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Dreamlike
Amy is a talented legal secretary who is ruled by her many fears, but is trying to move on with her life. When she is offered a pill to unlock her dreams as a form of treatment, she accepts the challenge.
But the treatment isn't so simple. While asleep she struggles through twisted scenarios designed by her own mind that force her to confront and overcome her fears. Upon waking she draws mysterious clues that reference real people and events.
Amy must conquer her fears by night and piece together clues by day to discover the truth about herself and expose those who would prefer her secret buried forever.
But the treatment isn't so simple. While asleep she struggles through twisted scenarios designed by her own mind that force her to confront and overcome her fears. Upon waking she draws mysterious clues that reference real people and events.
Amy must conquer her fears by night and piece together clues by day to discover the truth about herself and expose those who would prefer her secret buried forever.
268 pages, Paperback
First published November 9, 2014
10 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Vaughan W. Smith
21 books29 followersVaughan W. Smith is a fiction writer from Sydney, Australia, who explores big life questions through story. His favourite genres are Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction and Thrillers.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 6, 2016
My actual rating would be 3.5 stars.
I received this book as part of Goodreads/Firstreads giveaway program.
Before I really get into the review, I have an observation to make. This is nothing for or against the novel. It's just something that stood out to me. I'm an American. The author is not. Several words and phrases that were used in the novel stood out to me. In America we spell car tires with an "i". The author used a "y". It was spelled "tyres". Similarly, analyze was spelled with an "s" instead of a "z", the trunk of the car was called the "boot", a car rental agency was called a "car hire", a flash light was a "torch", and meters was spelled "metres". Even my spell check is telling me "metres" isn't right. The simple fact that meters was the unit of measurement used at all, tells me that the author isn't American. As I said before, this is by no means a knock against the book. It just felt a little weird when I was reading it. Kinda like an alternate reality where everything is ALMOST the same as it is here, but something is just a little off.
I cracked this book open a little before bed time the day it came in the mail. I managed to get about 50 pages read that first night. The second time I picked the book I got sucked in and couldn't put it down. The story was pretty well paced, Vaughan W Smith has a lot of insight about people's fears, and the story has a pretty good message about having to fight and move forward no matter what we've been through. Smith's protagonist was likable enough to make you feel for her and care about what was going to happen to her.
As I said above, the story was pretty well paced, but there were a few instances that I felt things could have been slowed down a little bit to flesh out the story and add some more details. Other than that, there isn't really anything else that detracted from the story. There was one instance that I noted Smith used the word gusto twice in the same paragraph in the latter portion of the book. I would warn the author to be mindful of using the exact same word to describe something more than once especially when it comes just a couple sentences apart. That was the only instance I noticed anything like that, so it didn't detract from the story.
I liked the story enough to want to read something else by Vaughan W Smith. This isn't the best book that I've won from Goodreads, but it FAR from the worst. I gave the story 3.5 stars. With a little bit of extra thrown in to expand the story and build the tension, it would have been 4 stars.
I received this book as part of Goodreads/Firstreads giveaway program.
Before I really get into the review, I have an observation to make. This is nothing for or against the novel. It's just something that stood out to me. I'm an American. The author is not. Several words and phrases that were used in the novel stood out to me. In America we spell car tires with an "i". The author used a "y". It was spelled "tyres". Similarly, analyze was spelled with an "s" instead of a "z", the trunk of the car was called the "boot", a car rental agency was called a "car hire", a flash light was a "torch", and meters was spelled "metres". Even my spell check is telling me "metres" isn't right. The simple fact that meters was the unit of measurement used at all, tells me that the author isn't American. As I said before, this is by no means a knock against the book. It just felt a little weird when I was reading it. Kinda like an alternate reality where everything is ALMOST the same as it is here, but something is just a little off.
I cracked this book open a little before bed time the day it came in the mail. I managed to get about 50 pages read that first night. The second time I picked the book I got sucked in and couldn't put it down. The story was pretty well paced, Vaughan W Smith has a lot of insight about people's fears, and the story has a pretty good message about having to fight and move forward no matter what we've been through. Smith's protagonist was likable enough to make you feel for her and care about what was going to happen to her.
As I said above, the story was pretty well paced, but there were a few instances that I felt things could have been slowed down a little bit to flesh out the story and add some more details. Other than that, there isn't really anything else that detracted from the story. There was one instance that I noted Smith used the word gusto twice in the same paragraph in the latter portion of the book. I would warn the author to be mindful of using the exact same word to describe something more than once especially when it comes just a couple sentences apart. That was the only instance I noticed anything like that, so it didn't detract from the story.
I liked the story enough to want to read something else by Vaughan W Smith. This isn't the best book that I've won from Goodreads, but it FAR from the worst. I gave the story 3.5 stars. With a little bit of extra thrown in to expand the story and build the tension, it would have been 4 stars.
January 3, 2015
My brother won a copy of this from Goodreads & I am glad that it was him rather than me.
Dreamlike was a slow read, one that I struggled to see through. I believe that the concept was a great one and in the hands of a much more capable writer, this would have been a good book. There was no depth to the story and the writing was simple without details or a smooth background. The characters lack definition and fall flat as they rush to & fro yet it seems pointless as well as hurried. Interactions are choppy as well.
I am not an arrogant American that assumes that our "English" is the only English so the swapping of "z" in words for an "s" was no big deal. (Ex: Realize/Realize) I have no problem with non-Anerican writers or books that take place somewhere other than the USA but I would like to know where the story is taking place. Big city? Small town? I googled places and buildings mentioned and most lead to links for the book itself.
I do like proper punctuation and this book lacked commas to the point of distraction.
As a lifelong insomniac, I scoff at Amy's ability to stay awake for basically 4 days as if it was a simple as loading up on coffee and No-Doz.
How many severe fears can one girl walk around with and still be able to function without medication? Animals & people & falling AND heights, as well as storms AND flying AND small spaces. You expect me to believe this chick holds down a job? Oh.. That leads to me to how lenient her job was with her coming and going all the time as well as just missing days of work on end. Really??
In this strange nowhere land... Do cell phones and the internet not exist? And it must be a place where woman are idiots if they are that proud and impressed by the simple changing of a "tyre".
I don't think I'll be marking anymore of Smith's books as " want to read" after this.
Dreamlike was a slow read, one that I struggled to see through. I believe that the concept was a great one and in the hands of a much more capable writer, this would have been a good book. There was no depth to the story and the writing was simple without details or a smooth background. The characters lack definition and fall flat as they rush to & fro yet it seems pointless as well as hurried. Interactions are choppy as well.
I am not an arrogant American that assumes that our "English" is the only English so the swapping of "z" in words for an "s" was no big deal. (Ex: Realize/Realize) I have no problem with non-Anerican writers or books that take place somewhere other than the USA but I would like to know where the story is taking place. Big city? Small town? I googled places and buildings mentioned and most lead to links for the book itself.
I do like proper punctuation and this book lacked commas to the point of distraction.
As a lifelong insomniac, I scoff at Amy's ability to stay awake for basically 4 days as if it was a simple as loading up on coffee and No-Doz.
How many severe fears can one girl walk around with and still be able to function without medication? Animals & people & falling AND heights, as well as storms AND flying AND small spaces. You expect me to believe this chick holds down a job? Oh.. That leads to me to how lenient her job was with her coming and going all the time as well as just missing days of work on end. Really??
In this strange nowhere land... Do cell phones and the internet not exist? And it must be a place where woman are idiots if they are that proud and impressed by the simple changing of a "tyre".
I don't think I'll be marking anymore of Smith's books as " want to read" after this.
December 22, 2017
*2.5
I won 'Dreamlike' in a competition hosted by Vaughan W. Smith and was very keen to get started as soon as it arrived. Now that I've finished it and have formed an opinion on it, I am going to try my best to write an honest review.
Let's start off with the pros. Vaughan W. Smith has come up with a very unique and intriguing storyline that will have you doing some guesswork and uncovering the mysteries alongside the protagonist, Amy. His characters are well thought out and relatable in the way that we all have fears that need to be conquered one way or the other, because it's these things that make us (to quote from the book) "stronger and more complete".
I'm going to be honest with this next part, as I feel it wouldn't be fair to the author to deny him of (possible) valuable constructive criticism from a readers point of view.
So... the first chapter or so is usually the one to draw you in, which it does, but it was a little hard to really get into it because the sentence structure was very simple and caused some sentences and paragraphs to sound very choppy. But this seemed to become less of a problem as I continued reading. Another problem I had wasn't a major one as it only seemed to occur in places, but there were a couple of unexpected scene changes. This made it hard to follow the scene properly. The last thing I didn't necessarily have a problem with, it was just an observation, that some of the more heightened, intense scenes could have had a little more to them to really make an impact.
But in the end, I did enjoy this book. It's an original, fast, captivating read that any reader will appreciate.
I won 'Dreamlike' in a competition hosted by Vaughan W. Smith and was very keen to get started as soon as it arrived. Now that I've finished it and have formed an opinion on it, I am going to try my best to write an honest review.
Let's start off with the pros. Vaughan W. Smith has come up with a very unique and intriguing storyline that will have you doing some guesswork and uncovering the mysteries alongside the protagonist, Amy. His characters are well thought out and relatable in the way that we all have fears that need to be conquered one way or the other, because it's these things that make us (to quote from the book) "stronger and more complete".
I'm going to be honest with this next part, as I feel it wouldn't be fair to the author to deny him of (possible) valuable constructive criticism from a readers point of view.
So... the first chapter or so is usually the one to draw you in, which it does, but it was a little hard to really get into it because the sentence structure was very simple and caused some sentences and paragraphs to sound very choppy. But this seemed to become less of a problem as I continued reading. Another problem I had wasn't a major one as it only seemed to occur in places, but there were a couple of unexpected scene changes. This made it hard to follow the scene properly. The last thing I didn't necessarily have a problem with, it was just an observation, that some of the more heightened, intense scenes could have had a little more to them to really make an impact.
But in the end, I did enjoy this book. It's an original, fast, captivating read that any reader will appreciate.
January 23, 2015
I found this book to be totally unbelievable even if it wasn't science fiction. A woman with a law degree is working as a secretary in a law firm? A woman with a fear of animals, crowds, small spaces, heights, storms and airplanes still functions? A woman meets a guy in a bar, goes to his office and swallows a pill because he says it will help her conquer her fears while she dreams? Who can keep a job while taking so many days off?
The book was slow paced. It lacked description. The writing was stilted. The twist at the end? It's been done better before.
The book was slow paced. It lacked description. The writing was stilted. The twist at the end? It's been done better before.
August 28, 2015
I won a free copy of this from Goodreads First Reads!
As a lover of mysteries, I was very intrigued with the concept. I enjoyed discovering all of the clues and how everything pieced together. The only bothersome thing was the lack of commas, however it became easier to ignore that as I read on. I also felt that the writing style was very simple, maybe a little too simple. There were instances where a page would have "Amy said" multiple times.
Overall I give it a 3/5 for creativity!
As a lover of mysteries, I was very intrigued with the concept. I enjoyed discovering all of the clues and how everything pieced together. The only bothersome thing was the lack of commas, however it became easier to ignore that as I read on. I also felt that the writing style was very simple, maybe a little too simple. There were instances where a page would have "Amy said" multiple times.
Overall I give it a 3/5 for creativity!
December 21, 2014
Interesting book about a legal secretary who has many fears. She is offered a pill to take away he fears. When she wakes up she finds clues to real people and events I found this ian interesting concept and a new take on dealing with fear.
July 2, 2016
Good read
I didn't catch the direction the book was going at first. There are parts of the book that you put yourself into along with the character and can't put the book down until she gets out of the latest dilemma. Good book!
I didn't catch the direction the book was going at first. There are parts of the book that you put yourself into along with the character and can't put the book down until she gets out of the latest dilemma. Good book!
January 24, 2025
I was fairly impressed with this book. It kept me turning the pages to see what happened next. The characters were interesting and the story line well thought out. I found the ending a little too neat (no spoilers), but creative. I look forward to the next book by Vaughan Smith to see if his creative and interesting way of writing continues. This book is not an absolute must read, but it is worthy of your time to read and I enjoyed it.
January 8, 2015
This book has a great concept and I enjoyed reading it.
March 24, 2017
Entertaining, but horribly written. Many typos, choppy sentences, some poorly explained plot points, and even a couple giant holes in the plot takes the reader out of the book. But the author came up with some interesting ideas and the plot would've been much more entertaining, and probably would've earned a 5 star rating out of me if it didn't have the issues mentioned above.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews