Review: The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy #1) by Mindee Arnett

Title: The Nightmare Affair

Series: The Arkwell Academy #1

Author: Mindee Arnett

Genre: YA, paranormal, urban fantasy

Publication date: March 5th, 2013

Published by: Tor Teen

Source: from the publishers via Netgalley

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Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis:

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.

My rating: ★★★★★
This book was UH-MAZE-ING! It was just great and a very fun read! And I love the title of the book...it's very fitting :)

When I took psychology a while ago, my fave unit was definitely the sleep/dreams/nightmares unit. So ever since then, this type of thing has fascinated me. This is one of the things that captured my attention about this book. The whole concept of Dusty being a Nightmare I thought was very unique 'case you don't really see Nightmares around all that much. The only other Nightmare I know of is Sabine from the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent, and although I love that series, I don't like her, lol. I thought the mythology (I guess you could say) behind the creatures known as Nightmares was very creative and very well developed.

So anyway, the book started off with action, which I always love in a book. Otherwise I get bored and find it really hard to get into it. But not this one!

Another thing I loved about this book? The mystery! I love a good mystery! I have read quite a few mysteries in my time, and what they have taught me is that the "evil" person is almost always the one you never suspect or even think about (thank you R.L. Stine!). So right from the start I knew who was involved in that first murder. And I was right. However, the person who was the big boss?? Oh My Gods! I could not believe it! It didn't even cross my mind! I was so cocky thinking I knew who the killer was, then this revelations at the end...I was in serious shock! But guess what? I love surprises! You totally caught me there Mindee ;)

All the supernatural creatures and magic I absolutely loved, no doubt. I seriously love the world Mindee Arnett has created! There's so much magic and magical beings in this world without it feeling overwhelming. I just...I just plainly love magic :)

Dusty was just great! She is feisty and very sarcastic! She made me laugh...A LOT! Which is another good thing because I love books that can make me laugh like this one did :) And the animations of inanimate objects...TOO FUNNY! *cracks up*

Selene was an AWESOME supporting character! I loved her friendliness and selflessness by not taking advantage of her siren abilities. She's really very modest and likable...she was great! Oh! And I liked how the story stayed true to the mythology behind the sirens. While some people mistakes sirens as being like mermaids, in this book it gets it right by mentioning the lure of the voice and them being bird-like, not half-fish (Oh, is my Greek mythology nerdiness showing? ;))

Eli - Hurrah! No insta-love (which I find very unrealistic)! In fact, while Dusty was attracted to this gorgeous, brooding guy, he started off not liking her..well, not really anyway. I like watching two character's relationship bloom and develop from something like attraction into something more than just that...you know, something believable. Which this story had! Even though Eli was moody and grumpy and brooding a lot, he had me swooning every time he popped up just by Dusty describing him to us!

And Mr. Ankil...even though we only see a little of him throughout the book, he was really a great character and seriously "cool" teacher ;) Who would've thought that he was going to help Dusty so much in that fighting scene at the end?

Final words: It was just...GREAT! A fun read with awesome characters, and a mystery with catch-you-off-guard twists! I highly recommend this one!

I cannot wait for more work from Mindee Arnett! She, just like her book and characters, is awesome!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)