Saturday, 29 September 2012

Shattered Dreams by Ellie James (Young Adult, predicted grade 8/10)



July 2012, Quercus
342 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Themes: life at a new school, living with an aunt instead of parents (deceased), New Orleans, family secrets, being believed, having emotional support, mystery, disappearances, lots of suspense, teen romance

Summary from Quercus

Trinity has never known who she really is. Strange dreams haunt her nights, and she has always been able to sense things that others can't.

When Jessica, the most popular girl at school, disappears, Trinity realises she will have to draw on her secret abilities to help find her.

Soon, Trinity is subject to visions that terrify her and make the police sceptical. As her dreams grow darker and the visions more frightening, Trinity realises she must risk her reputation and her sanity to save a girl who hates her.

Nayuleska's thoughts

I'm proud that I made it to page 128 before having to stop. I nearly stopped much earlier with a seance mention, but it wasn't followed through. I was on edge a fair part of what I managed to read, because the supernatural is known in New Orleans. I get freaked out quite easily, and kept going past my comfort zone because I like the concept of dreams coming true, and Trinity having to find the missing girl with the clues from her dreams.

I loved her growing relationship with her aunt. Often these kind of tales have the protagonist hiding everything from their family - family closeness is something I like to read about. Unfortunately the plot headed tok deep into the supernatural for my liking so I had to stop reading. I'm pretty sure the rest of the story will be as good as the first 128 pages, which is why it has a predicted grade of 8/10. You can find a review of the full book over on Sammy's blog, I Want To Read That.

 Hop on over to Ellie's website.

Suggested read

For a spooky read I could finish (although it was a bit touch and go at one point!) try The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson


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