Book Review: Pretty Dark Nothing (Pretty Dark Nothing #1) by Heather L. Reid

"They seemed like normal nightmares, the dreams blurred with the light of morning- just dreams. 
Now they'd turned sinister, their vividness bled into reality, bringing her dread even in the daylight hours, and she had no idea how to stop them."
My Rating: 

Book: Pretty Dark Nothing 

(Pretty Dark Nothing #1)Author: Heather L. Reid
Page Numbers: 321 pages
Publication date: April 23rd, 2013

Synopsis:

It’s been twenty three days since Quinn has slept for more than minutes at a time. Demons have invaded her dreams, stalking her, and whispering of her death. The lack of sleep and crippling fear are ruining her life. Energy drinks and caffeine pills don’t make a dent. When Quinn dozes off in the school hallway, Aaron, an amnesiac with a psychic ability, accidentally enters her nightmare. The demons are determined to keep them apart, and Aaron from discovering the secret locked away in his memory. Together, they could banish the darkness back to the underworld for good. That is, unless the demons kill them first.

My Review:

I received a copy through Netgalley to read and review in return.

Pretty Dark Nothing was definitely a very fast read for me. From the very first sentence I was hooked to the story. When I started reading the book I was cozy in my bed, it was quite late at night, and I had a little light on my night stand, for the rest it.was.completely.dark. Well... I have to say that I was pretty freaked out when I got through the first chapter, but I just could not stop reading! Ms. Reid definitely has a talent for vividly describing demonic creatures lurking in the dark, describing their features, abilities, and snide actions... I got to say that this was one of the first books which made my scared flooding my room into darkness when going to sleep! Let's get into the details, shall we?

The story plunges the reader immediately into suspense, into the darkness and wrath of the demonic nightmares Quinn finds herself trapped in. Quinn is the main character of the story. She is beautiful, smart and used to have it all together before her father left her and her mother for another life, and her long loved boyfriend dumped her for the pretty popular redhead at school. That was when the nightmares began. The moment Quinn shut her eyes and sailed off to 'dreamland' she was haunted my demonic and terrible creatures and surroundings which were slowly trying to engulf her. Quinn saw this first as a justification to her dad leaving and being dumped by her boyfriend, and used anything she could like energy drinks, caffeine pills and very, very loud metallic music to keep herself awake, but her fatigue eventually took control. The demonic creatures no longer only haunted her in her dreams, and they slowly found a way to haunt her during the day of her full awake state, lurking in the shadows, in the darkness, waiting for her, watching her, and slowly possessing her life. During one of her gruesome nightmares, she sees Aaron Collier, a dark-mysterious handsome guy from her school, who somehow stepped into one of her nightmares and had the strength the ability to temporarily save her from the darkness. She feels she can finally rest, but unfortunately for Quinn, this does not last for very long. 

I found Quinn to be a very interesting character. We immediately get to know her character as an independent and courageous girl, but when the darkness and demons seem to crawl not only in her dreams but also in her conscious state, does she begin to wither into a very small, weak, self-conscious, and sad character. This sometimes got a little annoying, but then again I also found her emotions, actions and reactions realistic. I mean, come on, how the heck would you react if dark scary foggy demons were lurking in each shadow you walk ed past, whispering dark thoughts into your mind, and slowly trying to take over your life and physically possess you? That's right, you would first freak out, be in denial of its authenticity, and then FREAK OUT some more... Quinn used to have it all, she used to have the perfect quarterback boyfriend, popularity status, she was Valedictorian of her school, but this all crumbled down once the demons took over. 

Aaron is you're typical, dark haired, handsome, and mysteeerious boy who seems to of course have an eye on Quinn. He feels a certain connection between them which he at first does not understand. Aaron is of course not your ordinary boy, as he seems to have the power to feel other peoples emotions when physically touching them and can even influence and alter these emotions. But with Quinn this is totally different, he can feel her emotions and get into her mind without being in contact with her. Aaron is completely obsessed with Quinn, and whenever she seems to be the damsel in distress, Aaron is always there to find and help her. 

Their relationship is quite difficult and this often became very frustrating since their relationship never fully seemed to function on a healthy level. Quinn was being threatened by her demons, forbidding her to reveal their existence, hence it stood so much in the way of their relationship (obviously). It was bothersome to see how many times Aaron was shot down (emotionally) by Quinn. But of course, love conquers all, and can lead you into very crazy situations, and that is definitely was it does in this book. 

Despite my minor irritation of the repetitive damsel in distress moments and dysfunctional romance between the two main characters, I found Pretty Dark Nothing definitely an enjoyable and quick read, with very spooky moments, nonstop suspense, and great main and accompanying characters. I would definitely recommend this book to those who love a little scare here and there and to be intrigued by a unique and consuming story line! I look forward to reading the sequel!

Share me your thoughts below! :)