Review of In My Dreams!

Welcome to my first official book review! Reviews of all sorts are so important for indie writers and since I already read a ton, I thought it only appropriate to start doing reviews on the books :) It's incredibly easy to put off reviewing a book, whether on a blog or whichever site you purchased the book from. I know I have always been of the opinion that books are so subjective for people, what's the point in reviewing it? Ok to be fair, I'm also very lazy. I work on computers all day so coming home and cracking open the computer to write a review is not high on my todo list.

I've learned something very valuable this past month as I've gotten to know so many wonderful indie authors. The big mainstream published authors have an easier time selling their books because of the immense publicity and visibility on book shelves. Sure reviews help those authors decide whether to buy one of their books, but when you're looking on the shelves in a bookstore, you have limited options to wade through. In addition, new releases are set apart making it even easier to find books.

Do you have any idea the number of indie authors out there? I definitely don't but I've gone through the Kindle selection narrowing down to the past 30 days and sorting my publication date. That leaves me usually about 3-4k book sot go through. On any given day anywhere from 20-100 new books appear on the list, just from new releases! That's not even counting how hard it would be to track down books published less recently. 

As an indie author I know that when my first book goes live I'm not going to have the luxury of having a well known name to fall back on. People will look for reviewed books to help them decide amongst the thousands and thousands of books. Long story short, reviews matter so please help support your indie authors and leave a review! If you're feeling particularly generous, copy and paste that review across the different sites selling the book to really help out.

Ok so I went off on a bit of a tangent there. Before we get to the actual review, I'd like to explain about the types of books I plan on reviewing.

I primarily read romance novels, specifically paranormal (the genre for Breaking the Nexus!), romantic suspense, the occasional historical, and depending on my mood erotic romance. Since I've made so many wonderful new friends I am also reading outside of my comfort zone and venturing into the land of Young Adult. This poses a problem for me. How do I review a YA book on the same blog as the other types? I don't want to offend anyone and certainly don't want to risk any teenagers looking up a book and unknowingly stumbling upon inappropriate content. The easiest solution right now is my blog will now have a warning about content unsuitable for anyone under 18.

In My Dreams Review

Now for the fun part! Today I will be reviewing the supernatural young adult novel In My Dreams by Cameo Renae.Note: I received a copy of this for free for the purposes of my review. This in no way influenced my opinions on this book.

About the book:

Length: 250 pages
Price: $2.99
Description:

From Amazon.com's product description:

It was happening again. The dreams. The nightmares. It was something seventeen year-old Elizabeth "Lizzy" Hayes thought she'd outgrown...dreams that would come true...detailed premonitions of how people would die. But this time, she dreams about her boyfriend, Michael Young, and soon discovers that he's been found... dead.
Michael hasn't crossed over because he was murdered, and now, his murderer is coming for Lizzy. His spirit won't rest until she's safe. As a newbie spirit, the easiest way for him to make contact is through Lizzy's dreams. When she dreams, it's as if he's still alive...still with her...and that gives her strength.
But Lizzy must learn to pull on her own inner strength to survive horrifying events. Meanwhile, in the spirit world, Michael learns everything he can about his supernatural gifts to help. But will it be enough to save her?
In My Dreams is a story of unconditional love. The kind of love that lives, even beyond the grave. It is a story that will grip you heart, break and re-mend it, and take it on a wild ride of emotion.

What I liked:

This book was completely outside of my usual comfort zone. I rarely read young adult fiction and I even more rarely read books written in first person. I jumped at the chance to receive a free copy because who doesn't love free books, but at the time I didn't realize it was written in first person. I may not have jumped at it and it would have certainly been my loss. After reading several other indie authors who write in first person, I must now eat my words about hating this style of writing. Apparently I just needed to read the right books :)

I must confess I started reading this book for some reason thinking it would be like all the other romances I've read. Not sure why I thought that other than the fact that I usually avoid books that don't have HEA. Again that would have been my loss. I will straight up say this book is not a happy, feel good book. It's not meant to be. Instead, this book is very emotionally gripping and really takes you for a ride. It's a love story but not your traditional, run of the mill love stories.

I liked the fact that the book pulled me in from the very beginning. Cameo does a wonderful job bringing her characters to life and conveying emotions. When Lizzy gets the call that Michael had died, it made me tear up a bit and that's not all that common for me. More than once I found myself reaching for a tissue or literally sitting on the edge of the couch during a tense moment. 

I've always gravitated towards books with action or mystery, and this definitely had plenty to keep me hooked. The story doesn't have a traditional HEA obviously since our hero is a ghost. Don't let that deter you though because there is definitely plenty of romance :)

What I didn't like:

It made me run out of tissues. Ok just kidding, that's no reason to dislike the story :) There really wasn't anything I did not like about In My Dreams. No book, be it mainstream or indie, will be completely free of editing mistakes but there shouldn't be any that are so glaring it yanks you out of the story.There were a few editing errors scattered around but nothing that screamed at me.

Overall Verdict: 5 Blue Duckies!!

Definitely check out this book even if it's not your usual genre. You won't be disappointed!

Author Info:

Find Cameo Renae:

Website:
http://cameorenae.com/

FB Author Page:
http://www.facebook.com/CameoRenaeFanPage?

Twitter:
@CameoRenae