This book had a lot of potential but I found it to be a bit tropey. The drag queen villainess also didn’t inherently sit well with me. I can’t decide if I’m bothered by that or not.

I’m the same way, I did enjoy Ryan’s characters overall, and thought the story was fun even if the writing was uneven in places. For a debut effort, this book was good, not great, but certainly good.

I’ll be interested to see what they have to offer in the future.

This was such a great read! I loved being a part of Kane's journey to discovering the truth of the world he lives in. The story was slow at first, but it picked up and I couldn't put the book down! If you like exploring the dreamworld and how it affects reality, then this book is for you!

*I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review*

I really enjoyed this book! It tells the story of Kane as he recovers from an accident that may not have been an accident and the loss of his memories. The writing style is very good and appropriate to the book. I think the major success of this book is the world-building. It is very inventive and I like the way magic is characterized in this book as a natural force. All the main characters are interesting and while not always completely developed, enough so that they don't feel like caricatures.

My biggest complaint is that a lot of time is spent in the reveries, which is fun and action-packed, but leaves a lot of ~real world~ exposition not explored and leads to what seems like a resolution at the end that just happens. For example, Dean lives at an apartment at the Complex, but I thought the Complex was a historic site...what is the Complex? Did I miss something? What is going on with Adeline and Sophia? Were they a thing before Adeline wiped her memories? It's seems to hint that, but things from only Kane's perspective are so convoluted (for good reason) a lot of things are never very clear. And perhaps that is on purpose, but it wasn't something I liked as the reader.

Overall a fun book and I'd be interested to read another if this is meant to be a series.

This one felt fresh and unique and I cannot recommend it enough!
I loved how the author managed to cram so many things into this book! It let the book be a dystopian, a fantasy, a sci-fi, and so much more, while it was all set in the real world. I find that absolutely fascinating.
I'm really looking forward to reading more from this author!

From the description, I was really excited to read this book. Everything about the premise made it seem like it would be right up my alley: a fantasy where dreams are coming to life and a fabulous drag queen! It took me awhile to really get into the book, it seemed like it just took a long time for the plot to develop. Kane, the main character, was difficult to like, and I found that some of his actions weren't really explained. I also thought that the other characters were interesting, but it didn't seem like they were really all that attached to each other, so it was hard to picture them really working together. There were a lot of tropes used in the book, and parts where it seemed like it was supposed to be funny, but really it just felt kind of flat to me. Overall, I probably wouldn't have finished the book if it wasn't for the fact that I'd feel guilty for not finishing. I might put it out on my classroom shelf, but I wouldn't recommend it as one of my top fantasy or LGBTQ picks.

So, the synopsis describes it as Inception mixed with The Magicians which I sort of agree. But it’s also like if Miss Peregrine had a baby with an episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race (both the presence of queens and the infinite supply of shady entertainment it provides). Throw in some teenage angst, a little bit of a Carry On feel and a buttload of glitter and you kind of have Reverie. Honestly it is comparable to none that I have previously read.

The main character is a teenager named Kane who was in his own words outed at a young age. He has his issues and definitely cops flak from so many people about his sexuality. I feel like, however, he endures it all to save those around him who haven’t yet told their loved ones about their orientation. He is strong and sassy with a kind of tough outer shell, but also caring and a little squishy in the middle. Basically, he will do anything for anyone so long as they treat him with respect. If you don’t, he will shoot fantastic rainbows out of his hands to put you in your rightful place.

The secondary cast involves a group of friends who have proclaimed themselves ‘The Others’ because of their various differences from the rest of society. The have their own role to play within the world of Reverie directly relating to the reveries themselves. Although I was initially suspicious of their motives, most turned out to be good eggs (or did they?). Of these I think my favourite was probably Adeline in all her know-it-all glory, but the others don’t fall far behind. Just a word of advice, look out for Helena, she’ll mess you up.

So, what are reveries you ask. Basically, they are a kind of interdimensional portal into someone’s dreams and when let to play out can either lead to bliss or ruinous damnation. They come directly from certain people and engulf everyone and everything around them. Also, they have varying circumstances and settings which really draw the reader in.

As you would know if you have read the synopsis, the villain is an evil drag queen sorceress who is intent on stealing all the power for herself. I mean what girl doesn’t love having all the power of the universe at her fingertips, amirite? I absolutely positively LOVED any time this queen came onto the scene. She is a trinket licking, wig wearing, fabulously sarcastic manipulative old (kind of) wench of a character.

All the worldbuilding is expertly pieced together with Reality scenes flawlessly blending into those of the reverie. When worlds collide, they seamlessly connect to bring the reader all the fantastical joy of even the most highly touted fantasy. One could easily escape through these portals into the souls of their owners, simply to be forced back into the real world scenarios of Connecticut, USA.

On the surface, it is a shiny, glitter and sarcasm filled romp that is all about taking names and saving the world while looking fabulous doing it. Underneath however, it contains an eye-opening commentary into how the world views those of an orientation other than heterosexual. Kane is ostracised for being gay by literally every single boy on the football team. A cute little lesbian is assumed to want to run away with the prince because well, all women love men, right? All through Reverie references are made about characters being less than others because they are gay, with a certain character even remarking he would be dead in his homeland. While this could have been confronting and really bring down the entire vibe of the novel, La Sala inserts these political statements with such genius and timing that the narrative as a whole remains upbeat but also makes the reader assess their own views on these critical issues.

So, it comes down to this. Reverie was fantastical and flamboyant, drawing in the reader with its wit and sarcasm along with its expertly built mish mash of the real and the imagined. The characters are fully developed, making the reader involuntarily fall in love with all their facets and flaws. With its rich scenery and undertones of current commentary, La Sala brings the whole thing together into one shining opus (or glittery Fabergé egg if that’s your thing) of a novel that is guaranteed to warm even the coldest of hearts.

As someone who daydreams constantly this was the perfect book to jump into with all of its twists and turns and a few nightmares too!

“Reverie” finds Kane trying to put the pieces together following his accident that left him without his memory and when he finds himself a new counselor who is a bit more eccentric than he expected he stumbles into a world where dreams known as reveries take on a life of their own and it’s up to Kane and a few unlikely allies to stop them before they spill over into the waking world.

This book was a lot of fun I was afraid at first that it might be confusing as we have a few genre swapped plots mixed in that our heroes have to face but you’re able to catch on quickly and once you do it’s exciting to see where the next reverie will take them. It does get a bit cliche with the info dump monologues by the villains but it gives you just enough insight as to the how and the why so I won’t complain too much.

My biggest struggle was the main character I feel like it took way too long for me to come around to liking him and though I’m happy most of my issues were resolved and he was actively called out on them by the others, for a good portion of my read I found myself wishing for this same story to be told from the POV of any of the others. It was also my biggest problem trying to figure out how any of them were friends with him and again I know that there was this big event that left him without the knowledge of who these people were and what they had been through but with how he treated them I don’t think I would have tried as hard to fix the relationships like they did.

This is a really fun read and I’d be interested to see if there’s any more because right now it seems like it’s a stand alone but there’s still room for more which would be nice to see especially if the epilogue was any indication of how the group dynamic could be.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I wanted to love this one so badly. The cover is stunning and the premise sounded amazing. I loved the premise of the plot and the unique magic system. The writing was just missing something.

The beginning presented us with a boy who couldn't even remember who he was and I was completed sucked in. The initial intrigue quickly dwindled as things got complicated, quickly. I spent the first 25% of the book confused out of my mind. A lot of things were happening and there really weren't any answers. When the answers started pouring in, they just didn't seem to fit. The relationship with his friends just didn't feel real to me and I wasn't won over to the idea of them as a unit that can't live without each other. They didn't seem to have his best interest at heart. They were very important players in the events that happened and yet I don't know anything about them. We get the most details about Ursula and yet she is still a mystery to me. The most we know about their personalities is linked with their powers.

The relationships in this one were just a big problem for me. In the beginning, we see an amazing relationship with his sister. But it quickly unravels and they become almost enemies. They seem inseparable at the beginning and yet he throws her to the side the second he can. He spends most of the book using her, which doesn't fit the initial picture of them we get. We see little to no relationship with his parents and only have one conversation with his mother, which tells us nothing. I'm also confused as to why he threw his sister to the side and put all of his faith and trust in Poesy. This breaks from the amazing relationship we see at the start. Yes, he just went through something traumatic and is looking for answers, but pushing the safety and familiarity of his sister away for a stranger doesn't make any sense.

There's a lot of questions left at the end as well. What happened to the police investigation? Is the mill standing now? Do the reveries stop after the events that happened?

I really wanted to love this one. It has a drag queen sorceress for crying out loud. But this one fell really flat for me. I felt like it was a lot of beautiful words and flashy actions, missing a foundation to flesh out and build the story to let it stand on its own.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Sourcebooks Fire through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*