Book Review of LEGACY OF A DREAMER Allie Jean

 I recently connected with Allie Jean online at World Literary Cafe, at their Author-Blogger Connection. One email led to another and now I'm reviewing her novel, LEGACY OF A DREAMER. She's graciously sent me two SIGNED copies of the book, one I will give away, the other will be donated to my local library.

Come on back next week to check out my interview with Allie Jean.

LEGACY of a DREAMER is the story of eighteen-year-old Chantel Breelan, a foster kid, newly aged out of 'the system'. Suffering from vivid nightmares most of her life, Chantel has had her 'shadow man', Nick, to confide in since she was a little girl. The nonchalant shadow man is always there in the muted shadows of the night watching over her. He brings her comfort in a world offering little of the precious commodity, even though Chantel knows he's not a 'real person'. Or is he?

When Chantel moves out of her foster home, she finds her nightmares have materialized in her waking world and she's haunted by mysterious monsters from the shadows. She has no idea who they are or what they want, but she'll soon find out. I'm not going to go into a play-by-play of the book, that would ruin it for you and we wouldn't want that.

However, I will tell you that Allie Jean has created the fantastic world of the Shade, where evil lurks and warriors who fight the evil travel undetected by the 'real world'. 'A creature in the Shade was nothing but shadow, immortal, deadly and impenetrable.' And there is 'a countless horde of them' to be fought. Ms. Jean's monsters are plucked from your worst nightmares.

Allie's characters are realistic and relatable, which is so important to enable readers to really sink into the story. Chantel has the hardened shell of a foster kid who's been abandoned and hurt, with the soft insides of a girl who wants to be understood and loved. Nick/Mathias, a warrior dedicated to keeping Chantel safe even if at the cost of his own life, finds himself breaking the rules and falling for his charge. These two characters vacillate between attraction and irritation as they try to avoid death at the hands of the Evil One's minions, keeping the reader enthralled to the very end.

Okay, if you know me, you know I pride myself on being truthful. You can always count on me to shoot straight and be bluntly honest, often to a fault. That said, there are a couple of things about LEGACY OF A DREAMER I was slightly disappointed with. I'm reluctant to share these with you, because I really enjoyed this book and think you will too. So read this knowing I'm probably pickier than most and, because I've been editing my own manuscript for the last two months, I'm most likely more sensitive about these things than other people.

First, although the characters were engaging, the plot well developed, and the world building fantastic, the editing could have been much better. There were a few spelling errors and missed quotation marks. Secondly, in my opinion, the writing could have been tighter, more succinct with less filters and wordiness. Please don't let these nit-picky things keep you from enjoying this wonderful story, you most likely won't even notice them.

On my five star scale, I'd award this book three and half stars. So use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win your very own copy of LEGACY OF A DREAMER.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Okay, this was my second give away and I had two copies of LEGACY OF A DREAMER, so I decided to give them both away. Congratualtions to Nerissa Depperschmidt and Monica Calangian!