Sleepless (ARC)

Sleepless

Author: Cyn Balog

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 224

Read Time: Two Days

Tag Words: Folklore, legend, supernatural, Sandmen, dreaming, love, complicated relationship, dangerous relationship, death

My Summary:

Julia’s boyfriend just died and she feels... nothing. 

Maybe she’d feel differently if she knew he was hanging around and in charge of her sleeping habits. 

My Review:

The premise of this book is really good, the idea is really, really good; a subject not yet tackled as far as I know and the characters are authentic, unique and vivid. This book had so much potential, and I just don’t feel like it lived up to it. 

My main problem with this book is the arc of the plot. There is classic plot structure that most books stick to and it includes rising action, climax and falling action, in that order. It has stuck because it works, people respond to it and enjoy it. I’m not quite sure how I would describe the turbulent peaks and falls of Sleepless, but they were jarring to say the least. Because of the break in tradition much of the short novel dragged, while other, important bits raced by. Emotional revelations were passed up and so the characters, which as I mentioned were really original and unique, became average joes. To bad.

Another problem I had with the characters was that they were not romantic heroes, or heroines. Griffin turns into a rabid beast, Bret gets handsy and Eron is so stiff that I could only imagine him as a seventy year old man, not a young, hot thing I’m suppose to want for Julia. Sleepless was suppose to be a love story, but I didn’t feel it at all.

A book that is very similar is Sunday at Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet. I would recommend Sunday over Sleepless. 

Notes on the Names: 

I appreciate that the author tried to find a balance between giving Eron a name that fit in both his worlds, the one that existed 100 years ago and the quasi-magical world he exists in during the present day, but Geronimo, called Eron does not work for me. 

Thoughts on the Cover:

The best part of this book, by far, was the design. The cover is gorgeous and the moon and flower theme is repeated inside the book as the chapters change perspectives. 

Parental Book Review *spoilers*

Sexual Content: 

Mild.

Kissing without a heated tone. 

Language: 

Mild/Moderate

H- 18

A- 10

D- 3

Sl*t- 1

Violence:

Moderate

Attempted rape

Eron is run over by a car

Eron mildly describes the accident that ended his life 

Eron remembers the dreams of Julia’s kidnapper, they involved knives and the kidnapper gouged out a piece of her cheek for every day he kept her. 

Other Notables: 

Some characters are alcoholics and many underage teens consume alcohol, some to the point of being alcoholics.