Dreams by Daniela Sacerdoti

Seventeen-year-old Sarah Midnight has never had a normal life. To the outside world she is a typical teenager, but on the inside, Sarah holds and unimaginable secret. Her parents are demon hunters, part of a web of secret Families who have sworn to protect the world. When they are mysteriously killed, Sarah's world is shattered but she knows she must now take up their fight.

Unprepared for the task ahead, she finds herself thrust into a world of incredible danger, full of things she never even knew existed. Including her enigmatic long-lost cousin who, out of the blue, turns up on her doorstep just when she needs him most. He claims to be there to help and protect her, but how will she know who to trust in this perilous new life? And can she stay alive long enough to complete her parents' quest when they have left her so defenceless?

Sarah has to learn, and learn fast - the demons are all around her and death waits for no one ...

I hadn't heard of this book until one of my fairly local Waterstones tweeted about a signing, I clicked and read the synopsis of the book and it struck my fancy so I went along to the signing and had a lovely wee chat with the author as well.

Sarah's parents are killed by a demon and she has to carry on with hiding the family secret and keeping the demon population down. She has inherited the "Midnight stare" (which is never fully explained but I think it causes pain?) and also Blackwater (which, again, is never fully explained. But she can basically burn (?) demons with her touch but then she's covered in water? Not entirely sure on the mechanics of Blackwater but I'm hoping it gets explained in further books). Her long lost cousin comes from London to help her as he knows she's in danger and he helps her defend herself from the demons attacking her, and also the people controlling them.

Now, the storyline itself was really enjoyable except for a few parts which I felt could have used more explanation but, as I said above, I'm hoping this will be expanded on in further books. A couple of my little bugs is the character interaction and Sarah's relationship with her "cousin". The interactions between characters come across as very false, and yes I know that it's a book and the whole thing is false but you know what I mean, the conversations didn't seem to flow well. Maybe it was because Sarah's speech doesn't identify her as a 17 year old Scottish lass, and I know she is more mature for her age since she had to grow up fast but it still doesn't gel for me. With her relationship with her "cousin", who we find out very early on is not her cousin but in fact her cousin's friend and partner who was sent by her cousin to protect her, is very weird. I get that he knows he's not her cousin and so he can admit his feelings for her etc etc. But she doesn't know he's not her cousin and she seems to think it's OK that he flirts with her and even kisses her, I find that a wee bit weird and creepy.

But those two annoyances aside, I will read the next two books in the trilogy as I want to know what happens with Sarah and Sean/Harry.


Book Depository: Dreams
Amazon UK: Dreams