Dream Student

By: J. J. DiBenedetto

Narrated by: Heather Jane Hogan

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

College junior Sara Barnes thought her life was totally under control. All she had to worry about was her final exams, Christmas shopping, applying to medical school - and what to do about the cute freshman in the next dorm with a crush on her. Everything was going according to plan, until the night she started seeing other people’s dreams.

It’s bad enough that Sara is learning more than she ever needed to know about her friends and classmates, watching their most secret fantasies whether she wants to or not. Much worse are the other dreams, the ones she sees nearly every night, featuring a strange, terrifying man who commits unspeakable crimes. Now Sara wonders if she’s the only witness to a serial killer - and the only one who knows when and where he’s going to strike next.

Dream Student is the prequel to the Dream Doctor Mysteries.

Also by J.J. DiBenedetto:

The Dream Doctor Mysteries (all ten books!)

Betty and Howard’s Excellent Adventure (narrated by Doctor Who star Nicola Bryant!)

The Jane Barnaby Adventures (three books so far!)

Finding Dori (part of the Welcome to Romance collection!)

Mr. Smith and the Roach (coming soon!)

©2013 James DiBenedetto (P)2013 James DiBenedetto

enjoyable in the end

the first 3 or 4 hours of this book were very hard to get into, but once I got passed it I was able to enjoy the story. however this ended up not being what I thought it would be and I think that's why I was bored. I would be interested to see where this story goes.

I received this audio book free for an honest review

Loved it

The story was amazing! The characters were so hilarious and witty! The narrator did a fantastic job.

Dream-sharing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this to friends who share my fascination with dreams!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dream Student?

Without giving away spoilers, I will say that it's memorable when Sara goes lucid in her dreams to help discover key evidence.

What aspect of Heather Jane Hogan’s performance would you have changed?

I would have preferred a somewhat faster pace. 1.5 seemed just about right for me.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The next dream you have might not be your own!

Any additional comments?

It's the fall semester, 1989, and Sara Barnes is a junior enrolled in her university's pre-med program. One night she has someone else's dream, one that demonstrates its dreamer, a freshman named Brian, is clearly very attracted to her. Soon they meet and discover that their connection goes beyond dream-sharing. But this turns out to be just the beginning. At first, Sara having other people's dreams is merely a case of having way too much information about classmates' subconcious minds. But before too long, she is witnessing more sinister dreams, from the mind of someone who is killing young women. How can she figure out who he is and find a way to stop him?

The idea of having other people's dreams is one that has fascinated me for a long time. One April a couple of years ago, I even wrote a "Script Frenzy" script for a graphic novel, where a group of characters realize they are having one another's dreams. In my story, their dream swaps could be traced back to a study they all participated in, where they were unknowingly implanted with chips that caused their dreams to transmit to one another. And the whole thing kind of devolved into a hot mess involving reality, and I never returned to the script. BUT. I still find the dream-transmission idea fascinating. J. J. DiBenedetto does a much better job with it than I did in my sad little attempt!

One thing that was kind of fun for me is that Sara is just a year younger than I am, though she is two years behind where I was in undergrad. She does have an October birthday, so I guess her parents would have had a choice to let her be one of the oldest or one of the youngest students, and they must have gone with older. The book is mostly told in first-person present tense, and I felt that Sara had a likeable narrative voice. Her dreams are narrated in third person.

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, and I found the narrator's deliver a little bit slow and almost sleepy, as if she were just waking up from one of Sara's dreams. What I did was adjust the reading speed to 1.5X, and once I did that, I thought the narrating sounded fine.

[I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, in exchange for an honest review.]

An Interesting Premise

Sara Barnes is a premed student prepping for finals before the Christmas holiday. She's never been able to remember her dreams until she has a particularly vivid dream involving a freshman in a nearby dorm. This one is different, Sara knows that it isn't her dream and she's an involuntary voyeur to the freshman's fantasy. Then the nightmares begin, and Sara learns that she's sharing her dreams with a monster.

I really liked the premise of this book, slipping into a person's dream to learn their deepest desires and secrets. It's a really cool idea. I had a hard time classifying the story, it's not quite a thriller, or a mystery, or a romance. I'd describe it as the everyday life of a premed student who happens to have precognitive dreams. The book was written at a slow and steady pace filled with day to day details. The sex scenes were fade to black, there were no real descriptions of violence, and only one or two curse words.

I thought Sara was a strong lead, despite the debilitating nightmares it's obvious she's usually a steady person. I'd like to see Brian developed further, all I really knew about his personality was that he's timid, clingy, and he's desperately in love with Sara. I'd like to see him grow a bit. I usually like my book relationships to develop naturally through interaction and conversation, I'm not an insta-love fan. Since this wasn't a romance, it wasn't too much of an issue.

I thought the narrator's voice and style worked well for the story. The narration was a little slow, I bumped it up to 1.5x. I did have to pay close attention to differentiate between Sara's random stream of consciousness thought and what she actually said out loud, because there's no way to discern which is which in the audio. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Dream Student

At first I wondered how I would like because it seemed slow paced. Then I realized that it was purposeful. I ended up really liking it. Great characters.

Entertaining Paranormal Murder Mystery

Any additional comments?

Dream Student by J. J. DiBenedetto is an entertaining paranormal suspense novel set in 1989. The story centers around Sara who is a pre-med student in her junior year of college. A few weeks before 1st semester finals, Sara starts to see into the dreams of a serial killer. Most of the book is focused on finding the identity of the killer, and then finding out where the killer is keeping his next victim.

I really enjoyed the overall plot and after I got into the rhythm of the story, just had to finish it. What I didn't understand is why Sara and her college friends never went to the police? I understand why they didn't after the first murder, but after the second murder and after they find out a few facts about the killer, they should have tried to talk with the detective investigating the murders - even if they feared no one would believe them.

This story is narrated by Heather Jane Hogan, who did an admirable job. There is definitely a problem with the speed of the recording; it's as if someone purposefully slowed it down to stretch out the length of it. I started off listening to the book at 2x speed, but later sped it up to 3x. Once the recording is sped up, you can differentiate voices and discern different tones and tempo in Ms. Hogan's performance, which was very good. I received a copy of this audio in exchange for an unbiased review.

A Guilty Pleasure that will get you hooked

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is the first book in Dream Series. I call it a Guilty Pleasure that could easily be a weekly tv program on the CW.

Any additional comments?

Dream Student by J.J. DiBenedetto and Narrated by Heather Jane Hogan.



First some honesty. I review all types of books, this one I was reviewing for the Author and for something outside my normal pleasure listen. So my expectations were low. I was wrong, extremely wrong. 



This book is incredible. The idea of seeing another persons dreams. The good you can use it for or the evil that can haunt you. This is movie worthy or at least a series on The CW. A Guilty Pleasure all the way. 



Also Heather Jane Hogan, is a diamond from any angle. I loved her narration. If I needed a narrator she would be high on my list.



Sara Barnes is in college studying pre- med. Finals are coming up and she starts having nightmares of a young woman being assaulted and then murdered and her body dumped. 



For nights Sara had similar dreams with the same characters. She thinks it's anxiety somehow associated with finales until she sees the women's picture in the paper. The women was found dumped dead as in Sara's dream.



As Sara tries to understand what is happening she has mixed dreams some pleasant, some funny, some terrifying. As Sara begins to see more and more dreams of those around her, her safety and sanity are challenged. A intriguing and shocking ride to the very end.

This first book in the Dream series is a must listen to in audiobook format.

PerryMartinBookReviews.Wordpress.co

A fresh spin!

I remember being at university and how I always afterwards wondered how on tv can people get a degree and play the entire time?

It drove me nuts. In this books the students actually does put in the time and I loved that.
Our main protagonist is a pre-med student with a problem. She keeps having nightmares. Not any old dreams, tragic murder scenes play off infront of her night after night.

While balancing study, friends, a social life and a brand new boyfriend she needs to figure out why she is dreaming of a serial killer and if she can do something about her dreams....especially once she knows that her dreams are reflections of what happens in the real waking world.

A fun read!

The narrator did a pretty good job in making the characters come to life, each with a unique voice all their own!

WaAr

Great Stay Up Late Dream within a Dream Thriller!

Would you listen to Dream Student again? Why?

Oh most definitely I would listen to this book again and although I received the audiobook free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review I am dying to read the next books in the Dream Series. I thought it was excellent.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sara was my favorite character. I was able to identify with her on multiple levels and her personality was spot on with the setting. It was good from beginning to end.

Have you listened to any of Heather Jane Hogan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first performance I've listened to by Heather Jane Hogan and she was perfect. She has a very nice, easy, flow. She was flawless.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

My favorite part of the book was when Sara first realized she was seeing other people's dreams. I really like how the story progressed into a good thriller.

Any additional comments?

Yes. I look forward to listening to the rest of the series. I loved everything about it. Great job!

I got this for my husband and he loved it.

Where does Dream Student rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a good novel and I will be getting book two.

What about Heather Jane Hogan’s performance did you like?

She's a great reader, she handles the different characters fine, no problem keeping up with the storyline.

Any additional comments?

I could have done with out the cursing.