This isn't your typical romance. This book is about as real life. I could relate in so many ways to this and the characters were right on. I believe this is my first from Nicole Disney even though it's more dark i still enjoyed it.

Not my story, too depressing, too dark. Still it is well written if you like dark, realistic stories.

This wasn’t a book for me. I guess I could have anticipated this if I paid closer attention to the blurb, but I didn’t.

It’s a story about two deeply troubled women, one more than the other. Jaselle is a drug addict and she drags Rainn with her. Rainn doesn’t get lost in the drugs the way Jaselle does, but she gets lost in her. This book is about so much drugs and doom and gloom. But the thing that I disliked the most was the gang rape and how these guys come back in the story, awful!

I don’t read books to make me feel depressed, some angst and drama is fine, but this is a whole other level. The strange thing is the story really wasn’t for me but the writer has a super nice writing style. I know the book was first published with a different title and the writer made some changes/ improvements to the story/ writing and I guessing shows. If it weren’t for the depressing story I would give it more stars.

The other day, a friend and I were discussing our memories of seeing the movie “Christiane F” and although it’s not something I’ve thought of in a long time, “Shadows of a Dream” reminds me of it in many ways. Rainn is living in an alley outside a bar. She is an accomplished musician but playing with her band, Suicidal Angels, in the bar for the occasional meal is where her life is at. She’s desperately hoping for a visit from scout to come and see her band play but he seems to stand her up every time she arranges for him to be there. Then she meets the beautiful Jazelle, an artist, who uses drugs to free her creativity.

This is not a romance. It’s a gritty, realistic story of homelessness, addiction, assault and broken dreams. I found myself torn between wanting to quit reading and needing to know what was going to happen. It’s well-written and engrossing but it’s not a pleasant read. It’s Rainn’s story of trying to make a success of herself in spite of the trauma and loss that she’s faced. Romance readers probably won’t enjoy this.

Trigger warnings: On page rape, drug addiction, violence.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

This is a very difficult book to read and a difficult book to review without any spoilers but I will try... Firstly I applaud Bold Stroke Books for publishing this as it is not a typical lesfic romance. Secondly Ms Disney is a very accomplished writer and the book is well plotted and the narrative moves nicely along. My problem is that I did not like either of the main leads very much. I wanted Rainn to succeed and I wanted her to have a life beyond the alley she lives in at the start of the book, but her life with Jaselle and the meth addiction was not pleasant.

I accept that the scene is beyond my comfort zone but so are books about serial killers and I have had less angst reading some of them. I wondered if it was because I did want Rainn to succeed and it is difficult sometimes to keep turning pages when I just want to shout at her! Though this does prove that at least I was engaged!

Not recommended if you're looking for light and frothy entertainment but if you are after something darker and a bit different, then this might be just right for you.

I was given a copy of the book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Rainn grew up in a wealthy family but Rainn and her mother clashed on the direction of Rainn's life. Rainn's brother Michael suddenly passes away and Rainn's mother blames his death on Rainn, this leads to Rainn's life spiralling out of control and being estranged from her mother and falling on hard times. Rainn is determined to make her band Suicide Angels a success. She then meets Jaselle, who she falls hopelessly in love with but Jaselle's addiction to drugs tests their relationship and ends up taking over both their lives.
This book covers drug use, gang rape and touches on suicide. It's heavy due to the content but I wouldn't rate it as intense. It can be difficult to read at times particularly in regards to the gang rape scenes and the premise surrounding the rape scenes. The book has a big focus on drugs and I actually found the book quite insightful in terms of drug use/addiction and the impact it has on relationships as well as the fallout.
This book was well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This author continues to decimate any semblance of restraint when it comes to writing about tough issues. This book is emotionally exhausting ... and that is what makes this story so devastatingly real. This is a gutsy book and I appreciate the author's fortitude to write the truth about addiction and the violence that so often follows in it's wake. You love and hate some of these characters at the same time, and I found myself praying for their salvation with each page turned. Not for the faint of heart, but if you like to be challenged then this book will satisfy that desire.

I HAVE READ THIS AUTHORS PREVIOUS BOOKS AND ENJOYED READING THEM BUT THIS ONE I WOULD SAY WAS MY LEAST FAVOURITE FROM THE THREE. ALTHOUGH I READ IT, I DON'T THINK IT WAS FOR ME. I COULDN'T CONNECT WITH ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, THE STORY LINE WAS JUST OKAY FOR ME. THE AUTHOR TACKLES EVERYTHING IN THIS FROM ABUSE, RAPE, DRUGS, DRINKING ETC AND FOR ME THIS BOOK IS JUST TOO DEPRESSING FOR MY TASTES.

THE BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN AND I WOULD READ HER FUTURE WORKS BUT THIS BOOK JUST ISN'T FOR ME.

This is a re-release of Dissonance in A Minor. A book I've never read, so I can't compare them. Whether that is good or bad, I have no clue.

It's told in first-person, present tense, and solely from Rainn's viewpoint. There's nothing fluffy about it. This is a grim story of addiction, toxic relationships, and co-dependency.

I could sum this story up in one word - exhausting.

As Rainn's life spirals out of control, the band largely becomes background noise (no pun intended). Yes, she's a musician but the story is about so much more.

Although I'm no stranger to darker themes - drugs, violence, rape - this story has a perpetual feeling of gloom. I needed some hope, some light, to balance out the depressing atmosphere throughout.

The storytelling is sound, worthy of five stars, but as far as my reading enjoyment, I'm hard-pressed to give this three stars.

Trigger warnings - Rape, drugs, violence.

Copy provided by the publisher, Bold Strokes Books, via Netgalley

This was not a Lex type of book. In fact I would have DNF’d it at 30% if it wasn’t the fact that this was an ARC. What’s crazy about this is that the writing was really good. This is Disney’s best written book by far. This originally was published under the title Dissonance in A Minor. Disney made changes to make the book even better and I’m guessing having the second chance is one of the reasons the writing was so strong. The problem was with my personal enjoyment of the story. This is one of those times I’m kicking myself for not reading the blurb better since I probably would have originally passed. The writing is really good a solid 4 stars if not higher but my enjoyment was only 2 stars so I’m averaging them to give the final score of 3 stars.

This book is just depressing. I just personally don’t like books that have so much doom and gloom, it’s not why I read. I don’t mind books that make you cry or are hard reads, but I need enough of the good feels to balance things out and this book didn’t have enough. The book does have a sort of happy ending but you have to go through the ringer to even get there.

I have to put up trigger warnings, in fact almost this whole book is a trigger warning. There is talk about death and suicide, heavy drug use, a drug overdose, a graphic gang rape and some general violence. As you can see it’s a very happy book. I’m mad at myself for even reading the rape scene. In the history of lesfic there are too many rape scenes and I didn’t need to read another gang rape.

There were some parts that were interesting like about the art and music, the problem was it was so swallowed in the meth use and personal demons that I didn’t enjoy it. Disney made me disgusted and horrified about the whole thing and that was obviously the point. There was plenty of realism here especially about an addict so when I say this was well written it really was. There is a place for these types of books and Disney was successful in writing the kind of book she wanted to, it just was not for me.

If you want a realistic look about loving a drug addict, this book hits the mark. It was way too depressing for me but I sure hope Disney keeps up this level of writing. She has steadily improved with each book she has written and it makes me exited for her next book. I just hope it has some good feels.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Rainn wanted to live her life on her own terms and not live the life her mother wanted. When her brother Michael dies her life went into a downward spiral and she blames herself for his death.

She lives in the back of the club in the alley where she and her band performs and she is determine to make them a success.

Jaselle is a artist and live with a guy name Noah when she offer Rainn a place to crash after Rainn get into a fight they have sex. Rainn sneaks out and doesn't see Jaselle for a month but Rainn can't stop thinking about her.

Rainn and Jaselle falls in love and it's nothing Rainn have ever experience before but when Jaselle addiction to meth gets out of hand just when things starts to look up she has to decide if keeping her dreams is more important then helping the women she loves.

This was a heavy book because it deals with rape addiction rejection love death and how dreams can come true even if you don't believe it can.