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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Release Day! 07May2024
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
4.5 hearts
Sweet Nightmare is the first book of The Calder Academy, a spin off to the Crave series set in the same world with a few cross over characters. I have not read the Crave series and kept up just fine, but I'm sure there are some nuggets in here for those who have read the other series. Set at a school for the magically blessed...vampires, witches and fae oh my, Calder academy is where you get sent when there isn't a good place to keep you and your magic or you are a bit out of control. Clementine has been there her whole life. Not because she is bad, but because her family runs the school and her mom is in charge of it all.
Clementine wants nothing more than to get off the Island she has lived on her whole life. Her mother, on the other hand, is never going to let that happen. She is stuck in the school, stuck on Trickler duty (trust me it isn't fun) and stuck trying to avoid the boy she has loved her whole life that ghosted her three years ago. Well, as much as you can ghost someone you go to school with on an Island off the coast of Texas. Jude and Clementine were everything to each other, until they weren't. She never found out why, but with a storm coming to the Island and everyone getting ready to evacuate, she might just have a chance to find out why.
I adored Clementine and Jude. I loved their pet names for each other, their banter, the longing...oh the longing. I was engrossed in the story and couldn't wait to find out more about their history and why a boy who is so clearly in love with the girl would walk away like he did. I just knew it was going to be good and man was I right. But in the middle of all of that, there is danger around every corner. The hurricane is getting closer to the Island and the ward keeping all the not so well adjusted kids without their magic is failing. Chaos is a bunch of teenagers getting their magic back all at the same time. Something strange is going on and with the storm everyone's nightmares are released too. Clementine, Jude and friends will have to fight for their lives and try to find a way survive or get off this crazy Island.
There was quite a bit going on with the plot. Some twists, turns and pretty big surprises near the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and the imagery of this story. I would classify it is a bit romance, a bit urban fantasy and a little horror lite to it. The ending isn't a cliff-hanger but does give the reader a lot to ponder on before the next book in the series. I am looking forward to digging in deeper to some of the revelations made and getting to know a few of the characters a little better especially Remy and Izzy who I hear are in the Crave series.
Suzy Jackson narrates the majority of this book, all but one chapter in fact. I have enjoyed her is a few other series and think she plays the young spunky protagonist well. A few of the voices sounded a little similia for some of the very minor characters but other than that she was again phenomenal and a perfect pick to be Clementine. Andrew Wehrlen only got to do one chapter as Jude but I hope he gets more voice time in the next book. I enjoyed the audio narration as I believe it added to the excitement of the story. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
4.5 hearts
Sweet Nightmare is the first book of The Calder Academy, a spin off to the Crave series set in the same world with a few cross over characters. I have not read the Crave series and kept up just fine, but I'm sure there are some nuggets in here for those who have read the other series. Set at a school for the magically blessed...vampires, witches and fae oh my, Calder academy is where you get sent when there isn't a good place to keep you and your magic or you are a bit out of control. Clementine has been there her whole life. Not because she is bad, but because her family runs the school and her mom is in charge of it all.
Clementine wants nothing more than to get off the Island she has lived on her whole life. Her mother, on the other hand, is never going to let that happen. She is stuck in the school, stuck on Trickler duty (trust me it isn't fun) and stuck trying to avoid the boy she has loved her whole life that ghosted her three years ago. Well, as much as you can ghost someone you go to school with on an Island off the coast of Texas. Jude and Clementine were everything to each other, until they weren't. She never found out why, but with a storm coming to the Island and everyone getting ready to evacuate, she might just have a chance to find out why.
I adored Clementine and Jude. I loved their pet names for each other, their banter, the longing...oh the longing. I was engrossed in the story and couldn't wait to find out more about their history and why a boy who is so clearly in love with the girl would walk away like he did. I just knew it was going to be good and man was I right. But in the middle of all of that, there is danger around every corner. The hurricane is getting closer to the Island and the ward keeping all the not so well adjusted kids without their magic is failing. Chaos is a bunch of teenagers getting their magic back all at the same time. Something strange is going on and with the storm everyone's nightmares are released too. Clementine, Jude and friends will have to fight for their lives and try to find a way survive or get off this crazy Island.
There was quite a bit going on with the plot. Some twists, turns and pretty big surprises near the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and the imagery of this story. I would classify it is a bit romance, a bit urban fantasy and a little horror lite to it. The ending isn't a cliff-hanger but does give the reader a lot to ponder on before the next book in the series. I am looking forward to digging in deeper to some of the revelations made and getting to know a few of the characters a little better especially Remy and Izzy who I hear are in the Crave series.
“The past is set, but the future can change.”
Narration:
Suzy Jackson narrates the majority of this book, all but one chapter in fact. I have enjoyed her is a few other series and think she plays the young spunky protagonist well. A few of the voices sounded a little similia for some of the very minor characters but other than that she was again phenomenal and a perfect pick to be Clementine. Andrew Wehrlen only got to do one chapter as Jude but I hope he gets more voice time in the next book. I enjoyed the audio narration as I believe it added to the excitement of the story. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
YA aren't usually my go to genre, but this book captured my attention from the very beginning. This was a dark academia book done right. There was humor, witty banter, danger, and slow burn romance with no spice. So many twists and turns and a variety of monsters made this an enjoyable read and I'm actually looking forward to book 2.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
1.5
wayyyyy too many characters. way too much stuff going on. i didn't care about anyone or anything. the extra half-star is for the chapter titles, which got a chuckle out of me, to be fair.
wayyyyy too many characters. way too much stuff going on. i didn't care about anyone or anything. the extra half-star is for the chapter titles, which got a chuckle out of me, to be fair.
It wasn't bad. But it wasn't good either.
I kinda liked the cheesy play-on-words chapter titles lol.
I kinda liked the cheesy play-on-words chapter titles lol.
Looking forward to book 2 but wow a lot of things are happening in this book.
I needed to adjust to it because there are no breaks in this book.
After a while I was sucked into the story and it was a great book even when I didn’t read the crave series…
I needed to adjust to it because there are no breaks in this book.
After a while I was sucked into the story and it was a great book even when I didn’t read the crave series…
3.75 | I loved Crave but I don’t think I felt connected to the main characters in this spinoff series as much. Of course I’m connected to Remus & Izzy because of the fact they’re in the Crave series lol, which was nice. Then again, I was confused because I found myself wondering when the events of this book took place in regards to the crave series (this does get answered for me and now I have more questions and may just reread the crave series lol). Anyways, at times the pacing is the book felt off. Yes it was fast paced because all the events that happened took place within a two day time period. I was also confused because our main character Clementine (who’s POV were in) is so in the dark about everything revolving around Calder Academy therefore as the reader were in the dark. Anyways, that’s my rant. I enjoyed it and really want the second book cause like why did it end that way? Tracey I’ll be asking for the second book ASAP thanks and not a year from now that would be greatly appreciated.
I am being generous with this 2-star.... extremely generous. The stars are for hot paranormal academies and that's all. FMC and MMC barely seem into each other with the romance lacking heavy. The worldbuilding is subpar.