Nicole Lesperance

In the tradition of Natalie Lloyd and Ingrid Law comes a whimsical debut about a girl, her family's dream shop, and a nightmare thief determined to change the course of her life as she knows it. Maren Partridge loves working in her family's dream shop where she can hand-craft any dream imaginable. The shop has only one rule. Dreams cannot be given to a person without their consent. Maren has no problem with this--until her sister, Hallie, has an accident that leaves her in a coma. Maren's certain she can cure Hallie with a few well-chosen dreams. And when no one is watching, she slips her a flying dream. But a strange new customer from the shop has been following Maren and knows what she did. Now she's laid the perfect trap to blackmail Maren into creating custom nightmares for a dark and terrible purpose. As Maren gets drawn further into the sinister scheme, she must make a choice: to protect her family or to protect the town from her family's magic.

The Nightmare Thief

For fans of A Snicker of Magic and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl comes a suspenseful dark fantasy duology, perfect for middle school readers that love stories of magic and sisterhood with a dash of danger. Maren Partridge loves working in her family's dream shop where she can hand-craft any dream imaginable. The shop has only one rule. Dreams cannot be given to a person without their consent. Maren has no problem with this—until her sister, Hallie, has an accident that leaves her in a coma. Maren's certain she can cure Hallie with a few well-chosen dreams. And when no one is watching, she slips her a flying dream. But a strange new customer from the shop has been following Maren and knows what she did. Now she's laid the perfect trap to blackmail Maren into creating custom nightmares for a dark and terrible purpose. As Maren gets drawn further into the sinister scheme, she must make a choice: to protect her family or to protect the town from her family's magic. Pick up the first book in the Nightmare Thief duology if you are looking for: Suspenseful stories of magical realism for kids with a side of danger Gifts for 11 year old girls, 13 year old girls, and any young reader 11-14 that loves fantasy Books that explore bullying, family ties, and feature strong female characters Books for 4th graders, and any classroom with grades 3-8

Jennifer

The Nightmare Thief is the Nicole Lesperance that I've read and it's a cute story about standing up for yourself despite the odds against you. This story busts the traditional view of being bravery: it doesn't mean not being afraid of anything but it means confronting the fears head on from the standpoint of what you believe in. In the time where uncertainty is high and things seem to become more and more difficult as we grow up, knowing how to face our fears is a very important life lesson to have. And The Nightmare Thief instills this messaging to its intended audience: middle grade readers solidly.

As I've mentioned a few times when I reviewed middle-grade books, I really admired how unique the book concepts are. The Nightmare Thief is no exception. I think the idea of nightmares, creating dreams, and how it's linked to the emotional state of the characters is pretty creative. As I enjoy when books strive to colour outside of the normal writing conventions, I thought the magic elements are really refreshing to read.

On the flipside, there were a few drawbacks that compromised my reading experience. While middle grade books tend to be less cliche comparing to YA, I still think there exists a few overdone tropes: namely the villain / bad person tend to be poorly developed and are usually the one who seems to put up the most glamorous front when he or she is first introduced. So I didn't feel very invested reading about the villain. Another slight concern I had was the pacing of the novel. I felt that the build up was a tad abrupt and lacked a proper following up. 

Concerns aside, I find The Nightmare Thief a pretty cute and refreshing read. Even if the writing falters a little, it's nevertheless a conceptually creative and well-messaged middle-grade fiction.

N.B. This novel contains following content warnings: accidents, hospital visits, and emotional blackmails

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Alexis 

3/5 Stars 

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!** 

I have some mixed feelings about this book. The Idea of this book was very interesting and grabbed my attention, I needed to see how it would play out. I liked the main character and I liked how important family was to her. The "magic" that was in the book is still very interesting to me. I still think being able to make dreams and nightmares and sell them is an awesome idea. I wanted to know all the interworkings of all the magic and dream/nightmare making. For me, I wasn't a massive fan of the writing. I just wanted more from the story and it, unfortunately, fell a little flat for me. Overall I still had a fun time reading and still really enjoyed the plot and characters. I would recommend giving this a read.

The Nightmare Thief

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