Dead Dreams

Book 1 - A Young Adult Psychological Thriller

Young Adult - Mystery
264 Pages
Reviewed on 11/03/2013
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Emma Right is a happy wife and Christian homeschool mother of five living in the Pacific West Coast of the USA. Besides running a busy home, and looking after their five pets, which includes two cats, two bunnies and a Long-haired dachshund, she also writes stories for her children. When she doesn't have her nose in a book, she is telling her kids to get theirs in one.
Right worked as a copywriter for two major advertising agencies and won several awards, including the prestigious Clio Award for her ads, before she settled down to have children.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Dr. Oliva Dsouza for Readers' Favorite

Dead Dreams (Book 1) by Emma Right is an intriguingly enchanting story that catches your fancy and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Brianna is a regular kid from a family that is caring, loving, and a little over-involved. Wanting to live on her own and test her own strengths, she has a lot to look forward to. Sarah walks into her life as a roommate who has a good deal to hide and flaunt. Is Sarah really who she claims to be? Can she be trusted or is she an innocent victim of her destiny?

Emma Right has nailed this plot like no one else can. Dead Dreams is definitely a book all mystery lovers will want to lay their hands on. Brianna's various dilemmas and her gullible nature really strike a chord and make readers want things to work out for her. The best part is the web Sarah weaves that slowly draws Brianna onto a dangerous path, perhaps bordering on the illegal. How far will Sarah go to make sure her trap is successful is something that no one knows. Is Brianna's brother, Keith, the one person she can reply on in her time of need, or is there a more sinister turn that her dreams and life are going to take? Put on your seat belts and vroom through this book as you will not stop until each page has been devoured and your questions answered. "Waiting for the sequel eagerly" is the state the reader is left in after reading this book.

Mamta Madhavan

Dead Dreams Book 1 by Emma Right is a thriller, as the title suggests, and a mystery story. Brie O'Mara is an eighteen-year-old who has a loving and supportive family. She has an heiress for a roommate and it seems like her dreams are going to come true. However, her dreams are leading her into nightmares that are slowly turning into deadly reality. She has a feeling that something is just not right with her roommate Sarah. Will Brie finally follow the biblical dreams she has and find a solution for the problems she is facing? What is the role of Keith's brother who is as arrogant as Sarah in this plot?

The book is a thriller and the pace of the story is slowly built up. The author creates a lot of tension and intrigue, and keeps the reader engrossed in the story. The suspense will keep you on edge and riveted until the mystery is solved. The twists and turns, the characters, and the sub-plot are all etched out so well that you eagerly wait for Book II. The dreams turning into nightmares can actually make the reader scared. Sarah's character comes across as that of an arrogant person and the author has done an excellent job in sketching her personality. The book caters to all readers, young and old alike. An excellent thriller for fans of the genre.

Bil Howard

Sometimes dreams can turn into nightmares; nightmares into deadly reality. That’s what eighteen-year-old Brie O’Mara discovers in Emma Right’s psycho-thriller Dead Dreams: Book One. Brie’s big dreams of acting school, college, and making a name for herself seem to be on track. She has a loving and supportive family, a wealthy roommate, and all is moving in the right direction. She’s even the envy of everyone who knows her. Just when it seems that things are lined up and her fortune is all but in hand, her dreams are about to take a huge detour off track and begin to plunge into a deadly abyss. When Brie agrees to help Sarah disappear, as though she were dead, in order to ensure that Sarah receives her inheritance, things go horribly wrong and that is only the beginning of the nightmare which is closing in around her.

Emma Right has written a psycho-thriller that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Dead Dreams: Book One shows how quickly good dreams can drastically change into nightmares. This well-developed plot keeps readers on the edge of their seats and turning pages. Brie engages in a realistic struggle that brings her full circle and leaves a great deal of doubt as to whether she will make it out alive. The characterization and the deep, inner psychological aspects of this story drive it. Suspenseful, thrilling, and edgy; Dead Dreams: Book One is an awesome way to start off a psycho-thriller series and will soon gather plenty of attention from readers everywhere.

Lit Amri

Eighteen-year-old Brie O’Mara moves out from her parents’ home to a two-bedroom apartment for the sake of being independent from her family, especially her nosy mother. Working two jobs to save for college, Brie places an ad for a roommate to share the rent. The secretive and rich Sarah McIntyre moves in, and Brie’s life would never be the same again. A first installment of its series, Dead Dreams is a YA psychological mystery thriller by Emma Right.

Emma Right’s clear-cut prose is easy to read. I also like the comfortable short length of each chapter. It makes the pacing fairly swift from start to finish. Brie’s roommate is a mystery indeed and Right definitely knows how to build the plot with tension and suspense that would easily put any reader on edge. Every chapter ending cliffhanger makes me anxious for the next to begin. This is the main strength of Right’s gripping story. She manages her story line with deft assurance, winding up a skein of a mystery that’s rich with secrets, unpredictable twists, a surprising love affair, and murder.

The characters, main and secondary, gain significant depth as the story proceeds. I find protagonist Brie’s inquisitive mind endearing, not forgetting her premonitory dreams. There is also a subtle religious tone, mainly from Brie’s mother and another character, Pastor Perry. All in all, Dead Dreams is every bit exciting. It is an intricately crafted YA mystery thriller that will also delight mature readers. The ending left me with so many questions, making the anticipation for Book 2 high and intriguing.