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!!!

I enjoyed curling up to this book! I was happy to be able to get an advanced copy! To be frank I was not sure if I would like the novel due to not reading much LGBT genre books but OMG ! This novel was fantastic and wasn’t overly revolving around him coming out! I loved the fantasy aspect with this novel and can not wait to read more of Ryan’s work!!

I loved this book so much I legitimately hugged my iPad when I finished reading it. I laughed out loud, I cried, and I was completely invested in the world of Reverie.

I am not a huge fantasy reader, I have a difficult time finding fantasy books that I enjoy that aren't problematic. This book made me want to keep looking for more fantasy to read because I just NEED more books that make me feel the way Reverie did.

I was drawn in by this promise of "Inception, meets The Magicians, meets drag queens." A fantasy novel with drag queens?? A YA novel with drag queens where they don't solely exist to give an insecure straight girl confidence? I was all in.. This book did not disappoint me, I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first picked it up.

I was so so happy to read an LBGTQ+ book where the Kane's (our main character) story line didn't revolve around him coming out (I know it's important, I've just read the same plot so many times), but rather his sexual orientation just being part of him and his life but not being the only dimension of him. At the same time, the undertones of escapism, embracing your power, and facing your own toxicity were really powerful to me and are things that many of us have to face eventually, I think Ryan La Sala beautifully portrayed all of this in Reverie.

My only gripe with this book is I wanted to see similar growth with Kane's friends and more about their back stories, but this only leaves me with a hope for a sequel.

I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed Reverie. It was a breath of fresh air! I devoured this book and still can’t get over the story. I cannot wait to see what else this author puts out into the world!

Lyrically written, it is easy to lose yourself within the pages of this book. From the first page, the language is flowing, easy, drawing you in to the characters and the plot.

This will probably be one of my more basic reviews, but the message should definitely still get across.

1) This book is gay in the most wonderful is ways and I absolutely love that.
2) Magical drag queens.
3) Kane, our MC, is extremely relatable despite the bullshit he's been through.
4) A villain who is TOP TIER material.
5) Side characters you actually like.
6) Wonderful world building that makes you never want to leave the comfort of your reading spot.
7) Vivid imagery, phantasmagoric, and just very creative descriptions and writing.
8) Lovely underlying meaning of finding yourself and connecting with others.

My issues:
1) Kane makes some shitty decisions, or some random actions against others, at times. It seems like it's used to make conflict, but there's usually no point to it.
2) While i liked the side cast, some of them could really use more fleshing out.
3) The magic system could've been explained a bit better. You understand it for the most part to ignore the issues, but they definitely exist.

My opinion:
I think this is gonna resonate with a lot of readers! Kane is a very relatable character, as are many of the side characters. I'm sure that this book will find its audience. Some people will love it to pieces, and others may find it meh. I don't think this is a book many will hate though, so if you aren't sure I'd still give it a shot! For me, I really liked it, but I definitely didn't love it. It was a fun book with some of the most beautiful writing I've seen. This is a must buy for me, despite me having issues with the book. If you're looking for a VERY queer urban fantasy novel, this one is such a good bet. I look forward to whatever else this author writes!

I received a digital advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was such an interesting book. It wasn’t written in the usual young adult format. It almost was written more as an adult sci-fi novel. It was a truly unique story that pulls you in. This is one of those plot heavy books, it is not driven by its characters but it is made up for it by story substance. It was very fun to read.
My one real complaint is the magic system was very confusing, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was happening and how it was happening rather than enjoying my time. I reread a lot of the book just to figure out what was going on. I feel like we could have had the magic system explained a lot earlier and it would have saved a lot of headaches.
I absolutely adored that there was a solid LGBTQIA presence in this book. We need more books with a strong queer representation, and we get that with Reverie. Kane was by far my favorite character. Even though this wasn’t a character driven story.. Kane’s story was very compelling and had me very interested. I love that he was forced to battle his past even though he could not remember it.
Reverie kept me very excited through every page turn, and I found myself contemplating what was going to happen even when I wasn’t glued to my kindle. I really enjoyed Ryan La Sala’s writing style. He is incredibly honest and assertive in his writing and it is almost refreshing to the YA universe.
I really enjoyed Reverie and really hope we see this turned into a series. This is one of those stories that could easily have multiple books to follow and in my honest opinion.. It would make a stellar movie!
Thank you kindly to Ryan La Sala, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to review this book. This review will be posted on www.featheredfables.wordpress.com closer to the publication date.