Book Review: Dream Student by J.J. DiBenedetto

Ok, fuck it.

DNF at 27%.

I pride myself on being able to finish all of the books I start, mostly out of sheer stubbornness. I hate to admit defeat. But this book did it. I can't read another page.

Sara is having dreams that she doesn't think are hers. She meets a guy that is in her dreams and falls madly in love with him instantly. He is able to cure her nightmares and stop her screaming just by being near and everything is all cheery.

First of all...

Dreams don't make sense most of the time. If I have a dream about a person, I assume that I've seen them before and my brain is putting them into a dream. Hell, I have dreams about Dumbledore doing the "Crank Dat" dance in the Great Hall after the muggleborns figure out how to set up magical speakers but that doesn't mean I'm going to freak out if I hear the song again. I never assume that they are premonitions or the guy that is fucking fantasizing about me in a mini skirt in my dream is actually doing so.

That would make you insane.

Secondly, I hate insta-love. Instant attraction is real. Instant love? No. Instant trust? No. She hasn't had a boyfriend in a long time and Sara pretty much just jumps into bed with Brian immediately.

Her best friend, Beth, barely even tries to say it is a bad idea. My friends would be tying me down and saying "What the actual fuck?" And Brian is majorly creepy. Staring at her during a party? Dreaming about her in a cheerleading outfit? Being in love with her right away? She doesn't act like a good friend, just someone that is tired of dealing with her roommate's crap. They get all cuddly and supportive and then doesn't try to warn her off.

Adding onto it, it is so fucking stereotypical and cliched it isn't even funny. Hot best friend, check. Scary dreams, check. Hot guy changes her life and saves her, check. Puts on a dress and is magically the hottest thing on two legs, check. It reads like a bad 90's teen movie and I was rolling my eyes so hard that I could see my brain.

All of this book is just a big NO for me.

The writing is juvenile and silly. It's excessively dated (although I can appreciate the calling each others dorm rooms instead of cell phones) and I felt like it was an adult book written by a 13 year old. It's like watching an old tv show where everything is "rad" and "totally awesome".

I get that it's supposed to be paranormal or fantasy or whatever but it just isn't punching that ticket for me. It seems like a book about a girl who thinks she can see the future in her dreams but is really just batshit crazy. If there is a big twist at the end where she is in an insane asylum and all of it is just a delusion, that might make the book slightly more interesting but I'm not going to stick around and find out.

In conclusion:

1) Weird dream logic

2) Insta-love

3) Shitty enabling annoying too-hot-to-handle best friend

4) Nothing new. All annoying tropes.

Over it. The book wins. I'm so done.