In "A Dream to Die For" by Susan Z. Ritz, we're plunged into the enigmatic world of Riverton Falls, where dreams and reality blur into a chilling mystery. Celeste Fortune, a bartender with a penchant for globe-trotting, finds herself embroiled in a sinister web of cults, dreams, and murder when she stumbles upon the lifeless body of her therapist and cult leader, Larry. As suspicion falls on her, Celeste must navigate the murky waters of the Dreamland cult to clear her name.

From the onset, I was intrigued by the premise of the story—a small New England town haunted by dark dreams and clandestine cults. However, as the plot unfolded, I found myself struggling to fully immerse myself in the narrative. The story failed to grip me as I had hoped, and I often found my attention wandering, unable to fully connect with the characters or their predicaments.

One aspect that contributed to my detachment was the narration by Rachel Perry. While her delivery was competent, I found myself distracted by her attempts to mimic characters' voices and accents. This detracted from my ability to fully engage with the story, pulling me out of the immersive experience.

Despite these shortcomings, "A Dream to Die For" offers a unique blend of mystery and psychological intrigue. The concept of combining dreams with technology to create a shared dreamscape is both fascinating and eerie, adding a layer of complexity to the narrative. The exploration of themes such as loyalty, betrayal, and the power of dreams lends depth to the story, elevating it beyond a mere whodunit.

Overall, "A Dream to Die For" is a solid three-star read that will appeal to fans of creepy cult mysteries and psychological thrillers. While it may not have fully captured my attention, others may find themselves enthralled by its enigmatic charms.

This was a fascinating story. I couldn't stop once I started and finished the audiobook in about two days.

This book was a little difficult for me to relate too!

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

There’s a mix of mysticism and crime mystery here to keep the reader engaged. Celeste is an interesting character, kinda quirky. She woke up to a horrible dream, but feels the dream belongs to someone else. Tension arises when members in her cult suspect Celeste to have murdered her therapist.

Dreams - how likely is it to create a really intriguing & stimulating novel about it? Can they truly be owned? A medium that drives the way you vision! How am I even going to doze peacefully after hearing this audiobook? Now, I feel there's a cult out there waiting for me to fall asleep asap & begin dreaming!

Honestly, it took me a bit to complete this one. Initially, it was because I couldn't actually grasp much of the tale, then it became a bummer for me. So the first 50% appeared like a waste of time. But after that, I concluded the story rather quickly.

The narrative is absolutely exceptional & riveting, yet, I sensed the initial uneventful pickup can cause somebody DNFing it. There are numerous slayings, so it's certainly not for the faint-hearted. Perhaps, reading the account physically / electronically might aid in achieving better appeal.

Across the board, this murder mystery is unlike what I have heard of hitherto, but I won't frankly choose it again.

Thanking NetGalley, the author & publisher, for giving me an e-ARC. I'm willingly leaving my review in exchange for the complimentary copy.

I always kind of struggle with books about cults - because unlike a lot of cult-like behavior (ie the warning signs that someone is susceptible to a cult or cult influence), actually being in the cult doesn't happen to just anyone. It happens to people who are uniquely very vulnerable and willfully ignore good advice and common sense. And I struggle to support those characters because that kind of behavior makes no sense to me.

The premise is interesting, though, as someone who reads a lot of SFF. Using dreams as a medium for plot and character development has its charms. But the characters being a bit over-the-top made it hard to be 100% sold on this.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio copy in exchange for a honest review. Celeste is a member of a cult like group of dreamers. She has been having disturbing dreams. Then their leader Larry is murdered Celeste finds herself the main suspect.

This books had a very interesting concept, but the execution wasn't as good as I was hoping. The main character overlooked some obvious signs and made some rather poor and dangerous decisions. I wanted more depth from the characters as well as the plot.

Celeste Fortune found her therapist dead and directly all the fingers pointed toward her. Larry was not a real therapist nor a regular ome, he was the leader of a "cult" called the Dreamscape, he used his patients' dreams to analyse them and to lead them. A cult who believed in Larry and the power of dreams.

And it is a huge mumble-jumble of fantasy, sharing dreams, dreaming other people's dreams, acting upon the dreams,... And Celeste finds herself in the midst of all of that.

I liked the mystery part, it was interesting. But the fantastical side was a bit over the top for me.

Sadly, this was not the book for me. I did not get on with the narrators voice at all and the longer I listened the more u got annoyed by the story.

This one had me just shaking my head and rolling my eyes. A dream cult with a leader who assigned dreams and people to share dreams...yeah, saw that one coming, he was going to be the next victim. Too bad Celeste who wanted out of the cult had to find him when she did and now is being targeted. It made for a good listen. Glad I had this one in audio because I don't think I would have made it through the book.

**Received this ARC for review in audio from the publisher via NetGalley**

Thanks OrangeSky Audio and Netgalley for the ALC of A Dream to Die For by Susan Z. Ritz narrated by Rachel Perry.
Stolen dreams, cult of dreamers and death. It seemed a good novel concept but sadly it fell short in delivery.

There’s a mix of mysticism and crime mystery here to keep the reader engaged. Celeste is an interesting character, kinda quirky. She woke up to a horrible dream, but feels the dream belongs to someone else. Tension arises when members in her cult suspect Celeste to have murdered her therapist.

This book follows Celeste a chronic roamer who finds herself settling into the perfect town with a less then perfect relationship that’s complicated by her therapist Larry and his weird cult of Dreamers. Celeste is ready to break free from Larry who has an abusive hold over her so she can marry Jake , but when she finds Larry dying and calls 911 she becomes suspect number one as Larry implicates her with his dying breathe and the dreamers are angry.

Celeste is the type of main character that leaves you with an intense urge to scream “Why are you so stupid” over and over at the book. Despite this woman’s every idiotic thought and decision I kind of like her and want her to figure out the truth behind what really happened to Larry. There’s a mix of psychological and sci fi elements when dealing with her dreams, the dreamscape and the dreamers.
But I feel it tried to be a little bit of to many things so that it’s all a bit unsatisfying and you are left wishing you could have learned more about the dreams then about all the dozens of people involved by the end. I did enjoy it as it was an easy read with decent pacing so I’m giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review, thank you @NetGalley and @orangeskyaudio

This was an exciting thriller! I just recently had a vivid dream about another book I'm reading, and I kind of wonder if listening to this was part of why the dream was so crazy! This book has me rethinking dreams! The cult aspect was really interesting, and the dreams gave it a magical feel. I think this was an original story, and I really enjoyed it!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Thank you netgalley and Orange Sky Audio for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

We follow Celeste as she is thrust into the role of suspect after she finds the dead body of Larry, her therapist and cult leader. Larry led a group of "dreamers", his followers that did everything he dictated. Larry believes in combining dreams with technology, creating what he calls the "dreamscape", where Dreamers can share each others dreams. Celeste gets drawn deeper into the cult, as she as forced to choose between her fiance and Larry. And everyone, including the rest of the Dreamers, thinks Celeste is guilty of murder.

I really never felt connected to this story. It would fade into the background for me, never really capturing my attention. In addition, the narration was not my favorite. I am not a fan of narrators trying to mimic characters voices and accents as this narrator did. It definitely took me out of the story.

Overall, a solid 3 star story.

A cult leader therapist and some bizarre dream interpretations, mixed with some mystery… Initially I was intrigued by the storyline. Let’s go! I find dreams absolutely fascinating, the tend to never remember many of my own at all which is fairly infuriating. But this book felt unrealistic and just kind of strange at points, I think if you’re more interested in sci-fi this may appeal more? I think the whole time I kept trying to make sense of what was happening which was then taking away from the story.

The therapist to me seems completely unrealistic, and I just wanted to punch him in the face and was a palled at his behavior. And I struggled seeing that any one person would really go along with such treatment.

Overall this one was a miss for me, but I appreciate NetGalley offering me the ability to listen in exchange for my honest review.

This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I even wanted to dnf it, but I was a lot of reviews claiming that it was interesting, so I stuck with it. I kept waiting and waiting, but it NEVER got better. What a waste of time!

It was more of a dream cult exploration than a murder mystery. The characters are all complete idiots. There is an idea that they should all dream forward, dream the same dream, or dream someone else's dream. That they should date a person just because they "saw" it in a dream and so on. There are holograms? Dreams coming to life? Lighthouses that show the unconscious???

I don't know, this was a mess, and I hated every second of it!

Audio: I enjoyed the writing and the narration of this book very much. I think the plot was a little out there and not in a way that makes you want to believe it and know more. More like the way that you're like "oh puleeze" and that takes you out of the story a bit and hard to care about the characters. That may not make sense, but if you read it, hopefully you'll understand. Not bad by any means, but not great either.

I did a LOT of eye rolling and head shaking while listening to this book. Not at all a believable story for me the characters had no substance and the narration was definitely lacking. I can honestly say if I had been reading the book there would have been no way I would have finished it.