The Nightmare Affair Blog Tour {Review and Dream Cast}

I'm excited to have The Nightmare Affair Blog Tour stopping by today!

Below you will find my review, my dream cast picks, and a giveaway...

The Nightmare Affair

by Mindee Arnett

3/5/13

Tor Teen

Format: ARC

Source: from pub

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Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.Literally.Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.Then Eli’s dream comes true.Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

Mindee Arnett's The Nightmare Affair is a refreshing and wonderful mix of whimsical, romance, mystery, and the supernatural. I had been very excited to read this book since I first learned about it last year and I'm happy to report that it doesn't disappoint!

Dusty Everheart is a Nightmare. An actual, for reals Nightmare that feeds off of people's dreams. The 16 year old attends Arkwell Academy, a school for magickind beings. Dusty is half-human, half-magickind, and that, plus her mother's infamous reputation, hasn't helped her make friends at Arkwell. And when Dusty invades the dreams of human Eli Booker and discovers he's dreaming of a murder at Arkwell, a murder that comes true, things get super complicated for the Nightmare. Dusty must follow the dream-clues and the real-world clues she uncovers to stop the murders, but what she discovers is surprising.

The idea of a living, breathing Nightmare fascinates me, as this isn't something we see a lot of in YA. And Arnett has taken this wicked cool idea and created something really unique, fun, and awesome. The Nightmare Affair not only offers an excellent story, but has a great heroine as well.

Mindee Arnett weaves a fantastical and whimsical story that mixes the supernatural with the real-world wonderfully and in a way that is utterly absorbing. Arkwell Academy is home to all sorts of magickind- fairies, sirens, wizards, witches, demons, werewolves, and more- and Arnett blends real lore with her own creative spins to craft a magical world that is both familiar and unexpected. The world-building is vivid and nicely layered. Arkwell Academy makes for a really intriguing and cool setting, and is like a more modern Hogwarts.

I greatly enjoyed the combination of mystery, action, and romance. The story itself is fairly predictable, but not in a super frustrating way. I would have liked a bit more subtlety when it came to the murder mystery, but there are plenty of twists and surprises to keep readers captivated and addicted. And for me, Dusty's journey with her new friends was far more fun and important than the actual destination (the ending).

I really like Dusty and her voice. She's a very likable and relatable heroine, with a really fun snarky personality. This is a heroine that I didn't always agree with and, at times, I became frustrated with, but I always felt connected to her and rooted for her. Selene, Dusty's roommate and best friend at Arkwell, is such a fantastic supporting character. Selene is a beautiful siren that has taken a stand against sirens being objectified and turned into mere sexual idols, which is just so badass. She's got a charming fierceness and endearing loyalty to Dusty, and I loved her a lot.

Dusty has two very different love interests, which does mean there's a slight love triangle. I actually didn't mind this love triangle much because I genuinely liked both guys. It took some time for Eli to grow on me, but he turned out to be quite sweet and likable. Paul, on the other hand, I liked him and his nerdy ways immediately. Dusty's chemistry with both boys is believable and fun. I'm not 100% ecstatic with how the romantic aspects played out, but I am definitely interested to see where they go from here.

One of the more intense and complicated relationships in the book is between Dusty and her mother Moira. I have a love/hate relationship myself with dark, mysterious Moira and I'd love to learn more about her infamous past.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: The Nightmare Affair pulled me in with its intriguing premise and kept me captivated with its fresh, fun story and memorable characters. There's magic in Mindee Arnett's words and they've definitely cast a spell on me!

MY RATING

Purchase: Amazon / B&N / Book Depository

Mindee Arnett

Site / Goodreads / Twitter

Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares.

I've been given the very fun task of coming up with a dream cast for 

The Nightmare Affair. So, here are my casting picks for the four main teenage characters...

Jane Levy as "Dusty"

She's got the red hair and that pretty girl-next-door look that Dusty has.

  

Selena Gomez as "Selene"

Selena is beautiful, like a siren, but can pull off the tomboyish look that Selene has.

Steven R. McQueen as "Eli"  

The guy is all hotness and smolder like Eli, but looks like he'd be your BFF too.

Austin Butler as "Paul"

He's super cute, has Paul's longish blonde hair, and would make any girl swoony.

There is a tour wide giveaway for two (2) signed copies of The Nightmare Affair, open internationally. You can enter below.

(giveaway is NOT being run/sponsored by Word Spelunking)

a Rafflecopter giveaway