Blog Tour,  Book Reviews

BLOG TOUR; Dreamer by Ja-Mel Vinson ft. Book Review & Book Aesthetic

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Book cover (Dreamer)

Dreamer
by Ja-Mel Vinson

The day before moving into her new dorm, college freshman, Maya Lilac, has a haunting dream that ends with her coming face-to-face with a second version of herself. After being haunted by the dream during move-in day, she finally comes in contact with her double, nicknamed “Lucent”, and learns that she actually has powers and can – among other things – make her dreams come true.

Maya’s heritage, however, runs deeper when she discovers that she’s the True Dreamer, a person reaching back as far as Joan of Arc that’s tasked with protecting her species, as well as the world, from any and all threats… including her seemingly-peaceful and non-combative double. But, not everyone shares Maya’s vision that her clone isn’t out to harm anybody, especially her mother. As Maya and her mother fight over whether Lucent is a legitimate threat, Maya trains in her now-active powers to fulfill her destiny of protecting the world, whether she has to take care of Lucent or not.

Goodreads | Amazon

Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: 19 March 2019

A while back, Shealea @ Caffiene Book Tours posted a sign up for Dreamer, a New Adult science-fiction/fantasy novel by Ja-Mel Vinson. Everything I read about the book had me squealing internally because it was right up my alley.

So I signed up, and did not get my hopes up. So imagine my surprise and joy when I opened my email one day and there was an email telling me I would get to be a part of the tour! Along side some really great bloggers. Obviously I’m excited.

The launch post can be found here, and the tour schedule is as below. Be sure to check out these awesome bloggers!

Tour Schedule (Dreamer)

(My review is at the very bottom of this post, under a cut, so be sure to check that out!)

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Author photo (Ja-Mel Vinson)

Ja-Mel Vinson can be found at:-

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

and you can subscribe to his newsletter here.

Win a SIGNED ARC of Dreamer by Ja-Mel Vinson! This Rafflecopter giveaway is open internationally.

 

 

Don’t forget to join the Twitter Chat at the end of the tour!

Invite (Dreamer)

Review:It took me a little while to get into the book. Part of it was because a doctor’s appointment turned into a one-night hospital stay, and that may have taken something from my enjoyment of this story as a whole.

But I did enjoy it. Quite a bit actually.

Dream magic has always been fascinating to me, so to have an entire novel revolving around Dreamers and how their abilities work, and how their dreams can affect reality when they are asleep and awake – sign me up!

First off, the world building is quite frankly intense. There are reflections of the world as we know it, which gives enough of a jumping point to go into the world as Maya knows it – with Dreamers and Angels and Daemons and Demons. The explanations for the world were for the most part, woven in naturally into the story that I hardly ever felt as if it was exposition. Even when it could have been too much, something would happen in the story to make it seem natural.

Secondly, the characters felt quite fleshed out. Maya was the most fleshed out as the story was in the first person, but we get a sense of the other characters enough that they do not fall flat on the page. Her overprotective Mom, her chirpy best friend who is battling her own demons, the Angels that protect them – even the villains are relatively fleshed out enough that I felt sympathy for at least one of them.

I am trying to do this review with no spoilers because the story is one that is fun to see unravel in front of you. There are moments of annoyance at characters for the choices they make – but then I remember being that age, and frankly, they handle things with a lot more grace than I would have.

For a debut novel, it is well-crafted and plotted, and if the writing at times feels like a novice, well, that’s because it is a debut (and I am not sure I am the target audience but I enjoyed it nonetheless).

Definitely something to recommend to people who want a Chosen One type narrative with a twist.

I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.

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