Month: May 2013

Book Review: In Your Dreams

Synopsis (unspoiled [mostly]): In this first-person single point-of-view contemporary YA romance we meet Zara “Zip” McKee–a 16 y/o point-guard on her school’s varsity basketball team. Zip isn’t much into boys–because, in her small town, she’s known them all since preschool and they’ve always been ‘friends’. At the opening, two new kids have arrived; brother and sister Kieran and Kayla Lanier. Kieran isn’t just new, he’s someone very different from anyone Zip has known–which she learn in first period English when she bores him to death…or he passes out. [Spoiler: he lived but he had to carried to the nurse.]

This auspicious beginning sets into motion big reveals by Kieran and the Lanier family–all intensely private people. And the bombshells–even for Kieran, who has suffered a variant of narcolepsy since childhood–are well-developed and plot-driven. As the root cause of Kieran’s condition becomes known it is Zip to whom he clings, and she’s not too sad over it. Especially when it mean s a boyfriend and date for the prom. <br /><br />But the darkness in Kieran’s past reaches out from unexpected places, coming through both his and Zip’s dreams and straining their budding relationship. They don’t know who to trust, and won’t risk losing each other, resulting in an exciting climax. Zip fights to help Kieran, but neither of them have the ability to solve this problem alone. Good thing they don’t have to.

Critique: This is a well-paced novel with some suspense and elegantly-placed red herrings. The romance reads true and is compelling, and the science behind Kieran’s malady is well-conceived. Zip and Kieran are a fun couple, and I can’t recall the number of times I laughed when poor Kieran passed out at just the wrong moment–but there were many.

I would recommend IN YOUR DREAMS (Amy Martin) to any person who enjoys YA romance…and anyone who enjoys a good YA story.

Looking forward to the sequel.

My review of: As You Wake (In Your Dreams #2)

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this sequel to IN YOUR DREAMS we meet up with Zip McKee and Kieran Lanier right where they left off…grounded. And, that’s okay. In fact, it’s where I expected to find them. Pretty much that’s the end of ‘expectations being met’, however, because the story far exceeded my already high expectations.

Sometimes I feel as if I know where a story will go, the subtle (or not-so-subtle) foreshadowing leading me exactly where I think the story must end. And, particularly in romance, that’s acceptable. Expected, even. But, in reading AS YOU WAKE, I was led a merry chase by That Amy Martin! Kidnapped, as it were, and held hostage to a plot that continued to careen forward down unexpected paths.

Now, while the story moves forward, the main characters move in opposite directions–Zip to her Dad’s and Kieran on a runaway adventure. Just when I thought we’d get a break from the tension good old Kayla tries to make it right, guilty she hadn’t been more watchful at Prom. Of course, her idea reunites Kieran and Zip, but now the parental units are involved, and this is both good and bad. Good because the air clears between the two families, bad because it brings new problems to mix: stalker anyone? As the stalker issue gets resolved, we learn more about Kieran’s medical history, and begin to hope that the end of his dream-vision doesn’t portend the end of Kieran…

So….I’m a fan-girl. I eagerly await (notice I didn’t say PATIENTLY!) the final conclusion of this trilogy. Thanks Ms. Amy Martin for upsetting my sleep patterns.

Lastly, can I say I love Zip just as much as Kieran? Is that allowed? IDK, but it’s true. She is smart, thoughtful, and concerned about her future–qualities I would hope all teen girls would aspire to be. And, Kieran, he’s the right mix of awkward teen male hormone angst. He’s kind, and funny, and not pushy about the sex…though he’s quietly desperate to have it, at least once. So as a couple they match desire with respect, and what better example could we hope for in YA fiction?

I would recommend this to all teen and YA readers.