Reviews - Sweet Nightmare | The StoryGraph

570 reviews for:

Sweet Nightmare

Tracy Wolff

3.56 AVERAGE

readwithmekt's review

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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: Yes

Calder Academy is the last option available for rogue paranormals, so it’s not exactly going to give you the warm fuzzies. Clementine has only ever been on the island that houses the academy, though she has always dreamed of getting off the island. Her mother runs the academy and is quite possibly one of the cruelest people that Clementine has ever interacted with. Just when Clementine doesn’t think that things can get worse, Jude shutting her out and her cousin Carolina being gone, the nightmares really start to unfold. With monsters and nightmares on the loose, Clementine will stop at nothing to protect those she cares about and she will begin to learn that just maybe there are people that she can depend on at Calder Academy…

I read the entire Crave series and absolutely adored it, so when I heard that Tracy Wolff was writing a spin off series I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Sweet Nightmare is the twisted older sister to the Crave series and I am obsessed with it. And kind of mad at myself for reading so close to its publication date because now I have to wait almost a year to read the next one.

From the setting to the weather everything about this book fits perfectly together. I loved that the school is on an isolated island where there is limited help or access to other things. The breakdown of the island, between the parts that are being used and the parts that are more wild I felt perfectly worked with the setup of the plot. The storm was just the icing on top of the cake, it all added to the feeling that Calder Academy is just not the place that you want to be.

Clementine as the FMC is great. I love that she thinks of herself as being weak and that she has to put on a brave face when in actuality she is brave and smart and cunning. The development arc that she has is incredible, she goes from being this quiet character that wants to blend in with the background to a strong woman that is willing to stand up and deal with an overwhelming amount of things.

Jude is an incredible counterpart to Clementine. He is more the strong silent type who is dealing with a lot of conflicting internal issues. Though there is a lot of will they won’t they going on I did not find it to be overdone and rather understandable given the age and the circumstances. I am super excited to see what the rest of the series brings for both of these characters.

With fast pacing and incredibly short chapters I was hooked right from the beginning. I loved every single second of this read and I am sad that I am done. It has also given me the urge to reread the Crave series in the near future. Though not a requirement to read this book, there are some overlapping characters between the two series. With many twists and turns and incredible revelations this will be a book that I continue thinking about. If you love dark academia, paranormals, and romance this is definitely a book that you should add to your tbr.

top_shelf_reads's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Looking forward to the next book in the series

shananigansreads's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Sweet Nightmare
The Calder Academy, Book 1

I Picked Up This Book Because: I’ve liked previous works from the author.

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: RC Public Library
Dates Read: 7/2/24 - 7/7/24
Stars: 3 Stars
Narrator(s): Suzy Jackson and Andrew B Wehrlen

The Characters:

Clementine Calder:
Jude Abernathy-Lee:
Luis, Ember,

The Story:

NGL I’m a little annoyed. So many questions were raised and so many mysteries are presented but there is very little payoff to any of it. I supposed it is to intrigue us into reading the next book but it all left a bad taste in my mouth.

Writing: Very good. Ms. Wolff knows how to spin a yarn.
Overall Interest: As I said before there are a lot of mysteries and story lines to keep one interested.
Length of Reading Time: At 15+ hours it was pretty lengthy. Sometimes I could feel it drag and sometimes it flew by.
Re-read-ability: Nope. Would not, could not.

The Random Thoughts:

Why do all of Clementine’s family have double C names?

ablackford08's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tc_booksandmore's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

For fans of Crave series, this is not about the good kids, this is the one for the troubled ones.

I really enjoyed reading this story that yes is similar to the Crave series, but Calder isn't the fantastic castle that Katmere Academy inhabits, this is an island prison (former sanitarium - hospital) that is facing a hurricane. And the people in charge are not the good guys, Clementine knows this better than just about anyone, her mother runs the school, and still sentences her to feeding the nightmare creatures in the basement of the admin building. Clementine just wants to graduate and get off the island she's never been able to leave. That and get away from her former best friend Jude. But with a hurricane headed for the island and the strange power surges that are happening (kids are getting their magic back and losing control), she may have to depend on the best friend that ghosted her, while also dealing with her feelings.

This is a very fast paced story that takes place over a couple of days and features lots of strange magics, abilities, a tapestry, horrible nightmares, snarky teens, and the banter that Tracy has perfected.