I will post this review in its entirety after Harper Collins reaches an agreement with the union. You can (and should, because it is an awesome book!) support this author with a purchase.

I look forward to discussing this book more once the HC strike comes to some kind of conclusion. When that happens, I'll be sure to give my full thoughts on my channel.

City of Nightmares is a fantastic and wild ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end and then you’ll need the next. I enjoyed the world building so much, the plot, the sub-plot, the twists and turns are all fantastic, everything feels so fresh, unique and interesting. I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys paranormal or urban fantasy.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an honest opinion

Imagine a wimp dropped into a dark, dreary, crime-infested world like Gotham. Except in this world, you may become your worst nightmare. Like a GIANT MAN-EATING SPIDER.

After Chapter 1, I thought for sure I was going to hate this, but here we are with me sort of loving this.

I loved the chaotic world and the magic system where anything goes. I loved that the protagonist was a nobody. She wasn't a badass, she didn't have a hidden talent, and she wasn't the chosen one. She had to work for her character growth, and I appreciated it.

The only thing that stopped this from being a 5-star read was that there were parts that I felt were overly repetitive. As though the author didn't trust me to remember something from a few chapters before.

There were also a few incidents of soapboxing, and while I felt like it fit the narrative and I agreed with the author's point of view, it was fairly noticeable, and I'm sure some readers will dislike these parts.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins Children's Books, and Clarion Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Solid 3.5
This was a little too YA for me. I found the wiring style too much like a train of thought and the descriptions for characters were one note. I think there’s a ton of potential and I’ll continue reading to find out the truth about nightmares.

Newham is a city where no one sleeps, as dreaming can lead to waking up as someone's worst fear. Ness' sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered people, so she will do anything to avoid becoming another victim. She hides with the Friends of the Restful Soul but must prove herself worthy of belonging to the organization. The job goes disastrously wrong, leaving her and a Nightmare as the only survivors. The two must return to Newham and uncover the truth behind the attack, no matter the cost.

Ness is afraid of everything, and Newham isn't exactly the kind of place that inspires a sense of safety. On top of the fact that people can turn into their worst nightmares without dream suppressing medicine, corruption runs rampant. The mayoral race commonly includes the assassination of rival candidates. Police take bribes and regularly threatens the people. Rival gangs also have their territory wars in the streets. Ness feels safe in her tiny room with the Friends of the Restful Soul, which is the only incorruptible place she knows. She has a best friend who's fearless, a sharp contrast to her fearful nature. Ness isn't very good at most jobs, so she hopes to do a mail run to avoid getting thrown out of the order. She is forced to face her fears at many points throughout the novel, confronting the thought that all Nightmares are inherently evil.

I really enjoyed the world-building here and the gradual way we move beyond Newham's borders. We see the varying levels of corruption, how many people are actually consumed by their fears, and Ness slowly realizes how constrained her life was. She was repeatedly pushed out of her comfort zone, which led to her not just reacting, but planning her next step. As much as she still has concerns, she finds a reasonable balance between logic and fear. I loved how natural that growth was, and how she never once became someone she wasn't. This was such a fun book to read, I would love to see a dozen sequels in this world.

I received an ARC of City of Nightmares from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not sure how to talk about City of Nightmares. It wasn't that I necessarily disliked it, but some things continually drew me out of the story and caused me to rate it as low as I did.

Let me begin by saying that I thought the story was unique and exciting. I loved the idea of people becoming their nightmares. It made me think about what I would end up as, and considering the super weird nightmares I usually have, probably something crazy. I also liked how dark and, honestly, depressing the setting was. Everything and everybody was corrupt, and no one was hiding it. It was a known fact, and good people were few and far between. It made for a curious mix of good people doing bad things because that's the world they live in. It makes for very morally ambiguous characters, which are always fun.

However.

I had such a hard time reading this. As much as I loved the premise, that was the only thing that kept me going. I was so curious to learn more about this world and the nightmares that I powered through. I still don't know much about how these things came about. There wasn't any world-building beyond what the main character knew. Yes, it makes sense that we don't know more than our main character, but there were points when she could've learned more that were written off as, "I'm not the smartest, so them explaining all of this to me isn't very helpful because I can't make sense of it." So since our main character can't make sense of it, it was either glossed over to the point that I can't make sense of it either or bypassed entirely. It was honestly very frustrating.

Not to mention that the writing felt very simple to me. Almost all the descriptions were in a group of three, like "tall, white, with curly hair." That's it. None of the characters were particularly memorable because that's all the description we would get, just all-around very basic descriptions of everything, not just the characters. And on top of that, I have no idea what the plot was. There were just so many different plot points that I kept getting lost in what the end goal was. And to be honest, even after reaching the book's end, I'm still unsure what the end goal was. I don't know what the problem we were trying to solve was. No idea.

Lately, I feel that many of my issues with books are coming down to the execution, and City of Nightmares falls into that category. As much as I wanted to love it, this book wasn't for me.

I am always a sucker for YA fantasy, and here’s a new series coming out today from a talented author who likes to mix fantasy with horror; I mean her other series is called 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴!

You ready for THIS premise?! Beware of sleep…nightmares may ensure and when you wake up, you have BECOME that nightmare. Yup, like if you’re terrified of spiders, you might wake to find yourself a giant spider. Or a vampire. Or a worm.

The world building is creative - creepy city, crime is rampant, and desperation fills everyone’s lives. If you forget your sleeping medicine, big OOPS.

Characters are compelling, with a complicated female lead (sister became a nightmare and died, after killing their father - I told you this was DARK), a friend/love interest who IS a nightmare, and a badass best friend who wants to fight the nightmares.

The rest of a good series is always the answer to the question: Will I be compelled to grab the second book?! In this case, my answer is a resounding YES.

City of Nightmares was a fast-paced, thrilling read that kept me constantly guessing. I thought the idea of nightmares coming to life after dreaming was such a cool concept, and one that was expertly explored. As someone who had a lot of nightmares as a kid, this book was both fascinating and kind of terrifying, because I’m pretty sure I even had a nightmare about my nightmares coming to life at one point!

This book begins quite unassuming. The reader follows Ness, a terrified girl who wants nothing more than to feel safe and secure. Unfortunately for Ness, safety is just an illusion in the corrupt and dark city of Newham, and she soon finds herself caught in a conspiracy that would see her dead. I really enjoyed how the book started almost quietly—introducing us to Newham and all its horrors, while still shielding us from some of the grimmer parts of the city. Gradually, though, and almost imperceptibly, the stakes were raised so high that it became impossible for us or for Ness to ignore. Each chapter increased the anticipation that little bit more, so skillfully I didn’t always notice until I felt suffocated by the suspense.

I was never quite sure where it was headed, but I always knew each piece of information being introduced was going to be important at some point, which it most certainly was. Aptly, the entire story felt like a spider weaving its web until the entire city of Newham and all of its plot points were trapped and connected by this web. Even though a lot of questions were answered, there’s still so much to be uncovered, and I already cannot wait until the next book comes out!

Something I especially enjoyed about City of Nightmares was the protagonist’s personality. Unlike many other MCs in YA fiction, Ness was terrified of almost everything, and very rarely willing to put herself on the line to face those fears. It was rather refreshing to see and set up some interesting plot points. Additionally, her personality made for an excellent character arc that was done believably. I enjoyed being in her thoughts, and I’m excited to see what adventures she gets up to in the sequel.

Another aspect to commend is the relationships. While there’s a hint of romance between Ness and Cy, most of the story is focused on friendship and building that foundation, which I love to see! Neither Ness nor Cy was in the position to begin a relationship, so I loved the fact it focused on developing their interactions as friends. Ness is also best friends with Priya, someone completely opposite in personality to Ness. Even so, they compliment each other well. Their friendship was already established before the book began, but that didn’t keep the author from exploring it further and expanding the dynamic.

From start to finish, City of Nightmares was a wild ride that constantly kept me on my toes. I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys paranormal or urban fantasy with a little bit of a spook factor.

2023 is off with a bang! Rebecca Schaeffer is a new to me author and I’m just going to say I am beyond impressed and could not put City of Nightmares the first book in the City Of Nightmares Duology down. Not only was it completely different and surprising, I loved the main broken character and her journey to put herself back together as she learns the world around her is not what she thought it was.

Ness lives in a corrupt and crazy city where literal nightmares roam the streets. In Ness’s world if you go to sleep and have a nightmare, you become that nightmare in life when you wake up. Some of them look mostly like regular people, just with red skin and horns, others, well let’s just say others don’t look human at all. Ness knows this well since her sister, the one protector she has ever really had succumbed to that fate.

My sister’s worst nightmare was a giant, man-eating spider. I know because that’s what she turned into when she went to sleep for the last time.

Ness’s new home is with a group called Friends of the Restful Soul, everyone else in the city thinks it is a cult but to Ness it is the place where she is laying low with all of her fears and hiding in a room most of the time curled up on a bed just wishing the world outside away. When Ness’s place at the could be cult’s sanctuary is threatened, she is willing to go outside the current jobs she has been doing there in hopes of making herself useful so she doesn’t get sent away. That is when everything goes wrong and Ness learns that the life she held onto for safety was probably just a big lie, as she tries to find out why now someone is trying to kill her.

The world here is creepy, strange, brutal at times and just so weird. This is one of the few books where I didn’t see many of the twists coming and was surprised every time. It is a dark tale and the city has horrors people have just learned to live with are mind boggling but humans can get used to anything we are just resilient that way.

Of course the Mayor has a pet pterodactyl that randomly eats citizens. At this point, I don’t even consider this an odd thing to happen in Newham.

Ness is afraid of so many things, but it is satisfying to see her work through her fear of all Nightmares as she works with Cy, a vampire boy, to find out why there was an explosion meant to kill everyone on the boat they were on. Cy seems like a good enough guy but he is a vampire, and everything Ness knows about vampires make her not trust him. But being short on friends, he is her best bet to stay alive, that is, if Cy doesn’t decide she is snackable.

Honestly I enjoyed the world, the plot, the sub-plot, the twists and turns and the reason everyone in the world could turn into a nightmare when they dream. It was all unique and interesting and I am so excited to see what happens in the wrap up to this duology. Rebecca Schaefer has won me over with this book and I’m excited to check out her other series that looks just a dark and twisted.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a great unique read with a relatable main character! Read it!

Absolutely loved the premise of this book. It immediately captured my attention and kept it for every single page. Great characters and the pacing was perfect

What a fun, adventurous tale! Loved this new idea of a Nightmare city and a main character that is very in tune with her own fears. We usually get a person, who is not scared of anything and jumps into dangerous situations without thought. And here we have a girl that gets crippled by her fears, and literary runs or hides from everything. It was refreshing, at times funny, and oh so personable. In reality, would you be the one to swing a heavy item at a big baddy, or would you run for your life if you'd come into contact with one?

Loved that this book wasn't focused on romance, as that's a very big norm in YA fantasies. This one is about friendships, and why we choose friends we do. What does such a relationship provide to each party. It made me think about my own friendships and how I feel around those people. I think this is such a great theme to explore, especially for younger readers. Now this does not mean, that sex, etc isn't mentioned in this book. It is just not the focus.

It was a story full of adventure, hypocrisy, corruption, and everything bad that could be part of a city full of evil people and Nightmares. It had a bit of humor, a lot of friendship, and an ending that left me wanting for the next book.

3/5

A decent read but left me wanting more. City of Nightmares never quite lived up to its full potential. The writing style is a bit inconsistent at the beginning but becomes more readable as the book goes on. Its an interesting concept that has been executed well enough and is entertaining at the end of the day but still slow in places.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

In a world filled with literal nightmares, one woman dares to be afraid of all of them. This book was weird. Like I'm having trouble putting my thoughts into words because I feel like everything I really want to say about it would include some sort of spoiler.

Ness clearly has PTSD from her sister turning into a Nightmare and eating their father. She seeks refuge with The Friends of the Restful Soul (she swears they're not a cult) after her aunt dies, because they offer free therapy that she'd been taking advantage of already. But like you get what you pay for, right? It's also the only way she can keep a roof over her head because the entire world scares her half to death.

This book had so many twists and turns in the story that it really felt unrealistic, except the set-up for this world made it realistic for the story, if that makes any sense. And I can honestly say I did not see half of those twists coming, but I'm not necessarily sure that's a good thing.

The character growth I saw in this book felt kind of cookie cutter and rushed to me. I liked the end result, but the path to get there left so much to be desired and just felt like it happened all at once.

I realize this review seems pretty negative, but my overall experience with the book wasn't. I wanted to keep reading and I was anxious to see what happened next. It's just talking about the things I really liked about the book would absolutely spoil parts of it and I'm not trying to do that to you.

Overall I give this book 4.2 out of 5 stars and definitely look forward to reading the next one in the series whenever it may come out.

Look, when the book’s blurb starts out with “ever since her sister became a man-eating spider”, how in the world could I not pick up this book? And while I was initially put off by the cover (seriously, it doesn’t not match the book at all), I’m so glad I picked this up. It’s a quirky story but one I very much enjoyed.

For over a hundred years, people have been afraid of Nightmares. If you dream, you have a chance of turning into a Nightmare, a representation of the thing you fear the worst. Sometimes it means you turn into a lizard man but are otherwise still the same mentally, while some turn into giant spider monsters. People regularly take pills to prevent dreams.

“It’s hard to stop being afraid when the whole world is literally full of monsters.
And anyone could become another one whenever they go to sleep.”


Ness ended up in the big city of Newham after her sister turned into a Nightmare and killed her father and several others in their small town. She fell in with the Friends of the Restful Soul after getting therapy from them and her tiny brick-walled room is the only safe space she knows. Eight years later, Ness is still terrified of Nightmares, constantly wearing gloves to prevent contagion and taking extra pills just in case. Even the thought of one makes her cower and hide so it’s not a surprise she’s terrible at all the assignments the Friends give her. But when her latest assignment goes sideways, she’s forced to face her fears – if she can survive them.

The world building is great. It seems to be set in a sort of 1920s era with Prohibition and speakeasys and flapper hats. The entire premise – turning into your worst nightmare – is inventive and enthralling. Newham is corrupt to an almost hilarious extent. No one even blinks when the mayor’s pet pterodactyl gobbles up a journalist who asks a prying question. People clamor to watch one of the city’s superheroes defeat the latest monster du jour and then get autographs from them signed in the monster’s blood. Ness has a sort of cynical resignation to the whole thing which is at times dryly humorous and at other times, well, horrifying.

“The cult?” he asks.
“It’s not a cult,” I insist.
He gives me a disbelieving look. “It’s called the Friends of the Restful Soul. It’s so a cult.”


Watching Ness grow from being a complete self-described coward to someone who can stand up for herself was very enjoyable. Of course, she has a lot of help from her friends. I loved Priya whose goal in life was to become a Nightmare hunter and who argued constantly with her sister about it. And then there’s Cy, the mysterious person who rescues Ness. Cy’s the one who makes Ness start to question her fear of Nightmares and she definitely didn’t thank him for that at first!

As for cons, there were moments where it got too preachy, where the author felt the need to wallop the reader over the head with a particular revelation. And yes, it was based on the story, but at times they felt too complicated for Ness to come up with at that point in time. That’s not to say I didn’t like the themes. There’s a lot around how the media represents frankly abusive relationship. My favorite, though, was exploring Ness’s idea of safety. Ever since she survived her sister’s Nightmare by hiding in a kitchen cabinet, her idea of safety is hiding herself away and hoping the monsters don’t notice her, like her tiny room at the Friends. But when that safety is ripped from her, what else is left?

Overall, while I had some quibbles, I enjoyed the book and its fascinating world. This looks like it might be a series, and if so, I’ll definitely read the next book! Recommended for anyone looking for a YA fantasy about how a regular person survives life in a dystopian, Gotham-like city.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I absolutely Loved this book!! The characters were very interesting and relatable. I really loved how the author kept the story moving without it slowing down and getting boring. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

A highly unique premise that I hope Schaeffer considers lending out to other authors or *something*. I will be looking into more from her for sure. It was well rendered, with just a smidgen of polish needed. I hope to see her and Laini Taylor plot to destroy my peace and happiness by merely writing YA dreaming fantasy forever, instead of levelling up into adult fiction.
.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity with this title.

This book did not end the way I thought it was going to, but in a good way. I can’t wait to see where else we go with these characters and story.

The premise of this book pulled me in– people go to sleep and wake up as their worst nightmare! In a city filled with crime!

Unfortunately the energy of the first couple of chapters did not carry through the rest of the book. The plot felt disorganized, and the voice lacked the grittiness that the premise promised. While initially I was interested by the originality of the MC being, in her words, a coward, this passiveness soon varied between being inconsistent to being frustrating.

Again, this story’s premise held a lot of promise, but I don’t think that it followed through, and ended up feeling like a collection of story ideas rather than a cohesive story.