Dream Girl

Dream Girl by S.J. Lomas


I received this from NetGalley for review. And in good conscience, I cannot recommend it. I gave up at 25%.

Where do I begin? There were problems everywhere. The premise was good, but from the outset it was just a disaster.

Christine, the main protagonist, is a young girl whose parents are moving to another state. This is going to require Christine to leave her friends, her school and her job. Granted, this is a difficult thing to ask of a girl who will be starting her senior year of high school in a completely new place. Christine's parents allow her to stay in her hometown for the summer, alone, continuing her job at a library until the fall when school starts. Christine's plan is to find a way to stay indefinitely.

Christine is only seventeen. And while many seventeen year old seniors are mature enough to live on their own, most are not. The first chapter begins with a tearful goodbye between Christine and her mother at an airport. This does not lend credibility to the idea that Christine's parents would be affable to the idea of her living on her own for her last year of high school.

Adding to this implausibility, Gabriel enters the scene. He is the great-looking guy who walks in as the new library employee. Within a few pages of meeting Christine, he hands her a copy of a short story he has written. He doesn't know her, has just met her, is acting kind of creepy and then asks her to comment on his creative work?

Gabriel's odd behavior is explained soon after, outlaying the premise of the story. He lives in dreams and now he's seen Christine in them. Are they awake? Are they dreaming? Why should I care?

Had this story began with more solid characters it might have worked. As it is, we are given contradictory ideas about who these people are. There are few indications that Christine is a capable, focused girl. Instead, she seems like a silly love-smitten airhead who is making a wild stab at a dream of independence. Gabriel is an angsty artist-type who apparently instantly loves Christine. Honestly, if this guy were real I'd be worried. And I'd stay far, far away from him.

Gabriel's stories don't make sense and neither do the dreams. Perhaps these are explained as the book progresses. Sadly, I didn't care enough to know if they were explained or not. This was not a plot that made sense. This was not even a plot.

This is a book that seems like a first draft. The premise is good; the idea that it is difficult to tell the difference between dreams and waking is interesting. But the storytelling is just non-existent. The characters are flat and unlikable. The initial setup doesn't make any sense. The dream sequences are boring. This book needs a complete reworking in order to make it successful. Sadly, I can't recommend it.



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