Young Adult Review: Dead Dreams by Emma Right

I realized I hadn't yet posted this review even though I read the book back in August.  I had something planned to post today and it fell through so I dug this one up to finally post!

 Dead Dreams by Emma Right

Published: August, 2013

Source: Author

Eighteen-year-old Brie O’Mara has so much going for her: a loving family in the sidelines, an heiress for a roommate, and dreams that might just come true. Big dreams--of going to acting school, finishing college and making a name for herself. She is about to be the envy of everyone she knew. What more could she hope for? Except her dreams are about to lead her down the road to nightmares. Nightmares that could turn into a deadly reality.

Dead Dreams, Book 1, a young adult psychological thriller and mystery.

I've been all over the mysteries lately so I was really excited to read this one.  It turned out to be a super fast read, easy to read in one or two sittings.  Once you start on it it's hard to put down, I wanted to keep reading to see what happens, but it wasn't stressful.  Like I didn't feel like I'd die of suspense, but it was still suspenseful, make sense?  I guess as far as thrillers and mysteries go, it was a pretty easy read.  Though that last quarter of the book, I did NOT put it down. That was super suspenseful.

A few things that I wish are that the secondary characters had been more fleshed out. This is just the first in a series, and it had quite a lot to set up, so this is something that might change in the next book.  I also would have liked more depth.  Gotten to know more about Brie's dreams, for example.  However these things were pretty minor and as I was reading I was just eager to keep reading.  I wasn't feeling any urge to nit pick it apart like I do so often these days.  I tend to notice the small details.  In this book I knew it wasn't perfect, but I didn't care, I was loving it anyway.  (I also read the ARC version, the final could change a bit.)

The twists and turns often surprised me and I found it hard to predict where things would go.  I didn't always understand why something would happen but as I continued to read it made sense of why we were told that particular thing (foreshadowing).  I also feel like this is just barely the beginning of this stories, there's so much more to come and it's going to get even more intense.

I labeled this as YA but it could be NA as well.  Brie is 18 and lives on her own, but it's a clean read and totally appropriate for YA readers.

I definitely recommend this to those who enjoy a quick thriller/mystery and are seeking a twisty ride.  Just be prepared, there's a bit of a cliffie!  (And that's an understatement!)