Review: The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on February 10, 2014 | 4 Comments


Review: The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee ArnettThe Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett
Series: The Arkwell Academy #2
Published by Tor Teen (3.4.2014)
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: ARC, 384 pages
Source: From Publisher
Buy on Amazon


4 Stars

Dusty Everhart might be able to predict the future through the dreams of her crush, Eli Booker, but that doesn’t make her life even remotely easy. When one of her mermaid friends is viciously assaulted and left for dead, and the school’s jokester, Lance Rathbone, is accused of the crime, Dusty’s as shocked as everybody else. Lance needs Dusty to prove his innocence by finding the real attacker, but that’s easier asked than done. Eli’s dreams are no help, more nightmares than prophecies. 

To make matters worse, Dusty’s ex-boyfriend has just been acquitted of conspiracy and is now back at school, reminding Dusty of why she fell for him in the first place. The Magi Senate needs Dusty to get close to him, to discover his real motives. But this order infuriates Eli, who has started his own campaign for Dusty’s heart.

As Dusty takes on both cases, she begins to suspect they’re connected to something bigger. And there’s something very wrong with Eli’s dreams, signs that point to a darker plot than they could have ever imagined.

My thoughts

This book was so adorable! I loved The Nightmare Affair, so I was super excited for the sequel. And it didn’t disappoint!

I love Dusty. If she were a real person, we’d be good friends! She’s snarky and funny! She’s also strong – she may have had moments of weakness, but she didn’t fall apart when things got tough. She took action.

Eli kind of irked me a few times in this one. His mood swings almost gave me mental whiplash…I wanted to smack him! There was a reason behind it, sure, but I feel like his actions were a bit childish at times. I was surprised that I didn’t hate Paul in this one, though. I actually felt kind of sorry for him.

Dusty’s dreams were totally creepy! I was dying to know what the letters spelled by the time they were finally revealed, and I loved the point of it all. I loved the part about the sword at the end, that was awesome!

My favorite part of this book: The magical world. The 3 different types of magickinds were fascinating: darkkind (demons, weres, Nightmares), witchkind (wizards, witches, psychics), and naturekind (fairies, dryads, mermaids). In this one the rift between the different magickinds was even bigger, and there was a lot of bigotry between the magical races. I found that part to be very realistic – people are going to discriminate no matter what.

The mystery was awesome, too! The main villain was pretty obvious, but was intended that way. I didn’t, however, figure out who one of the accomplices was!

While the story won’t necessarily stick with me, I thoroughly enjoyed it while I was reading it. I can’t wait to see how the story continues. The Arkwell Academy books are cute and witty and I would recommend picking them up!

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4/5
Premise: 4.5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World-building: 4/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 3/5
Cover: 4.5/5

Overall rating: 4/5

Previous Books

nightmare affair

Jessi (Geo)

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4 responses to “Review: The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett

  1. Yay I’m glad you enjoyed this one! The creepiness of Dusty’s dreams sounds so chilling and fascinating, as well as the mystery aspect. I think the best part of the last book was the various forms of magic, so I’m glad that aspect remained constant. Fantastic review, Jessi! <33

  2. Ooooh Jessi, you made this one sound awesome. “Cute and witty” is exactly what I’m expecting. I hope my library gets this one in so I can read it, since I liked the first one. Blah to Eli’s mood swings but DUSTY. I’m glad she’s as great as ever!

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