Dream A Little Dream
Author: Kerstin Gier
Series: Silver #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Summary:
A girl with a hatchet. Doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. Yes, Liv’s dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she’s in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.
The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They’re classmates from her new school in London. But what’s really scaring Liv is that these dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn’t possibly know – unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv could never resist a mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute…
First Sentence: The dog was snuffling at my bag.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
My Review:
I was always interested in Kerstin Gier’s Precious Stone trilogy after hearing nothing but great things about it, but I just haven’t had the time to read it yet. When I heard about Dream A Little Dream, I was automatically interested in it because hello, who wouldn’t be interested in a mystery revolving around quirky dreams and four cute guys? The only thing was, the cover turned me off completely (all that pink! Honestly, it looks like a cover for a middle grade book), but I was willing to give it a chance anyway. In the end, I’m glad I did.
Persephone was touching up her lips. At first I admired her for doing it without a mirror; then I realized that it was a colorless lip gloss, so it didn’t matter if she smeared it right up to her nose. (ARC 20)
Right from the very first chapter, I met and fell in love with Liv’s sense of humor. She’s just so sarcastic and speaks her mind whenever she wants to, two traits I really admire in anybody. Liv had me chuckling several times in the first three chapters and it was plain fun to read about her adventure.
As for the four cute boys mentioned in the summary, I didn’t fall in love with them, but I have to admit that one of them is more intriguing than the rest (you guys can probably guess who I’m talking about once you’ve read the book). That one intriguing guy didn’t have that special quality to capture my heart though sadly. He was just intriguing and that’s it.
The one downside to Dream A Little Dream and probably why its release date was pushed back three more months is that the German to English translation in the book definitely needs more work. If you guys don’t know, Kerstin Gier is a German author and her books are translated into English by a translator. The translation in Dream A Little Dream was bad – words didn’t flow and at times, the words was mixed around, making everything sound incredibly awkward.
“Is this a cemetery?” I asked.
Grayson swung around, shone the flashlight on my face, and let out a small sound of alarm.
I smiled at him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “Go away again, would you?” (ARC 57)
Dream A Little Dream has a huge middle grade feel to it (maybe that’s why the cover looks like a middle grade book?) with the exception of the romance. I’m not exactly sure of Liv’s age, I’m guessing she’s sixteen or fifteen, probably the latter, but she has this innocence childish feel to her personality that makes me think that Dream A Little Dream was more like a middle grade book than a young adult one.
Overall, despite its translation problems, Dream A Little Dream is a cute and fun read that’ll definitely bring a smile on your face and brighten your day. I’m not sure if I’ll be reading the sequel, but after reading the author’s letter at the end of the book, I’m leaning more towards a “maybe.”
Ooh, I didn’t realize this one was a translated novel! I’m quite interested in this one, actually. I haven’t read many reviews up until now, but I know I’ll probably be reading this one eventually. Great review. :)
Kara @ Diary of a Teen Writer recently posted…Sunday Weekly Wrap Up (57) . . . and what? No Stacking the Shelves!? Also, New Laptop!
I feel like I should pick this up now. d: I also really love your reviews.:)
OOh nice review! I do hear mixed things about this author, mostly because of the translation thing. Perhaps it’s more of the translator making things come off as awkward.
I still want to read this author’s first series. It’s in my TBR Mountain of Doom, so I am hoping to get to that at one point or another. And then maybe once this trilogy? is finished I’ll read those too! LOL!
I do have a question. You made comments about the cover. Was that the old one? Or the one you shown here? I know the old one kind of threw me off as well. It was too cutesy, yet still had something intriguing about it. I do like this new cover that you show here in the post (assuming I am seeing what you’re seeing) because it leaves the cutesy behind and kinda gives you more mysterious vibes instead.
Regardless, still very nice review! I do hope to read this one day as well! Hopefully the translation thing will be cured by then!
Jessica @ a GREAT read recently posted…Stacking the Shelves
I really liked Gier’s other series — it wasn’t perfect, but the romance was good, it had an intriguing premise, and the MC is just as witty and sarcastic as Liv sounds in this one. Honestly, that’s probably why I’ll read this one — I was always laughing when reading her other series! I do hope the translation problems get fixed, though.
Lina recently posted…Review: “The Walled City” by Ryan Graudin
I have come across some of her books but i didn’t know she wrote it in her native language and that this was then translated to English. I was curious with this one…but now you mentioned that it feels more like a more mature MG book, i know now a bit more what to expect.
I really love sarcastic characters too! ^_^ Not only do they manage to make me laugh out loud, but they also remind me of myself since I tend to be sarcastic (most often when I’m annoyed). However, if this book gave off a middle grade vibe, I’m not sure I want to read it. Even more so because of four, FOUR, different guys. I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard of in one book. Like how do they get their own chance to shine and convince you–the readers–to like them? Good thing I have more time to think about it. But I’m really hoping you read the sequel. :)
Gorgeous review Kelly. <3 I'm so happy that you mostly enjoyed this book :) I'm still unsure if I want to read it or not, ack. Seems like the writing might annoy me :p but it seem cute too :) Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it. <3
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Even knowing about the translations being a bit awkward, I still plan to pick up this book. I absolutely loved her Precious Stone trilogy, so I’m pretty excited to read this . It has such a beautiful premise that I would enjoy and I like reading books with a child-like feel sometimes.
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The only book I’ve read by her is Ruby Red which was so good, but I think I’ll pass on this one since I don’t really want to read YA books that has a MG feel to it (except Percy Jackson and Harry Potter). By the title and the cover, I can already tell that the characters probably act like 13 y/o’s and that’ll probably annoy me since I want to read a YA book with mature characters.
Leigh @ Little Book Star recently posted…Review: We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist
Good review. It sounds like a cute read and I like the cover. :)
I had a tough time getting into this one, but once I did I flew through it in no time. You are right. A good portion of this did feel more MG than YA, but the end brought it back around to the latter. I will definitely be reading the sequel. If this series is anything like the Ruby Red series, Kerstin Gier just gets better as she goes. And her characters are some of the best I have ever read!
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Liv is 15 years old. And yeah I felt the same with the translation. I actually didn’t like it. I’m surprised that you found it to be a cut and fun read. But I guess that’s because of the way it is written. Not because of the plot. I’m happy to see that you enjoyed it! Great review :)
You should look at the cover of the german Version, it is beautiful, I just saw the english one and i am not really happy about it. But I had that Feeling about books from Jennifer Estep too and she is writng in english… I dont know how i should think about that