Inside the Dreaming

by Monica Nawrocki

The boogeyman is real . . .
He’s just shown up at Nicki’s high school . . . and he knows her.
In fact, Jackson Kraft knows more about Nicki and her family than she does and so when Kraft abducts her little sister into the dreamworld known as the Vale, Nicki will need to learn how to navigate this alternate universe. She will also need to learn to trust others – one quirky friend, one loser dad, one ghost mom, and one shape-shifting “witch”.
Nicki’s gonna’ need more coffee.

293 pages, Paperback

Published June 19, 2023

About the author

Monica Nawrocki is the author of several books, including Thanks for Chucking That at the Wall Instead of Me, a reflection of her time spent teaching at-risk children and youths. Her works of genre-spanning fiction and nonfiction include novels and short stories, and her work has appeared in various journals and anthologies across North America and the UK.

Monica lives with her wife on Cortes Island in the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples. When not writing, Monica can be found swimming in her backyard lake, walking the forest trails, or reading in her hammock. Visit her online at monicanawrocki.com.

Reviews

[W Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if you could move between the awake world and the dream world? Would you? What if nothing made sense and weird, even scary things kept happening? Things almost so unbelievable that you don't know who to trust, not even yourself? How can the past and the present weave together? I asked myself these questions with every page I turned, and let me tell you I was turning the pages quickly! Wait until you meet Nikki and her little sister Desi to learn how they made their way through all of this.

Inside the Dreaming is a beautiful, heartwarming story of family, love, trust, risks and a little bit of magic that will leave you on the edge of your seat. A story that might change the way you think about dreaming....

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Nicki, being a teenager includes looking after herself and her little sister, Desi, as well as trying to manage school and family life with a distracted father. All of this is made more difficult by the strange dreams that leave her feeling scared and exhausted. But, things really get interesting when the dreams start to follow her into the waking world.

Inside the Dreaming is an exhilarating ride through fears, longing, family secrets and protecting what matters most. It is a fun adventure story that will captivate and surprise as the reader is taken along on a journey through time and space.

[Lee Födi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was magical realism at the best! I loved the surprising twists and turns the story took—but in particular, I really loved the dual storylines, one that follows MC Nicki in the here-and-now and that other that follows Nicki’s ancestor Agnes during the witch trials of Salem. We get some high-stakes drama as the plot pivots between these two storylines, slowly watching them to converge into an ending that I’ll confess I didn’t predict. Highly recommend!

[Coreen B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In full transparency, I'm a "bit" biassed, as I copy edited this book, but ... and that's a big BUT ... despite how many times I read this book, I never tired of this book and its delightful characters. I am, of course, applying gentle pressure on Monica Nawrocki to write a sequel so that I can hang out with those characters again. Fingers crossed!