Mini-Reviews : Dreamfire by Kit Alloway & The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler

Summary (from Goodreads)
 
Title : Dreamfire
Author : Kit Alloway
Publication Date : February 24th 2015
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

Joshlyn Weaver has always lived with a big secret. Ordinary kids spend their free time going to the movies, hanging out with friends, and searching on the internet. 

But for her, an evening at home usually means entering people's dreams. For many generations, her family has been part of a very powerful and very secretive society of dream walkers. Tasked with the responsibility of lowering the world's general anxiety — which only leads to war and strife in the waking world — their job has always been to stop nightmares before they go too far.
By stopping nightmares while sleeping, they help to stop nightmares in real life.

But when an ancient feud within the dream walker society resurfaces right when a seemingly unconnected series of very strange and very scary events start occurring during her dream walks, Josh finds herself in a race against time. The one true dream walker has never been known. Could she be the one?

Personal Thoughts

Dreamfire was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I loved the cover and the concepts of dream walking was so intriguing to me. For the most part, the ideas were very well executed by the author. I found myself really enjoying the scenes where Joshlyn transported herself into people's nightmares to save them. What the book didn't impress me at was the characterization and the pacing. I never really got a full hold of Josh's character. I think I wanted to know her on a much deeper level. As for the pacing issues, Dreamfire had the tendency to be very slow and that ultimately bored me from time to time. That being said, by the end, the book did get better and I was excited about all the revelations. I did want a little more oomph from the story. Overall, I was satisfied with the book, but I was definitely expecting something more exciting.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5



 Thank you to St.Martin's Press for the ARC of Dreamfire.


Summary (from Goodreads)
 
Title : The Truth About Us
Author : Janet Gurtler
Publication Date : April 7th 2015
Publisher : Sourcebooks Fire
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

A powerful and gripping contemporary YA from the author of I'm Not Her that's "Just right for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jodi Picoult."-Booklist

The truth is that Jess knows she screwed up.
She's made mistakes, betrayed her best friend, and now she's paying for it. Her dad is making her spend the whole summer volunteering at the local soup kitchen.

The truth is she wishes she was the care-free party-girl everyone thinks she is.
She pretends it's all fine. That her "perfect" family is fine. But it's not. And no one notices the lie...until she meets Flynn. He's the only one who really sees her. The only one who listens.

The truth is that Jess is falling apart – and no one seems to care.
But Flynn is the definition of "the wrong side of the tracks." When Jess's parents look at him they only see the differences-not how much they need each other. They don't get that the person who shouldn't fit in your world... might just be the one to make you feel like you belong.
 
Personal Thoughts

I was very excited to read The Truth About Us. I even had it as my WoW. I mean look at that cover and that blurb! It's just begging to be read. Jess was a character I started out hating because she was shallow and vapid, and let her friends dictate her life, but I ended up enjoying her growth throughout the book. I especially enjoyed her connection with the sweet old man at the soup kitchen she is forced to volunteer at. I loved how much she matured and became a stronger character. Her romance with Flynn was very sweet and for the most part, I enjoyed their relationship, but part of me was a bit let down by how fast their relationship developed. There wasn't much of a build-up, in my opinion. That didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the book though and I wound up reading the book rather quickly because the author's writing was very enjoyable. I think I needed some of the issues tackled in this book to be explored a bit more in depth to completely love the book. One thing is certain, I'm definitely giving Janet Gurtler's books a try in the future.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 3/5



Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the e-ARC of The Truth About Us.

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