Sweet Nightmare follows manticore shifter Clementine as chaos unfolds at Calder Academy—a school for magical delinquents. When nightmares are unleashed upon the students, no one is safe as Clementine and her friends try to stop the monsters.

I want to start off by saying that I was not the target audience for this book. When I started this book, I thought it was an adult dark romantasy and quickly learned it is not 😅. While I love YA, Sweet Nightmare felt like it sat on the younger side of the demographic in terms of voice. It is quite humorous and full of pop culture references which is very different than what I am used to reading. Nevertheless, I would have eaten this UP when I was 15.

Overall, I definitely think there were great moments and interesting twists towards the ends as the answers the characters seek lead to more questions.

I would recommend this book for lovers of contemporary romance, paranormal, boarding school settings, and humorous prose mixed in with relatively dark plot.

5 Reasons to Read

Boarding Schools

Calder Academy is reminiscent of Catmere and I loved it! This secluded alternative school for paranormals was just what I needed. It’s got dark hallways filled with secrets and ghosts.

Paranormal Beings

It was so fun to be introduced to new paranormals in Sweet Nightmare. Clementine is a Manticore which honestly I didn’t think much about until watching Onward. I love that Tracy uses lesser known paranormals in these books because I’m introduced to newer lore.

Nicknames & Romances

The nicknames between Clementine and Jude are THE absolute best! From fruit alternatives to Clementine like cumquat and tangerine to classic rock songs like Dear Prudence. Every time one of them had a new nickname for each other it just made me smile. There were also lots of Aerosmith references too! The banter between Clementine and Jude reminded me of Grace and Hudson.

Friendships

Sweet Nightmare introduces us to a whole new band of friends. It’s the same found family friendships that we grew to love in Crave so if you loved that series than this one is definitely for you! I also didn’t realize until later in the book that it is set in the same universe as Crave so I’m hoping we’ll get some cross overs in this series as it develops!! I can’t imagine bringing both friend groups together!

Secrets

Clementine knows her mother has secrets but it isn’t until she finds out why Jude left three years earlier that things start to reveal themselves. Let’s just say that Sweet Nightmares couldn’t have been a better title for this one because the nightmares Clementine faces are just the beginning of all the secrets that have been kept from her over the past three years.

🗡️ SWEET NIGHTMARE 🗡️

This is my first @tracywolffbooks book and omg my sincerest apologies for taking so long to read one 🥲

Sweet Nightmare is set at Calder Academy, a school for the paranormal located on a secluded island. This book is dark and action packed. The chapters are short which makes it too easy to keep reading late into the night 😅 Also, the chapter titles?! If I didn’t already love the book so much, Tracy would have a new fan from chapter titles alone 🤣

I honestly wasn’t expecting the level of dark this book is 😅 And the ending?! Gimme the next book NOW!

Also, I really loved all of the characters!

I’ll be reading the Crave series asap 🫡

Sweet Nightmare blew my mind!

As a Crave series spin off I was expecting something similar but it's completely different in the best kind of way.

I loved the mistery of it, not knowing was was happening must of the time, wondering if it was a dream or if it was real for the characters.

I can't wait to know what's next form them in the series.

Thank you entangled teen, Tracy Wolf, and Net Galley for this E-arc, all thoughts from this review are my own.

The Calder Academy series is a spin off of the Crave series. The story is told from the point of view of Clementine Calder, whose family owns the Academy. The Academy is for rogue paranormal teens, and she has lived on the island that houses it her whole life.

An excellent read with amazing characters and descriptive world building. Tracy Wolff’s style of writing allows you to become immersed in the story and really feel what the characters are going through. The unexpected ending has me waiting for the second book to come out! Highly recommend.

What an exciting read! It hit the ground running and the action and adventure never stopped. Clementine is a student at Calder Academy. A school for supernatural beings who need their powers suppressed until they can learn to control them. When a hurricane hits, she and her friends are all trying to figure out how they're going to make it out alive. Their powers are flickering in and out and students are dying left and right. But all hell breaks loose once the monsters manage to escape 😳 And that ending... Gah! I need book 2 asap!

Rating: 4.5/5⭐️

Sweet Nightmare is a spin off of the Crave series which I haven’t read, but I’m even more excited to read it after reading this book! I had no trouble following along having not read that series.

Calder Academy is where all the bad paranormals get sent. Their powers locked down as soon as they get there, there’s no chance to use them at the Academy. Clementine Calder, has never gotten that chance to begin with. At the Academy her whole life, all Clementine wants is to get off the island as soon as she graduates. With a storm brewing, tension rises, secrets are waiting to be unfold, and the atmospheric setting will keep you glued to this book! Throughout this book though, you can expect Clementine’s interactions with everyone to keep you amused. Her funny banter with everyone brings light to this eerie island that only gets stranger and stranger as time goes on.

Thank you to @tbrbeyondtours @tracywolffbooks for the #gifted copy. Please go to https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/ to follow the tour schedule for this awesome book!

Thoughts: Sweet Nightmare is a YA paranormal fantasy book and a spinoff from her Crave series. Calder Academy is a juvenile detention center for bad paranormal teens. It was fast paced and I absolutely loved Izzy’s character! I can’t wait for more!!!

Wow what a ride!! So much happened. The beginning of the story did start off with the school setting, introducing us to how things worked. Essentially it’s a boarding school for a bunch of paranormal baddies who’s abilities have been “shut off” magically so they can’t cause trouble. While functioning like a high school, it’s also meant to reform them.
Clementine isn’t bad, but she’s part of the founding family of the academy so she’s been there all her life and therefore has never had access to her manticore power. Though the degree to which her mom makes sure she never leaves hints that theres something powerful about Clementine. Especially as flashes of things begin to occur, foreshadowing at what’s to come.

Then there’s Jude. The history between these two runs deep, except he’s been icing her out the past three years after their kiss. Talk about ghosting— and not the ones that Clementine sees.

Then a hurricane comes and the absolute chaos commences. The magical wards start coming down periodically and students begin getting their powers back and shifting, some die, and monsters are running amok. Secrets come out, and revelations are learned that are quite surprising. Instead of staying apart, Jude and Clementine may be stronger together.

The details of Clementine’s abilities are really cool!! I won’t spoil, but I did find the insight we got with them pretty awesome and also suspenseful.

Also, as a fellow New Orleanian, I loved the representation with Remy !

Thank you Entangled Teen and TBR & Beyond Tours for the gifted copy of this book!

A deadly magical school, nightmarish creatures, a fractured relationship... can one girl brave it all or will her nightmares consume her? Calder Academy is the scariest school on earth. Its an academy for rogue paranormals, filled with fae, vampires, mermaids, phoenixes, werewolves and more... the student body is practically killer. Clementine Calder is the daughter of the headmistress and a manticore and she is grieving the death of her favorite cousin, nursing the broken heart her ex best friend left three years ago after he kissed her and then ghosted her, and also her strange visions that she's begun seeing. Clementine is a 17 year old girl and she's already got so much on her plate, from being forced to clean up after the deadly creature menagerie that her school has to being forced to work with Jude Abernathy-Lee, the one boy who destroyed her heart that she just can't seem to stop loving. When a giant storm hits the isolated island that the school is on, things only get worse as the power goes out, nightmarish creatures are on the loose, and now Clementine and Jude have to face their unresolved relationship and the fact that they keep kissing each other and then pushing each other away. Can they survive the storm as well as the feelings between them? Clementine is plagued by ghostly visions and she's also begun seeing the past, present, and future, (and she's been transforming into a manticore without any real reason... talk about brutal puberty). She knows June is hiding something, he claims he loves her but can't be with her because he has to protect her... but he keeps coming back for her, and she knows he's hiding a big secret that could destroy everything. This is the first book in a series and it was quite a fun read, it definitely gave off Wednesday (Netflix show) vibes! I think its a fun high school paranormal read and the relationship drama was so much fun to read. I am excited to see where the second book goes and what happens to the characters!

*Thanks Netgalley , The TBR and Beyond Tours Team, and Entangled Publishing, LLC | Entangled: Teen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

As a diehard fan of the Crave series, I was so excited to read this new series and it didn’t disappoint at all. I absolutely love Clementine so much and her relationship and connection with Jude. The horror aspects of this book were so well done and I found myself getting freaked out at some points. I really enjoyed getting to see Remy and Izzy again, but I think Luis was definitely my favorite character for sure. I’m so excited to see where this series is going to go and can’t wait for Sweet Chaos to come out.

Sweet Nightmare everything you could imagine and more. Tracy Wolff is a genius! Everything from the storyline to the characters to the monsters is incredibly captivating.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4.25 stars
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book via TBR and Beyond Tours in exchange for an honest review!
Sweet Nightmare is the first book set in the world of the Crave series. It takes place on Calder Academy, a school for the troubled paranormal kids.

“The past is set, but the future can change. Nothing that hasn’t happened yet is set in stone.”

I really, really enjoyed the first two books I’ve read in the Crave series! While not having finished that series yet, I was excited to learn of a new series set in the same world! Tracy herself said that you can start this series without having read Crave beforehand, since it won’t spoiler anything. Having read this book, I can confirm nothing seemed to be a spoiler!

I loved the beginning of the story and the way the characters were introduced. Tracy Wolff has a way of writing books, that draws you in and makes it quite hard to put the book down, no matter how thick the book is! The writing is just phenomenally done, and I loved the humour and sarcasm these characters have!

I really liked the characters! Clementine is such a fun character and I really liked how much she cares about her friends and how badly she wants to get off the island. At the same time, she is confident and doesn’t let go of what she wants. That is very admirable. Jude is a very layered character, who is so much more than he seems to be at first glance. The weight on his shoulders is heavy and I loved his growth. All characters are written really well, with their struggles and triumphs well developed and clear.

The romance was done really well! I loved the chemistry between Clementine and June, and I adored the pet names they had for each other, and the banter was everything! It was predictable how that would play out, but I still very much enjoyed reading about it!

The plot had a lot going, but I have to be honest as well, it’s very predictable. The twists in the plot didn’t surprise me as much. At the same time, I still have some questions and not everything that did happen is clear to me. Due to this, the story feels somehow unfinished to me. I do really hope that the sequel will clear the questions I still have after finishing.

Overall, I really enjoyed Sweet Nightmare and really look forward to the rest of the series!

Sweet Nightmare is the first book in the new Calder Academy series which is a spinoff of the Crave series. I’ve never read any of the Crave series but I had no trouble understanding or following along.
I was hooked from the first page and really enjoyed the first half but somewhere around 60-70% my attention started to wane. I liked the short chapters and loved the chapter titles!

Calder Academy is a school for rogue paranormals who’ve broken the rules or lost control of their powers. At the academy you’ll find vampires, witches, werewolves, fae and so much more.
The main focus is Clementine and Jude but we meet a pretty large cast of characters so there is no shortage of entertaining banter and sass.

With Clementine and Jude we have the ex-best friends to lovers trope - with a dash of touch her and die. It’s been three years since he kissed her and then never spoke to her again. As expected, she’s angry and hurt. I just wanted them to take a second and talk through their problems. The angst and the push and pull between them was SO GOOD though.

There’s non-stop action as the storm heading toward the island upgrades to a category 5 hurricane and the wards blocking the students from accessing their magic begin to fail. As if the storm wasn’t bad enough, the idea of these troubled paranormals suddenly having uncontrolled access to their powers adds to the suspense.
It’s clear there’s something magical at work as conditions on the island continue to deteriorate and chaos reigns as nightmares begin to come to life. Everything about the nightmares was fascinating as well as horrifying.

There was quite a bit happening at the end but I’m excited to see where the next book will lead!

This book is dark and suspenseful and has the most complicated characters, even though they are all younger. The premise of these kids who can’t control their Powers being sent to the school to control them is fascinating. Having the main protagonist be the daughter of the head mistress who doesn’t fit in and also feels alone and then vines herself, trapped on another place with the bad boy of a school filled with those who can’t control their powers. I was hooked on this book from beginning to end. There are so many secrets that come out during the book and even the end had me gasping in surprise. If you want something that is dark somewhat magical yet has the most complicated intriguing characters. This is the book for you.

I received this arc as a gift.

In true Tracy Wolff fashion, this book was delectable and the start to something new. A spin-off to Crave, Calder Academy gives us all what we're asking for and what we love from this author. Clementine is a joy and I loved seeing her development.

I had the opportunity to get an e-Arc of this book and I loved it! I ate this book up and left no crumbs. The storyline was so fun and engaging and at no point did I ever figure out ahead of time what was happening. I loved Clementine, Jude and all the side characters. I cannot wait until the next book!

Thank you so much to Entangled Teen and Entangled Publishing for gifting me the Netgalley widget for Sweet Nightmare. This review is entirely my own thoughts and opinions based on the advance digital copy I received!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Sweet Nightmare was a wild ride of a story that never stopped. It kept me on my toes and cuddling further under my blankets as the nightmare that is Calder Academy unveiled before my eyes. Clementine is a teen who has spent her entire life on the island Calder Academy resides on. She's never been allowed to access her magic and its been a point of contention between her and her mother, the headmaster of the Academy. When a storm hits the island situated in the Gulf of Mexico, things begin to get hairy, and scaley, and firey, and... nightmarish. And worse, it seems her only chance at surviving is to align herself with Jude, the one person on this island she wants absolutely nothing to do with.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

MY THOUGHTS:

I enjoyed this so dang much! It was a wild and crazy ride from start to finish. Once the storm got going, Tracy never really lifted her foot off the gas pedal. The whirlwind of action and reveals combined with short chapters made this novel easily bingeable. This is my first time reading Tracy Wolff and from what I'm hearing, this is a spin off of the Crave series so now I gotta go read that. (Good thing I do already have CRAVE sitting waiting to be picked up on my shelf).

This book has a great YA-grade Gothic atmosphere that permeates the entire story, which kept me on the healthy side of slightly spooked and anticipating what happens next (as opposed to nail biting and sweating bullets). Tracy's writing is great, easy to read, full of wit and tons of character. She's incredibly talented at writing build up and giving incredibly satisfying pay off while also hooking me hard for the next book. which yes, I'm absolutely picking up!

In regards to Jude and Clementine's relationship, I really adored them. Their history, their chemistry, the push-and-pull nature of their attraction to each other. Their banter was absolutely spot on and I really loved their pet names for each other. I thought it was cute and unique. The growth of their relationship over the book felt natural, especially under the duress the two found themselves in.

Overall, I really loved this book! I'm incredibly grateful that Entangled sent me the e-arc!

Sweet Nightmare is the first book in The Calder Academy series, a spin-off of Tracy Wolff’s Crave series. The story takes place in the same world as the Crave series but with a new setting and cast of characters. Though you don’t have to have read the original series before reading this, there are characters and references to events that Crave readers will recognize.

Like the Crave series, the first thing I noticed about the book was the author’s exceptional use of chapter titles. She does titles so well, and I look forward to them in all of her books! They’re quirky and funny while still relating to and giving hints about the upcoming chapter. The chapters are also relatively short, which makes it feel like a fast read.

I also noticed the strong voice right away. Wolff is really skilled at creating dynamic and fully realized characters that you want to learn more about. The story is told from Clementine’s point of view. She has a distinct and entertaining perspective, and the first-person narration really immerses you into her story, thoughts, and feelings. Clementine is the daughter of one of the leaders of the academy, and she has never left the island. She goes through a lot in her personal life as she deals with broken relationships, missing and murdered ex-students, secrets, lies, and more.

As much as I love Clementine, I really need to talk about Jude because I love a dark and mysterious MMC, and Jude is all that and a bag of chips. I can tell why Clementine is so hung up on him because he sounds like a broody, angsty, and gorgeous enigma with some dangerous secrets. And the ex-best-friends-to-lovers romance between Jude and Clementine is the best! There’s so much angst between them, and the chemistry is fantastic.

The story also has two great found families that start merging into one. Love it so much!! There are so many intriguing secondary characters, and I have a feeling many of them will have large roles in the next book. As far as the plot, it’s suspenseful and mysterious, and the whole story has this eerie, ominous feel to it. With secrets, lies, a dark academia setting with a massive storm about to pummel the isolated island, murders, an island of supernatural students who can’t access their abilities, unusual and dangerous creatures, and so much more, there’s a lot to sweep you away in Sweet Nightmare.

Special thanks to TBR & Beyond Tours, NetGalley, and Entangled for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

Sweet Nightmare is the First Book in the Calder Academy series by Tracy Wolff.

This series is a spin-off of the amazing Crave Series. Having read the Crave Series and LOVED it I can say this book stands alone if you dive right in without reading the Crave series first.

The story is about Calder Academy told from the perspective of Clementine Calder who is 17 years old. His family owns Calder Academy a boarding/detention center for paranormal youth.

The Academy is set on a tropical island in the Gulf of Mexico. A Category 5 Hurricane hits the island and that's when things get a little crazy.

This is such a fantastic start to a new series. The characters are well crafted, flawed and well fleshed out as well as FUN and funny.

“I am stronger than all of the problems and challenges I encounter. I just have to believe in myself.”

Really looking forward to the next book in this exciting new series.