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Author: Amy Martin
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD
Sixteen-year-old Zara "Zip" McKee lives for three things: basketball, books, and bailing out of tiny Titusville, Illinois, where the junior high and high school are in the same building and everyone's known everyone else since birth. But when Kieran Lanier moves to town and passes out on her desk on his first day at school, Zip's life gets complicated in a way she never dreamed.
Kieran has narcolepsy, and although he sometimes struggles to stay awake, he has no trouble capturing Zip's heart and trusting her with his most guarded secret--he sees bits and pieces of the future in his dreams.
But just when Zip thinks that maybe she can handle having a boyfriend who sees things before they happen, her budding relationship with Kieran gets a jolt when Kieran's parents reveal that his sleeping disorder is not what it seems and may be putting them in harm's way. And when Zip begins to have unsettling dreams, she must decide if she can live with knowing the future in advance when she's afraid of what might happen.
“So I don't think I'd want to find out what's going to happen in the future because having everything figured out kind of defeats the whole point of life. It's about taking the bad with the good and learning from what happens.”
I started reading this book expecting something paranormal and whooshing supernatural powers but was definitely given something different. In Your Dreams was definitely a different reading experience.
The prose was simple and light, that made it easier and faster to read but the build-up of the mystery surrounding the characters was really good. I really love reading books that could make you form theories or ask a lot of questions (as long as they are answered) and this definitely nailed it. There were some parts where it felt like I was watching a TV series and waiting for the revelation about certain things felt like waiting for the next episode for a week—exciting, with the right amount of anticipation and questions.
My favourite part was Kieran and Zip’s relationship. The romantic part felt so natural due to their closeness and friendship that was cemented at the first few chapters of the story. It was inevitable and totally expected, minus the insta-love. At first, the easy and fast friendship between Kieran and Zip felt off but was soon justified as the story progressed.
Zip was easy to read and relate to. She’s a very realistic teenager with lots of questions, reckless decisions and romantic feelings. It was nice to see that she wasn’t too wrapped up with Kieran’s issue and had a life of her own, including the typical joys and disappointments.
I was glad that Kieran was not among the majority male protagonists nowadays who has issues with life and oozes sex appeal. He was just simple, sweet and witty. His frustrations were totally understandable and the way he acts around Zip was adorable.
It was also good that the characters that were closely involved with the issue and the MC were at its minimum, which solved the usual overcrowded issue I feel in some books. Although I wish there was more about their friends, just the closest, and Kieran and Kayla’s family.
I thought the ending answered my questions already and gave a good conclusion to the story so I’m really curious about what will happen in the second book. Hopefully, this will not be one of those dragged stories for the sake of making it a series.
Amy Martin wrote and illustrated her first book at the age of ten and gave it to her fourth grade teacher, who hopefully lost it in her house somewhere and didn't share it with anyone else.
Amy Martin wrote and illustrated her first book at the age of ten and gave it to her fourth grade teacher, who hopefully lost it in her house somewhere and didn't share it with anyone else.
The first novel she published as a grown-up, In Your Dreams, was a 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi-finalist in Young Adult Fiction. The second book in the In Your Dreams series, As You Wake, was released in April 2013.
Amy currently lives in Lexington, KY with her husband and a ferocious attack tabby named Cleo. When not writing or reading, she can usually be found watching sports, drinking coffee, or indulging her crippling Twitter habit (and, sometimes, doing all three at once).
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