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antioxidant's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
amroy9's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
akacya's review against another edition
3.0
2024 reads: 148/250
as the daughter of the headmistress, clementine has been at calder academy her whole life. this school is for rogue paranormals to learn control. when a storm hits the isolated island that houses calder academy, all hell breaks loose, including students’ worst nightmares.
honestly, this was a case of “curiosity got the best of me.” i saw an ad for this book that described it as “harry potter meets five nights at freddy’s,” saw my library had the audiobook, and now here we are. the rest of my review will contain spoilers.
while reading this, i couldn’t help but think that it felt like the author tried to squeeze in every ya fantasy cliché she could. so, i decided to look up “ya fantasy clichés” just to see how many boxes this one checked. here’s what i got:
☑tortured boy x good girl
☑“i love you but i’m bad for you so this can’t work”
☑finding out your parents lied to you your whole life
☑if the mc’s parents are alive, they’re lying to the mc and holding her back from realizing her dreams
☑oh no! the love interest has a questionable past!
☑love interest has stupid nicknames for the mc
☑somehow going from not knowing about your powers to mastering them in a stupidly short amount of time???
☑incessant pop culture references (even though it makes no sense that the characters would know them?)
i started making this list 2/3 in, and didn’t continue it after, so this is not all-inclusive.
now, i’m not saying including any or all of these elements makes a book unenjoyable. however, it just didn’t work in this book. i feel like people definitely could have picked this up in 2012 and eaten it up, though. i have enjoyed a book by tracy wolff in the past, so i’d be willing to give her books another try. unfortunately, while i didn’t hate this one, it just wasn’t for me.
cheyenneperk123's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
agi82's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I'm obsessed by the Crave series and I was super excited to read this one. But this was a huge disappointment. I'm not the targeted audience I know, but neither am I for the Crave series.
The only resemblance between Crave and this book is the short chapters, funny titles and the characters of Izzy and Remy. And while the chapters are short the story is dragged out so much that at 70% of the book I was thinking if I should DNF it.
The hurricane was driving me nuts. At one point the story turned so dark that I was thinking if I was reading a horror story and not a YA book. There was so much death but most of these characters I didn't even care about because I didn't know anything about them. There was every single paranormal and mythology character that ever appeared in any literature and it was just too much. On the other hand we knew mostly nothing about their powers or anything deeper about these characters. Once they got their powers back, all they did was fighting each other without any logical reason. Even outside in a category 5 hurricane, that's all they did! I'm sorry but paranormals or not, that's not anyone's instinct behaviour in such weather, not to mention they won't be able to even stand outside.
The main character couldn't catch a break, not even for 5 seconds! The crap just kept going and going, dragged out to the max and beyond. I was waiting for a part where the FMC would finally sit down with friends, watch movies, chat about love interests and do their manicure or anything normal but nope, not a chance. Just a huge dumpster fire of her life.
The teachers and headmaster are an absolute dud. Waiting with evacuation, not functioning in any situation, not being proper authorities at all.
I was excited for Izzy and Remy but I felt there was not enough of them in this story. I don't get why Remy ended up in this awful school, what terrible thing did he do?
And did I ever mention there was a category 5 hurricane???
The only resemblance between Crave and this book is the short chapters, funny titles and the characters of Izzy and Remy. And while the chapters are short the story is dragged out so much that at 70% of the book I was thinking if I should DNF it.
The hurricane was driving me nuts. At one point the story turned so dark that I was thinking if I was reading a horror story and not a YA book. There was so much death but most of these characters I didn't even care about because I didn't know anything about them. There was every single paranormal and mythology character that ever appeared in any literature and it was just too much. On the other hand we knew mostly nothing about their powers or anything deeper about these characters. Once they got their powers back, all they did was fighting each other without any logical reason. Even outside in a category 5 hurricane, that's all they did! I'm sorry but paranormals or not, that's not anyone's instinct behaviour in such weather, not to mention they won't be able to even stand outside.
The main character couldn't catch a break, not even for 5 seconds! The crap just kept going and going, dragged out to the max and beyond. I was waiting for a part where the FMC would finally sit down with friends, watch movies, chat about love interests and do their manicure or anything normal but nope, not a chance. Just a huge dumpster fire of her life.
The teachers and headmaster are an absolute dud. Waiting with evacuation, not functioning in any situation, not being proper authorities at all.
I was excited for Izzy and Remy but I felt there was not enough of them in this story. I don't get why Remy ended up in this awful school, what terrible thing did he do?
And did I ever mention there was a category 5 hurricane???
allie_treacherousreads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Bullying
catherine_dalton08's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
escaperoom's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
this book is the bane of my existence. i finished it, although i have no idea how. the entire thing was mediocre. i thought that maybe the author's writing had matured since the crave series, but i was wrong. the characters were underdeveloped, flat, and all together barely enjoyable. over 80% of this book is clementine pining for jude with just a bit of plot thrown in. there was absolutely no tension between the love interests at all. no buildup, no falling in love. the story started with them already in love so we didn't get to see any romantic development. Sweet Nightmares was so stereotypical i felt like i was thrown into 2014 wattpad. not to mention the MULTIPLE plotholes or unanswered questions which is unforgivable even if it's in a series. and the entire book only spanned not even a week apparently??
lexyjay's review against another edition
I might go back to it. But this book just annoyed me a lot.
brooklynkid's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25