With that said the main characters–Dusty and her immediate surrounding–are likeable, and the romance included between some of them is kept light, but sweet. I liked that she’s a character who doesn’t take things too seriously or melodramatically, there is no angst with this one, she’s down to earth and puts her trust into the friends she does have, whom I have to say are quite loyal. Being a half-breed, she’s been plagued with the notion that she’s a lesser being, having to deal with snide remarks and snickers since she started to attend Arkwell Academy. Sick of being forced to walk in her mother’s rebel shadow, Dusty is trying to find her own identity in this school full of magical beings. As for the plot they envelop, it, too, brings out some good old classic lores involving well known paranormal beings from our childhood story books–with dark twists of course! I thought this was much more interesting than them being romanticized like we’ve become used to. While some are not what you would consider original–werewolves and faeries are hardly unheard of these days, Mindee brings us a slew of different beings that walk the grounds of this school and somehow, she manages to give them all a little flair of eccentricity to make them different, also menacing, while still touching base with the classics of their genres.

I enjoyed learning about all the different paranormal beings in this book. However she soon learns that that’s not all there is to it–especially in her case.įor the lore and originality, this book gets all its points. She IS a Nightmare, meaning she “feeds” by hopping into people’s dreams. Nightmares! We all know what they are, we’ve all gotten them, but for Dusty, this is a little more literal than you would think.

The nightmare affair by mindee arnett