ARC, 322 pagesRelease Date: April 12, 2016Published by: HarperTeenStand-aloneSource: From the PublisherFor fans of: Contemporary, Romance, Adventure, Chick-lit, Debut Author, YA
Vibrantly offbeat and utterly original, Lucy Keating’s debut novel combines the unconventional romance of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with the sweetness and heart of Jenny Han.
For as long as Alice can remember, she has dreamed of Max. Together, they have traveled the world and fallen deliriously, hopelessly in love. Max is the boy of her dreams—and only her dreams. Because he doesn’t exist.
But when Alice walks into class on her first day at a new school, there he is. Real Max is nothing like Dream Max. He’s stubborn and complicated. And he has a whole life Alice isn’t a part of. Getting to know each other in reality isn’t as perfect as Alice always hoped.
Alarmingly, when their dreams start to bleed into their waking hours, the pair realize that they might have to put an end to a lifetime of dreaming about each other. But when you fall in love in your dreams, can reality ever be enough?
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I received this from the publisher I was kinda iffy about reading it. I was thinking it would be filled with cliches or over done troupes, (I mean hello, its about someone's "dream guy") but it actually turned out to be so much better than what I thought it would.
"Science is the explanation for everything. We just have to ask the right questions."pg. 89
In this book Max and Alice have known each other their entire lives. Without even meeting. Then one day, she walks into a new school and sees the boy from her dreams sitting there. But he's nothing like she knows him to be. Does she convince him that she knows him or does she just leave him alone and pray she keeps her sanity?
"What we had, what we have, is awesome, but it existed in our dreams. What about everything we missed when we were awake?"pg. 92
I thought this was going to be filled with cliches and troupes, but it wasn't really that bad. It had its moments, but it wasn't over the top. I liked that Keating was able to balance it out as a debut author.It really showed her talent as an author that she could make something so cliche her own.
"Just because I only saw the god, that doesn't mean I wouldn't have seen through the bad."pg. 93
I also really liked the characters. Although they weren't all fleshed out, that's what I liked about them. They always seemed to have a mystery surrounding them, but for a book like this it worked for it. I also really liked Alice. She was really weird, but after living her entire life like she had, I wrote it off. I felt like she had every right to be as weird as she was.
"There are many different ways to love someone."pg. 163
As for the plot, I don't really feel like there was one. But the thing is, it didn't make it bad. I was more worried about the rest of the cutesy stuff that was going on versus what the end game was. The swoons are there and that made all the difference for me. This contemp is really light and fluffy and it was just what I was in the mood for at the time.
"Apparently, love makes you beautiful."pg. 190
This wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't in a bad way. It actually taught me alot about dreams and other random things and that's what I liked most about it. This may not have been what I expected it to be, but it was certainly what I needed it to be.
Overall, I give this
(Real rating 3.5 but I rounded up!)