Cover Image: Nightmare City

Nightmare City

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Member Reviews

I need book 2 now !!! Oh wow what an amazing start to what I know will be a great series. I’m a huge apocalypse book lover and this did not disappoint. Loved everything about it

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Love at second glance!
I started reading this book in 2019 already but it didn’t catch me at first. I guess the shade hunter with the speaking sword was something I did not get used to easily.
When I restarted reading it lately, it did catch me. Once I got to the point where you get to know Edens background it gets quite exciting. I also got to like Aunt Vy after a while and the general topic of dreams and the subconscious is really fascinating. Plus, it really kept speed up and was full of unexpected plot twists.
I hated the end though!

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This is another book that I tried to read during 2020 that just couldn't compete with the overall anxiety that made reading much harder than usual. Because of that I do want to try to read this one again in the future, but since I requested an e-arc on here, I thought it would be best to explain why I haven't shared a full review. It does sound like an interesting concept and I like the cover. I'm just not sure when I'll have a chance to read this one fully.

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Cover ⭐⭐
World ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Narrator ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Villain ⭐⭐⭐
Story ⭐⭐⭐
Ending ⭐⭐

Overall ⭐⭐⭐

First off, the concept for the world is unbelievable, I loved it. Absolutely love the idea of a world where nightmares and dreams are able to manifest into reality - fantastic! But it loses an entire star for deliberately excluding vampires and werewolves. Why? This makes no sense to me and it ties in with other issues I had with this book. My suspension of disbelief was hard with this one, so I may as well start there..

Lucid dreaming is 'illegal' in this world, but there's absolutely no way of policing or enforcing it. For a system that relies purely on the dreamer's honesty and cooperation, I struggle to believe that a tonne of people weren't manifesting their dream spouses, house, car, money etc. Aside from the obvious monsters and whatnot, there would be no way to tell if say, a child had manifested a family dog, as the book gives absolutely no indication of any monitoring system being in place at all.

This could have been easily worked around, just by mentioning some type of futuristic tech that can detect when a dream manifests.. also by saying the government was drugging the public, so to try and prevent them gaining lucidity while dreaming or to help prevent dreams altogether..

It's just a big thing for me to ignore..

Also the fact as mentioned, that the book banned vamps and weres.. seems really strange to me. There would be people dreaming of vampires and werewolves all the time. If it was an attempt at being more original, I have to say I was extremely disappointed on that front as well..

The shades were all so generic to me personally. There were a few that seemed more exciting and imaginative, but were only used as passing side notes and never actually shown or hunted. The people of this city have quite boring nightmares to be honest, and they're apparently not even dreaming of vamps, in this instance they could have actually spiced things up a bit.

And I'm sorry but there would have been superhero shades popping up all over the place. Or better yet, the government should have been actively encouraging and influencing people to dream about such things, to help them battle the war and all.. I refuse to believe that Greyson was the first shade hero.

Moving on..

This book uses a major plot twist from one of the most popular movies of all time. Don't get me wrong, I love that plot twist, and I'm sure it's been done many times even before that movie.. but I noticed it.

Eden has a good voice and I enjoyed her POV. I thought her identity and how she came to be was spot on, love the comic book aspect and her special power as well. She is a strong protagonist so she was really in need of some equally strong supporting characters. However, aside from Aunt Vy, none of the others were up to par. Greyson had the most potential, but I was so disappointed to see his character barely used and I did not get the romance angle I was so hoping for.

I loved the politics and Taylor was a great opposing force to the moral argument about benevolent shades having the right to live. He was a decent character but I feel more could have been done with him.

All the rest were unmemorable and Bella was just downright painful. I cringed every time she was in a scene or was even spoken of. She would have been acceptable had she been written as the age she sounds - 12 - definitely not 17.

I really loved the SHAID organisation.

This is a decent book with great ideas and absolutely ample potential but unfortunately the execution wasn't for me.

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this was a great start to a series, the main character was great and I liked the idea that dreams and nightmares come true. That is both a fascinating and scary concept.

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I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book brings a unique premise to urban fantasy that is fresh and welcomed. There are some parts that could have been better developed and the ending felt rushed but overall a really good book.

I define a good book as one that captures your attention and allows you to forget and escape into a good story. Nightmare City did that for me and I can't wait until the next book.

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Around 300 BCE Master Zhuang wrote: "Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man". Such is the nature of reality, and such is the nature of dreams.

The digital nomad, Pia Newman, writing as P.S. Newman, tells of an alternate world. Here the apocalypse has happened. A shift/tear in the cosmos occurred giving humans the ability to transform dreams into reality. In an ideal world, lucid dreamers could create paradises. This is not the case in Los Angeles, where monsters roam and lava pools engulf the freeways. A new branch of law enforcement was created to destroy the 'shades'. In addition to the LEO's, independent operatives aka freelancers collaborate to help end the chaos.

Eden is a freelancer. She lives to protect her loved ones. Bella, Cecelia and even David are all important to her. She has been tasked with taking down a doppelganger, an evil version of David's brother. Unfortunately for her, the city has assigned one of their hunters as her unwilling partner.
Sargent Vaughn Taylor, one of the best around truly hates the shades. Will this be an end game problem for Eden? And if so, why?

Great humor along with cinematic action scenes with a cliff hanging ending leaves the reader clamoring for more. The well thought out universe can go in many directions, I look forward to seeing what is in store for Eden.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC copy from netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

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What if your dreams really did come true? What if the same thing happened to your nightmares? When you wake up, you discover that the monster that was chasing you in your nightmare has now been turned loose on the city and is wreaking havoc on it. This urban fantasy takes a different twist. Instead of werewolves and vampires and such, dreams and nightmares become reality. However, this is not a good thing, and these ‘creations’ are known as shades.
Eden’s job, along with a group called The Order, is to eliminate these shades from existence. Eden, along with Aunt V, will definitely hold your attention as she goes about performing her duties. The characters are well written, and you will find yourself invested in what happens to them. I loved this book, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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Author# P.S. Newman has a exciting series out with book #1 Nightmare City.Takes place in L.A. after the “Surge”.Eden is our main character in this series and has sword she can communicate with.This is a new world where your nightmares can become reality.The bonus is it’s a series.
Thank you,
#Netgalley,#P.S. Newman And #BooksGoSocial

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I could not resist this one! The concept is so cool! It fell on the back-burner for a while, but I am so glad I was able to finallllyyyyy get into this one.


The story is set in LA after a terrible event happened years previously. Dreams AND nightmares can come true LITERALLY. It's unpredictable and can be deadly. They call these manifestations "shades". We follow Eden who is a hunter of these shades and is tasked to get rid of them. There are many other hunters out there, but there is something different about our Eden and she cannot let the world know what it is. When a friend manifests a shade, he hires Eden to take care of it, because it is dangerous. So dangerous it puts Eden and everyone she loves at risk. She is forced to team up with Vaughn Taylor is who is anti-shade that even fellow hunters worry about him.


Loved Eden. She was kickass!


Loved Cece too. She was kickass.


Aunt Vy the sword was a hoot and she was certainly a fun "character".


Sean was fishy to me.


Loved David. He was so sweet to Cece and her baby sister.


Bella.....hate you. Hate you, hate you, hate you. I get you are a teenager who really went through some stuff. But you are manipulative and terrible. Someone needs to kick her ass. Maybe Eden will one day. But seriously Bella...get your head out of your arse.


Besides for my loathing for that snot-nose kid, I really enjoyed this. I could NOT read this fast enough especially near the end. THAT TWIST! I guessed it, but I thought I was just being a negative nancy and cynical, but OMG. Danggg I need book 2 now!!!!!!



Okay - okay. Overall...this was awesome and fun. I highly recommend it. 5 stars.

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Have you ever had a dream so real that you wanted it to be true or be reality when you woke up? This book takes this idea to a whole new level! I think the idea and story line is very exciting and Eden Maybrey is a badass. I can see this book/series be a great movie or TV show. I think it would be great. I can't wait to read book 2. Thank you for the great book while this world is crazy I can escape into such a rich full adventure as this book and be excited to start reading more like it. This book does have strong language in parts for some of you that don't like those words in a book, you shouldn't read it. I think the book is great and I am hooked already on the series. *This book was given to me for free at my request from NetGalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

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I really tried hard to like this book but it was just not to my taste at all. I wanted to love it because of how it was perceived but it did not measure up at all.

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this was super fast and exciting loved every second of this. The ideas are fresh and exciting. Could not put it down absolutely had to know what was going to happen next. Brilliant will be looking for more!

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It took me a while to get into this book, but when I did it was glorious! The characters are not likeable per se, and that makes them great. There are some plot twists to keep things interesting, and the plot keeps a fast pace, but never so fast it gets confusing. There were some things that were obvious and a bit cliché, but those were minor points. Also, I love the nudges towards comics :-)

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I absolutely adored Eden Maybrey.

Frankly, the world that P.S. Newman has dreamt up for us (see what I did there?) is wildly engaging, with likable characters we can relate to. The world is well-built, and the relationships between characters is well-defined, with snappy dialogue and humor throughout.

I picked this up and then couldn't put it down. I read a third of the book in one sitting. It 100% captured my imagination and demanded that I keep reading.

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A solid first book on the series.

Eden is a shade hunter. She lives in a world where your nightmares can become reality.

I really liked this book. Normally, for me it takes a while to immersed myself in a series. But I was hooked after the third chapter.

I really liked Eden and Cecelia. Both character are awesome. But all the characters are well written.

The only reason it's not a five star for me is because of Bella. She's supposed to be 17 but I pictured her at 12 with the reaction that she has trough out the book. She annoyed me.

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There were aspects of this book I really liked. The cover is great. The premise drew me in instantly. As soon as I read the blurb I knew I had to check this out. It had one of the best opening lines ever. Absolutely loved it! And the first few chapters were perfect. The author does a great job leaving a hook at the end of each chapter to keep you coming back for me.

The problems for me were that 1.) The teenage girl doesn't read like a teenager most of the time. I had to remind myself that she wasn't a pre-teen at best most of the time. 2.) As soon as the doppleganger got introduced, the story lost a lot of its unique feel. Those might not sound like huge deals, but they ended up being deal-breakers for me because I just couldn't force myself to push through what was beginning to feel like something I'd read a hundred times before and if I can't believe in the characters then I can't believe in the book.

I'm definitely willing to check out more from the author in the future, and I might give this a go later on, but for now it just isn't working for me.

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Impressive for a first book, great intriguing storyline, with solid world-building! I'll be eagerly waiting for more in this series!

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I went into this book hoping for something fairly light and fun, and it definitely delivered in a big way! While it doesn't quite fill Kate Daniels' shoes, it definitely gave me some similar vibes which I've been missing since the series ended.

Nightmare City packs a ton of original ideas into a genre that often feels a bit predictable. I love the idea of literal nightmares being the main supernatural baddie here. It lends itself well to an insane range of possibilities, and it kept things very fresh. I really loved Eden's character as well, she's complex and I appreciated that she didn't just make cookie-cutter urban fantasy/romance type decisions. She's her own person, despite her origins.

The central plot with the doppelganger did drag a little bit for me in the middle, as well as some of the elements with SHAID. The longer it went on, the less logical Eden's decisions seemed to me and it did fall a tiny bit into the predictable trappings of the genre. It definitely recovered itself towards the end, and the action of the novel helped to balance things out, but I wish it had been just a little bit tighter. I would have also liked to know more about the Surge - first books in a series sometimes tend to get bogged down by the world and history building, but with this one I found that it was the opposite and I wanted more background.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the second book in this series once it's available. This was a great opening to an intriguing new world and I'm excited to see what post-Surge LA holds next for Eden!

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Nightmare City is a promising start to the series of the same name. Where your nightmares and dreams can become realty. Eden is a shade hunter who hunts these shades that can manifest from them. She hunts them with her talking sword. At first that seemed really odd, but strangely it works. Compelling characters and a super unique storyline that pulled me in more and more with each page. I am looking forward to more shade hunting!

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

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