Early Book Review: The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

Author: Mindee Arnett
Series: The Arkwell Academy #1
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: March 5th 2013
My Rating: 4 cups
Source: NetGalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

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.

I love it when authors try out new things, daring things. A Nightmare Affair caught my eye because of that particular thing: it's freshness. Besides the gorgeous cover, the thought of a sixteen year old Nightmare got me all kinds of curious to read this book. I've never read a book about Nightmares before, so for me this is fresh territory. The world in this book is fantastic. The creatures, the way magic is shown, the mythology, everything makes reading this book a great experience.

Dusty is such a cool heroine. I love that she's sometimes a little awkward, sometimes strong, sometimes she's daring and brave, sometimes not so much. I love that she has those two sides of her. She's also funny, which I very much like.

Eli is... he's a mystery. I would've though he'd be more resistant to certain aspects of this world, but given the fact that he really has nothing to do against it, it does make sense that he'd accept things pretty fast. I like that he stands up for Dusty when she needs it. Not that she'd admit it :P

What I liked was that there was a love triangle. Yes, they're not new or fresh, but I think it's way better than the "insta-love" idea. Though it's not difficult to predict some of the things that happen, especially how this love triangle ends, I still think it was done beautifully. And don't worry, you won't predict it all. There are some big twists and turns that I for one didn't see coming.

I am now waiting anxiously for the next book. Also, I want to know more about Dusty's best friend and her story. There's a lot I want to know, not only about Dusty and her powers and about her relationship with Eli and about her friends, but also about the entire world.

So if you're in the mood for something new, read The Nightmare Affair.