Slumber

A Young Adult Dystopian

By: J.L. Weil

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly, Gary Furlong

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

There is no such thing as happily ever after.

Everything Charlotte Winston thought she knew has been thrown out the window. From the moment she opens her eyes, the world she remembered ceases to exist, and in its place is a post-apocalyptic realm filled with unimaginable dangers. And one very smoking hot guy who has an uncanny ability to make her blood sing, then boil in a blink of an eye.

Dash Darhk is everything her parents would hate. He's six feet and two inches of dark temptation and a killer smile, that's surely left a stream of broken hearts in his wake. But her parents are nowhere to be found. Charlotte is alone in this new world. Destroyed by a toxic mist, the land isn't the only thing altered, but the inhabitants as well.

As Charlotte begins the hunt for her family, gifts she's never fathom awake inside her. And with the gifts come problems. Enormous ones. Charlotte is running out of options and places to hide. If she can't figure out who to trust - and fast - she will lose more than her heart.

Fans of Hunger Games, The 100, and Divergent will fall in love with Slumber.

©2017 J.L. Weil (P)2017 Caitlin Kelly

Finally, Real Humans! 🤣

I always enjoy J.L. Weil books, but often times they seem so similar. There is the dark, tough boy that cannot get along with the spirited, clumsy girl. Somehow, the girl always ends up with some kind of power that makes her lethal. Of course, the bickering leads to falling madly in lust, I mean love. 😂

The thing about this one is that the guy is just a regular human. He is not a vampire, alien, half demon, or a Grim Reaper. He is normal, but has an uncanny ability to never miss when he’s trying to shoot someone or something with a bow and arrow or knife. I’m not sure if you would call that a super power or just talent, but a guy who can shoot like Robin Hood is pretty cool in my book.

Charlotte drove me crazy a few times as she was a little bit whiny and very stubborn. I get that she wants to be her own person, but her “don’t be the boss of me” attitude was annoying at times.

Caitlin and Gary did a great job narrating their portions of the book. I did wish that there was more of a POV of Dash in the story instead of just in the prologue and epilogue. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book.

Dystopian faery tale, but not

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.


Slumber is a book that both intrigued me and infuriated me and then left me needing the next book.

It is set in a dystopian future, where a toxic mist has deformed and mutated the earth. Somehow, and I wish this was explained better, people were frozen in slumber for a hundred years, to wake up the same age as when it first happened. Yet, the world is in shambles and tech is gone, there was the tech to "freeze" everyone. I'm confused but intrigued. 

Our protag Charlotte (aka Freckles) awakens with a kiss to a world she was not expecting and is being sort-of rescued, sort-of brushed off by the guy that wakes her up, Dash. And here starts their we-can't-be-together-because-I-say-so romantic tension that comes and goes in waves through a few somewhat steamy scenes throughout the book. That's the infuriating part, Dash always seems to do something that is very Dash. 

The romance building between them pulls most of the plot along, as otherwise, this is a "journey" book where they are out there running and hiding from the Institute guards while trying to find their families, Charlotte having convinced Dash to help her in searching for her kid sister and parents. During their adventures, we find out the "gifts" Charlotte has gained from the mist. Her abilities are quite exciting and help them out of a pickle or two or three. Dash's ability is lethal and quite useful though he sure broods and is weighted down by all his guilt. 

I very much enjoyed the audio production. The narrator has a lovely voice that is so pleasant to listen to, and I've heard my share of voices. She has the perfect YA princess but I'm still a strong woman tone for Charlotte, and her voice for Dash worked for me as well. We had a few scenes completely from Dash's POV (one at the start, and one at the end) are narrated by someone else, and it would have been interesting to hear all the voices done this way, but this still worked well to differentiate the POV and character's internal voice.

By "journey" I do mean the end is EPIC. All the bombs are dropped, all the feelings felt, and oh yea of course betrayals occur.  The book ends with Charlotte and Dash in trouble and I have to know how they get out of this, and will they finally get together. So, next book, please?

Excellent YA Paranormal Fantasy!

I absolutely loved this YA paranormal fantasy audiobook! The story was well written and this new post apocalyptic world is totally different than anything I have previously read. I love teen/YA fantasy with a touch of romance and this story fits the bill perfectly for me!

Narration was well done and brought the story to life.

It took a few chapters for this book to capture my attention but once it did I could not put it down! There are a lot of things going on in this story. It is a fast paced story with danger at every corner but the characters are refreshing and funny. Their light banter makes it so enjoyable to listen to this outstanding audiobook!

The story is told in dual POV which I always enjoy because you get an insight on both of the main characters.

I’m usually not that interested in post apocalyptic stories but the description intrigued me so I decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did because this new world is fascinating and intriguing. There were a lot of unanswered questions that left me curious and wanting to see what happens next. There is a big cliffhanger at the conclusion but I absolutely loved this book! I’m definitely getting the next book in this great series!

This book is an excellent start to a great YA/Teen fantasy series.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Loved this book

Great start to the series I enjoyed this book very good story fun and entertaining can't wait to read the rest of the series, J. L. Weil books are always amazing

I received this audiobook free in exchange for an honest review.

Conflicting thoughts

Overall the book is enjoyable. It's a light and easy listen. The story is easily followed. I really enjoyed the world building, a chemical mist covered the earth changing the land and everything around it, including humans. No one knows the extent of the mist and its ever changing characteristics. Or who created it! Where I had a problem is with the main character. Typical rich kid stuck up girly teenager and love interest dark and mysterious hot guy. All the girls fawn over him but he only has eyes for the one girl he can't bring himself to actually commit to. I had my eyes rolling for most of the romance. intriguing story, middle school romance!

There's no way I can wait!

I can't wait for the next book! This by far is J. L. W best book! I actually came to tears! I want a Dash Of Dark in my life! Wow! Read this book u won't be disappointed!

Meh

Kinda felt like it had great potential but let me down. I fell asleep to the book woke up and continued to listen and it was like I didn’t miss a thing ... just too slow moving for me and not enough action and romance maybe the next book will be better but I won’t be getting it any time soon.

Loved it!

I'm a grown up and I loved this YA dystopian fantasy romance adventure tale! The narrator was fabulous, I could actually feel the emotions of Charlotte as she explores the new world shes woken up to and her feelings for Dash. Charlotte wakes up in an exotic earth 100 years after the mist hit. Dash a rebel from the new governments army strike out on an adventure to find lost family members and defeat the army. A cross of X-men and Wizard of Oz, we aren't in Kansas anymore for sure! I am looking forward to the next book in the series for sure! Highly recommended. I received a free review copy of this book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Another great start

I absolutely love everyone of her books that I have listened to or read. I love the narrator and the story is amazing..Can't wait for the rest of this story..

Completely Hooked!

This book captivated me with the unique mash-up of fairytale retelling and Dystopian genres. The world-building was fantastic and the characters were a nice mix of edgy, soft, and snarky. Throw in the humor and a touch of romance and this book was a winner! The narration was also perfect for this book and created an enjoyable listening experience!