Goodreads Blurb
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.
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.
Haha, remember how excited I was for this? So much that I sent in an ARC request the DAY the cover was released? And then I put Nightmare Affair TWICE without knowing? Yeah.
The Nightmare Affair definitely lived up to my expectations!
I loved Dusty! She was such a smart alack and I loved her recklessness! Most of the time! As fiery as her red hair, Dusty was definitely one of those headstrong characters you just had to love--those she does act impulsively often. But she definitely made up for it with her wisecrack jokes that made me LOL (no seriously.)
But, my favorite character by far, was Selene. And no, not just because I ALWAYS wanted to change my name to that. She was a Siren who was against the "objectification of sirens as sex objects" which was so AMAZING. I loved her! Seriously.
The romance was seriously amazing. It wasn't slow at all and you could just feel it coming! Not to mention, Eli was perfect for a YA love interest! Though he did have his moments. You know when you want to shove two people who you KNOW like each other, but won't admit it, together? Yeah. It definitely made things interesting though! And made for some hilarious moments.
The plot was a bit predictable though, and I desperately wanted to point out the obvious to Dusty. She seemed to have a habit of trusting the wrong people. Although, admittedly, I wasn't even close to discovering who the biggest antagonist was. I was too caught up in...other things.
The first half of Nightmare Affair was a bit slower than I'd expected, but still enjoyable! We learn about the world of the paranormal and it was so much better than typical werewolves and vampires, faeries, and the regular ones. Mindee Arnett manages to mention Sirens, Psychics, Wizards, Hags, Faeries, Mermaids, Demons, and more! I loved the world she created with the world split into 3 different magickinds based on how they get their power--it was fascinating to learn! The author manages to twist the usual typical paranormal school/camp and turn it into something original which, by the way, is super hard to do considering all those books! Not to mention--hello? Nightmares?
Absolutely, I'd recommend this for fans of the Shadow Falls and the Hex Hall Series! The Nightmare Affair is a perfect read for readers who are looking for an original paranormal mystery and it definitely has me waiting for the next one! (I promise that's not just because of Eli and Dusty though.)
Pages: 367
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Arkwell Academy #1
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: MArch 5, 2013
Rating: 3.5--->4 stars
