Lake Effect

by Nicole Tommasulo

Lake Effect is a raw exploration of human emotion and what it takes to save your own life.

After the death of her fiance, Sophie Daniels is struggling to keep herself together. Painting is the only way she’s able to clear her head and stay grounded. For her art isn’t a hobby—it’s her religion.

With a semester away from finishing graduate school, she knows that, despite her loss, things are going to get better. In fact, her thesis advisor has even taken a special interest in her. Sophie’s convinced that she’s found the mentor that she’s been looking for. When he shows he’s interested in her in more than just a student/teacher way, she obliges him. Until his wife leaves him.

Sophie learns the hard way what happens when a man cannot take responsibility for his own actions.

Now she’s back to square one in pulling herself back together.

She hasn’t just lost her fiancé anymore: she’s lost parts of herself she’s not sure she’ll ever get back.

Like her ability to create.

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2018

About the author

Nicole Tommasulo has always had a passion for writing. She has a BA in Creative Writing and Literature, and an MFA in Writing.

When she isn't writing, she likes to dabble in photography, sketching, dressage, and traveling. She has a deep love for road trips, great good, and good coffee.

Nicole lives in Boston, MA.

Reviews

[Viktor Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. The story takes place in an absorbing, imaginative world. Much attention is devoted to describing the inner thoughts and emotions of the protagonists and the result is immensely rewarding: each character feels unique, relatable, and well-motivated. Strengths and flaws alike are on full display. Indeed, the story has as much to do with the rich psyche of its characters as it does with the events they find themselves embroiled in. My only complaint would be that the antagonist, Incubus, felt slightly underdeveloped, especially compared to the other characters. I suspect that this was somewhat intentional: presumably knowing too much about Incubus' origin and motivations would spoil important parts of the sequels. Overall, I highly recommend reading this and I am certainly looking forward to the next installment.

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dreamcatchers by Colin McMahon I believe is his novel debut. I got a prerelease copy from the publisher, but my thoughts here are my own.

So, The Dreamcatchers is basically a YA fantasy tale + reality based psychological hybrid. Basically, half of the tale takes place in a fantasy world, half in the dreamworld, and the rounding error takes place in reality. xD

So the fantasy world is this eye in the sky space. Think of it as an alternate dimension, and a bit like that Skyworld in Star Wars Empire Strikes Back; lots of clouds, I believe lots of space between islands. I assume they're doing something with the "brain" because the places the heroes live at are all called hives, which brings to mind hive-mind, the idea that the workers (usually termites or ants) are all part of a shared neural network. Of course, we're not dealing with ants here, these figures are humanoid, and they live to help their community gather resource from the inspiration of dreams that humans have. The leader of the team, Vakarian, is our main perspective character, someone who works to rid human dreamers of their nightmares. He wields a crossbow like wep, but his bigger wep is the advice and knowledge he gives to dreamers to combat the terrors in their nightmares.

So then the other sphere is obviously the human world. We spend most of the time with our humans in their dreams. It's kind of neat that the author has made the dreams operate the way they do in reality, the shifting settings that make no sense, characters not behaving the way they might in reality, color changes. There's some real life demons that the child who is the perspective character in the dream, Tony, has, though mostly bullying and loss based so far. Be interested to see where they go with it, and how much more dream theory and stuff is involved (or how much I'm missing already).

Some things to be aware of. The fantasy world does have its own vocabulary for a few elements, mostly proper nouns. Things like "Inspiration" mean something different for them than for us in reality. So make sure you're prepared to be lost for a bit before the author clues you into the terms.

I'm going to jump back into this one later, but for now, I recommend it for those looking for a younger audience fantasy tale. There's nothing too biting so far besides a bit of grotesque description of a leg injury, so I think anyone can read this.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous story of the realities of life and survival, Lake Effect is sensitive, dark, and haunting. A wonderful book to curl up with, Nicole handles the nuances of Sophie's story with grace and tact.

[Shalini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I am saying wow because of the way the story was crafted. Lake Effect will leave you a sobbing mess after reading it.

Sophia Daniels is a graduate student who is having an affair with her professor. Sophia yearns to feel a human's touch and doesn't care if her professor is married and his wife is pregnant. At this point, I was uncomfortable and irritated with Sophia. What happened after the affair -supposedly ended- will shake you to your core.

This story is about men who do not take responsibility for their crimes, and about strong women who have the power to take charge of their life no matter how hard it tries to break them down.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC. To author Nicole Tone, never stop writing.

[Sai Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating and yet surprising. It was a quick read that captured my attentions very swiftly, which can sometimes be a challenge. I had no trouble getting into this story though and the crafting of the writer's work is definitely worth noting. Ms. Tone delivers a story that will appease most bibliophiles for an afternoon.

[Em Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do we go when we dream? What prevents us from descending into the pits that are nightmares, becoming lost in our own minds...? Who, to be more exact, is looking out for us? As children everything feels larger than it is. The bully shouting things at us is all encompassing, the loss of a parent feels like you're falling without end... The eel like creature your brother showed you in a book is a giant monster coming to eat you... It might feel hopeless, but the Dreamcatchers are there, putting themselves at risk to ensure we're ok.

An ode to classic fantasy/sci-fi/psychological, but perfectly accessible for all ages. The Dreamcatchers takes something as seemingly simple as dreaming, and puts a completely new (for me at least) twist on it. I was fascinated by the lore and the concept, still am. From the moment I picked this book up, I knew I'd found something special. The language is fluid, easy to take in, and beautifully descriptive. I go to a gaming club every week, and for the last couple weeks all I've done is sat and read... Not very sociable in essence, but it's been a talking point amongst the group. Highly recommend, and will be rereading.

[Kelly Sedinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This emotional novel follows Sophie, an art student in college, as she transitions from the life of a student to whatever comes after...and as she experiences the traumas of sexual assault and the death of her fiance. There is a lot of heavy material in LAKE EFFECT, and some readers may find parts of it triggering (especially the chapters related to self-harm). But if you can handle it, LAKE EFFECT is a highly engaging and effective read, an exploration of one person's partial descent and how that descent affects that person's life and relationships. Author Tone does not tidily wrap things up at the end, either; she leaves a number of threads unresolved as our time spent in Sophie's life comes to an end.

The book is also notable for its very concrete use of locations. Tone's Buffalo rings true, and I have to assume that the parts of the book set in the Pacific Northwest (in a small island town near Seattle) ring true as well. Tone is excellent not just at establishing character, but also in establishing location and most importantly, how location itself influences character.

LAKE EFFECT is a quietly emotional read that lingers in the mind quite a while after finishing. Highly recommended.

[Cyndi Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book by Nicole Tone that I've had the pleasure of reading. This book deserves more exposure than it's seen so I'll do my part and sing it's praises.WOW! It's one of the rare 1 sitting reads I've had this year. Upon finishing it I immediately purchased Ms Tone's other books. I wanted to write a review right away buy needed time to digest. 2 months since I've read thus and I'm still thinking about it and it's one if those reviews you feel you can never do the book justice. It's unforgettable.

I was held COMPLETELY captivated by the writing; the story, the characters, the subjects covered. A young women's life seemingly falls a part as she deals with grief, trauma, self-harm and recovery. Sure she makes some questionable decisions, but NOTHING justifies the hand she's dealt. My heart broke for her time and again, and I love how she grows through it all. Definitely a #2018MustRead

[Tanya R · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting perspective on grief, sorrow and finding yourself. Some parts of the story were poignant and heartfelt. Other parts seemed to gloss over important points. Overall, it was a good read but didn't make me too excited to read anything else by this author.

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review.

[CenReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written story- the cover certainly reflects on the story- it’s about something haunting, mysterious and dark.
It is a story of the life of Sophie which the author has handled wonderfully.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Nicola Tone for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

[Nicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I’d finished this book months ago but obviously I hadn’t! 🙈

Glad I picked it up again as found it to be a wonderful story of a young boy and his ability to fight his night terrors with a bit of help from his new friend.

The dream catcher and his world above Dreams was a great hero and leader of his colony. Highly recommend and I look forward to the next book.

[Dana Ewachow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the entire thing while on vacation. It was a wonderful book to get lost in, and it really helped to take my mind off of turbulence! The dream sequences are surreal. The story takes unexpected twists and turns. Anytime I tried to guess the direction it was going in, I was completely off. Don't bother trying, just let go and enjoy the ride.

[Linda Branham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably a much better book than I gave stars for - it is just not my taste - which does not mean it is not a good book
A squad of dreamcatchers enter people nightmares and save the people from them

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very smartly written book given the challenges of the subject matter. I look forward to the sequels and learning more about the mysterious world of dreams and beyond.

[Emily Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fantasy or even fiction reader, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! Such a well-crafted world!

[Nick Musciano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exciting and fun! The descriptive writing really made me enjoy the characters and new worlds in this dream adventure. I am looking forward to the sequel!