THE NIGHTMARE DILEMMA

In a fast-moving and easily digestible magical school story, Destiny “Dusty” Everhart, a teen who can enter others’ dreams, investigates an attack on a mermaid classmate.

Nearly all the students at Arkwell Academy are magickind, from seductive sirens and hot-tempered rage demons to fairies and dryads. Since Dusty and her friends helped break The Will, a spell that restricted the use of magic, in The Nightmare Affair (2013), magical altercations among students of different species are beginning to break out. Paul, Dusty’s former boyfriend and minion of the villainous Marrow in the previous volume, has been released from jail, and Dusty is worried about seeing him again. Meanwhile, Dusty and her close friend Eli search the latter’s dreams for clues about magical attacks on classmates and stubbornly refuse to discuss the few smoldering kisses they’ve shared. There’s plenty of action to keep readers engaged, and frequent exposition—in the form of narrative asides and dialogue—helps readers keep track of the many characters and rules of magic. The prose is more serviceable than artful, and some lines are downright clunky (“As if in contrast to my bleak mood, the weather outside had taken a pleasant turn toward nice”).

Nothing too deep, but good fun for fans of romance, fantasy and magical boarding school escapades.