The Nightmare Dilemma PDF
Preview The Nightmare Dilemma
The thrilling fantastical mystery series, Arkwell Academy, from YA author Mindee Arnett continues in The Nightmare Dilemma.
Dusty Everhart might be able to predict the future through the dreams of her crush, Eli Booker, but that doesn't make her life even remotely easy. When one of her mermaid friends is viciously assaulted and left for dead, and the school's jokester, Lance Rathbone, is accused of the crime, Dusty's as shocked as everybody else. Lance needs Dusty to prove his innocence by finding the real attacker, but that's easier asked than done. Eli's dreams are no help, more nightmares than prophecies.
To make matters worse, Dusty's ex-boyfriend has just been acquitted of conspiracy and is now back at school, reminding Dusty of why she fell for him in the first place. The Magi Senate needs Dusty to get close to him, to discover his real motives. But this order infuriates Eli, who has started his own campaign for Dusty's heart.
As Dusty takes on both cases, she begins to suspect they're connected to something bigger. And there's something very wrong with Eli's dreams, signs that point to a darker plot than they could have ever imagined.
From School Library JournalGr 9 Up—In this follow-up to The Nightmare Affair (Tor Teen, 2013), Dusty Everhart returns for a new school year at Arkwell Academy for Magickind, and it feels like just about everything in her life is confusing and difficult. Her biggest problem is finding out who attacked her friend, the mermaid Britney Shell. Dusty is also falling for her classmate Eli, complicated by the return of her ex-boyfriend Paul. On top of all that, there is the mysterious secrecy of her roommate, Selene. Arnett's novel is well plotted and paced, carrying the reader forward into the ongoing mystery of the unknowable TerraTribe and the impending threat at the Beltane festival. The growing romance between the Nightmare Dusty and the Dreamseer Eli makes their friendship more difficult—and it doesn't help that every night when Eli falls asleep, Dusty has to climb on top of him to enter his dreams. The story and setting are original, and the magical boarding school is impressive for its differences from other famous wizarding academies. Teens looking for supernatural relationships will find much to like here, even if the characters are underdeveloped. This series will keep readers returning for more, with its punchy dialogue and steamy romances.—Pete Smith, Pioneer Valley Performing Arts CPS, South Hadley, MA
From BooklistIn this sequel to The Nightmare Affair (2013), tensions between the naturekind, darkkind, and witchkind at a high school for supernaturals continue to intensify—as does the star-crossed relationship between half-breed Nightmare Dusty and hunky Eli, a supposed “ordinary.” Here the near murder of a schoolmate puts the two amateur detectives onto the track of an ugly scheme to send the magickind government off track. Though the book is waaaay too dependent on urgent but inscrutable dreams and messages, and characters refusing to reveal motives or feelings as tricks for heightening suspense, the racial conflict adds a thought-provoking theme to this steamy paranormal romance thriller. Grades 6-9. --John Peters
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