe this book? I honestly don’t think I can. At first the writing style really threw me, it was like it kept me at a distance and deliberately tired to confuse me. At one point I considered putting it down but I stopped myself... I wanted to see if I could continue.
As I continued I found it got easier, then suddenly I was devouring the book.
It’s something that grew on me the more I read.
It’s very clever in a way and I am glad I stuck with it.
It was like I was in my own Reverie that I had to unravel and the only way to do that was to go through it. I had to read it to it’s completion and then it would fade away and once again bring me back to the real world.
Like I said — clever.
If you like books that challenge you, that make you work then I would recommend reading this.

As soon as I read the premise of Reverie I knew I had to read it. Let me say it DID NOT disappoint. I loved the LGBTQ representation so much that I had my 2 LGBTQ children read it and they agreed. I’ll definitely be adding it to my classroom library and I’ll be on the lookout for more from this author.

What a great read, this debut by Ryan La Sala. There are lost memories, dreams to fight through, crushes, and the protagonist is a gay teenage boy. So many YA readers will love Reverie. It deserves to be in middle school and high school classrooms and libraries. I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

I couldn't make much sense of this book, sadly. I didn't understand the magic system and the characters fell pretty flat. I was excited to read this one but it didn't work out for me. I wish the characters had more depth; even if I didn't understand the world, better characters would have kept my attention.

I don't know how to feel about this book. I knew it was about a gay teenager trying to piece his life back together after he lost his memories. But I also knew it was a fantasy story about dreams being turned into reality. Was some of the gay symbolism over the top? Sure. Did I hate it? Not really. The main character, Kane Montgomery, has the power to shoot rainbow beams out of his hands. Not sure it had to be rainbow in color to make the point about his powers though.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time writing a review about it because I think it was just an okay book. The synopsis was intriguing, and that's why I requested it from NetGalley, but then when I actually started the book it took me forever to get through it. I kept putting it down and going to something else. I did wanna know how the story ended so it wasn't like this was gonna be thrown into the "never gonna finish" pile, but I'm glad to have this one behind me.

I really wanted to love this one. While I found the premise interesting and the magic system blew me away, the characters were one dimensional and flat and the whole thing was just a mess. I feel like it needed three more rounds of revision to tighten everything up and make this the queer fantasy wonderland I was hoping for. I will read Ryan’s next book to see how he grows. There is something here, it just needed more time.

This was a mind-bending mystery that left me guessing through most of the book. Trying to put together the pieces of Kane's missing memories kept me reading. What begins as a teenager searching to remember what led to his accident suddenly becomes much more when it becomes apparent reality itself isn't what it seems. Add in complicated family and friendship dynamics and this made for a unique ride.

This was such a fun and unique little journey
This whimsical mystery delves into the world of dreams. Its dark and strange and we learn as we go, since our narrator, Kane, has recently lost all of his memories for the last couple months. As he uncovers the secrets to the life he doesn't remember, we meet a cast of characters all wrapped up in his puzzle.
Not everyone is who they seem: acquaintances could be friends, friends could be enemies, and enemies could be lovers. I loved the not knowing; the unraveling of this story...
The idea behind this story was so unique and different from anything I had ever read before. What if an individual's dreams came to life and you had to maneuver through them and make it out alive? So much fun!!!