148) Shattered Dreams by Ellie James

The Blurb :

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.

My Thoughts :

The blurb for this one was quite promising but I have to say this book left me confused and frustrated. The actual idea was not bad at all but I don't think the author really knew what she was trying to achieve. This was definitely a young adult story but as a paranormal it was weak and as a mystery it was too muddled. Not bad for a debut but it didn't leave a very good impression.

Actually Shattered Dreams started out extremely good but within a few chapters the story had jumped around so much that I had no idea what was really happening and who was who. Trinity seemed like a nice enough girl but I didn't really get the chance to know her. She was constantly having visions or getting caught up in weird situations that I found it hard to connect with her.

Trinity's love interest Chase was extremely creepy. I was sure he was up to something the whole time and didn't believe for a minute that he wanted to be with Trinity for any other reason than to get her into trouble and/or mess up her head. The other characters were not worth mentioning and I can't really remember their names. Trinity's aunt was quite strange and the police men involved left a small impression but were also unusual. Dylan who rushed in to the story at the end was actually someone worth remembering. I just don't understand why the author brought him in so late in the book.

There was a lot of things in this book that didn't make sense to me and when these items came along I found it easy enough to ignore them because they usually make much difference in the general plot. I felt very lost most of the time when reading this book but the concept was so intriguing that I kept going. By the time I realised things were not going to get better I just continued to end my curiosity about who did what and why.

All in all this had promise but needed some better editing or revisions. With a little bit more time and input this could have been a great read but instead it lacked a lot of clarity and depth. I am pretty sure some young readers will like this but I wouldn't recommend it as it is.