Whispers of a Faded Dreamer

Dreamshare #1

by Celesta Thiessen

In this unusual Christian fantasy novel, Cara Peirce wants to help people. She wants love but making connections in real life just isn’t something she’s good at. Through an unsettling turn of events, Cara finds herself a mostly-willing participant in a bizarre life in which she only feels truly alive in her dreams. Her surreal adventures in other realms seem important, somehow. And, almost every night, she dreams of the same guy - Blaze Saxon.

In the end, only whispers remain. But the end is only the beginning.

This is the story of a faded dreamer.

Genres: Fantasy, Christian

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2015

About the author

I live in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada with my husband and two young daughters. We’re homeschoolers and entrepreneurs. My husband and I make iOS apps and I write stories. Being a writer is magical - spinning nothing into stories - stories that can light the way to a different world.


I've written a lot of different books. A reader suggested that I list which of my books are for children and which are for adults and teens. Here is that list :)

Easy Chapter Books for Grades 1-4:

Nightcat - Kitty Castle 1
Surprises - Kitty Castle 2
Answers - Kitty Castle 3
Mystery - Kitty Castle 4
Reunion - Kitty Castle 5
Celebrations - Kitty Castle 6 (Contains all 4 holiday stories)
Kitty Castle Valentine’s
Kitty Castle Christmas
Nightcat Learns to Read
Kitty Castle Halloween
Kitty Castle Complete Collection (Contains all Kitty Castle books)

Journey to Mermaid Kingdom - Tail of the Mermaid 1
Save Mermaid Kingdom! - Tail of the Mermaid 2
Save the Ocean - Tail of the Mermaid 3

Middle Grade:

Gifted - Super Seven 1
Two of a Kind - Super Seven 2
Invisible - Super Seven 3
Fire - Super Seven 4
Strong - Super Seven 5
Listening - Super Seven 6
Made Right - Super Seven 7
Super Seven Complete Collection (Contains all Super Seven books)

Prince Jade

Teen/Adult:

Rise of the Black Dragon
Dragon Warrior & the Princess

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer
The Dreamers

Prince Jade

The Coder & The Fixer

Way to Paradise

Hope & Shiny Things

Freedom’s Heroes

Surviving the Apocalypse in Steinbach, MB

Dragon Fire & Other Fantasy Short Stories
Sci Fi Short Stories & New Fairy Tales
Sci Fi Short Stories
Science Fiction Short Stories
Apocalyptic and Dystopian Tales
Dystopian Sci Fi Short Stories

Please Fix My Marriage (non-fiction)

Reviews

[H.L. Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

To start off, it wasn't what I expected. I actually picked this book up on a free day and put it down a few pages in because it starts off with strange black beings that only certain people could see, and I thought that was leading into a stark, dystopian sort of thing. There was even a company that had potential to be an evil corporation with a world domination scheme. .. and that just wasn't what I was in the mood for. . .but a bit later I decided just to keep reading, and that's not what this book is at all.
There is very little true danger presented throughout. Which I kind of liked. The book was almost like a dream in its own right, a series of at first seemingly unconnected adventures/fantasies Cara experiences within a dream state.

Writing: over all this book was well written. There was one scene that switched from third person to first person in an attempt to imitate a dream (where sometimes you're the character and sometimes you're just watching, which is how dreams do work) that actually did confuse me a bit, but the rest of the dreams were in a consistent style.

Characters: Cara and Blaze were overall consistent and interesting (though Blaze's name switched between his nicknames in a way that wasn't always consistent. Sometimes he was Bryson and sometimes Bryce, but after a bit I just accepted he has three names). Two side characters were rather undeveloped and sometimes their antagonistic actions seemed sudden and jarring, like they were only there to provide conflict. Dennis, particularly, could have been totally erased and the story wouldn't have lost anything. Thankfully, he's not around much.

Plot: it was very much about the dreams. Because of that there is an episodic feel as Cara goes on multiple short adventures as a knight, a super hero, a mermaid, and a spy. All of these were pretty cool, but the main plot was mostly just her figuring out who she was and where she fits into a world she doesn't quite fit into.

Conclusion: the ending seemed a bit more like a lead up to another book than an ending. While there isn't a cliffhanger, the characters just sort of slowly slip into their "new life" without a lot of conflict or climax. I was kind of expecting a big conspiracy with an actual villain (perhaps provided by the company I mentioned earlier). The conclusion was satisfying in that the characters ended up in a good place for them to be. Can't say much more without spoilers.

Overall, I loved the depictions of dreams, and I was able to read this book quite quickly once I put aside expectations for what I thought it was going to be and just let myself experience it.

[Tracy Krauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer, by Celesta Thiessen, was very engaging. Written for a YA audience, it’s still a great read for anyone who enjoys Christian fantasy.

[Clarice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little social experiment by Kingcade Worldcorp changes the life of young Cara Pierce. The big corporation put out a projection of alien spaceships with inky black aliens coming out of them. The thing is that not everyone can see them. Those that are are invited to start working for them. All they have to do is sleep and dream. The catch? Other people will be able to see them. But Cara's father is very sick and in the hospital. Her family needs money. By working here and making a lot of money, she gets on better terms with her abusive mother. Cara was adopted and has not been treating her the same as her little brother since their dad has been in the hospital. Cara also feels that she can help people with her dreams. She has many exciting adventures in her dreams and meets Bryce, a guy from her school, and the High King quite often in them. The High King is always a guide to them on where to go and what to do. The only problem is that Cara starts spending more and more time at the sleep clinic. She has no friends anymore and almost never interacts with her family. She starts to think that maybe she should get out more. But there are unforeseen consequences to all of her work at Kingcade Worldcorp. Even though it's tough, the High King always has a plan for everything.

I very much enjoyed the adventures Cara was involved in with her dream life. It was interesting how much of her life became her work, her dreams. It was basically all she did and eventually it started wearing on her. She wasn't living real life. It was a fantasy land. And she was always dreaming of Bryce although she kept saying she didn't like him and for a small part of the book (in the beginning) she had a boyfriend. But he wasn't a good guy. It was a good read! A very clean read. This is a Christian book too!

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

FAN-MADE BOOK TRAILER HERE: https://youtu.be/0mLQH8iWclE

This book was absolutely amazing!!

However, before I can go on, I have to mention that I do feel bad in saying that after I read the first few chapters, I was really tempted to put the book down and not pick it back up. It reminded me of sci-fi and nothing to do with fantasy. I was really unsure what I was getting into and knew that most of what I was feeling was from being tired on a late Friday night.

With that said, I am so very thankful that I had felt lead to stick with this story because once I hit the chapter "The Prince and the Dragon Slayer," I was hooked! After getting over my late night grumpiness and reflecting on what I read the next morning, the beginning was a very interesting concept. I love how the author sets everything up for the adventure Cara is about to go undergo.

The dreams were utterly fascinating! I was extremely touched by the love of the High King for not only Cara, but others in the story. Each dream had some kind of beautiful Biblical reference of who we are in Christ or His great love for mankind, those who love Him and do not love Him. As I thought about the book when finished reading, I can't really say which dream was my favorite, but I do know that the fight between the High King and the Dragon really touched me. All the dreams, especially that one, left me in reflection of real life truths from the Bible.

Though this was a fictional read, when I finished reading "Whispers of a Faded Dreamer," I can honestly say I left knowing that God has a wonderful plan for my life and wants me to work WITH and for Him. I also left knowing the deep truth that God is always with me, whether in my dreams or real life.

If you are looking for an imaginative and reflective fantasy read, I highly recommend this one!

[Angela Lambkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer! Wow!! What a sweet short love story!

I liked the way she presented the story,characters above all Jesus Christ as the "High King.." I thought this was so cool and true yet for our Lord and Savior.
And I thought it was a very wonderful and clean read? I enjoyed all of this story. I recommend this ebook for teens and upward who wish to read great Christian short stories as I do. I received this ebook for free and In exchange for it I am now giving it an honest review. I chose to give this ebook five star
rating for all the good mentions I have already stated in the above sentences. Super job Celesta! By Angela

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most unusual YA books I've ever read: part fantasy, part science-fiction, part Christian allegory, and because of the main character's vivid dreams, a collection of short stories, too. I connected with protagonist Cara from the beginning, empathizing with her problems, and cheering her for not letting heartbreak destroy her kindness and desire to help others. The twists and turns in the plot kept this reader guessing and pleasantly surprised (and even anxious in some places). This is a story I plan to reread again someday, and will look for other stories by this author, too.

[L.T. Getty · Rating 3 out of 5]

15 Year old Cara struggles with a dying father and strained relationship with her adopted mother, meanwhile her boyfriend Dennis is controlling and jealous when all she wants to do is help others. When alien ships are projected, it's found out she can Dream and make a ton of money to help her father with his medical bills, Cara jumps at the chance. Each night, she seemingly gets to escape the drudgery of High School Life and being a teenager to have amazing adventures, plus she helps her family. More and more, Cara prefers her Dream Lives as opposed to the reality of the real world.

The story is interesting and the writing in general is solid. I'd say the biggest drawback is Cara herself, as the story is told in the first person and while I don't doubt most teenagers would be a little overdramatic in an 'everyone is against me' fashion, there's very little redeeming about Cara's mom and Cara herself seems like a pushover to both her and her controlling boyfriend, Dennis. Dennis is controlling and jealous, but it seems like his fears are somewhat justified as Cara emotionally cheats on him anyway when it comes to dreams, but we're not supposed to like Dennis.

Personally, I think if the author had fleshed out the characters a little more, it would have made for a more satisfying read. Don't get me wrong: Characters like Cara's mom and Dennis exist, but I thought several scenes could have been emotional beats of the story could have been stronger if I thought the characters were more nuanced.

Overall, it's an enjoyable and light YA read, clean and straddles the line between science fiction, fantasy, and Christian fiction.

[Allen Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer is a YA-type Christian fantasy that takes the reader through numerous heroic dream episodes, triggered primarily by an industry accidentally fulfilling what is later explained to be a preordained connection of people. I enjoyed the main character, Cara, and her continual growth throughout the story, an evolving understanding of what was happening to her in this new lifestyle, and how it was helping and hurting her real life. The writing was perfect for YA readers. Adults will find the stories to be exciting and robust, everything from aliens, to dragons to mermaids. Perhaps the only thing not making this a five for me - and maybe I missed it somehow - is what exactly this dream industry was producing using Dreamers. Who benefited from it? In the story of Cara and Blaze, that wasn't really necessary to know but as a reader, I kept wondering in the back of my mind, who is benefiting from all these Dreamers and their dreams, how can they afford to pay people so much to do this? Overall, if you don't dwell on that, it is a very enjoyable story and the dream sequences are well worth reading. Four stars.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer
Cars is a high school student who has very few connections in life. After learning that she has a hidden special talent of being able to see and understand FUN waves, she becomes employed as a “Dreamer”, for an astronomical amount of money. Her only task is to dream and to allow the company to somehow access these dreams for others. How, was never made clear in the book. Through her dreams, Cara learns many important life lessons, primarily about faith of a higher power. These dreams almost always feature Bryce “Blaze”, who Cara obviously has a crush. These two ultimately come together to have a happily ever after by the end. This book unfortunately never pulled me in. Although the author has a very creative imagination, even the “real life” portions of the book just seemed outlandish to me and the last few chapters went off the rails to me, even to the point that I had to put the book down for a bit before returning to finish. I rate this book 3 hearts.
***reviewer for Romance Authors that Rock***

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third read from an author I recently discovered (Celesta Thiessen). This longer work (152 pages) allows for greater development of characters and storyline and more recurrence of the Christian themes. Be sure to read “More from the author”!

[Madeleine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual Christian fiction

It reads like a typical high-school teen fiction, but later (much later) comes the Christian symbolism. As unusual and at times disjointed as it was, I actually enjoyed this book.

[Ron Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cara Pierce is an adopted teenager with a jealous boyfriend and a mother who blatantly favors her biological child, Cara's younger brother. One day while Cara is at school, she and many others around the world see what appears to be an alien visitation as black spaceships turn up all over the earth along with incorporeal black creatures. But not everyone can see these ships and their "alien" occupants. The appearances of the ships and creatures turn out to be projections created by Kingcade Worldcorp. These projections are part of a recruiting campaign by Kingcade Worldcorp to seek out "Dreamers" for the company. The dreamers get paid simply to sleep and dream while being monitored by the company's technicians. With Cara's father in the hospital and the medical bills piling up, Cara accepts the job offer as a way of helping her family. Shortly after she begins working as a Dreamer, Cara receives visitations in her dreams from Jesus Christ (referred to here as "The High King"). Cara and the High King embark on adventures together, but the King also challenges her to examine herself and the way she views others around her, especially Bryce/Blaze, a classmate of hers. The High King encourages Cara to forgive those who have hurt her, including her boyfriend and her mother and to look and see the hurt behind the attitudes and behaviors of people such as Blaze in order better understand them and love them as the King Himself would. I love how this story employs both science fiction and fantasy scenarios in the dream sequences. In one dream, she's aboard a spaceship on a planet surrounded by blue and pink aliens, and in another she ventures out in a boat with Blaze and the High King to fight a dragon and rescue the people on an island. I also like the use of the High King to represent Christ as He visits Cara and she experiences his love and mercy while He challenges her in she views and relates to others. Whispers of a Faded Dreamer is the first of Celesta Thiessen's books that I have read, but it will by no means be the last. I am certainly looking forward to reading more of her work. This is a great read, which I wholeheartedly recommend to any reader who loves science fiction, fantasy or inspirational/faith-based/Christian fiction.

[S.J. Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I picked up this book, I wasn't sure what I was in for. The Amazon description is vague, and all I really knew to expect was Christian fantasy with maybe some romance sprinkled in there somewhere. That's when the spaceships appeared... Yeah, didn't see that coming.

So, basically, the main character of the story is a girl named Cara who has been invited to work as a dreamer for a company. I'm not really sure how this works, but Cara spends her nights (and eventually, as her family life decays, most of her days) asleep. Her dreams are so amazing that people pay the company she works for in order to watch her dreams. Or something. The mechanics of this aren't really explored too much, so I'm not entirely sure how it works. It's not too important to the story, so I won't dwell on it here.

Most of the book follows Cara as she dreams. The dreams are different each time, and action-packed, so although it gives the overall story a bit of a disjointed feel, the overall theme is still there: Seeking out and serving the High King. A little bit of romance builds near the end, but it's completely chaste (hugging, a comment made about practicing for building a family) and not the focus of the story. While Cara's adventures as she becomes a follower of the High King are a barely-veiled allegory for Christianity, it could likely stand alone for readers who choose not to take it further than face value.

My two concerns: the dialogue felt a little stiff and forced (though it was better with Blaze). I also felt like Cara was, well, a bit judgmental. She mentioned the length of a boy's hair a couple of times, calling it "longer than was proper," and that struck me as an odd comment from a teenage girl supposedly in a secular environment. Such a minor point, but it did distance me a bit from her. Otherwise, vivid writing and an interesting concept.

This was a quick, clean, and enjoyable read, and would definitely be a good fit for middle grade and young adult readers.

[Lynette Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cara, a teenager from a troubled home, is doing her best. Sometimes that just didn't seem to be enough. However hard she tried, her boyfriend found something to criticize. Her mother found some reason to be unhappy with her. Then, something happened. Was it an alien invasion? Or was it something more insidious that would change her life forever? Cara is not alone in being able to see the invasion. But she is among the few.
When it is revealed that she is a dreamer, a person who can share her dreams with others with the help of the big corporation who invented the technology, she begins a new life sharing her dreams. She is well rewarded for dreaming, but she is dreaming her life away. In her alternate reality of dreams, she meets the High King. He has plans for her life and soon, she becomes a warrior for the king fighting sometimes with and sometimes alongside Blaze, who seems to always be present when she dreams.
Whispers of a faded dreamer is a YA sci-fi book with a strong Christian theme. The setting of a dreamer sharing dreams allows the author to tell shorter stories within the larger story and Celesta Thiessen does a good job of integrating the shorter stories into the main theme to move the story along. There is a love interest that shares her adventures and in sharing their love grows stronger and deeper. Themes of love, hope, mercy and redemption are explored and in the end Cara finds her true calling as the King's Warrior. This was a fun book to read. I especially appreciated the unique way the author presented the story. Well worth reading for those interested in books with Christian themes.

[Peggy McAloon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer began with an infestation of spaceships unseen by most of the world's inhabitants. I had a bit of difficulty concentrating on the story in the first two chapters and that could very well be because I'm a bit older than the target market. I'm delighted I stuck with Celesta Thiessen's spiritually moving story about Cara Pierce, who is one of the few people able to actually see the spaceships and creatures. Cara is reeling from the loss of her caring adoptive father who lies dying in the hospital and an adoptive mother who takes out her frustrations on Cara but never her biological son. We quickly find out the "visions" are nothing more than a ruse by the Eclipsesys Division Dream Hub of Kingcade Worldcorp. This business has a vision of taking the humans who have a special ability to latch onto their broadcasts and turn them into dreamers. The company is able to tap the dreams of these people and project them into the dreams of others. The dreamers are paid an incredible amount of money for the dreams Kingcade believes will replace movies and television in the future. This is a story of redemption and salvation through many short story adventures of Cara and the classmate who has always shunned her, the hunky model Bryce Saxon who is known as "Blaze".

[S.A. Molteni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer by Celesta Thiessen is a spiritual journey and action-packed adventure all rolled into on.

Cara Pierce's life is completely changed one day by an experiment of the Kingcade Worldcorp. The company projects spaceships and aliens in Cara's town. Those who can see the images are welcomed to join the company as dreamers. Sound easy enough to Cara and it will give her a chance to add income to the family to help her hospitalized father. The job will also be a vehicle to keep Cara away from her abusive stepmother. The only catch is that others will be able to go inside Cara's dreams. Cara's friend from school (Bryce/Blaze) does just that.

Cara is also introduced to the High King (who is not referred to but is Jesus) who guides her through the journeys in her dreams. Each adventure has a lesson to be learned and spiritual values are intertwined within those adventures. Throughout, tough choices are made and in the end, goodness prevails.

This was a unique read, one that will stick with me for a bit. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to more from Ms. Thiessen.

[Kc1881hotmail.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

inspired

In the beginning of the book I was debating whether to keep reading it. It didn't seem to be my kind of book. I'm glad I kept reading and enjoyed the way the writer was able to wind all aspects together in the end

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a very interesting concept. I enjoyed the story, and even though it had an extremely Christian theme, it was a good read.