Book Review: John Dreamer by Elise Celine

This review can also be found on my Tumblr and Goodreads.

Rating: 1/5 stars Did Not Finish

Reason for Reading: I received this book in exchange for an honest review through Netgalley. Summary grabbed my attention.

Now, the first line in the summary is an exact quote from the book: “The only thing in this place that’s true: You will not return to the life you knew” That definitely grabbed my attention and made me want to read the book. A group of teenagers stuck in an empty, white room, and a man saying that he’ll make their dreams come true…You have to wonder what’s the catch? What will go wrong?

Well, I finished 40% of the book, and I could not go any further. The characters seemed too one dimensional to me. We have the nerd/alien-obsessed kid, the jerk, the  snotty rich kid, etc. The main character Andy seems to be falling for John from the start (him and his green eyes).

I’m not sure how to describe the writing style, but I am not a fan. It’s written in first person, and Andy’s thoughts about the others are very stereotypical of their caricatures. Roy annoys me to no end. Some of their actions make no sense. There is really no sense of urgency among the characters and their situation. They’re stuck in this room, but instead Roy is picking on people and Andy is trying to slow down her beating heart from John’s perfect green eyes.

What took the final piece of cake for me was Olivia’s departure from the group. She instantly starts talking about how she has gone through therapy and all of the diagnoses she was given. That went completely against her character of pretending to be perfect, high and uppity. It was so out of place that I had to stop.

My Final Thoughts: The characters do not work for me, and no one is really upset about what’s going on.

Reading Dates: September 1-9, 2014