I gave this about 75 pages and just couldn't do it anymore. This world did not take me in at all. It mostly felt silly to me? Girl gangs made up of 11-16 year olds that wear gold grills and use insult like 'chickenheads' and everyone is supposed to be afraid of them? Plus, they literally deal drugs? Nah, no thanks.

I thought this was a greatly written wild ride on a roller coaster read. I had a great time reading this and want to read more by this author.

It has been a while since I read this book. Dealing In Dreams is a good read, but a perfect fit for me.. It took a little while to get fully invested in Dealing In Dreams , but once I was Interested I enjoyed it. I would say that Dealing in Dreams is a slow burner for me. I would recommend to other readers who enjoy the genre. I am thankful the author allowed me to read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Why did I wait so long to read this one?! This was unlike any other dystopian I've ever read. In Maga City, girl gangs rule the streets. Women rule the world, actually. Chief Rocka and her LMC crew are looking to get into the towers. In the towers, they live like royalty - unlike the abandoned train station they live in now. They just have to beat one more crew in a throwdown, then everything they've ever wanted is theirs.

I loved the mix of Spanish. It was seemlessly written in, and written in a way you understood what was going on. I had no troubles as a non-Spanish speaker. The characters were likable, flaws and all. You were rooting for the LMC. There is room for a sequel, I hope we get it!

When I first saw Dealing in Dreams I was really excited to read it. I loved the synopsis and the whole concept of these Hispanic gang of girls that ruled the city. I was intrigued by the story within the first chapter. We follow Nalah, also known as Chief Roca, who is the leader of the LMC’s. She has no blood family, that she knows of, but sees her crew as her only family. Her dream is to get out of the city and live with the Ese in the towers. Only the best of the best live there. Nalah and her group have worked hard to get where they are now and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants until she finds out the truth that has been hidden from her.

This story was so interesting. I enjoyed the way Rivera built this world and then shows how it wouldn’t work out. For some reason, I just couldn’t get into the story. I think because it was so fast-paced and so much was going on that there was not enough time to connect to the characters like I wanted to. Like others I’ve seen talk about this I think if there was more time to develop the characters and events I would have enjoyed it more. I am curious to what the futures holds for these characters since we didn’t get a concrete ending.

Honestly enjoyed this read and I wish there was more. That is a little bit of my problem with it as I hoped for more out of the book. I hoped for more development and depth into the story and world and felt like it cut off too soon.

Dealing in Dreams is an immersive dystopian novel about sisterhood, corruption, and self-reinvention. It's action-packed and filled with fully realized, diverse female characters. Nalah is a bold and competent leader and fighter but makes errors in judgment and has years of brainwashing that have convinced her that violence is the only path. The worldbuilding is detailed and believable, and the flip on the usual patriarchal system was refreshing and made for interesting commentary on gender. I was pleasantly surprised to find a nonbinary and genderfluid character in the story that subverted the binarism of Nalah's city's social environment. There's some big twists folded into the plot that turn Nalah's worldview on her head, and at the end, she emerges with a new perspective and a mission, setting the reader up for the sequel.

This was a fascinating book! What's not to love about "Mad Max" meets "The Outsiders?" And the premise does not disappoint. Nalah is such an awesome protagonist to spend time with and the book itself is wild from start to finish.

DNF 30%

So I LOVE this cover and think it fits well with the story. However, as of late I've really struggled with young adult novels. I couldn't get into this. I think actual young adults will enjoy this more, but I had to DNF.

Let's talk about Dealing in Dreams! Nalah leads an all-girl crew called, Las Mal Criadas, that you don't want to mess with. They live in Mega City and everyone wants to live in Mega Towers. But to make it to the MegaTowers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the ruler of Mega City. My favorite part of this book is the power of women. For example, the ruler of Mega City comes from a long line of women, and Nalah's crew is all female.
However, the tower and city may not be as luxury as Nalah believed. That's the basic no spoilers that I can talk about.
Characters, I liked all these characters. They were different from each other while still wanting the same things at times. They all moved the story along.
This is a different kind of story. It was different then what I thought it was going to be but I still had fun and would like to see more in this world. I thought the world was the coolest part, that groups vs groups. They all working towards a better life for there friends. The twist and overall out comes; we all so well done. This is a wild ride of a story about sisterhood and betrayal all wrapped up in a beautiful cover!

I'm not entirely sure how to rate the book. It was just an okay read. I wanted so much more from this book. There were parts that were really good but they were quite a few parts that I found off putting.
The pacing was so slow at first that it was a bit difficult to get through. Once I got to the last third of the book is when the book really took off for me. I really wish the pacing had been a bit more evened out.
I liked the idea of the all girl crews helping to keep the streets safe, but I wasn't on board with the throwdowns set up for the entertainment of the higher classes. I found that to be very demeaning to the crews. I was intrigued by the female empowerment in the book but felt that the treatment of men as second class citizens took away from it. The roles were just reversed and I think that it would have been more impactful if the men were not treated so poorly. Why can't we get a world where your gender does not decide your fate in life?
Overall, I'm very much in the middle on how I was left feeling after I read the book. I think I'm going to stick with a 3 star rating. It wasn't horrible but there wasn't anything that screamed "This book is amazing!!!" aside from the diverse set of characters that were represented in the book. Which in my opinion is fantastic but not enough to bump it up to a 4 or 5 star read.

This book was the greatest surprise I’ve had all year, thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC, in exchange for an honest review... HOLY SH*T, is the most accurate expression for this book.... Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. Has anyone ever attempted to read and drive? It’s not for the faint of heart. The cover was wildly misleading up until chapter 25, then click, it all makes sense. I may have some trouble convincing my YA sci fi/fantasy buffs to consider it (they quake at covers sometimes), but I know as soon as they get a quarter of the way, they’ll want their own copy! Honestly, this just bumped its way into my top 10 YA novels. Thank the gods for Lillian Rivera

Almost as good as Rivera's excellent debut novel, this paints an intriguing, brutal dystopian world with a fearless heroine. If this author continues down the road of science fiction novels she'll be one to watch indeed.

LOVED this title. Great storytelling, interesting characters, great dynamic within the group. I love the author's voice and the world building here was superb. It's also an interesting take on the dystopian genre. Can't wait for the next book by Rivera!

I didn’t not finish this one it is nothing like I would read it didn’t really capture my attention I did like the cover art and how it looks and the world build up was kind of too slow for my liking

I was interested in reading this book because of the description and the lovely cover, but I honestly had no idea what kind of a story I was getting into.  

Dealing in Dreams is a unique story, from the world to the characters, it all felt very new which I liked. I liked the setting in the apocalypse where women ran the world. Though there were times when I wished the world had been fleshed out just a little more. It's not often that I think a story should be longer, but I definitely felt that way with this one. 

Nalah makes for an interesting character. I liked her drive and ambition, and her loyalty even if it was misguided. I loved that she was a gang leader, it's not often you read stories about women in gangs. She was easy to like and empathize with over the whole novel. 

I also really liked that this story talked about sexism and how society views gender, and how their new society saw men as worthless. It was an interesting twist and I loved that the author brought up genderqueer and trans people, and how any society with strict gender norms hurts people. 

Honestly I felt like only the plot of the novel was weak. I could easily see where the twists were going and how the story would end.  Which was a little disappointing but I still read and liked the book as a whole. I gave Dealing in Dreams 3 stars on Goodreads, 3.5 stars here and would recommend it to you all. I was given a copy of this book from NetgGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The worldbuiling and the characters are what really drew me to this book, but the story felt in a way incomplete. And that would be fine if this was a part of a series, but sadly it's not, so it leaves me feeling unsatisfied. The pacing was kind of slow, which is fine when characters and their interactions drive the story. I really enjoyed seeing Nalah's dilemma and her interactions with her gang. Everything about this book appealed to me, I just wanted more.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed and ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

DNF @ 7%

2 chapters in and I felt lost in the world. I was somewhat getting the setting, but would have liked having more to ground me into the book. More explanation rather than this is what everything is.
Also, I didn't understand the girl gangs or their purpose. Then to add onto that, I didn't like the girls we did meet. Why are we so mean to our own team?? It was just jarring to me.

Beautiful cover, though!
I do think people more into sci-fi and maybe more patient than I, will be able to enjoy this book.

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera is a young adult dystopian in which women are controlling the world. Mega City where the main character, Nalah, lives is controlled by a female ruler who sends out teams of five girls each to control the streets.

Nalah is the leader of the strongest of these female fighter groups, the LMCs but her dream has always been to earn her way into the exclusive Mega Towers where only a chosen few live. When given a mission to leave the city Nalah sees this as the chance she and her crew need to prove themselves worthy of the towers.

Dealing in Dreams wasn’t a bad dystopian read overall but I also didn’t fall completely in love with this one as my rating shows. The thing is this whole book felt more like world building for something bigger to come but from all I can tell this is a standalone so needless to say I was left wanting more. Really in over 300 pages there isn’t much that happens giving it a slow pace and then ends just when other books would be heading into the action which is a shame since it was a creative world.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book has such impressive wrold building but the characters were left a bit flat. Well, I was left wanting to learn more about the characters. This world was so enjoyable to be in though. there were suprises at every turn. I was truck by how enjoyable thsi world was. I was left wanting to read more about these characters.

I love seeing characters of color in the future because we tend to be left out. It was so exciting reading about characters with a culture closely related to my own.

The dialouge was beautiful. Spanish phrases sprinkled in there gave the story a much more realistic feel. I'm so grateful I was able to read this book.