The Nightmare dilemma

Format:

Book

Title:

The Nightmare dilemma

Author:

Arnett, Mindee.

ISBN:

9780765333346

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Tor Teen, 2014.

Physical Description:

380 pages ; 22 cm

Series title(s):

Arkwell Academy ;

Number in series:

General Note:

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

Sequel to: The Nightmare affair.

Sequel: The Nightmare charade.

Summary:

When a mermaid is viciously assaulted and left for dead, the accused Lance Rathbone asks Dusty Everhart to find the real attacker and, meanwhile, Dusty's ex-boyfriend returns and the Magi Senate wants her to discover his true motives, infuriating her friend Eli.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader AR 5.3 16.0 165884.

Subject(s):

Magic -- Juvenile fiction.

Paranormal fiction.

Dreams -- Juvenile fiction.

Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Magic -- Fiction.

Supernatural -- Fiction.

Dreams -- Fiction.

Boarding schools -- Fiction.

Schools -- Fiction.

Mystery and detective stories.

Genre:

Young adult fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Woodburn Public Library	Arnett	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The thrilling fantastical mystery series, Arkwell Academy, from YA author Mindee Arnett continues in The Nightmare Dilemma .

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.

Author Notes

MINDEE ARNETT lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She's addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic and the macabre. Her short stories have appeared in various magazines. Arnett has a Master of Arts in English literature with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She blogs and tweets, and is hard at work on the next novel in the Arkwell Academy series.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up-In this follow-up to The Nightmare Affair (Tor Teen, 2013), Dusty Everhart returns for a new school year at Arkwell Academy for Magickind, and it feels like just about everything in her life is confusing and difficult. Her biggest problem is finding out who attacked her friend, the mermaid Britney Shell. Dusty is also falling for her classmate Eli, complicated by the return of her ex-boyfriend Paul. On top of all that, there is the mysterious secrecy of her roommate, Selene. Arnett's novel is well plotted and paced, carrying the reader forward into the ongoing mystery of the unknowable TerraTribe and the impending threat at the Beltane festival. The growing romance between the Nightmare Dusty and the Dreamseer Eli makes their friendship more difficult-and it doesn't help that every night when Eli falls asleep, Dusty has to climb on top of him to enter his dreams. The story and setting are original, and the magical boarding school is impressive for its differences from other famous wizarding academies. Teens looking for supernatural relationships will find much to like here, even if the characters are underdeveloped. This series will keep readers returning for more, with its punchy dialogue and steamy romances.-Pete Smith, Pioneer Valley Performing Arts CPS, South Hadley, MA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

The ex-boyfriend who betrayed Dusty in The Nightmare Affair has been released from prison, and Dusty's been recruited to spy on him. At the same time, she's investigating a barbarous attack on one of her mermaid friends. Dusty's budding yet forbidden relationship with classmate Eli feels stereotypical, but fantasy fans will appreciate the plot's absorbing twists. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

In a fast-moving and easily digestible magical school story, Destiny "Dusty" Everhart, a teen who can enter others' dreams, investigates an attack on a mermaid classmate. Nearly all the students at Arkwell Academy are magickind, from seductive sirens and hot-tempered rage demons to fairies and dryads. Since Dusty and her friends helped break The Will, a spell that restricted the use of magic, in The Nightmare Affair (2013), magical altercations among students of different species are beginning to break out. Paul, Dusty's former boyfriend and minion of the villainous Marrow in the previous volume, has been released from jail, and Dusty is worried about seeing him again. Meanwhile, Dusty and her close friend Eli search the latter's dreams for clues about magical attacks on classmates and stubbornly refuse to discuss the few smoldering kisses they've shared. There's plenty of action to keep readers engaged, and frequent expositionin the form of narrative asides and dialoguehelps readers keep track of the many characters and rules of magic. The prose is more serviceable than artful, and some lines are downright clunky ("As if in contrast to my bleak mood, the weather outside had taken a pleasant turn toward nice"). Nothing too deep, but good fun for fans of romance, fantasy and magical boarding school escapades. (Fantasy. 12-18)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

In this sequel to The Nightmare Affair (2013), tensions between the naturekind, darkkind, and witchkind at a high school for supernaturals continue to intensify as does the star-crossed relationship between half-breed Nightmare Dusty and hunky Eli, a supposed ordinary. Here the near murder of a schoolmate puts the two amateur detectives onto the track of an ugly scheme to send the magickind government off track. Though the book is waaaay too dependent on urgent but inscrutable dreams and messages, and characters refusing to reveal motives or feelings as tricks for heightening suspense, the racial conflict adds a thought-provoking theme to this steamy paranormal romance thriller.--Peters, John Copyright 2014 Booklist