A fabulous and highly engrossing novel. The story follows Adri and Simon - who have never met, apart from in their dreams. They each think that it is a figment of their imagination/dream state but recognise that it is their soulmate. The chapters alternate between Adri, Simon and recollections of their dreams from childhood. The story gathers pace when Adri is unfortunate enough to be filmed when falling over and the viral sensation leads to the climax. Utterly brilliant I couldn't put it down.

I give this book 2.5 stars. Adri and Simon keep dreaming about each other and then Simon finds out she's real.
Both characters have very little personal development and are plagued by their exes and the memories of this. I was so looking forward to them meeting, and then the book ends. It was a mellow read, but also made me antsy because they keep missing each other.
The idea of her story, his story, their dreams was very interesting, I just feel like it didn't reach it's full potential.

Adri and Simon give new meaning to the term “star-crossed lovers.” Since childhood, they’ve been meeting in their dreams, sharing stories and supporting each other through good times and bad—but never in person. When Adri’s unexpected appearance in a viral video catches Simon’s attention, he realizes that the girl in his dreams might be a girl in real life too, and finds himself on one adventure he never dreamed of.

The Narrative Structure: Chapters alternate between the present, where Adri and Simon are mid-twenties and living in Chicago and Portland, and chronological vignettes from their dreams. The romantic in me would have loved to see more chapters devoted to their early meetings and discovering their connection—which would have been a natural opportunity to flush out their characters some more and lay more of a foundation for their relationship—but we only get a few, short chapters from their early dreams.

The Likes: This concept has so much potential, from dreamers imagining new settings to sharing recreations of memories and spaces. We only get a glimpse of these imaginative possibilities (even though the characters have been doing them for years), but I would have loved to see more cosplay/D&D scenes, or more Inception-esque creations. As it is, it felt geek-lite: lots of passing references to a multitude of geekdoms (LOTR, D&D, Zelda, Final Fantasy, to name a few), but no real depth to or exploration of any of them. It left me wishing the author had just gone full. geek. Embrace it!
I thoroughly enjoyed the momentum toward the end, especially when chapter titles zoomed in from “Portland” and “Chicago” to street names and specific locations.

The Dislikes: For as much time as I spent with Adri and Simon, it was hard for me to get a sense of them beyond stereotypical adjectives/labels (e.g., “geeky,” “bookish,” etc.). Based on descriptions in the book, I could only conjure up squishy impressions of what they look like and their surroundings. The ending also felt rushed and I honestly felt a little cheated that we didn’t get more between the last two chapters.

Perhaps most unfortunately, the writing style was not my cup of tea. Often the reading level came off as middle-grade, a strange contrast to some of the more mature content. As other reviewers have noted, there are spelling/grammatical errors abound (“heal” instead of “heel” was particularly cringey). Since this is an ARC, my rating assumes these errors would be corrected.

While this isn’t the book of my dreams, people who like movies like Your Name or The Lake House might find it dreamy 😉

I was captivated by the cover, I was captivated by the blurb, and as I reached the end of the book, I knew this would become my go to “feel-good” book from now on.
The book is heavy on emotions and lighter on drama, though there were times I wanted to just pluck the main characters out of the book and put em in front of each other and go, “there, now sort it out”!
Also, some of the sentences and scenarios made me go “wow”, because they were so human, they were so me! I knew that in such a situation, that is exactly how I’d have reacted. When it came to emoting, Candace did a magnificent job.
The book is easy to read, it’s not too long, and leaves you with a silly smile on your face, it lets you believe in fate. Without going in to too much detail about the backstories and all, this book is written with more focus on “now”, and our characters’ struggle to find the person of their dreams, quite literally!
All in all, I finished it in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely! My only critique is, don’t tag it under NA, this is more of a YA genre.

I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of Adri and Simon meeting each other in their dreams sounded great
A "humorous new adult romance" about two people brought together by fate
Although it seemed like the perfect book to read at night
Discover why Tau doesn't share the other readers' delight


Expectations

Every reader starts a book with certain expectations.
A story that is promoted on NetGalley with the description "Humor, New Adult, Romance" will attract people who are looking for a humourous and relaxing read.
If the book then doesn't live up to these expectations, you run the risk that readers are left with an unsatisfied feeling.


Humor? New Adult? Romance?

Humour is very subjective.
But if a story can't even raise a little smile on your face, there are two options.
Either the reader's sense of humour doesnt correspond to the author's at all.
Or there is a serious lack of humour in the story.

The characters are twenty-somethings, but only in name. Their naive behaviour rather corresponds to that of young adults and begins to really irritate after a while.
Furthermore the narrative arc isn't solid. There aren't enough conflicts to keep the reader's interest.
Another annoying thing is the fact that literally e-ve-ry-thing is written out. A whole page about how someone makes breakfast, of how an sms is texted, … It seems more like page filling and doesn't actually add something to the story.

As for 'romance', there are two striking observations.
First of all, the romance is not at all on adult level. Rather think of middlegrade/YA-level with holding hands, insecurity about how one looks, …
Secondly, there were totally no sparkles and no magic in this 'relationship'. That makes it hard to empathize much with the flat main characters.


Editing

This book also suffers from different editorial problems.

If even a non-native English speaker finds lots of spelling and grammatical errors, that's not a good sign.
After the first 30% of the book it becomes really, really bad in that matter: wrong verb conjugation, words are missing or are too many, personal and possessive pronouns are switched, …

Also, the writing style could have used more guiding.
If 50% of the phrases begin with "I" and always follow the same pattern (I + verb + direct object), that's very uninspired writing and eventually becomes laughable.
Oh maybe thát's the 'humour' in this story!


*Thanks to NetGalley and Shadesilk Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I actually really enjoyed this book. We follow Simon and Adri and they are soulmates. Simon and Adri met as children and since then have been meeting again in their dreams. Simon then goes on a journey to find Adri in real life and connect with her. All thanks to a viral video that Simon stumbles across this journey might not be as hard as he thinks.

I loved the characters, they are readers and writers so I love the bookish references that happen throughout the story. I flew threw this book and greatly enjoyed every second of it.

Rating: ★★★★

Adri and Simon met as children and have been best friends ever since. Through all the good and bad times, they've been there for each other. The only catch is that they've only ever met in their dreams, causing each of them to think the other is a figment of their imagination. Little do they know a serendipitous happenstance in the form of a viral video will change their lives forever.

“I couldn't get over this moment, the hugeness of it.
It was too overwhelming to think about.”

I found an ARC copy of this book on Netgalley and when I read the description I was immediately sold. I expected a whimsical, sweet romance and the book definitely delivered. It was a delight to read this one, and I finished it in one sitting. It was exactly the kind of feel good story I was expecting and I loved it!

The story is told from two POV's, Simon and Adri. Throughout the book you see how both of them struggle to accept that they love an imaginary person and are trying to find their place in the world. The book also features short flashbacks to dreams they shared from their childhood all the way to adulthood.

I felt for both Simon and Adri and I found them both to be lovable characters. You're definitely rooting for them both to find the happiness they're looking for. I also LOVED the brother-sister relationship between Simon and his sister Liane, they truly are sibling goals.

All in all I quite enjoyed this book and after reading it, it will definitely make you want to believe in soulmates and fate.

“And to all those who dream in daylight seeking impossibilities beyond your sight... It is to you that our dreams become reality. Never stop dreaming.”







small side note: there are some spelling and grammar errors, so proofreading might be needed.

This book is about two soulmates finding each other after a long time searching for love. The romance between Adri and Simon is cute, but i wish they had more screen time together.

The story had a lot of potential but felt somehow lacking; a bit like an author's early writings. The characters didn't have much depth so although you wanted to see if they did each other in the end you didn't really feel for them in their journey. Also the ending didn't really work as it was in italics so it made it seem it was just a dream, in which case where's the realty ending. It would've been nice to have a chapter of their life in real life when they'd met in person. It's due to these reasons I've given it 5 stars as it has good potential, it's just lacking. Lastly a proofreader needs to be hired as there are spelling/grammatical errors like "met I dad"