It is a rare happening that I am able to read a whole book in one single day which clearly shows that Wren Handman's new YA Urban Fantasy novel, In Restless Dreams, is completely unputdownable and an incredibly fast read! I award this book four bright stars and I'm also blowing thousands of kisses at Parliament House Press for granting me a ARC in exchange for an honest review. Seriously, book loves, Parliament House Press is AMAZING & their authors are incredible so give them a follow to stay up to date on their hot new book releases in 2020. In Restless Dreams follows Sylvia Hartford who has to deal with a ton of problems like her mother’s attempted suicide, making friends in a rich prep school where she doesn’t belong, maneuvering the advances of a dangerous but insanely attractive boy at her school and it definitely doesn't help that she learns she is the long-awaited Phantasmer, a human who can change the fabric of Fairy simply by believing in a new story. To add more drama to Sylvia's bowl of cheerios...two warring Courts, the Seelie and Unseelie, both attempt to use her for their own ambitious queens, Queen Mab and Queen Titania who seek to destroy each other. And it doesn’t help matters that the fairies begging for her help (Knight and Stranger) are both attractive young men–with their own agendas. I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure story found in In Restless Dreams. I'm always in awe of Urban Fantasy because I believe it is challenging to write but Wren Handman had beautifully vivid depictions of Fairy blurring together with our real world and it was extremely well-done! Painted murals on a brick building on the Upper East Side of New York City were doorways into Fairy and the Shadow world and I actually felt as though I were there. The reason I didn't give In Restless Dreams 5 stars is because two questions kept nagging me over and over and they went unanswered throughout the book. The first question that berated me incessantly was: "How and why was Sylvia Hartford chosen to become the next Phantasmer?" There is a passage in the text where Sylvia asks "Why me?" and the Knight responds "Honestly, it's entirely luck that let me find you. And entirely you that makes you special." And to be fair Sylvia does say that his statement needs more explaining but as he goes on it's really just about what a Phantasmer is and what the past Phantasmers did to change Fairy in the past, but Sylvia's unique importance and her origin as the Phantasmer is breezed past and not really mentioned. The other question that distracted me often was: "Why in the world would Sylvia even WANT to help Fairy by changing the Seelie and Unseelie Courts?" I guess one can assume it was because of her attraction to both the Fae males, Knight and Stranger, but there is even a point in the novel where she wants nothing to do with their versions since they're on different sides and totally biased and so she goes off on her own to hear what the Commoners and people of Fairy have to say about their current state of livelihood (something that isn't solved because she's unable to communicate with the people of Fairy due to a language barrier). I just didn't understand what gave Sylvia the motivation to put herself in danger for a place she never knew about or didn't explicitly have any real ties to. Overall, I highly recommend In Restless Dreams if you loved Gossip Girl, Lev Grossman's The Magicians, and Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series because if you love those books this one was especially created with you in mind!! In Restless Dreams will be released on January 28, 2020 from The Parliament House Press. About the AuthorWREN HANDMAN is an author, playwright, and stage manager who lives in Vancouver, BC. She received her BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Victoria and her MFA in Theatre and Playwriting at UBC. Her short stories have been published in literary magazines such as "Crow Toes Quarterly" and anthologies such as "Revolutions of the Undertones" and "Voice From the Planet". Her plays have won critical acclaim at the Victoria International Fringe Festival (Best New Play) and the Theatre in the Raw New Play Contest. Check out Wren Handman's Website wrenhandman.com! Follow Wren on Instagram (@singsthewren), Twitter (@wrenhandman), and on Facebook (@wrenhandmanwriter) to keep up with all of her upcoming books, and her daily shenanigans.
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