The Dreamer

by: E.J. Mellow

Molly hasn't slept well since the night of her twenty-fourth birthday. Being struck by lightning might have something to do with it, but then again, her chicken did look a little undercooked at dinner. Whatever the culprit, her life quickly catapults from the mundane to insane as, night after night, Molly is transported through her once dreamless sleep to a mysterious land illuminated by shooting stars.
There she meets the captivating but frustrating Dev, and together they discover Molly possesses a power coveted by his people--the ability to conjure almost anything she desires into existence. Seduced by the possibilities of this gift, Molly shifts her attention from waking life toward the man, the magic, and the world found in her dreams.
But Molly must ask herself--does something truly exist if you only see it when you close your eyes?
Faced with the threat of losing everything--her job, best friend, boyfriend, and most importantly, that little thing called her sanity--Molly will learn just how far she'll go to uncover what is real and what is merely a figment of her imagination.  {cover copy}
Let's just start by taking a moment to stare at this beautiful cover, which E.J. Mellow designed herself. {insert heart eyes here} I barely even read the cover copy before I was sold, because the covers {and if I'm honest, the professional jealousy I have for her beautiful Instagram account, too} pretty much already had me sold. 

This might be the only New Adult book I've ever read. At least that I can remember. I really liked it. My hesitation with this genre, I think, is that I feel like you run the risk of sex scenes that are usually cut out of young adult books, and I'm a weirdly asexual reader who feels those scenes just get in the way of the story. {Maybe I just don't feel like getting randomly hot and bothered while sitting in my car or taking the kid for a walk?} But I had no trouble with this book. In fact, E.J. Mellow handled all that romance very well, and I actually enjoyed it. I also generally kind of hate love triangles. But again, this one was so intriguing that it didn't bother me in the slightest. I actually found myself focused most on poor Molly's mental health, and how glad I am that when I sleep, I sleep. If I fell into a recurring dream with any indication of magical/otherworldly powers, I'd never want to wake up! So I guess what I'm saying is that Molly really felt believable as a character, and the story as a whole felt very much like a slice out of her life. A messed up, possibly a little bit magical slice. But all the same. And I'm dying to know what happens next! 

I need to go order the next book so I can read it before the final book comes out in October!

I might be losing my eyesight. {first line}
"A lot of things happen in life that shouldn't."

"Bad decisions can be surprisingly heavy."

"If every woman had this gift, I don't think there would be a man left alive."

• blue • {last word}
{view on Goodreads}