Review -- Dark Side of Dawn

Dark Side of Dawn by Kathryn Smith

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: November 24, 2009

Anyone who knows me knows how much I absolutely loved Kathryn Smith’s Before I Wake. It quite literally blew me away. I have always enjoyed Ms. Smith’s historicals, but her first person contemporary voice is top notch. Dawn Riley is one of those characters that just sticks with you. A character you’d love to be friends with. Heck, I found myself wanting to be her. I was actually a bit worried about whether the second installment would come close to the brilliance of the first. Have no fear, Ms. Smith does not disappoint. I could not put it down!

Dark Side of Dawn picks up right where the first one left off and continues the story of Dawn Riley (half-breed daughter of Morpheus, the King of Dreams, and a mortal) and her hero, Noah Clarke. Dawn is a Nightmare, a guardian of the Dream Realm. In Before I Wake, Dawn accepts that she is different -- she can exist in both worlds -- and starts to adjust to living life that way. In this one, she completely embraces what she is. She faces the Nightmare Council for her actions in bringing a human, Noah, into the Dream Realm, even though it was to save his life. The Council is basically freaking out because no one, not even Morpheus, has ever been able to do that. So, they are threatening to have her “unmade”. As if that wasn’t enough, she is trying to help Noah’s ex-wife overcome a life-changing event (and boy does that lead to some interesting scenes) and she’s also dealing with the fact that a specialist might be able to wake her mother up from a self-induced coma (so she could be with her lover Morpheus in the Dreaming). And through it all, her relationship with Noah is moving forward and becoming serious. Needless to say, there is never a dull moment in this book!

I don’t think I’ve ever read a more down-to-earth and real character than Dawn Riley. The fact that this book is in first person makes it so easy for the reader to slip into her shoes. She’s sarcastic, smart and an everyday woman. Her character continues to develop and evolve while embracing and honing her powers. I love her faults just as much as her strengths and when an author can do that, they have scored in my book. Dawn is insecure at times, especially when it comes to Noah because, after all, she’s already been rejected by her father’s people. I was so glad to see that she and her mother started mending fences, too.

Noah comes out of his shell a bit more in this story. He always knows the right things to say to Dawn and who doesn’t love that? We also learn that there’s more to him than meets the eye. And Verek (the hot Nightmare who trains Dawn) figures more prominently in this book . . . which is good. *g* The reader gets to know several returning secondary characters better and a few new characters are introduced – including one that will creep you out. Sure kept me on the edge of my seat! Plus, we learn more about the Dream Realm and its secrets. Ms. Smith has created such an incredible world that sometimes I would ask myself, How in the world is she going to do that? And then she does. She ends the book with a line that has me waiting with baited breath for the next book! Dark Side of Dawn can be read by itself, but I would suggest reading Before I Wake first as it will only enhance your reading experience. So pick up both because I cannot recommend them enough!

~Andrea

Guest Author -- Kathryn Smith

USA Today bestselling historical and urban fantasy author Kathryn Smith is dishing with us today! She has two recent releases: When Seducing a Duke, a sexy Victorian historical that begins a new series, and Dark Side of Dawn, the second (and fabulous!) installment in her Nightmare Chronicles. Please help me welcome my friend Kathryn Smith to The Romance Dish!

WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE

First of all I want to thank Andrea for inviting me to blog today. I'm so thrilled to take part in this fabulous new romance site!

Since the 2nd book of my Nightmare Chronicles, DARK SIDE OF DAWN hit shelves last week, I thought nightmares might be a good subject for me to discuss. Nightmares are generally considered negative things, but in NC Nightmares are actually guardians of the dream realm. I did this because I wanted to create a group that is both fearsome and heroic, and because I don't think nightmares deserve the bad reputation they've gotten.

As a writer I have a lot of bad dreams. I read once that nightmares make up about 90-95% of a creative person's dreams. I'm not sure if that's a true percentage, but I'll share it with you regardless. Many of these dreams have stuck with me over the years. Some have even made it into my books!

When I was 19 I dreamed that Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies was my father. He gave me his razor glove and wanted me to follow in his footsteps. Another time I dreamed of Freddy he tried to kill me and I remembered that I was in a dream and changed it so that I killed him instead. Both of these dreams were scary, and both ended with me in a position of power. Maybe I have daddy issues, but I think these disturbing dreams are more helpful than they may seem. They tell me that at that time in my life I had concerns about expectations that I, and others, had put upon me. I didn't think I could live up to those expectations, but in the latter I took control. This wasn't the only lucid dream I've ever had, but it was one of the most vivid.

Another time I had a dream that I was responsible for the death of a former friend's daughter. It was an awful dream, one I don't like to think about, however when I look at it like Dawn, the heroine of the Nightmare Chronicles would, I see it more as a dream about the loss of that friendship, and subsequently that little girl. Obviously in real life I would never do anything to harm her. In fact, she's 17 now and we still talk occasionally on Facebook.

When I was a child I often dreamed that my parents were aliens and my real parents were being kept prisoner somewhere -- or were dead. Scary stuff, but looking back those dreams say a lot about childhood insecurities, abandonment issues and a score of other things I probably need therapy to suss out!

Obviously not all nightmares reveal something about us as people. Sometimes they don't leave behind enough for us to analyze what they might have meant. Once, I woke up with the image of a terrible face imprinted on my mind, but no memory of any other aspect of the dream. I have no idea what it meant, but I still remember that face.

I believe Stephen King once said that many of his books have been born from bad dreams. I can certainly believe that! We write our dreams, paint them, sing them. What is it about nightmares that resonate so much with us? Is it a 'beast within' sense of exploring the darkness within ourselves? Or a simple fascination with the often horrible scenarios our minds can weave?

In the Nightmare Chronicles, these are the questions Dawn tries to help her clients uncover. She helps them work through their dreams and nightmares to find the underlying issues beneath using aspects of dream therapy I discovered by reading several fascinating books on the subject. And when she can't help them through therapy she literally goes into their dreams and helps them there, inside the world of her father's making. Sometimes what she finds there is the stuff nightmares are literally made of.

Alright, so I've blathered on enough about MY dreams and MY books. I'd love to hear from some of you -- what nightmares have stuck with you? What, if anything, do you think they represent?

Andrea here -- today, one lucky poster (living within the United States) will win a copy of DARK SIDE OF DAWN!