The Nightmare Affair

Gr 7 Up—Sixteen-year-old Destiny "Dusty" Everhart is a Nightmare, a magical creature who feeds on the dreams of others. She attends Arkwell Academy, a school for supernatural beings, and is allowed off campus on specific occasions to feed. When she enters the dreams of Eli Booker, she gets quite a shock: he is dreaming about a murder that is taking place at Arkwell. After she leaves his dream, Dusty finds that the events she just witnessed have happened in real life. Using her talents, she must gather clues and follow signs in order to solve the murder and prevent the killer from striking again. Because she and Eli have a bond that she does not understand, she must do this by entering his dreams over and over again. As a new entry in an already crowded field of supernatural stories set in boarding schools, this addition holds its own but does not stand out. Readers of P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast's "House of Night" (St. Martin's Griffin), Richelle Mead's "Vampire Academy" (Razorbill), Lauren Kate's "Fallen" (Delacorte), Rachel Hawkins's "Hex Hall" (Hyperion), and numerous other series will find the setting familiar-and perhaps a bit stale. Arnett offers quick pacing and plenty of plot twists, but the Arthurian elements seem out of place in the novel's magic system. Purchase this book if enthusiasm for paranormal boarding-school stories still runs high.—Misti Tidman, Licking County Library, Newark, OH