Dreamology - Review

Dreamology

By: Lucy Keating

Publication: April 12th 2016 by HarperTeen

336 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--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. It turns out, though, that Real Max is nothing like Dream Max, and getting to know each other in reality isn’t as perfect as Alice always hoped.

When their dreams start to bleed dangerously 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?

Whimsical, romantic and utterly original, Lucy Keating’s debut novel will win readers’ hearts.

I really thought that Dreamology had an original concept. Alice has been having dreams where she meets up with this boy named Max. They've had all sorts of adventures over the years. And they've even fallen in love. I mean it kind of reminds me of one of those only-other-person-on-the-planet kind of things. When you dream about the same guy over and over for years falling in love seems kind of inevitable. Well Alice moves and the first day at her new school she runs into the real Max. The only problem is...he acts like he doesn't know her.

It takes Alice a while to get Max to admit to dreaming about Alice too. And I guess you could say that this would be one of my biggest frustrations. Max was so back and forth. In person he could be downright mean to Alice, but in their dreams he always came back to her and acted like nothing had changed. Alice, of course, put up with his behavior because of how in love with him she is. The explanation of Max not being able to control his actions in the dreams was somewhat helpful. But it doesn't give him a pass for being a jerk in real life. Max even makes a statement that is one of my biggest red flags when it comes to relationships. Not wanting to lose someone is never the right reason to stay with them.

There were a few mentions of modern technology/brands/icons that is a pet peeve of mine. It wasn't overdone, but I did roll my eyes a few times.

When Dreamology first began I enjoyed the description of the dreams that Alice was having. They seemed so realistic in the way that dreams are so unrealistic. But as the book continued to progress and the dreams continued to be such a large portion of the story, I began to enjoy this less and less. Just a few too many dream sequences for me I guess. In the same way, Alice would comment in real life how events felt like a movie or a novel. And I couldn't help but think that while we all might have those moments in our lives that feel like fiction, I, as the reader, know that I'm reading fiction and for the character to make statements like this takes me out of the story rather than helping me relate to the character.

Favorite quotes:

-It surprises me, how a gesture so small can feel so very big. How sometimes you don't realize the nervousness or sadness you were holding deep inside until the touch of someone you love lets it all out of you, like your entire body is exhaling.

-in times of extreme stress or trauma, humans of all ages will resort back to the fetal position, because it is an instinctual way to protect all our vital organs and because it reminds us of the safest place we all began, the womb.

Dreamology was better than I expected in some ways. It was a book that I found easy to keep reading yet I won't exactly say that I was hooked. I had a few frustrations that kept me from enjoying it as much as I wanted to though. Dreamology gets 3 Stars from me. Have you read Dreamology? What did you think? Let me know!