I'm going through the books on MyShelf and reviewing the ones I can get my hands on, and I was able to get a copy of Pretty Dark Nothing. I loved the premise of the book and was really looking forward to reading it, unfortunately, I'm going to have to add it to my DNF pile. I know It's listed as YA, but it read more like a middle grade book for the following reasons.

The imagery grabbed my attention right away, so that was a good start.

"Perspiration trickled down the small of her back, and she shivered as heavy fog weaved through the maze of trees, devouring the trunks until it blocked the way out."

But then, the story took a misogynistic turn. I figured, he's a teenage boy (Marcus) but it got worse.

"Look at her man! The hair, the butt, the legs leading right up into that short little cheerleading skirt."

We're seniors, man. You can have any girl you want. Have you seen the fresh meat walking the halls? Let's line up for the all you can eat buffet."

That's just 2 examples, and the girls were just as bad as the boys. They also said one thing and a second later did something completely different, and back and forth, and back and forth. I got whiplash. Again, they're teens, so I guess some of that is to be expected, but this happened in a totally nonsensical way.

The boys were misogynistic and the girls would talk about how independent they were, and then act completely helpless. The kids are supposed to be in high school, but they talk and act more like they are in middle school. And then there's Kristen. She was a total psycho and everyone just let her get away with acting like one, which made no sense.

All in all, as noted, I wasn't able to complete the book. Because I don't know if it's just me that felt that way, as other people didn't seem to, I don't feel comfortable leaving a review. I don't want to prejudice people against it if it's just that I couldn't connect with it. I'm also leaving a 2 star rating here because I really did like the premise. I thought it was very unique.

I would like to thank you, though, for the opportunity to read and review it.

I requested this several years ago, I will not be reviewing it now but will try my best to review it in the future. Thank you for the opportunity.

I requested this several years ago and I don't think it's a book for me anymore. So I will not be reviewing at this time, but if I do read it, I will update this review. Thank you for the opportunity.

A well crafted and well paced read, however it was not one I was able to connect with fully. Am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to read and review this story.

I thought this sounded really interesting, and it started that way, drawing me in learning about the nightmares but I never really connected with Quinn and I wasn't invested in her story anymore.

Pretty Dark nothing by Heather L. Reid is a spooky book, in which Quinn tries to fight the demons she has in the night.

I wanted to like this book so much. But it was not meant to be :( The premise sounded intriguing, but it had several issues that I had trouble looking beyond.
1: I was beginning to feel less and less like it was paranormal and more that it was depression/psychological forces at play (no I am not trying to make light of anything, i genuinely thought this was a book where that was going to a be shocker).
2: The plot took so long to develop I felt it was all rushed in the last half of a chapter.
3: Love. She is 'in love' with this guy after 1 date and 1 kiss? I mean really?! No. I was lost at that point and the only reason I finished reading is to say I finished it.
4: The entire boyfriend/exboyfriend thing. Just....no.
5: LOVE. I'm sorry I cannot get over this. Dude gets pissed Quinn is not more in love with him AFTER ONE DATE AND ONE PASSIONATE KISS.
6. I just can't.

As someone who occasionally has sleeping problems where I stay up for days, this book really called to me. The description was extremely intriguing, claiming that Quinn, a young teenage girl, hasn't slept a full night in about twenty three days. She's plagued by shadowy creatures when she does finally sleep, and it started about eighteen months ago when her dad walked out on her and her mother.

The shadows aren't just scary looking, but they tell her bad things. Taunting her, telling her she's not good enough, and that her ex boyfriend never liked her. The story is told through the third person viewpoint, and alternates views every other chapter, between Quinn and another teenage boy named Aaron. He doesn't have the happiest backstory either, after losing his mother and little sister in a car accident that he was present for, he almost lost his life as well. His father is a grief stricken alcoholic, and his little brother does whatever he wants. He's not ready to be a parent, but he has to be for the sake of his family.

Though this seems like just another teen romance book from the drama that encapsulates the characters, it's so much more than that. Yes, it has the makings of the those kind of books, but this story has angels, demons, the afterlife, and even death in it. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and their "powers", if you could call them that, and I had a very easy time picturing them reacting with the world they're in. This was a book that I got and forgot about, and I wish I would have read it sooner because it's really an interesting tale.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

I liked the idea of the demons. Quinn's world was scary and intriguing and she stumbled around through her day trying to be caffeinated and pinch herself to stay awake. She doesn't want to fall asleep and see the Demons. Being the head cheerleader and valedictorian are both on hold and slipping farther away as she pushes off homework and reports and studies. Even her boyfriend of many years has broken up with her and his new girlfriend loves to torment and tease Quinn as well.

and finally we have Aaron. Sweet, wallflower of a boy who has noticed Quinn and is hoping to ask her out, now that she's not dating the long time boyfriend anymore. but the set up and their first meeting were about the only parts of the story that really hooked me in.

I didn't like the struggle of Jeff not figuring out what he wanted, mean girl Kiersten seeming to be at every corner and Quinn tugging Aaron around because of the whispering weird voices. Even her best friend was a distraction that I didn't really like. I don't think I'll be continuing this series.

The premise of the book is interesting enough. Girl dreams of demons that start to bleed into her waking life. Boy, who has some physic power himself, is able to see into her dreams and see the darkness around her.

This book was a DNF for me at about 25% in. Nothing about it appealed to me. I found it very hard to connect to the main character and didn't like her at all, and because of that, I found myself struggling to connect with the story. I had to put it aside and really doubt I'll pick it up again.

I liked it and have told my followers to get themselves a copy for themselves as it is a really good read.
recommended to not only my followers but friends and family

This book started out seeming really promising – it was interesting and really creepy. Unfortunately, it started frustrating me as it went along and took a real nosedive at about the halfway point (and didn’t really recover until the very end, at which point it felt like too little too late).

What I enjoyed:

The creepy concept.
Quinn has really disturbing dreams – but when the creatures from her dreams start to filter into her waking life, things get truly creepy. There are some really great spooky scenes at the beginning of the book when the shadows start to talk to Quinn, and I was really excited to learn more about them. Unfortunately, the creepy shadow creatures weren’t used to their fullest potential though (see my second negative below for more on that).

The ending.
The end of the book was a complete twist and you learned a lot of things that made the whole story more interesting and put everything in a new light. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, it was too late for me to really change my overall opinion of the book, and I probably won’t be reading the next book to find out what happens next. Probably.

The negatives:

High school love triangle.
Unfortunately, the book soon spiraled from being a creepy supernatural thriller into a teen love story, complete with insta-love and a love triangle. I never really entirely liked Quinn, and her constant waffling between her ex-boyfriend Jeff and her new love interest Aaron didn’t help matters much. There was lots of high school drama in this book. Sometimes I’m okay with high school drama, but in this case, it wasn’t done particularly well. I just couldn’t bring myself to care which boy Quinn was going to end up with – and the instant she made a decision she sabotaged the relationship anyway, so … yeah, I was not on board with the romance, and that was pretty much what the book was about once you got past the first quarter or so.

Squandered creepy concept.
Like I said, I loved the spookiness of Quinn’s dreams and dream creatures at the beginning of the book. Things seemed like they might get really interesting in the middle of the book, but suddenly the creepy beings turned into weird matchmakers – apparently, the only thing they cared about was who Quinn was dating. I was sorely disappointed that threats about who Quinn dated were the best the shadow creatures could come up with. It was kind of all explained at the end, but I was already too frustrated at that point to care as much as I should have.

So, while there were a few things that I enjoyed about Pretty Dark Nothing, they were, unfortunately, mostly overshadowed by the love triangle and high school drama. I give this one 2/5 stars.