REVIEW Legacy of a Dreamer by Allie Jean

LEGACY OF A DREAMER BY ALLIE JEAN

Chantal Breelan has spent most of her childhood as a ward of the state. She has a mysterious past and the foster system provided her with no answers. At the age of fifteen, she begins to have horrifying dreams: images of violence and death that haunt her during her waking hours. Anxious and afraid, and with no one else to confide in, she finds comfort in her imaginary friend, a shadow in the shape of a man who stands sentinel over her. She tells him of her dreams and her fear of an unknown future.

On her eighteenth birthday, she’s forced out of her foster home, but the stress and demands drive her to the edge, making her see things. A boy from her nightmares appears in a subway station, sending her life in twists of truth and lies, and darkness surrounds her from all sides. But is it only evil that hides in the shadows, or are the answers to her past lingering just beyond?

HERE'S WHAT I THOUGHT

What initially drew me to this book was the cover and title combination. The cover is simple and leaves a mystery to who the girl is. You can't see her face, and I like that, because you can still create what you think she would look like in your head to your minds pleasure. The title also got me. A book about a dreamer leaves a lot to be imagined. Is she a dreamer in the sense that she's always wondering about bigger ideas or is she an actual dreaming when she goes to sleep? What's her legacy that's so fantastic? I obviously wanted to know all these things, which is what led me to the book!

You start off meeting Chantal, a young girl who has been tossed around in the foster care system until she  lands in a modern day Cinderella-esque situation. She has obscene nightmares that started as far back as she could possibly remember, but she finds comfort in the imaginary friends she has created over the years. She's on the brink of turning eighteen and being thrown out in the real world with no help from anyone. She moves to New York, hoping to start a new journey in her adult life, but her past of nightmares and imaginary friends follow her into her life there as well. From there, she's thrown deep into a world she never knew existed, a world where she was on of the main warriors fighting in an age-old war. Chantal learns about what exactly is hiding in the Shade, or the shadows as we know them, but she also learns about who she really is on the inside.

I really liked Chantal. She was a very strong female character right from the start, and that's something I also admire in books. Even if it was due to her rough start in life, she never felt the need to depend on anyone, even after she met her warrior, Mathias, she learned to trust him, but she still held her own when she needed to. She was never completely helpless. Girl power - WHAT! I also loved that she never questioned the crazy world she got thrown into. She accepted it with grace and stepped up and exceeded every ones expectations, caring for everyone she encounters almost unconditionally. She's one the first known adult Oracles, and I can't wait to see what else that means for her in the next book.

Then there's Mathias, Chantal's warrior. What a chivalrous man he is!  You can tell from the very beginning his feelings for Chantal are real and pure, but he doesn't know what to do with them and how to react to them. Their relationship throughout the whole book is very sweet. It was never in your face romantic(which don't get me wrong, I do love that, too!) but instead, sweet and dripping with romantic tension! I could feel it through the book! But with their every little touch and whispered conversation, you could feel their attraction to each other, and it made it all the more sweeter to read.

The other thing that really made the book for me was that it wasn't your typical good vs evil/angels vs devils story. This is a whole different realm of that and one that I really want to read more about. You won't find any creatures with wings or devil horns in this book, but it's worth your time to find out the good and evil that lurk in the pages.

I GAVE LEGACY OF A DREAMER

 FIVE CUPCAKES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Allie Jean was born with an overactive imagination. At a very early age, a child, her days were spent inventing stories, directing her sisters in made-up plays or telling elaborate ghost stories. Her mind never took breaks, or shutdown, even when she slept. When her eyes shut at night, she would have vivid dreams complete with extensive, elaborate plot lines, and good overcoming evil villains. She was encouraged by her parents, even at a young age, to write down her tales, and it has remained a somewhat secret hobby. It became a means to escape from the drama of real life into one of the many worlds she created.


Now, living in California with her husband of ten years, her love of storytelling had taken a back seat with the arrival of their four children. Though, she always found time to write down her thoughts on whatever was handy, including a stray diaper or two while rocking a sleeping child in the middle of the night when her character's begged for attention as well. As a busy wife, mother and working full-time outside the home, somehow she has been able to write down her relentless character's story. Her once secret hobby and private world, is now released for other's to enjoy. Nothing would make Allie happier that to continue writing and spend more time at home with her family on a more full-time basis.

EXTRA GOODIES

Good news! If you were looking to pick up Legacy of a Dreamer for yourself, there's a giveaway going on right now! You can win a signed copy AND a ebook of a chic lit novelette by Allie Jean that has yet to be released. The giveaway runs until Valentines Day so get in while you can!
To enter the giveaway, visit Allie Jeans website.   

CHECK OUT LEGACY OF A DREAMER ON AMAZON AND GOODREADS.

CHECK OUT ALLIE JEAN ON FACEBOOK. 

A big thank you to Allie Jean for giving me an ARC and the chance to read this book! Although I received this book to review, it did not influence my review in any way.