I like the premise of the book, but I had a difficult time understanding the story. This is why I gave it a three star review.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately it’s not the book for me. DNF @ 10%.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. I wasn’t expecting to really enjoy this book but I ended up really enjoying it

Dream me by Kathryn Berla is an over all good part YA part sci-fi with a bit of romance thrown in that kept me reading.

The details in Dream Me is what sets it apart, the author really knows how to world build on a whole other level. Definitely recommend.

This book is a mix of scifi and contemporary and, sadly, it didn't work for me. Zat is a young man from the future who dreams of Babe, a red-haired young woman from Earth of the past. In their dreams they are able to connect and receive romantic fulfillment that they don't in their real lives, but a crippling side effect: Babe experiences migraines in her awake life that prevent her from living a fully functioning life.

The parts of the book that read as a contemporary were fantastic and I remember reading several passages over again because I wanted to savor them. But when it ventured into scifi territory it felt lacking, like the story itself suffered the more the author tried to work that genre into the mix.

Another reason this story suffered is that we were told a lot of information instead of shown, especially at the beginning, and I'm actually not surprised since the book is under 200 pages. There was a lot the author wanted to accomplish and info-dumped through telling--creative writing no-no #1: show, don't tell.

I believe I would have connected more if the author had better fleshed out showing us what was happening and made a better balance of the scifi elements alongside the story.

I found it very difficult to really connect and immerse myself in this book. The beginning was a bit confusing and I just couldn't grasp it. The writing is well done and the concept is okay but honestly I couldn't finish,

A very interesting book, loved and really enjoyed the reading. Strongly recommend the book if you are into page turning books.

This was awful! I wish I had DNFed it, I almost did but I wanted answers to the world as it was for Zat. Do I get that. Not fully. I get some but not until the end. And the ending? Ugh Don't get me started! I was more mad at that then I was when I debated DNFing it. I did like Zat's character but really did not like Babe. She is one of those teens that make you want to do a fce plam at regular intervals for her stupid actions and comments. Best part of the book, oddly enough, where the blog entries. She annoyed me less there. Thank goodness this was a shorter book.

Good book. Good author. Loved the characters and the plot. Look forward to reading more of her work.

A gorgeous cover for a gorgeous book! Such a great read. Full review will be on my blog soon, so please check back for that.

http://readdayandnight.blogspot.com/2018/02/books-i-read-in-2017-part-3.html

This is a compelling mixture of teen romance, fantasy and time travel. Zat and Babe are in love, but they can only meet in Babe's dreams. Why? Zat is from the future and has time=travelled back to current day Earth. In Zat's time frame, the earth is dying. A charming dystopian novel that keeps you guessing? Is there any way to save this romance or are the lovers doomed?

The first thing that hit me about this book is that Ms. Berla can write. She definitely has a way with words. <i>Dream Me</i> was in no way lacking when it comes to the author's ability to tell a story.

When I requested to read this, I was certain it would be an amazing read. I mean, time travel, some science fiction...Love it! But, it ended up being a tad bit different than what I imagined.

At times, <i>Dream Me</i> is almost an epistolary novel; featuring blog entries from the story's protagonist, Babe. And, although, I respect this approach, I feel like it just didn't need to be used here. Her "blogging" voice, didn't seem much different than her "narration" voice. Babe's side of the story is told in first-person, so, in my opinion, there were times, the blogging just seemed unnecessary.

However, the love that grew between Babe and Zat really did help with any of my perceived deficiencies. Even though these two were from two different worlds, they were perfectly suited for each other. It was beyond endearing to "watch" these two get to know one another. And, the only thing that could have made it better was a tad bit more of an ending.

There were some surprises for me later on in the book, that just reinforced my respect for this author.

I tried reading this a few months ago since I got the copy of the arc from the author but I don't think I'm coming back to it. Something about it was not my cup of tea.

The thing that drew me to this book was it's interesting and intriguing blurb and thought why not but I was surprisingly disappointed by how weak the plot was in the general context of the novel. Let me just say that some people may like this kind of plot but for me, it opened in a confusing manner where you have no idea what is going on. The main characters were good but the dual perspectives were not explained or even hinted at making the two points of view seem like completely separate stories. The thing that bothered me the most though, was the huge info dump right at the end of the novel when the novel should have been concluding. So in the final pages we get all the information we should have been given at the beginning and laced throughout, then the story ends leaving us the readers even more confused and dazed than when we started the novel. While normally I would have given this book only one star I gave it a second purely on the fact it had tons of potential that the author just didn't act on.

Love love love this book! The characters were both looking for love or just a way to escape the reality of their lives. I loved how the innovative the characters were, made me feel for them. Honestly the ending happened too quickly for me, I would have loved to know more about Zat. I love the Science fiction theme, we don't have enough YA Science fiction novels . I loved how you were able to balance the different narrations throughout the book. My favorite kind of books are the ones I cannot out down, this is a must read!

A good YA story. It's different, definitely different. Both Babe and Zat are interesting characters. Zat brought surprise after surprise. But not in an overwhelming way. He was kind of out of step with the people of his time. He was a dreamer and he wanted different things. He was also willing to take a risk that others weren't willing to. Babe was a gutsy, fun person, who got used to having to move around as her dad found work as a golf pro. She learned to adapt to new places and people. There were times that Babe wondered if she was going crazy or had a brain tumor. Was any of it with Zat real?
As things go along, the challenges that they face made me really wonder how things could ever work out for them. Would they work out or were they headed to disaster? I thought that more than once.

Mai, LeGrand and Alfonso were some good people who were added to Babe's life. Young people with dreams, skills and problems all their own.
This book does have a twist at the end. Part I was hoping for and the other part was a complete surprise.
This book was a clean story with some good world building when it came to the future Earth.

Dream Me combines time travel, teen angst, and romance in Kathryn Berla's new YA novel where a young man from a dying Earth's future time travels to our present-day, visiting a teen in her dreams.

Time travel and dream projection, with a heavy addition of romance, Dream Me sounded like my kind of YA read.

Dream Me really ended up being an equal mix of positives and negatives for me. I'm going to get the negatives out first so we can end on a positive note.

Normally, I would love this fun genre blend in one of my YA reads but the concept and delivery of the sci-fi element was really sparse and the romance too instantaneous for my taste.

The dying Earth, time travel, and Zack's determination to visit Babe were all vaguely explained and it wasn't until the end when an unforeseen twist (one that I really liked) made me change my mind on many points, unfortunately, though it gave it a satisfactory conclusion, it was too late premise-wise.

I had a hard time connecting to Zat's character, our young and handsome time traveler, throughout the entire story. I loved the idea of a slow burn romance developing within a dream world between Zat and Babe but the execution felt lacking to me. I needed more chemistry or banter between the two - the buildup just wasn't there for me.

What I did enjoy was Babe's spunky personality and the positive portrayal of family and friendships. The fun setting which took place at Sugar Dunes, a sleepy town in the Florida Panhandle, also added to the appeal, in fact, the contemporary setting outshone the dream realm surprisingly.

Summer vacations, a new town, and friendships would have made Dream Me a great start to a YA contemporary. Also, I would like to mention that this is a very sweet and clean read which would be suitable for younger readers wondering into teen reads.

In the End

A clean and positive (light) sci-fi read that feels more like a YA contemporary romance with little build-up. A great twist at the end and positive family and friendships relations are an added bonus.

2,5 STARS

I remember getting this book a long while ago and was really looking forward to it. The blurb sounded exciting and intriguing, so I thought why not give it a go. So now I finally read it and I hate to say it but I'm actually quite disappointed by the weak plot.

The way this story started left me totally confused since the author doesn't tell us exactly what's happening. You get a teenager in the present time that moved to a new town because of her father's job. And then you have a boy that still lives on Earth but not really, since the Earth that we know is dying and the people have mutated to some sort of lizard like creatures. Which btw. I loved, a great spin on the main character. But what bothered me is that we get this information almost near the end of the story. So all this time I was practically wondering what Zat is and what the actual plot is. And, yes, the plot is super weak. It's starts of fine but then you read and read, nothing really happens. She lives her normal life, makes friends, gets a job and only meets up with Zet in her dreams and that only for a short period of time. So we actually almost don't get to see him in the real world. (view spoiler) And then all of a sudden, the story comes to it's end. And you're left even more confused, like that was it? Huh? I expected more.