Twenty year old heiress Peggy Batternberg was “invited” by her family for a holiday in the beach but the summer will not be a relaxing affair. Romance, a serial killer, rich people doing what they do best and Coney Island on the background...

Sounds good? It sure does yet this book was a tremendous disappointment and really boring.
The first few chapters got me very happily glued to the book while I learned more about our protagonist and her family. Then things started to happen and they kept happening... In the spam of a few days we were being bombarded with more and more new plot lines and events.

It was too much and made me feel like the author tried to condensate a classic novel, known by the huge number of pages and narratives that could spam from months to years, into a handful of days.
That led to a severe case of “insta-love” and the need to tell us rather than show us that Peggy was a girl beyond her times. We did saw the characters personalities, we were told, because it was simply too fast for us to get a grasp of it.

The mystery was just cheap, with too many clues and descriptions of people that were border line cartoony as it was the case of the social critique that was intended with this story.

Overall it felt like a sketch of a mystery book rather than an accomplished novel.

A wonderfully researched piece of writing, about women living in a family of wealth, privilege and how their lives were ruled by men, with the etiquette and assumptions of this era's time.

I felt this book was in some ways similar to the authors last novel, yet a very different read. We have the same strong female role, desperately trying to find a way on her own, without the ties of her family and status but constantly finding hurdles along the way.

However, where I felt it differed, was that this novel's strengths were more geared towards its characters and social situations as opposed to the plot. The characters really shine through as the different cultures and classes collide in the melting pot of what is Coney Island.

Peggy, our headstrong main character, is whisked from her job at the bookshop, to spend the summer with her family in the hope to secure a marriage proposal for her sister, in a much needed attempt to obtain financial security for the family. Peggy already knows the 'hopeful husband' and doesn't get on with him at all. Once in the hotel Peggy can't think of anything other than escaping the boredom of pretending to be the obedient daughter and sets off for the wonders of Dreamland!

Here she meets Stefan and her adventure begins!

I really enjoyed the characters and the clashing worlds of the Island and the hotels. The authors research is evident and I learned lots of different things about the area at this time, which had me researching myself!! I love a book that does that!

Peggy's world is beautifully described with reference to manners, fashion and attitudes of the time that propel the plot along to its conclusion.  The way she is treated, as a young woman, by members of her own family and members of the police force had me fuming! Yet when she ventures out to the delights of Coney Island she is yet again greeted with dislike and mistrust as a member of the rich and influential American set.  She can't seem to win.  However on meeting Stefan, an artist and worker on the park, she is perhaps finally seen for her real self.

A super read that has you totally engaged from the outset.

Thank you to the publisher for a digital copy of the book.

A young women striving to become her own person slips between the privileged life sharing space with the Vanderbilts and Rockefeller’s,while holding a job in the Moonrise bookstore. All this in the quest of independence and a need to have meaning in a life she sees restricted by antiquated rules and outdated animosity’s. Peggy aka Margaret is approaching spinsterhood with a relish and distain for the way things have been since childhood. She is dismissed and overlooked since turning down the one chance she had to secure her future through a “good” marriage. Her family while prominent still needs her sister Lydia to make a good match to secure the mining bids they need in Bolivia. Enter Peggy’s jilted beau , who has taken in Peggy’s view an unhealthy fasicination in Lydia. It is the insistence that Peggy go with the family to the shore for the summer that sets this story on its terrible path to murder,drugs, and unveiled family secrets. Being a member of genteel society is as much a prison as the jail Peggy funds herself in ,ironically it is that station in life that sees her free and her young artist lover confined. In the end it is her younger sister’s engagement that serves as the catalyst to the mysteries conclusion.

I have to be honest, this story turned out to be totally different than what I thought it would be. From the summary and the cover, I thought this novel's setting would have a huge impact on the story. I expected the novel to have an atmosphere that would be fantastical and magical, set in a historic Coney Island. I thought the setting would be something similar or akin to "Water for Elephants" or "Caraval" where it made the whole story feel somewhat whimsical and fascinating.

However, this novel didn't truly need to be set in Coney Island because I didn't feel like it truly was featured. Aside from mentions of the beach and various hotels, it didn't really have much importance to the story and because of that, I think the cover is kind of misleading.

For a historical young adult murder mystery, it was okay. I will admit that I found the story boring but it also wasn't the story that I expected to read. If others are going into this novel expecting the setting to be a huge factor in the story, they may be disappointed as well.

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

The year 1911 in America was hard for progressive women and Peggy was different from the other young women of her class. She was an heiress and though she was pretty naïve about money, she knew her position and family invariably brought restrictions of every kind.



When she was coerced to accompany the family to Coney Island to one of the most aristocratic hotels in the holiday atmosphere, it was with reluctance she went. Mainly to please her mother, and because it seemed that her younger sister's marriage to the heir Henry Taul depended on this trip.

The trip gives Peggy the chance for freedom of some kind where she gets to mingle with normal folk and in time she meets up with a small time Balkan origin entertainer cum odd job man who very unlike her she falls deeply in love with. She knows that this will not be tolerated by the Family at all and it does not bode well as you know how it is going to turn out.

Things take an unexpected turn when bodies of young women turn up, and when the Police try to pin it on either Stefan (Peggy's love interest), him being Balkan and hot headed and Peggy herself. Will the Batternberg money be able to spin a web to cover up the actual murderer and will Peggy have the courage to uncover the actual murderer.

Descriptive of a period long past, of a culture in America which was very distinct and the problem of immigrants (still existing) and how America dealt with it then. Very good reading.

It also showed the machinations of a manipulative scheming family where respectability was paramount even though everyone knew what everyone was upto!

A very good historical mystery, gripping and entertaining.
I liked the excellent character development, the vivid and well researched historical background, and the well crafted plot that kept me hooked.
The mystery was solid and kept me guessing.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The setting for this story was believable and it appears that the author completed an in-depth research into the time and location. The main character was less believable, I found her difficult to root for and believe in. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an egalley.

Atmospheric period piece, which really brought to life the best and worst of the time. One young woman searches for independence and answers amidst a string of murders on Coney Island. I enjoyed this book very much. Would recommend, particularly to fans of historical fiction.

I give this novel high points for evoking Coney Island in the early 1900s. OK, the heroine was pretty whiny about her privilege, and pretty dismissive of the immigrant experience of the time. But I really liked the setting!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars in truth

The middle of this story was interesting, I enjoyed Peggy's amateur sleuthing and I was kept guessing until near the end. That said, there was a lot focusing on just how good Peggy has it, and though she hates being part of the "ruling class" and is made to feel uncomfortable, she still spends a lot of time talking about how much she loves caviar etc. It sort of jarred because it didn't contextualise the difference between her and Stefan, just seemed over the top to me.

In addition, the very beginning, and the reason to start the story "I had a job once, here's what happened" seems completely bizarre. Who says "you can't understand, you've never had a job"? Also, considering the end of the story states that she goes around the world investing money in good causes, that's kind of a job. The ending feels very rushed. She solves the murder, Stefan says goodbye, it's all over.

All the same, it was an enjoyable read.

In 1911, Margaret (aka Peggy) Battenberg is a member of one of the richest families in America, but she’s a bit of a black sheep and a rebel. She wants to be her own woman, and being only months away from getting her inheritance from her grandfather when she turns 21, she’s almost there. In the meanwhile, she found some small escape from her family working in a bookshop, until she was spirited away by her uncle to show some solidarity with the clan by accompanying them to Coney Island for one of the hottest summers on record. There they all hope that Peggy’s sister’s fiancé (who Peggy dated for a while) will finally set the date for their wedding. This union is important since Peggy’s father died in debt, which his brothers have been hiding from her mother. Things seem like they’re going to plan, but Peggy is more interested in the amusement parks, until two things happen to shake up her stay at the luxurious Oriental Hotel. She meets an artist by the name of Stefan, selling his paintings in Dreamland, and not one, but two women are found murdered on the beach.

I’ve never visited Coney Island, although I have heard of it; to be honest, if I want to go to an amusement park, New York wouldn’t be my first-choice destination. However, a novel set in that location is fine with me, and one that sounded like it has a murder mystery at its heart was surprisingly appealing, since I don’t really read many of those books these days. I did enjoy Bilyeau’s novel “The Blue” and her novella “The Ghost of Madison Avenue” so when I was asked to join this book tour I readily agreed, mostly because I already like Bilyeau’s writing style and character development. By the way, in the author's notes, we find out that several of the characters in this book were inspired by some well-known people, with Peggy loosely based on Peggy Gutenberg. In addition, although the timelines don't match, some of the events were also based on things that actually happened on Coney Island. That's another plus for me, even if historical purists might not agree. But I digress.

As far as the writing style and character development are concerned, Bilyeau didn’t disappoint one bit. In fact, this felt much more of a portrait of Peggy than anything else. Bilyeau draws Peggy in sharp contrast to her family. She’s outspoken and what would probably be called a “free thinker” back then, while almost all of her clan members are far more conservative, cold and abrupt. This set her apart, even though she can’t completely rid herself of that world. One critical reviewer of this book said she found Peggy to be unbelievable because “She flip-flops from wanting to be a suffragette to acting like a prim and proper young woman from old money.” I can’t totally agree with that reviewer’s assessment, however. Yes, Peggy really wants to be a “new woman” but her background and upbringing seem to be what holds her back. I don't see it as flip-flopping so much as wavering, mostly because she doesn’t really know how to keep from being pulled back by family obligations to live up to the social conventions they aspire to; even though the society they aspire to join hasn’t fully accepted them yet. This made Peggy a very sympathetic character for me, and an interesting, and believably imperfect, first-person protagonist.

What did bother me about this book was the feeling that the murder mystery part of this novel didn’t get quite enough attention during the middle of the book as I thought it would get from the first few chapters. Discovering the bodies of these two women, at two different times, was the thing that got me hooked on this story. That was why I was expecting that Bilyeau would turn Peggy into an amateur sleuth throughout the novel. Until materialized later in the book, I’m afraid I was feeling a bit disappointed. Instead, Bilyeau switched focus towards Peggy’s other relatives staying at the Oriental, which this got me wondering if any of them could be the murderer. I also wasn’t as convinced by Peggy’s romance with Stefan, which seemed contrived, particularly because of the brevity and scarcity of their meetings. Then again, that could be mostly forgivable because… Love at first sight, right? I should mention that Bilyeau seems to suggest that drinking Coca-Cola gave the characters a type of “high,” which seemed strange. All traces of cocaine were removed from that drink after 1902, unless she was referring to the high sugar content.

From what I’ve written so far, you might be thinking that I didn’t care for this novel, but I must say that isn’t true. In fact, I enjoyed it a great deal – especially the parts surrounding the murders, which really got underway about ¾ of the way into the novel, and that’s when she puts us on a real rollercoaster (sorry!) of an adventure, with all the needed fireworks (couldn’t resist) with its conclusion. I also enjoyed the very detailed descriptions of Coney Island and its many fascinating attractions. Also, Bilyeau did a lovely job describing the Oriental Hotel and its surrounds, together with descriptions of the other fancy hotels in the area. Furthermore, I really enjoyed how the heatwave practically became another character in this novel, together with how the discomfort this brough with it, effected the way people acted throughout the book. So, there were lots of things to like about this book, even if I felt it was a bit less focused than her last novel, but I still will recommend it with a very good rating of four out of five stars!

Brought history to life. Truly enjoyed the character development, the pieces of society in the early 1900s and the desire for independence of a woman during this time.

I have many feelings about this book. Most of them are possitive luckily so I'll start with them. I loved loved loved looooved the era and setting. 1911, New York City, Coney Island. It can't get any better than that for me. I absolutely love reading about the early 1900's. And I thought that the author really captured the essence of it, especially the contrasting differences of the often corrupt ruling class versus the much lower classes. She really wrote that splendidly.

Although overall not the most likable character, I did enjoy reading about Peggy Batternberg, a 20 year-old heiress, for the most part. She was kinda the misfit of the family, prefering to work at a bookstore. Which is something I can totally understand, of course. And I've always been a sucker for misfit characters. In the story she was basically forced to leave her bookstore job and spend the summer with her family at a hotel near the beach. She agrees so it, but reluctantly so. Once at the hotel, dead women are found on the beach and Peggy unwittingly becomes involved in it all when the man she falls for gets arrested for the murders.

Now the not so good things. I really did enjoy the story for the most part but the last 40% or so were a little less interesting to me. I liked reading about Peggy, but sometimes I also wanted to strangle her for her lack of communication, especially towards her sister Lydia. Also towards the end the story became quite tangled too much. A lot at once seemed to be happening, maybe a little too much and my attention was getting a little lost in it all. I had wished that the identity of the killer had been more of a surprise. I wanted it to be someone unexpected but it wasn't unfortunately. I also was a little disappointed by the ending in general, I must say.

But again I want to point out that for most of the book I was really into the story and enjoyed the various characters and of course the setting of Coney Island was very magical indeed. I also thought that a lot of the topics in the book are very relevant. For example the prejudice against immigrants was a big theme in this book and obviously that's still relevant to today time and age. I just wanted to mention this because I think it's something really important. So overall this book was good but not quite good enough for me to give it four stars. I've kind of been going back and forth about the rating but now I've settled on 3.5/5★

Lashings Of Historical Detail....
Atmospheric historical mystery, set 1911, Coney Island. Murder mystery at heart with intriguing social and family commentary. Protagonist Peggy is both likeable and strong and heads up a colourful cast of characters. Engaging reading with lashings of historical detail.

3.5/5.

Dreamland is an interesting historical novel, vaguely reminiscent of The Great Gatsby with its thoughtful, yet pointed commentary on life in the early 20th century, especially the lives of the wealthy.
Peggy is a naive young woman through most of the story. She has very little understanding of how the real world functions, as she was born into an elite American family that owns several coal mines. As the story progresses, she begins to (somewhat) understand the lives of those beyond her odd, and at times cruel, family.
In the short span of a summer near Coney Island, she falls in love with a Serbian immigrant, gets tangled up in a murder case, and faces her past demons.
This book was a reminder that the United States has never been kind to immigrants. It's incredibly frustrating to see how little has changed in 100+ years.
The insta-love and lack of plot toward the middle of the book is what brings it down to a 3.5 star read, rather than 4 stars. It really just felt like the entire middle was to make the length of the story longer. However, the ending really picks up. I was left feeling satisfied and mildly heartbroken.
Finally, I don't think Dreamland should compare itself to Night Circus. I didn't feel a strong sense of magical realism, and the comparison is a bit strong. Dreamland stands out in its own right as a commentary on early 20th century life and the darkness that comes with wealth in America.

*Many thanks to Nancy Bilyeau, Endevour Media and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.*
I cannot say liked this novel. To begin with, I found the presentation of the famous Coney Island in its golden days truly interesting, its entertainment and the people who provided it. At times I liked Peggy Batternberg for her independence and inquisitiveness. However, I found her too naive on the one hand and too intelligent on the other hand, which makes Peggy a character I can't trust.
The descriptions of the lifestyle really wealthy families had in America one hundred years ago are well-presented, including the rituals and the places where they stayed and lived.
On the whole, the target reader is definitely YA, which is not me, so I am convinced they will rave about 'Dreamland', for me it was just an OK read, and I enjoyed it mainly for the period details.

Peggy works in the Moonrise Bookstore, that is until her Uncle arrives and tells her she is needed at home. It turns out Peggy is a member of the wealthiest families in America, the Batternbergs. It’s 1911 and Peggy is a new woman, independent and knows her own mind.

She has been told she must spend the summer with the family at the Oriental Hotel. Her father had died in debt and the Batternberg family had been paying all expenses since, but when her mother finds out she decides to sell their home, downsize and live off the proceeds….Peggy is dubious as this doesn’t sound like her mother.

At the hotel, there’s Peggy, her mother, sister Lydia and brother, Lawrence. There is also Henry, Lydia’s fiancé, plus cousin Ben.

Dealing with the stifling atmosphere, Peggy escapes and meets, artist Stefan in Dreamland on Coney Island…….but then a woman’s body is found, Stefan is suspected due to his background but she knows he’s innocent and sets out to prove it putting herself in danger at times too.

This is just a perfect read, historical fiction at its finest, with a strong female character, a murder mystery and a little love too. It highlights the vast difference between the wealthy, the less fortunate and those from a different country or culture, not only in monetary terms but in attitudes and behaviour. The writing is so descriptive, you can feel the sweltering heatwave and the family tensions are palpable….I love it and is a must read for anyone who enjoys engrossing historical fiction. Gloriously entertaining.

Thank you to Hannah at Endeavour Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for free. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau is a novel that is insightful when dealing with class warfare and structure, but when it is not, the novel is a fairly obvious mystery that is easily solvable. The novel is called Dreamland after the Brooklyn Amusement park on Coney Island, it is most infamous for having a ride called Hell Gate. A horror boat ride at the time that was full of fire and live actor's. Dreamland in the novel is more of an after thought since less than a fourth of it takes place there. I love reading about the amusement parks of yesteryear, and was eagerly anticipating this one since I had just read Curious Toys which was about Hell Gate a couple of years later in 1915. Maybe my review was tainted where the text in that book was way more descriptive and captured the atmosphere, Dreamland was really vague in details. That being said the one part this book nails is the class warfare and thoughts on immigrants. Bilyeau made comparisons to the muslim people of today and the struggles to break with people being lumped in as a group instead of being an individual. That was my favorite part, too bad the mystery took up the majority of the book. Thanks to Netgalley and Endeavor Media for giving me a copy. This book was published on January 16 2020.

The Plot: Peggy a New York shopgirl who at the Moonrise Bookstore, she is not you ordinary shopgirl, Peggy it part of the elite class and bucking the system as she craves for independence in 1911. Peggy's Family owns mines and is making good money off them she has a huge trust that she gets when she turns 21. Her family was in a bit of turmoil and worry about their elite status as her father has passed away. He younger sister Lydia is set to marry Henry a very rich man who used to court Peggy. Lydia and Peggy are a bit estranged but thanks to Henry's demands of the family, he moves them all to the Oriental Hotel in Brooklyn, not to far from Coney Island. When they arrive woman is found dead in the ocean. The death has everyone on there's toes and the police protecting the rich from the amusement park patrons and workers. Peggy goes with some of her family and can't stand the way they talk about the poor and splits off to go on her own adventure. Where she meets a foreign painter who doesn't know that she's rich. They end up falling for each other, but a women is murdered on the very spot where they kiss, and Stefan the painter is the only suspect the police want for the crime. Peggy is determined to find the real killer.

What I Liked: The class warfare was really good, and how you can see similarities today was really well done. Same with how immigrants are treated in America and judged on a group of people instead of an individual. I liked the character of Peggy and her feminist ideals that women in this country are still fighting. I hated the character of Lydia, Peggy's Sister, at the beginning, but at the end of the book she was my favorite. The cover art is beautiful.

What I Disliked: The descriptions in this novel are so weak, it was hard to imagine what 1911 New York looked like. There's a scene where Peggy is blown away by Stefan's art, and she must buy two pieces, yet the reader gets only the briefest description of this incredible art. Hell Gate the attraction is so visually stunning I would have been lost if I had not read the book about it previously. The killer was way to easy there was no other suspects, and it was telegraphed so early on, you almost think, okay there's got to be a twist, but there is not. Did really not like Stefan as a love interest, didn't think they would get a long. The plot is slow a lot of start and stops so far as pace goes.

Recommendations: This is one that I can not recommend, there's some nice little bits about class warfare and structure, but with this novel as a whole there's not enough there to enjoy. I found the mystery incredibly weak, the novel does try to make it more exciting in the end but was still so so easy to solve. I love a great historical fiction but they need the descriptions to put me in that certain time period, and I felt them lacking, (note: I did read an advanced copy so these descriptions have hopefully improved). I hate to give books a low rate but I have to give Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau 2 out of 5 stars.

This was a completely different genre for me but I loved it as they say, I couldn't put it down.

I had never read anything about the heat wave or the Coney Island fire of 1911. This was a completely new area for me. Peggy was such an independent young lady for her day, as it turned out was her sister Lydia. I was tossed all ways trying to fathom out who was the villain and murderer. I did have my suspicions of course. Henry Taul was an absolute male chauvinist who thought lydia would make the perfect wife as long as she "put up and shut up". Such arrogant snobs who thought working class ordinary people were at the bottom of the pile!

I have never read Ms Bilyeau before but will cerrainly look for more of her books.

Thank you netgalley!

Nancy Bilyeau, author of "The Blue" and "The Crown" brings us up close and personal into the seedier side of Coney Island and the harsh realities of privileged women at the turn of the century...Rich, spoiled and very much property of their male relatives.

Peggy Battenburg, of the infamously rich Battenburg's of New York works in a little bookstore, much to the abject horror of her family. Peggy wants to aspire to greatness; as long as she remains meek, quiet and elegantly dignified...in other words no unauthorized thoughts.

Without choice, Peggy finds herself staying for the summer, in a Grand Hotel with her family, near the excitingly wicked Coney Island. She wants to explore this lustful attraction...

Falling in Love, falling out of family favour and trying not to fall victim to a serial Killer, Peggy needs to fight for her place as a thinking woman in privileged Victorian Society.

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Endeavour Quill and the author Ms. Nancy Bilyeau for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "Dreamland".
The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.