Reviews - Sweet Nightmare | The StoryGraph

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568 reviews for:

Sweet Nightmare

Tracy Wolff

3.56 AVERAGE

brennaksmith's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional 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

laurenmcl94's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

livinliterary's review against another edition

4.0

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

Sweet Nightmare introduces us to Calder Academy, an isolated island where juvenile paranormals—vampires, werewolves, witches, dark fae, and more—are sent to learn control. Still, for some, it's more like a prison. As the first book in a series, the story is understandably slow to start, with a significant focus on world-building to establish the rules and intricacies of this supernatural society. While the beginning took its time, I found myself more engaged as the plot picked up towards the middle and end, especially once the connection to "nightmares" became clearer.

The highlight for me was the budding romance between Clementine, the protagonist, and Jude, a broody yet compelling character. Jude quickly became my favorite, because we learn more about his complicated past as the story progresses. Beneath his tough exterior, he's a character with depth, and his interactions with Clementine are both sweet and genuine, adding a nice touch of warmth to the otherwise dark and mysterious setting.

The story hit its stride in the later chapters, especially when a major twist left Clementine reeling in the final moments. That cliffhanger was intense, making me wish I had the second book right away!

Sweet Nightmare is a promising start to a series with plenty of room to grow, and I'm excited to see where Clementine and Jude’s journey takes them next. If you enjoy paranormal stories with complex characters, slow-burn romance, and some thrilling twists, this one is worth checking out!

erikad2015's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

I really enjoyed this book. I fell in love with the characters and can’t wait to continue the story in book 2. I love a dark academia book and then you add in found family with love and loss….it just adds up to a great book.

pageturnermagic_01's review against another edition

2.5

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

breannehakey's review against another edition

1.0

Traaaaasssshhh. I only finished this because I wanted something to listen to in the background but I think I did permanent damage to my eyes from rolling them so much.

kwheato's review

4.0

I really enjoyed the overall concept of this book. I’m growing into a big dark academia fan, so this fit that mold. The world is fleshed out enough for this book being the first in a series, so that’s not a huge issue for me. What did kind of get boring is the main character and the love interest. It’s become an extremely predictable trope at this point in fantasy for the main girl to be a tough do it all myself character and the love interest to be a “I loved you all along” guy.

While I enjoy this trope, I do think it’s overdone. Ok, I get it, the guy is moody and dangerous and he leaves her to protect her. I just would have liked more depth. With that being said, I really enjoyed the banter between all of the characters. It was funny and witty which broke up the high tension moments nicely. Im glad I read this and think if you are a fan of this type of genre you’ll enjoy this book.