Shattered Dreams by Ellie James

Shattered Dreams (Midnight Dragonfly #1) by Ellie James

YA Fantasy/Paranormal

Rating: 4 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Trinity Monsour wants nothing more than to live a normal life. But that isn’t as easy as it seems. Trinity is different. She is special. She sees visions, and for those she’s seen, it’s already too late.

Trinity arrives on her aunt’s doorstep in New Orleans with virtually no knowledge of her mysterious heritage. She begins settling into life at a new school and even starts making friends. But all too quickly her dreams accelerate; twisted, terrifying visions of a girl locked in a dark room. And when the head cheerleader, Jessica, goes missing, Trinity knows she has no choice but to step forward with what she’s seen.

But people believe that Trinity has information about Jessica’s disappearance not because of a dream, but because she is involved. She is kind-of dating Jessica’s ex-boyfriend, Chase, and Jessica did pull a nasty prank on Trinity. Revenge seems like the likeliest scenario.

Nothing prepares Trinity for the dark odyssey that ensues while searching for Jessica, including the surprising romance she finds with Chase, or the shocking truths she learns, not just about the girl who has gone missing, but the past that has been hidden from her.

First Thoughts: I know exactly what got me into this one. The synopsis. A psychic who has visions and then when they make that brave choice to come forward they are accused as the guilty party who did it. I'm not a psychic but I can imagine real ones would be afraid to come forward for that exact reason. I can't forget the cover played a part too, I wouldn't even have read the synopsis if I hadn't seen the beautiful cover. I just love that necklace.

Writing Style: This is probably why I rated it four stars instead of five. Ellie isn't a horrible writer whatsoever but she is following the path most YA writers seem. It's not the how they all met thing. You know, the new student at school. How else are teenagers supposed to meet new people? The thing I'm talking about is the "I would die for you" love. How this has to do with writing is Ellie could have chosen to be different from the others through her writing and she didn't. I couldn't find her voice. Yes, she had her own story but she didn't write like it. Another thing that just bugged me was the constant use of her name. "Trinity." "Trinity." "Trinity!" OK. I know when there are certain scenes like when she is sleeping people call her name to wake her up. But constantly through the book it was everywhere. Someone was always calling her name It could have been "Wake up Trinity!" "What's wrong Trinity?" but it wasn't. It was just "Trinity." The single world all by itself. That is an annoying repetition that wasn't needed.

Characters: Trinity kind of bugged me. I connected with her easily and sympathized with her. The problem was her being so darn over-dramatic. She knew she liked Chase and in a matter of days she talked like she loved him. She lost her grandmother who made her choices for her so it seem to me like she clung on to the next available person. Chase was probably even worse though. He clearly didn't care about Jessica, even as a person, and the only reason he tried to help find her was because her father was pressuring him to do it. There was no sympathy for him. Trinity is clearly too good for him and I have a feeling Dylan might be hiding in the sidelines to take advantage of that.

Final Thoughts: There were a few things that bothered me, Ellie isn't a horrible writer but the random things listed above just bugged me and could have been avoided. Other than that I actually enjoyed the book. There was action, mystery, and twists. I couldn't put it down, well until I had to get some sleep. I love the whole concept of the story. That's why the four stars. There were a few things I didn't like but they didn't once make me say "Whatever, I give up." I didn't have to force read this. Except for the few things, Ellie has a fantastic book on her hands.