Dreamland

by Olivie Blake

She wanted fame. But she found secrets and a passion that could kill.

As summer heat lingers in Los Angeles, girls are found murdered, the winds are blowing a strange energy into the city and wildfire warnings are everywhere. Yet Anya Morris has other things on her mind. A TV pilot should have been her big Hollywood break. But she lost out and now she’s willing to risk it all.

Enter William de Witt, an aging movie star who offers an unusual opportunity. His son Jude’s rare heath condition forces him to live as a recluse - and in exchange for spending time with him, William will grant her access to Hollywood’s most powerful circles. Wealth, influence and access are all on offer within the de Witt family mansion. However, behind the gilded veneer lie decades of bloodstained secrets. As her duties draw her deeper into their world, she wonders if the villa is cursed or if Jude himself is touched by the occult? Yet there’s a dark magnetism to him that Anya can’t resist, despite all the warning signs. As the city’s body count continues to rise, something has to give. There’s smoke in the air, but who will strike that final, fatal match?

Praise for Olivie Blake

‘Addictively entertaining, this is Blake at the height of her abilities’ – Ava Reid, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Lady Macbeth

‘Utterly brilliant’ – Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of Immortal Longings

‘A timely tale of greed, ambition and rivalry . . . terrific’ – M. L. Rio, bestselling author of If We Were Villains

Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six was a No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 28 Feb 2022.
Gifted & Talented was a No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller w/c 14 April 2025.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Gothic, Fiction, Adult, Thriller, Contemporary

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication August 20, 2026

About the author

Olivie Blake is the pseudonym of Alexene Farol Follmuth, a lover and writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting complexities of life and love.
​
Olivie has penned several indie SFF projects, including the webtoon Clara and the Devil with illustrator Little Chmura and the viral Atlas series. As Follmuth, her young adult rom-com My Mechanical Romance releases May 2022.

Olivie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and new baby, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull.

Reviews

[Seri ❤]

🕯️Pre-Read:🕯️
Gothic novel about family secrets, unsolved murders, and ill-fated summer love.

Not me getting approved for this ALC in less than 5 minutes. 🤭
Thank you to Macmillan Audio. You guys approved me so fast that I'll bump this up in my reading list in return. 🫶

[hamna · Rating 2 out of 5]

breathed a sigh of relief that it's finally over. this book is so painfully uninspired, it actually sucked to read for a good majority. i feel like i know /what/ she's trying to accomplish here, what threads the author is trying to pull, what narrative she's trying to create. it just falls apart so abysmally. there's at least three different ways this book veers off into that lead to nowhere.. which is like, okay maybe it was supposed to play a background role, but the constant emphasis...all for a plot that's simultaneously predictable but also very?? messy??...and kinda awful. if i am being honest. the writing feels overwritten too, or maybe it's just that this book doesn't call to be written in the way that it. is. written. there's no drive to the story, the miscontrued and hastily reconstructed narrative doesn't hold any weight to it, and i did not care about the romance. at all. it felt like a chore to read and was too par the course (derogatory) while also, kinda, coming out of nowhere. anyway, yeah. i mean sure what the hell. it's definitely a book. it's just kind of bland..and ultimately, pointless.
thank you to tor for the advance copy. (if you think this review is confusing, just wait until you read the book.)

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, Olivie Blake books hit, or they dont. This, unfortunately, didn't. It's way overwritten. This is for someone who isn't me.

[Asia Paoloni · Rating 4 out of 5]

So Olivie Blake! So odd, but so intriguing! This was a good book, but this would be an even greater movie! If you know you know

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the dry, oppressive heat of the summer in LA girls are showing up dead, arranged into macabre displays that horrify and fascinate the public. However, Anya Morris–an aspiring actress made claustrophobic by her circumstances–is not focused on dead girls. Running on cunning and ambition, Anya receives a mysterious but promising opportunity to work for one of the industries most influential families. Beneath the veneer of Hollywood glamor though all is not well with the de Witt family, particularly their troubled son they keep hidden away whom Anya is tasked with watching over.

I'd like to start off with a quote from the acknowledgements because I think it's kind of iconic: "This book put me through a meat grinder; at this point, whether it’s any good is frankly none of my business."

Whether or not you like this book is heavily reliant on whether you like Olivie Blake's style, particularly her more experimental stuff like Alone With You in the Ether. For me, she is one of the only authors writing experimental stuff that actually works for me, and Dreamland was no different. I don't agree that this book is overwritten, in fact other than the beginning and some of Jude's segments I think it's pretty minimalist. There's an element of stream-of-consciousness to Blake's writing style, and I'm not usually a big fan of that but as I think I mentioned in my review for her book Gifted and Talented Blake's version of stream-of-consciousness is a lot closer to how my brain works than most other versions, which is probably not true for everyone.

Plot wise, this book is weird as hell. Maybe a little fever dream-y, but not in a way that takes away from the stakes which is a big pet peeve of mine. Jude's segments aren't my favorite part of the book, but they still have real stakes and tension because it's unclear how much of the events of Jude's dreams are reflected in the actions his body is taking in reality. When Jude hurts someone in a dream, there are still stakes for the reader because he might actually also be hurting someone outside of the dream, so there's a real sense of consequences and the events of the dream aren't just being used for drama or shock value (The God of Endings similarly does this well). Also, I like the weird messed-up little romance! I don't care that it's weird and angsty and melodramatic, because it's fun and you can understand that for Anya it functions both as a relationship with more depth than she can achieve with anyone else since all of their cards are on the table and as a form of self-destruction because the constant game she has to play to get ahead has really dissolved her sense of self. It's not a murder mystery (thank god), it's a dramatic gothic thriller that isn't going to pander to the reader and make it easy for them. Regardless of whether I understood everything, I was engaged the whole time.

That being said, there were definitely things that went over my head. Or should I say...Ova my head...haha.....Point being that I still don't know who Ova is. I don't know if she's real or if she's a demon or a ghost or if she's just another character referred to by multiple names. I don't know if I'm supposed to know who she is, but I don't. I also think having two characters who are mother and daughter both be named Emmanuelle when we're already dealing with kind of a weird family tree with three generations was unnecessarily confusing, though maybe intentionally. I'm not mad about it, but it was distracting because I was sitting there like "Is there some incest going on here or am I just confused?" By all means, let me know if you have concrete answers.

Dreamland is a challenging book, but it's also propulsive, unique, weird, and in my opinion worth doing the work for if you're up to it! I always look forward to seeing what Olivie Blake comes up with, because somehow I know whatever he next book is I'll never see it coming.

Thank you to Olivie Blake and Tor Books (my beloved) for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Happy reading!

[Maddi Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

(ARC) 4.75⭐️ I’ve found the next book that’s going to be VERY divisive. I already know people are either going to love it or absolutely hate it. I just happen to be firmly on the side of I LOVED THIS.

That said… I reallllllllly enjoy books that are disorienting and confusing as hell. This book is weird and so different, which just happens to work for me.
I also read her graphic novel right before this one & I think that helped put me on the same wavelength as the author. So my only suggestion would be to read her GN first…not because it’s necessary, but because I think it enhanced the experience for me.

This whole book felt like a bizarre fever dream, and the audiobook was FANTASTIC. I absolutely ate it up. Next.

[Jaci Giordano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivie Blake continuously impresses me with her ability to write uniquely themed and well executed stories. Dreamland is haunting, thrilling, and intoxicatingly grotesque. I couldn’t put it down. If you’re a fan of her books like I am, this one does NOT disappoint.

There’s this underlying question poised– can you survive the cost of your wildest dream? I could see this movie play out in my head which is exactly how she has it written to be (you’ll get it once you read it).

It’s a bit ambiguous at times but I think the ending perfectly encapsulated the frustration of not knowing all the details to every gothic story told and why we can’t know. I can’t wait to have the physical copy sit on my shelf!

[Joseandbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of Dreamland by Olivie Blake in exchange for an honest review.

Dreamland follows Anya, an aspiring actress chasing her Hollywood dreams. When she’s pulled into the orbit of the wealthy and mysterious de Witt family, she quickly realizes that beneath all the glamour lies something much darker. As strange events and brutal murders begin to unravel around her, Anya is forced to confront the unsettling truth behind the life she’s always wanted.

This book was…weird. 😅 In the best and worst ways. It felt like a fever dream from beginning to end, and there were definitely moments where I had no idea what was going on. The writing is pretty good and atmospheric, but the unconventional storytelling made it hard for me to stay fully connected at times.

I definitely had moments where I was asking myself, What is happening right now? but I never felt like giving up on it. I wanted answers, and the mystery kept me listening. The ending was wild and messy, but it matched the rest of the book. I didn’t really connect with the characters, though I think that was kind of the point

The audiobook narrators did a great job bringing the eerie, dreamlike atmosphere to life and made the experience more immersive.

Overall, this wasn’t a favorite for me, but I can definitely appreciate how unique and ambitious it was.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely not. I really think this is the last shot i’m giving Olivie Blake because this was really not good.

I think if you are incredibly intellectual like I know and can tell Blake is, then you might enjoy this. But, for the average reader who doesn’t want to analyze themes, this is a huge pass.

I’m actually so disappointed too because I thought, that if any Blake book was going to be 5 stars, it was going to be this one. I adore Hollywood centered stories and starlet and fame drama. Add a little bit of thriller on top and murders and this was a PERFECT recipe for me. And she had me in the first half she really did. But then it just got….weird….and confusing and Blake does the thing she usually does where she turns something simple and good into something incredibly convoluted and bad.

I was really liking the characters at first too, but those were ruined as well with choices and with the way the plot played out.

This was incredibly disappointing and I think I’ve read one to may bad Blake books. I’m done.

A generous 2/5.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[larissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

i usually love olivie but this book was a mess, i wish i knew what was going on for the most part!! there were some good moments of writing, but overall it was way too confusing, and i didn’t really care about the characters either

[Alexa (Alexa Loves Books)]

Full review to come, but dang, I really don't know how I feel about this one yet.

[unstable.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreamland is a blend of horror, dark fantasy, and psychological trauma that turns Hollywood into a landscape where dreams become a dangerous currency. Beneath this glamour lies something insatiable, creating an atmosphere that grows more ominous with every chapter. Our protagonist Anya's ambitions feel painfully human. She wants her chance to becomes someone more than the version of herself her family and the world expects, and that desire makes every questionable decision seem somewhat reasonable, even when the warning signs are in her face. Blake excels at exploring the uneasy space where longing becomes knowing self-destruction, asking how much of ourselves we may be willing to surrender for the glimmering promise of a different life. Rather than relying on conventional horror, Dreamland unsettles through symbolism and a festering sense that reality is slipping out of reach. The de Witt estate feels alive, carrying the weight of generations of secrets inside its crumbling façade, while the relationship between Anya and Jude pulses with attraction and also, unease. Jude himself is an entire red flag, but Anya seems to love carnivals? The result is a story that feels very "dreamland" in structure and atmosphere, rewarding readers who enjoy ambiguity and layered interpretation. A lot more is going on than meets the eye. Blake also threads thoughtful commentary throughout the novel, touching on class, power, inherited privilege, identity, and the machinery of fame all while maintaining the emotional core of the story. Dreamland is a rather haunting novel that invites readers to question the price of ambition and whether aspirations are truly worth chasing. Thank you to Tor Books for getting me an advanced copy for review. You can pick this up August 11th, 2026 wherever you buy your books!

[Mackenzie W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had SUCH a hard time settling on a rating for this one. The first half was trending toward a 5-star read, but the back half lost the plot.

As an Olivie-stan and true crime girlie, Dreamland was one of my most anticipated releases of 2026. The book is loosely based on the infamous "Black Dahlia" case - the unsolved 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress whose severed body was found in a vacant Los Angeles lot.

Our protagonist, Anya Morris, is a young aspiring actress who completely lacks self-preservation. She's willing to do whatever it takes to break into Hollywood’s inner circle. Opportunity arises when she encounters the de Witts, one of Hollywood’s most powerful dynasties. Emmanuelle de Witt hires Anya to keep an eye on Jude, the family’s reclusive heir who suffers from mysterious health issues. Seeing this as both a financial lifeline and a career steppingstone, Anya agrees despite a sea of glaring red flags. Once inside the estate, she begins uncovering generation-old secrets. The lines between reality and the occult blur, leaving it unclear whether she’s dealing with humans or actual monsters.

The book functions as a heavy, satirical play on the rich and famous, posing the ultimate question: How much would you give up to get what you've always wanted?

The story is told through three perspectives: Anya, Jude, and various screenwriting snippets.
• Anya’s POV was funny and easy to follow.
• Jude’s POV sometimes got confusing due to his constant inner turmoil and competing inner voices.
• The screenwriting snippets felt campy but largely unnecessary.

Olivie Blake is a character-driven writer known for her dense, stream-of-consciousness prose, which is fully on display here. Unfortunately, too many underdeveloped storylines and thoughts were just completely abandoned. It really felt like it needed another round of editing.

Audiobook Note: The audio production was fantastic! The full cast narration gave the entire experience a brilliant, cinematic feel.

Thank you to Tor for providing an early copy for review! All opinions are my own.

[Naz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A purposefully disorientating, absolutely weird and trippy read; yet I admittedly found myself freely going along for the wild, wacky ride.

Dreamland follows actress Anya’s desperate endeavour to get a foothold within the LA film industry. Fortuitously, her prayers are answered in the form of the rich and famous de Witt’s, who entice her into taking on a rather odd work opportunity. Thus, Anya becomes closely embroiled in the superficial glamour, eerie sycophancy and demonic magnetism that surrounds the de Witt family; all the while as the Santa Ana winds carry the sinister stench of brutal serial murder of young women. Slowly, Anya discovers the underlying rot to a world she once deeply craved to be part of, leading to unsavoury truths, buried secrets, and a question lingering permanently on her lips:

‘Could I survive this?’

Blake implements an experimental narrative structure, flitting between Anya’s perspective, Jude de Witt’s disjointed and disturbing narrative, and a rather theatrical screenplay style. I can appreciate the attempt to create a cinematically dynamic and dramatic form of storytelling; however, it could also get a little frustrating, bordering on confusing, so I’m glad the disorientating acid trip was broken up into periods of lucidity.

That said, I do think the plot was well executed and intriguing, with a lingering uncanny and eerie to the de Witts that builds well. The end portion of the book got truly weird, trippy and messy, but was fun to read and had a befitting conclusion. Some character portrayals felt bordering on caricatures, but I think this was done in a deliberately self-aware way. For me, I wouldn’t say the main protagonists were likeable, but made sense for the story, and I did like Anya’s dynamic with some of the side characters. The romance subplot was okay, kinda dramatic and intense, but it worked reasonably well within the context of the characters.

Overall, I think the stylistic choice to narration can be somewhat frustrating and takes time to get used to, but generally this was a pretty entertaining and solid read plot-wise. I enjoyed the creepy, gory and gross elements as well as the unravelling strangeness and mystery of the de Witt family.

Thanks Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the eARC in exchange for honest review; it was quite the interesting read.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come upon release. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

3.5 stars rounded up

[heba]

another olivie blake to add to my collection, thank you queen💥💳

[Klaudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

listen, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I understood what was happening throughout most of this book, because I didn’t, but did I have an excellent time? absolutely 🙂‍↕️

I swear, each book I read from Olivie just gets weirder and weirder and IM SO HERE FOR IT. I love whatever is wrong with her.

this was spooky, creepy, interesting, showed the backstage of what happens behind closed door in Hollywood and what people are willing to do to gain fame or stay relevant.

this is not your regular thriller. we have demons and the devil so I feel like it could be triggering for some. I’m not gonna lie, listening to this gave me goosebumps a couple of times 😅

Olivie is not an author for everybody, she’s definitely an acquired taste but I love her and I’m gonna keep reading her books because they always suck me in.

this, girl dinner and alone with you in the ether on top!!! for me of course 😌

thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this free ACL 🫶🏻

[Casey Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a gothic Hollywood fever dream that is seductive and unsettling. Olivie Blake leans into themes of obsession, ambition, and the dangerous hunger for success and meaning. Dreamland takes us to Los Angeles and it has a sort of noir feel to it.  By way of our MC Anya Morris’s desperate grasp toward success and belonging, Olivie Blake explores the emotional cost of ambition with the same biting intelligence that makes her previous works so memorable. Hollywood is portrayed less as a place and more as a living illusion... beautiful, predatory, and constantly threatening to swallow those who mistake proximity for power. She explores what people are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of reinvention. She constantly make me say...."what the fuck?" And she exposes some of the uglier truths of humanity, and let me tell you... sometimes when a mirror is held up to us, it's uncomfortable. But I sure as shit can see some parts of myself in Anya. Olivie touches upon the immigrant experience, generational trauma, white privilege, nepotism, and people's fetishes with anyone who is "exotic". Readers expecting a straightforward mystery will instead find something stranger and a little harder to follow. As is always true for me, Olivie Blake tests my intelligence. And I love it. This book built and built and built, up to an ending that you knew would be wild.  If you are drawn to morally messy characters, and stories where beauty and danger walk hand in hand, this is a good one! 

Thank you to Tor Books for the gifted ARC. Book releases 8/11/26. 

[Nena Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review for the audiobook

This was a phenomenal audiobook. The whole cast was absolutely amazing. I loved how they brought each character to life and gave them distant personalities from the page. Phenomenal performance from the cast

The book: The description and details in this book were phenomenal. Im going a little deep here, the scene where the bus hit the guy, was similar to what happened to my son, except he was hit by a semi while walking, it was a hit and run. The authors description really put things in perspective of what I had been blocking out and I needed to deal with, so this author helped me deal with trauma and really understanding what happened to my son's body when he was hit, something I was blocking out, and not dealing with because of my grief, but it made me deal with it. Anyways phenomenal writing, I highly recommend

[Corinne’s Chapter Chatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

2⭐️ prose
5⭐️Audio

I think I’m officially done trying with Olivie Blake books, unfortunately. The descriptions always intrigue me, but the execution has let me down over and over again.

I’ve read and loved plenty of books that were “out there,” but in those cases it never felt forced. The story simply evolved that way. With Blake, it often feels like she sets out with the intention of being as esoteric as possible, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, and it leaves the book without a clear central identity—or really any identity at all. When that feels like the goal from the start, it just doesn’t land for me, and this book is a perfect example of that.

It felt scattered, overstuffed, and full of plot holes. More than once, I seriously considered DNFing, which is not something I do often. So why the 3⭐️? The audiobook.

I’m grateful to have received both the eARC from Tor Publishing Group and the ALC from Macmillan Audio. The moment I saw the audio become available, I jumped on it because I was struggling so much to get through the book with just my eyeballs. And honestly, I’m glad I did, because I wanted to give credit where it was due.

The audio production was incredibly well done. The multicast—Chloe Nõsan, Ferdelle Capistrano, Maggie Thompson, Max Meyers, Mia Wurgaft, and Steve West—all did a fantastic job, even if I couldn’t always tell who was who while reading. What stood out most to me was the sound engineering, which elevated certain moments exactly when it needed to. Reading along with the audio made for a fully immersive experience, and the voice talent absolutely carried me through.

So this book may absolutely work for someone else. But it doesn’t work for me.

[Sonya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so glad to be done with this book. I understand what the author wanted to say, but it’s so overwritten that it was a slog to get through. so much was said to move very little plot forward all to a very unsatisfying and unoriginal reveal. it wasn’t even a reveal because all the explanations were obvious in the first few chapters if you’re ever read or watched any media about the nepotism and vanity in Hollywood.

I wish we heard way less about the de Witts and way more about Tita Linda and Grandma…but maybe that’s the point? ugh, but I don’t care what the point was. it was boring and I’m glad to be done.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Dreamland" was one excellent satire of Hollywood wrapped up in a middling horror novel. There was so much about it that I loved - Anya's duplicity, her ambition to become a star, the way her half-Filipino heritage both helped and hurt her career advancement. I was down for the look at Hollywood legacy, for the demons both satirical and possibly real, but as soon as it started to morph into some kind of a horror-tinged beauty and the beast, the book began to lose its uniqueness. Too many genres happening at once, here, I think - and a completely unnecessary insistence on switching POVs.

[Grace -thewritebooks]

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

Okay I'm not saying I'm better than anyone that reviewed this as one or two stars but I AM saying that I'm an Olivie Blake fan until I die and that each book of hers that I get to read is a work of genius. If Girl Dinner was a book about striving for same from an academic setting, this was striving for fame from the never ending celebrity grind that is Los Angeles. Anya spends the whole book pushing herself further and further into the murderous, potentially career-making story she find herself in. HUGE fan of whatever we were doing with Jude and the Demon: every scene that he was in I felt like I was on the edge of my seat trying to catch who we were speaking with. That whole relationship was so messed up!!!! I ate up all of it!!
I will agree with some people that plot was a little hard to discern at points but in my opinion that was part of the hot summer setting where Anya's days blurred into one or got lost in the haze of her work at the Villa. It made up part of the slow build tension that was bubbling away from the very beginning, like watching a car speeding up that you already know is about to crash just around the corner.
As I would expect from a Blake book, each sentence felt crafted with a sharp intent - she handles words like weapons in an arsenal and the blasé way that Anya addressed the world (as herself or as part of her persona???) was biting. The brutal categorisation of goings on and Blake/Anya's comments on the state of society for me made it a zeitgeist novel of epic proportions. Simply cannot get enough of the inside of her mind.

[Loz✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

If Olivie Blake writes it, I will read it. But my god when I tell you how excited I have been for this one since she said she was working on a gothic horror! Blake’s prose is always exquisite, artful, bordering on pretentious, so I already knew this was going to be a perfect genre for her writing before evening turning the first page. It’s gritty, atmospheric, dark and unsettling and it feels like reading poetry with the vibes of Dorian Gray and Jekyll & Hyde. Honestly there were many moments while reading this that I felt completely lost but it felt purposeful, like falling down the rabbit hole or getting lost in a house of mirrors, you have to work to uncover this story. The multiple structures (narrative storytelling, film script, a greek chorus!!) only add to this feeling of unease and confusion as you piece together what is real and what is a dream or story while reading as well as brilliantly reminding us of the Hollywood setting of the story.

Blake never shies away from addressing tough topics and hard truths in her books and I love that about her writing - you don’t get an easy ride as a reader, you are tested and challenged about the world and how you might view it. You could say that Dreamland is a story about the cost and lengths we will go to for our ambitions, or about Hollywood and fame being a glittering illusion for greed and corruption. And it absolutely is. But it is also about misogyny and racism. How women -particularly women of colour and mixed heritage- are forced to twist and mould themselves into how society and the patriarchal system expect them to be, what is ‘comfortable’ for the people around them. Anya, our gothic heroine, is condemned by so many people in this story for being cold and ruthless in her ambition, she is degraded by the men in particular so that they feel like they maintain power over her. Yes she makes some questionable decisions regarding her safety and morality but her dreams and her desires are so foundational in who she is that these choices are inevitable, almost fated. (Honestly I also would have been completely drawn in by the dangerous magnetism of Jude so no judgement here).

I loved getting lost in this book and I think to fully enjoy it you do need to be willing to jump into the obscurity. I can imagine this being a very marmite read for some people which makes me all the more excited to be able to talk about it with other readers once this book is published.

Thank you so much to Tor Books for this advanced copy, I had the best time!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Review: A mind-bending, Hollywood Gothic about fame, fortune, and power.

“Dreamland” follows Anya Morris, an aspiring actor, after she receives an invitation to work for the de Witt family, one of LA’s most influential film dynasties. Despite the warning signs, she cannot resist spending time with Jude, the family’s heir apparent, in the strange villa. In this city, everyone cuts a deal with the devil. When Anya comes face to face with a devil of her own, she’ll learn just how far she’s willing to go to get everything she’s ever wanted.

Blake’s exploration of what we are willing to sacrifice for the spotlight is eerily gripping. She paints a deeply unsettling portrait of Los Angeles, the intense changes in the weather and the gruesome string of murders instilling a sense of foreboding. The tension only heightens when Anya, desperate to jumpstart her acting career, is easily lured to the de Witt villa in the Hollywood hills. At the start of the novel, Anya goes through life playing the part of many different characters, putting on a performance to be the person others want her to be. With her dreams in reach, she takes to the stage and purposefully ignores the bad omens. Interestingly enough, it takes stumbling into the world of the occult to step into the role of herself. The journey of her character’s transformation is both thought-provoking and fascinating.

The de Witt family and their villa is shrouded in mystery and the atmosphere becomes more menacing with each chapter. The reader is as much in the dark as Anya when it comes to the secrets the de Witt’s have been keeping. The more time she spends with Jude, the more Blake peels back the curtain, which ratchets up the suspense. I thoroughly enjoyed puzzling together the family’s bloodstained history and discovering the origins of the demon that lives inside Jude. Each twist makes it harder and harder to put this one down as earlier oddities begin to make more sense in the latter half.

The ending will leave readers with more questions with than answers, but the ambiguity prompts deeper reflection about the hard truths Blake brings to light.

➤ 4.25 stars

Review cross-posted to: Book Blog | Bookstagram | Amazon

[Alice Tremblay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Olivie Blake so I wanted to pick this up even though I couldn’t give less of a shit about Hollywood, but sadly it didn’t really work for me. I could see what she was doing and I appreciate the message, but it just didn’t click on an emotional level. I also felt that the male POV’s voice was weaker; it never felt to me like it came from one coherent character nor that it matched the way we saw him through Anya’s eyes. I’ll still pick up her next book gladly and I enjoyed part of it, but I feel like it’s gonna be harder for this one to find its audience.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc!

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a intriguing read, it’s gothic, it gives me Gatsby feels and it is grotesque at times.

It is based in Hollywood and there is a whole underlying theme of “can you survive this” when this is your wildest dream. It has parts written like a script which I really enjoyed and adds a clever twist to the book.

We have our gothic heroine, Hollywood producers, and some very sinister details.. I won’t say anymore! A gripping read with a plot with a difference.

[Keriann · Rating 3 out of 5]

admittedly I just didn’t know what was going on for the majority of the book?? I really enjoyed the last book I read from this author, so I would like to check out some others in the future, but this one just didn’t quite hit for me

[clicktojointhemafia]

ready for another banger by ms blake

[Kayda Noelle]

DNF at 56%
This is…not for me.