Book Review: Dream Life by Lauren Mechling

Dream Life
by Lauren Mechling
Dream Series

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-385-73523-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73523-0
Publication Date: January, 2010
List Price: $21.99

Review: When Claire Voyante receives a special onyx and ivory cameo necklace from her grandmother Kiki, she receives the physic powers that go along with the amulet. Every time Claire her dreams are practically predicting what will happen. This fiction and suspense book titled Dream Life is written by Lauren Mechling (a fantastic author, I must say) and is the sequel to Dream Girl.

When Claire gets the special onyx and cameo her dreams start to predict what will happen. In one dream, she is onstage at Radio City Music Hall. The lights are blinding and all Claire can see are the other showgirls, though she isn’t sure if they are actually girls. The chorus line consists of leggy number ones, their limbs moving in a perfect synchronization. It is a mathematician’s perfect fantasy. All of her dreams lead to something that happens in her life. In the prequel of the book, thanks to her dreams, she is able to save her best friend Becca’s life. Her dreams also lead her to the Blue Moons group led by her best friend Becca. When she enters the Blue Moon group she learns that there is an iPod that has been stolen and the Blue Moons need it back, fast. Can Claire and the Blue Moons recover the IPod or will it and all of the data on it disappear forever? Or, will the person who stole the IPod actually be after Claire Voyante? Well, I can’t tell you. If you want to find out what happens next, go read the book!

I think that Dream Life is an extraordinary book to read. It made me feel as if I was Claire dreaming what she is dreaming and feeling what she is feeling. Also, the author describes the settings in the book very well. It made me feel as if I too were in the Blue Moons clubhouse. I also liked how the dreams were written in a different text. The text helped me know where her next dream/prophecy was going to happen and when it was going to happen. Also when she joined the Blue Moons, I liked how it gave a description and nickname for each “Moon”. I think that this book isn’t appropriate for all ages because it does involve quite a bit of kissing scenes. But, I think this book is appropriate for ages eight and up. This book is a great book and I would like to encourage people to read it. It is a fun fiction book with some mystery and suspense weaved into it. In case you were wondering though, you don’t have to read Dream Girl to read Dream Life. Just read the summary of the book on the inside cover and it will give you some knowledge on what happened in the previous book. Out of ten stars I give it nine because it did confuse me a bit and some of the material in the book is not appropriate for all ages. I do think that everybody should have a chance to read this book because it is just that good.

Review written by Sheila (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Dream Life for this review.

Have you read Dream Life? How would you rate it?