Review ~ "The Nightmare Affair" by Mindee Arnett

Title: "The Nightmare Affair"
Series: The Arkwell Academy, #1
Author: Mindee Arnett

Website ~ Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Tumblr

Published: March 5, 2013
Published: Tor Teen
Pages: 367
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Magic
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble 

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.

When I first heard about this book, all I could think about was how creative and different it sounded. This girl is a Nightmare? What!? What's that!? Does that mean she's evil? Does she give people nightmares, or does she eat them? But then I read the synopsis and found out that she feeds off of dreams. I was immediately interested and knew I had to read this book ASAP. The idea seemed so unique, as I've never read anything with a Nightmare, or anything like it, in it.

As we know that Dusty is a Nightmare, and learn what that is, we find out how being one can get you into a little bit of trouble. The "the person you're feeding off of wakes up and sees you" kind of trouble. It doesn't help that this person is Eli Booker, one of the most popular boys from Dusty's old school. And it doesn't help that the people in charge of her new magic school decide to have him transfer to her new school. Awkward. Needless to say, this is not going to be a good year for Dusty.
 
Dusty was such a fun character. She had so much spunk, but also knew when to calm down. She had a fiery personality that was really enjoyable to read. She was incredibly fun to read, especially when she got into arguments with other characters. Her best friend, Selene, a siren who wants to get rid of the stereotype, was another fun character. And of course there's Eli, who is the typical popular guy who knows he's super hot. However, he's not completely terrible, especially later on in the book.

The book kept me at the edge of my seat for the entire read. But then again when the main characters are looking for a murderer, and they're finding clues through dreams, that's going to be pretty interesting. I found the identity of the murderer to be a bit predictable, however, I found the journey to be entertaining. I could never expect what would happen next!

Overall, this was a great book with a new, fascinating paranormal being, and I can't wait to read about Dusty and Eli's adventures in the sequel!