Hello, everyone, I’m back with another book review—the Dream Waters series by Erin A. Jensen. I’m currently on book three of the trilogy (the author may write a fourth) and wanted to give my impressions of the story so far.

I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum. 😉

—Dream Waters—

Premise

Dream Waters is a fantasy/romance series set in the present day. The gimmick of the story revolves around worlds set in dreams, where people can turn into fantasy creatures like fairies, elves, and dragons when they sleep. Sometimes the dream world can overlap into the real world.

There isn’t much action, and the worldbuilding is more on the mild side. Instead, the story focuses more on dialog and character interaction.

Length

The word counts for the first two novels are around 400-500. Chapters are usually short and keep the prose moving.

Characters

Jensen does an excellent job with her characters, and the exchanges are very amusing, pushing the prose forward through humor and drama. The main characters are easy to connect with, as the story uses a first-person multiple POV scheme. Each character’s POV sounds unique and breaths life into the chapters.

The antagonist is compelling and acts more like an anti-hero who works with the protagonist, albeit the two are also romance rivals for the same woman. It isn’t until later that the real villain reveals himself.

Magic System

Dream Waters uses a fickle and whimsical magic system in the dream world that isn’t explained much. The author could have fleshed it out more to create story depth and intrigue for the reader.

Romance

The story is loaded with romance scenes, some of them rather graphic and very promiscuous. Dream Waters uses this heavily to create romantic tension between the protagonist and his love.

Conflict

Dream Waters sets our protagonist against romantic conflict and the paranormal reality of the dream world. He meets strange, fickle creatures with a diverse set of magical ability. Only by mastering his own skills in his dream world does he have a chance to save his love.

The diverse tension keeps the reader interested and set steady pacing with the short chapters.

—Overall Summary—

The Good

Dream Waters demonstrates an exciting combination of fantasy, romance, and paranormal concepts I’ve rarely seen elsewhere. It has solid pacing and excellent dialog. Any lover of romance or fantasy will enjoy this book.

The main characters are well written and provide fascinating story arcs.

The Bad

The descriptions of characters, places, and emotions leave room for improvement in certain scenes. The emotional details are cliche at times and without much diversity.

The Ugly

When descriptions kick into overdrive, Dream Waters has heavy use of profanity and graphic details, which may turn some readers off.

—My rating for Dream Waters: 3.7/5 stars: a worthwhile read—

Dream Waters has a special place in the romance and fantasy genre. The unique combination of tropes and characters makes for an entertaining novel that keeps the reader turning pages and moving the story along.

The story excels in certain areas, while it lacks in others; and the prose isn’t the best. The use of graphic scenes might turn some readers off. Additional details on the magic and dream world systems would have strengthened the world-building aspects.

Overall, if you’re a reader who loves amusing characters, fantasy tropes, fluid dialog, and deep romance scenes, then Dream Waters will be an excellent choice.

---

Have you any thoughts on Dream Waters? Leave it in the comments below. Thanks for reading and have a great July 4th! 🙂