Dream Me was very imaginative. The author captured the essence of a teenage girl with such youthful prose while keeping the reader hooked to the story. Though the fantasy aspect of the story line is not as full as would be expected, the reader's interest is kept on learning about Babe and her friends. The book provides a quick, easy read, though the chapters are not nearly as long as desired. The idea behind the story is something unheard of. Fantasy novels often explore tales where Earth has been destroyed or is dying, but the idea that the future people of Earth harness the technology to send a person's consciousness back in time to live in another person's dreams is new territory. As a young adult fiction novel, this story fits the bill, but it is missing much of its underlying story and lacking a great deal of content in the way of the fantasy genre.

I was left wanting for the story of Earth, and yearning to learn about the technology that allowed Zat to live in Babe's dreams. The chapters, and the story itself, seemed too short for my personal taste, and read slightly offset alongside the "blog entries". Babe was an exceptionally well written character, but Zat needed more substance. I would have liked to learn more about Earl and how he came to be with his involvement in the ending of the story. I enjoyed the book and my interest was kept, but I feel like there is so much missing still.

What grabbed my attention first was the detail in how Berla sets a scene. She has this poetic artistry in how she describes a scene so you can visualize where it’s taking place but it’s more like looking at a landscape painting than a photograph. There’s a plethora of characters to follow and thankfully her character development is well thought out so you can get to know these people and want to know how their lives will evolve.

It’s such a beautiful story I found myself turning page after page even at 3a when my body and eyes were begging me to let them have a rest because I wanted to know how it ended. I’m pleased to say the ending was better than I thought it was going to be which helped ease the pain from lack of sleep. The book gave me very pleasant dreams to drift off to….

This book got a 3.5 out of 5 stars in my rating book because there are somethings I didn’t completely understand or particularly liked as I read it.

Dream Me is a love story more than anything.

This book is about finding true love in the most unexpected places such as dreams. Yes I know it sounds cheesy and all, but I feel like it actually is about discovering what love is. It describes love in a different way to what I’m used to. It tells the story of how much someone is willing to give just to be with that one person that is more important than life itself.

Dream Me, started amazing, there was this whole idea of an alternate universes that hooks you in from the beginning. And then the idea of Zat choosing to leave everything just to be a dreamer (you thought I was going to spoil it for you? NO LOL!). The whole story is full with hints of how much love means to Zat (even if he is not completely certain about what he feels, he knows he feels something).

I really liked the incorporation of the blog as part of the storytelling and the comments on the blog. I thoroughly enjoyed how Babe would describe her dreams and then there would be these users telling her how they worry about her or how the “dream” was so vivid it felt real.

Also the whole mystery of how Zat was in her dreams, and how did he get there and also how they both live on Earth, but not really. Seriously for like half of the book I was questioning my reading skills, wondering if I had skipped through an entire chapter where everything was explained.

One of the things I didn’t like is the way the relationship developed. Babe is all about the romance and all about true love and finding it, but it felt a little bit forced, because she had this new life and then she had the dreams and it felt like she would give up everything just to be in this dream world which I’m totally not okay with.

Also I would have like a little more explanation on who the dream world worked (won’t elaborate because that can be a potential spoiler) it felt like I was reading the screen adaptation of San Junipero (Black Mirror series, season 3, on Netflix, great series by the way).

And that is pretty much the only reasons why I didn’t give it a higher rating, I just felt it a little bit forced in some parts and in others I would have love to have a better explanation of situations.

But the concept of the story is great; it is a book that has all the elements to be a great story. It might not have felt like that for me, but I’m sure that many others will enjoy it.

This book is difficult to review. Let's get the first thing out the way. I did like this, I really did. It wasn't a heavy, full of endless description kind of book. It's more of a holiday romance with a little bit of sci-fi thrown in. Exactly what I wanted to read actually as I've been reading high fantasy of late and you always need a bit of a break from that.

So, there are, from what I can gather, 3 story arcs going on in this story. The first is Babe (cool name!) and her endless moving. She's moved from California to Sugar Dunes. Her father's a golf pro so I suppose they must move where the money is. That's usually at country clubs where the rich dwell. Babe isn't excited about the whole country club thing. She's pretty immune to it right now. She's seen more than her fair share and knows exactly what happens at these places. She's spending her summer working in the tennis shop and helping the pro run the day to day chores. Babe makes friends, she susses out who the queen-bee is of her peers, who the 'alpha dog' is (her words, not mine!) and gets involved in a reach-out program at the tennis centre. She makes friends and carries on with her summer. So far this part of the story is pretty contemporary, so I enjoyed this.

But then we have the whole sci-fi portion intertwined. Zat is a human, a more advanced human, living on a dying planet Earth--an Earth of our future. With the choice of leaving the planet with his family to search for another habitable planet, or stay and become a 'dreamer.' He chooses to stay because he's intrigued with the girl with the red hair called Babe. Apparently in this future earth they have technology for you to go back in time but the only way you can go back is to enter a chosen person's dreams.

I'll admit that this portion of the book was way too vague for my liking. The emphasis wasn't on world-building (huh) or filling in this picture, the author's writing turned more poetic and visionary rather than include solid factuals.

The third story arc is the love story. Yes, at the root is Babe and Zat both wanting to fall in love but facing a whole lot of obstacles. The first being that Zat is only in her dreams, therefore occupying her (or at least that's how I read it). They form a lovely bond but of course it can only go so far. A side-effect of having these lovely dreams is that Babe develops terrible exhausting headaches. Simply put, she must not dream of Zat if she wants to keep the headaches at bay.

Dream Me also has Babe describing her dreams with Zat as a blog, and the story includes a portion of this blog during nearly every chapter. My only gripe with this was--too much writing. While the blog advances the story it does only serve as a tell-not show purpose. My other feeling on Babe's narrative and the blog narrative was they weren't a whole lot different. If you've ever read a seventeen year olds blog they are certainly not as well written. My point is there wasn't enough difference between them and while writing a blog in a book is very 'present day' it only serves as a way to skip past events to advance the story. Oh, I'm not explaining this well...let's move on.

All in all, as I wrote earlier Dream Me is a good fill-in story that you can read in a day. The concept is interesting but I would have preferred a full on contemp with Babe and her friends, or a full on Sci-fi with Zat and Babe. The two combined together sold the whole story short IMHO. Still, great writing and beautiful descriptions. If you have a rainy day and want cheering up then this will definitely do for you....

This is a fantastic young adult series and what a great start to a new series i loved it and couldnt put it down

This book was way too better and insteresting than I expected. It was one of the sweetest love stories.

This book caught me since the first chapter. I really liked the differnent narrations (Babe's point of view, Babe's blogs and getting to know Zat's "world" from a third person), it made the reading very fresh, light and easy-going. The language is not complicated or intrincate, so this book is suitable to be read by adults, teens, pre-teens... I think everyone will enjoy reading this fantasy romance book.
I supposed that Pioneer One may be someone Babe knew, but I didn't expect it to be Earl! (I always thought it could be Alonso because he didn't talk and was so shy). The end of the story was beautiful and perfect, but it'd be even better if it'd have a second part (please please!) I have so many questions! (Will Babe leave for college, or will she stay in Florida with Zat and go to college there? What will happen with her life? Will Zat befriend Earl or live with him while trying to get to know our Earth?)
To sum up, this book was very fresh, easy to read and with a great love story that A LOT OF people will love to read!

A cute little love story with sci-fi elements, good use of imagery, and journal entries of a girl and her experience.

I read this book because of the excerpt provided in the Buzz Books Young 2017 Adult Spring/Summer collection that really made me want to read on. So I did! And Dream Me didn't disappoint me.

I would say that there are three different threads in the story that are interwoven with each other: Babe's story, Zat's life in the future and Babe's blog where she talks about her dreams. The first one about Babe's new life after their family moved also was the part that I liked best. It could have almost been a story on its own. I really liked Babe and her friends as well as the setting and the description of the bay and the country club. The characters and situations were very relatable. In contrast, Zat's life in the future was very different, but very interesting. I liked the author's version of the future and it's not the usual science fiction setting. At least, I hadn't read anything like that before. However, these parts were a little too short in my opinion. I would have preferred to learn more about that. The third part, Babe's blog, was the one that I didn't like as much as the other two. It was all a little vague and it was hard for me to believe her feelings towards Zat. It didn't convince me.

That's why I have to agree with other reviews that said that the book didn't use all of its potential. But I found myself enjoying it so much that I can't give it less than 4 out of 5 stars. And the overall story was very good, as well as the writing. Recommended to anyyone that enjoys a new and innovative vision of the future, young adult love stories or stories about teenage friendships (because that is a huge part of the novel).

Answering the age old, what if our fantasies for a written character became real; and doing so in a very interesting way.

It's an exceptionally easy read, it's also easy to get lost in the story and the characters are relatable, which is all one can ask for in a book. 

It's serious but not too much, as there's plenty of "fun" sprinkled all over the book. And alternating between Babe, Zat, and Babe's blog gives you plenty of different points of view to drive you deeper into the story.

And once I got about halfway through, I couldn't put the book down. It's that good.

Didn't know what to expect from this book before I started reading it, but it turned out to be a great read. Perfect for those times when you're in" between series, in a reading slum, or generally don't know what to read. A perfect pick-me-up.

Only gripe I have with the book is that it ends too soon. I felt like it could have been a little longer, like the end came too soon.

I will be posting this review on my blog and Goodreads page on June 11.

OMG, this book is so amazing. It is just perfection. So amazingly written. After finishing I had a bit of trouble gathering my thoughts. It is just one of those stories that stick, change you, move you.


The book tells story of Babe and Zat. Babe just moved to Florida with her father, golf pro. Because of the nature of his job, they've been moving a lot. She work for the summer in the tennis shop. A lot happens. She meets people, forms friendships, even has to deal with harassment. She also writes blog about what is going on in her life. You get to know her really well. Her story is intertwined with Zat's. He is from he future, resident of dying Earth, trying to find place to live. It is like contemporary story ft. hard hit sci-fi. Just amazing.

Their stories come together in beautiful way, that moved me and made me cry. I almost stopped reading, like 20 pages before the end, because I wasn't sure if it will be the good or the bad ending. Also the book made me cry a lot. The ending was the most beautiful thing ever.

Happy reading!

Anie.

Pleasing young adult fantasy novel. A boy from the future dying earth, gives up his family to live in the mind of a young girl in.the present day. His aim is to experience life, she falls in love.

Great book, and I wish I could day dream like this! I wanted to review on amazon but it was not available for reviewing yet on amazon.us

First line: <i>"He thought about the girl again."</i>

I rather enjoyed this novel which I was able to read courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for this review. Dream Me is a novel that is definitely quite different from novels I've read recently, but this is probably a good thing. I enjoyed the premise of the story and the characters, such as Mai and LeGrand, who were really interesting, likeable, and realistic, but it would have been nice to learn about these characters in further depth.

Babe is a typical teenaged girl whose parents' career leads her and her family to move to different parts of the country every few months or years. This story is set in Sugar Dunes, which seems like a quaint town with plenty to discover.
Zat is a dreamer from the future, and he appears to be quite different and definitely very interesting...and even more interesting to me than the rest of the story and characters in some senses. However, I found that after a certain point in the novel, we don't get to hear very much about Zat except in Babe's dreams...which is fine, but is ultimately what resulted in my 4 star rating, as I wanted to know more about Zat, the future world, how he learned to dream, and how he came to exist solely in Babe's dreams.

I liked the Berla's use of Babe's blog to communicate about what was going on in her personal life, as it was a good complement to the chapters. This novel was definitely an interesting read that got and held my interest. I would definitely consider reading more of this author's work in the future!

I first want to say that I have read many books but I found this book harder to review then others. I really enjoyed reading this novel but I found it to be a light hearted romance novel with a bit of sci-fi added to the mix. This book was a great break from the typical books that I usually read. I read this book in a day because it is a fill in the blanks kind of book. Berla has created a unique plot line, beautiful description of the settings and characters but there was missing backstories with a few holes here and there. Overall, I found this book did cheer me up and was a good read.

Babe thinks dreaming's addictive? Try this book. Honestly, a really great read. It was a little bit sci-fi, a little bit fantasy, a little bit contemporary YA, and a whole lot of fun. The blog entries backed up by the dual perspective kept things interesting and moving, whilst all the characters were a lovable, relatable bunch. Sure, it felt towards the end as if a couple of Zat scenes were missing before he made his decision about - let's say stuff - but it all tied together very nicely at the end. I'm glad I read it.

It's an enjoyable book and a very well written. I'm totally into it right from the beginning. The story is so unique which left me speechless. I totally loving it.

OMG, this book is so amazing. It is just perfection. The writing is wonderful and so full of vivid imagery and lovely sentences. The cast of characters is great and all experience character growth at a natural pace. What grabbed my attention first was the detail in how Berla sets a scene. I was truly swept away, and couldn't put this down - I had to know how it would end! A fun story all tied together with a delightful ending. I'm pretty sure there was a big smile on my face when I finished

The only way he could be with her was in her dreams. Zat was from a dark, distant future Earth and in the desolation of his world, people no longer dream, yet Zat does and his dreams are filled with a long ago Earth of beauty and a girl named Babe.

Babe’s dreams star a boy named Zat and every night they are together, but those dreams bring her migraines of excruciating pain. Babe finds she would rather be with Zat in a dream world than to live in reality without him. Must they choose between their special dreams and life without each other? Is there any way to bring their dreams to life?

DREAM ME by Kathryn Berla is a completely different take on young adult fantasy, a future where Earth is destroyed, yet the technology of that time allows a person’s consciousness to travel through time. What a fascinating concept that could fill pages of details and background, fleshing out this quick read with more depth.

Was the author’s intent to keep Zat less defined than Babe? If so, in a unique way, it fits the story, a boy of her dreams, a love that seems impossible and a girl who is forced to live in a real world that is constantly changing for her.

Great reading for young adults who don’t need the depth older readers will seek. Short chapters, and a good presentation that reads well and just may prove that dreams can come true.

I received an ARC edition from Amberjack Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Amberjack Publishing (July 11, 2017)
Publication Date: July 11, 2017
Genre: YA
Print Length: 270 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

Going into this book with an open mind I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, I want to know more!!!! This book is well written, encapturing beautiful characters and an intriguing plot! I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys the young adult genre or sci fi!

Babe is always the new girl in town. Always. So, when her family moves to Florida one summer, she doesn’t expect much, just a regular life working for the local country club and its upper-class members. But she makes friends and starts to imagine a life there. Then the headaches start, terrible, blinding ones that seem to be caused by the dreams she has every single night.

Zat is a dreamer from a far distant future where people no longer dream and Earth is dying. In his dreams, he sees red-haired Babe and longs to experience the life she embraces. Instead of leaving Earth with his family, he chooses to travel back in time and live in Babe’s dreams, but he never imagines those dreams will cause her so much pain. While Babe clings to their dream life together, Zat tries to pull away so he no longer hurts her. Soon they must make a choice between dreams and reality.

I’ve read some great books lately, and Dream Me is one of them. The whole premise is unique, since Zat only exists in Babe’s dreams, but the characters are so vivid they feel like I know them personally. Zat’s bleak existence made me feel sorry for him, and I could relate to Babe’s tough exterior, caused by her challenging life. These characters are deep and compelling, and the novel blends YA with fantasy seamlessly, with an added does of mystery—what is Zat hiding? Will they find a solution? Even the setting—the steamy Florida coast—lives and breathes on the page. If you love YA, fantasy, romance, or sci-fi, you should read this!

Constantly moving around, outsider, with exceptional dry wit, Babe, ends up in Florida. There she "meets" Zat from a future doomed Earth, where no one dreams, and has traveled back into her dreams. Great premise, since I love time travel & have always been intrigued by dreams.

We have 2 POVs and Babe's blog diary, which I think is quite interesting & the interchanging between them is a steady flow. Clever of the author to show us Zat's world, before the time traveling, as to emphasize the antithesis of the protagonists situations, making it more powerful.

Babe & Zat were both instantly lovable. Likeable supporting characters even though some attitudes were a bit too cliche & some personality traits came out of nowhere & weren't really necessary.

Bittersweet, compelling, full of the weird quirks you can only acquire from time travel, plus the mystery of our subconscious, this could of been a more than 5 star book. But what unfortunately lessened the book was the ending. The revelation & conclusion it brought was rushed, too abrupt & maybe needed a bit more of an explanation.

This is a young adult sci-fi novel, but it reads more like a summery contemporary. The narrative is mostly from the point of view of the main female character named Babe. Her dad is a golf pro who moves around a lot as he gets jobs at various country clubs around the US. We meet Babe at the beginning of the summer before she starts her senior year in high school. The family just moved to Sugar Dunes, Florida and Babe is hoping she'll be able to finish high school without any more moving.

At the same time another point of view is introduced. This one is that of the main male lead Zat who lives in the distant future. In Zat's time, the sun is dying, the earth is a desolate place and humans (or what is left of them) are desperately searching for ways to escape the planet. Most people choose to seek shelter on distant planets. But Zat decides to go with a more unconventional and barely tested way to preserve his existence. He "re-locates" into the distant past (Babe's present) and exists only in her dreams.

I have to admit this premise is really interesting and not anything I've seen before. I was fascinated by the concept of a dream partner. I ended up really enjoying this book. Not so much for its sci-fi themes but rather I liked following Babe's real life drama of making friends and getting adjusted to her life in the new place. Her friendship with Mai and Alonso was very well crafted. However, her friendship with LeGrand was a bit unexpected, and almost accidental. I wish there was more of a story to their becoming friends. In addition, the character of Mattie Lynn was not developed at all. It felt as though the author was thinking of going in one direction but then completely abandoned the idea, so there was no real point of Mattie Lynn's presence in the narrative. Zat's character and the future he came from could also be a bit better fleshed out.

Notwithstanding these multiple weaknesses, the novel overall was entertaining. I had fun reading it and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars purely for the enjoyment factor.

A really nice read, very simple and flowed well. I could have done with more hints of characterisation and maybe some more times to rest, but overall I did enjoy the story! I'm not always a sucker for romance, but this was charming in a nice way. Sometimes, yes, cheesy and a bit oh no, romance again, but the concept was well done.

Set in Florida! The best plan, if you can’t live where you’re from, is to read books that are about places you’re from. This is based in Florida, panhandle to be exact, but Florida is Florida and I loved reading about the smell of the beach, boiled peanuts (ACK! Now I’m craving boiled peanuts!), and of all things fire ants! They’re a bit of a shock if you’ve never met one before.

So the setting was obviously up my alley and a nice surprise but the entire story was fun. It is Science Fiction but compared to some other books I’ve read if sci fi turns you off I would say this is a really light sci fi. The premise is totally sci fi but it’s a love story. It reminds me of something like the movie The Lakehouse, but young adult. And if you haven’t seen The Lakehouse, go now, do it!

Many times when stories are written with multiple character point of views, I wind up wanting to read one over the other. This wasn’t the case with Dream Me. I felt that I wanted to know as much as I could about the characters, from every point of view. I loved when Zat was speaking, although he does not give much information about what is happening, there is enough to get a feeling for what he is going through but I also loved when Babe was speaking. The narration comes mostly from Babe, some through posts on her blog which adds another mixture to the story, but the perspectives are unique and fun.

I do think I liked the blog posts the most. And the comments! I want to know more about DreamMe too. Who is this person!? What threw me was that at 95% I was starting to seriously wonder if this was going to have a cliff hanger ending. It doesn’t but it didn’t feel completely tidied up. The ending was fabulous but I was left with a few more questions than answers.

I think with a book like this though, especially romance, the reader tends to be happy even with details left out. I am completely satisfied with the outcome that Kathryn Berla gave her readers. Questions, yes many but I closed this book with satisfaction! The world building would have been wonderful and I would have loved to know more about Zat’s world and what he was going through, but what the reader does know is good.

Also, there are some side characters and some differences that really made this stand out. First, I loved that this is a young adult but the parents are fully in the picture! And that the side characters are almost always around. Mai is spunky and seems like a great side kick and LeBrand wound up being a bit of a surprise. Sadly, the downside is that I wound up knowing more about these characters than we find out about Zat, even though a portion of the book was done through his pov.

What I absolutely did not like was that Babe fell in love instantly. I absolutely hate insta-love. I get insta infatuation and maybe that is how it started but Babe was saying some pretty heavy stuff for just having met this boy and in a dream no less. So, that was strange for me. I get her being curious but she started wanting to go to sleep just to see Zat pretty quickly. Again, like the sci fi underdevelopment, you just have to kind of go with it to see how it all works out. I enjoyed it. It’s not so poppy that you feel like you’re reading bubblegum, and it has a bit more premise than your average romance but I think a little bit more could have been done to develop their relationship.

Overall it was a fun read that I really enjoyed. I just want to know more about Zat! I would love a story from his perspective and world. It’s so brilliant!

I would first like to thank the author and publisher for letting me get a copy off of netgalley.

Second, I just want to say this was beautifully written. I absolutely loved this book! Every word, every scene, every character was written with magic coursing through the pages. I honestly could not put this book down until the very last page. From the very first page to the last, I was drawn in and lost in the story.

10/10 recommend this to everyone!