BEFORE I WAKE

Author: Kathryn Smith ISBN: 9780061340277 8/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: AVON

You may call it a dream job . . . And in some ways, you'd be right. I actually get paid to study people's dreams. It comes much easier than my employers at the Sleep Center suspect; after all, I, Dawn, am the daughter of the king of the dream world, and I can roam the dreams of others, battling the nightmares that plague them. I call it a nightmare . . . Honestly, I could use a good night's sleep. But ever since I met Noah Clarke, I'm even more torn between the two worlds: smart, sexy, and able to control his own dreams, Noah could be my perfect man—except he's being stalked in his sleep by an unearthly evil, hell-bent on destroying him . . . and the entire world.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Okay, so I have totally heard the hype behind Kathryn Smith and her books from just about everyone that I know. Every single one of my book lover friends is in love with this author and her books, so I was more than happy to try her out. And I'm not surprised to say that I really, truly liked this book. Kathryn Smith's writing style is wonderful—not a lot of fluff here, just some straight-up good reading.

I love the entire idea for this story. The idea that there is an entire realm in the dream world and that when people sleep they actually enter this other realm is just genius—a truly wonderful idea. I found myself drawn in by this concept and the characters that presented themselves in the book.

Dawn is our heroine, and a heroine, she is. She is the half human/ half immortal daughter of the king of the dream world. She is a Nightmare... for real, that's what she is called. She has no idea what her abilities are—as a matter of fact, she has tried her entire life to suppress what she is. But when a Dreamkin from the dream realm starts hurting people that she cares about, she has no idea but to take things into her own hands and get to know her other life in a very real way.

Noah is the quintessential brooding hero. He has been having nightmares for as long as he can remember and he has signed up for some research at Dawn's sleep clinic (in an attempt to help people with dream issues, in spite of and because of who she is—Dawn is a doctor of dream therapy), not knowing at all what he is getting himself into. This is especially true when Dawn starts showing up in his dreams, along with a freak of a "thing" that seems hell bent on hurting him.

Unfortunately, Noah was my one "iffy" part of this story. Don't get me wrong, I loved him and he has the brooding thing down to a science, but he was just not developed enough for me. We get loads of info on Dawn and her issues, her childhood, and especially her mommy problems, but hardly anything about Noah. We get an idea from the things that are said and alluded to, and here is one dream that Dawn walks into that is self-explanatory, but other than that, we get nothing. And for me, that would have taken this story right over the top.

I love the entire world that Kathryn Smith has created with The Nightmare Chronicles. The mystery, the intrigue, the ability to be totally blown away by the characters—all of it is top notch. I am so excited for the next book in this series and I cannot wait to get to my bookstore and grab up all of her books that I have missed!

Kristal Gorman