The Arkwell Academy, Book 1
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.
Literally.
Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.
Then Eli’s dream comes true.
Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.
Review: Ah what an original subject, nightmares. I admit that I was immediately intrigued and really wanted to learn more. I never had the opportunity to read a book about something like that and it was very interesting to find out more.
By reading this book I thought a lot about the Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep. Both books are very interesting and the Mindee Arnett’s writing style is just as effective. It is true that they also have some elements in common such as the fact that Dusty has a rare gift, different from all the other students. Our two heroines evolve almost in the same environment and it is hard not to compare it at first. But there is no more and the Mindee Arnett’s novel is really a great discovery. We follow Dusty throughout the story, trying to understand who could be behind these murders, establishing numerous assumptions with her. I confess that I was really surprised when I heard who was the real person behind all this, but I immediately understood the motivations of the other characters. Our nightmare does not know much about her powers and what she can do with them and it is true that not knowing that kind of character I was very intrigued to learn more her. She will change a lot throughout the novel, realizing that she knows very little about what she is and what she can do. She will investigate throughout the novel, experiment and discover her gift. It was very interesting to see what she could do and the consequences of her actions. Of course there are other characters too, just as fascinating like her mother Moira or her friends and teachers. But I leave you the pleasure to see that for yourself.