REVIEW: THE CIRCUS OF STOLEN DREAMS by Lorelei Savaryn
This drips with delicious circus treats, whimsical dreams, and sinister nightmares. I drank in everything about this story fueling my childhood dreams and nostalgia as I typically read adult contemporaries, thrillers, and mysteries. The magical atmosphere and its allurement will attract you as Reverie attracted Andrea in escaping her sadness. I loved the fun dreamful concept with Tim Burton vibes and truly enjoyed Andrea as a motivated character, grieving for her lost brother while trying to figure out what happened to him. Her persistence and curiosity in the adventure made me turn the pages and finish the book right away. There’s twists, turns, secrets, and traps throughout. It also made me question what dream, memory, or nightmare might I give up to enter the circus of Reverie.
Title: THE CIRCUS OF STOLEN DREAMS
Author: Lorelei Savaryn
Genre: MG Fantasy
Rating: 5 | 5 stars
Available Sept. 1, 2020 from Philomel (Penguin Young Readers). Preorder today!
About the story:
A dream world turns haunting nightmare in this spellbinding debut novel, perfect for fans of Circus Mirandus and The Night Gardener.
After Andrea’s brother, Francis, disappeared, everything changed. Her world turned upside down, and there was nothing she could do to right it. So when she discovers a magical dream world called Reverie in the woods near her home, Andrea jumps at the chance to escape her pain and go inside. But the cost of admission is high: Andrea must give up a memory in order to enter. And she knows exactly which memory she’d like to give up.
Once inside, Andrea discovers tent after tent of dreams come alive; she can fly on a gust of wind, brave swashbuckling pirates and search for buried treasure, reach for–and wish on–a tangible star, and much, much more. But Andrea soon realizes that not all of Reverie’s dreams are meant to delight, and the Sandman behind the circus tents seems to have plans of his own. When Andrea finds a tent in which her brother’s darkest nightmare has been brought to life, she realizes the dark truth: Reverie is not an escape; it’s a trap.
Will Andrea and her new friend Penny have what it takes to find Francis, figure out what’s really going on in Reverie, and break free from this nightmarish dream world?
A wonderfully inventive, deliciously creepy debut novel that is sure to linger in readers’ minds long after the last thrilling page has been turned.
Thank you to NetGalley, Lorelei Savaryn, and Philomel (Penguin Young Readers) for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.