Synopsis
The Sandman is seventeen-year-old Nora’s closest friend and best-kept secret. He has
to be, if she doesn’t want a one-way ticket back to the psychiatrist. It took her too long to learn not to mention the hooded figure in her dreams to her mother, who still watches Nora as if she’ll crack. So when Nora’s friends start mysteriously dying gruesome deaths in their sleep, she isn’t altogether surprised when the police direct their suspicion at her. The Sandman is the only one she can turn to for answers. But the truth might be more than she bargained for…
For the last five years, the Sandman has spent every night protecting Nora. When he hid the secret to the Nightmare Lord’s escape inside her dreams, he never expected to fall in love with her. Neither did he think his nemesis would find her so quickly, but there’s no mistaking his cruel handiwork. The Nightmare Lord is tired of playing by the rules and will do anything to release his deadly nightmares into the world, even if that means tormenting Nora until she breaks.
When the Nightmare Lord kidnaps Nora’s sister, Nora must enter enemy territory to save her. The Sandman is determined to help, but if Nora isn’t careful, she could lose even more than her family to the darkness.
Review
*I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I liked the premis of this story. I love the whole idea of the Sandman so I’ve been on the lookout for a story that does him justice. So far it’s not been a great success. Before this one, the only other book I’d that was similar was the Lullaby and that was just so awful but that’s another story, back to this one. In this book, the Sandman is friends with Nora a girl who he has been protecting for the last few years after hiding a secret inside of her. This is all complicated by the fact that he has fallen in love with her and his nemesis the Weaver is now trying to get to Nora in an attempt to steal back what the Sandman has hidden.
The characters were fairly well developed but I didn’t feel that much of a connection with them. I think this is mainly because of the angstiness of them, particularly Nora – I don’t know something about her just felt off, she came across as very childish.
The Sandman was a very interesting character, I would have liked to have known more about his past and his relationship with the weaver, there’s not a very in-depth back story to them and I really feel like it would have given then the story a more solid foundation, however this is a trilogy so perhaps this will be explored in further books.
I don’t really have much more to say, this was an ok read but nothing to shout about. I think I’ll probably read the next book just because I’m curious about where it’s going to next.
My Rating: 3/5 🌟🌟🌟
About the Author
Amber R. Duell was born and raised in a small town in Central New York. While it will always be home, she’s constantly moving with her husband and two sons as a military wife. Before becoming published, she had a wide range of occupations including banking, bartending (though she’s never tried alcohol), and phlebotomy (though she faints with needles). She also volunteered as a re-enactor at the local Revolutionary War fort and worked near shelter cats which led to her previous crazy cat lady status.
She does her best writing in the middle of the night, surviving the daylight hours with massive amounts of caffeine. Her favorite stories are dark with a touch of romance and a villain you either love to hate or hate to love.
When not reading or writing, she enjoys snowboarding, embroidering, snuggling with her cat, and staying up way too late to research genealogy. She loves to travel and has visited more countries than states. Kissing the Blarney Stone and hand-feeding monkeys in the mountains of France will be hard to beat, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to find the next real-life adventure
Books & Other Pursuits 