Friday, July 1, 2011

Dreamland Social Club by Tara Altebrando

imageJane has traveled the world with her father and twin brother, but it's not until her fractured family–still silently suffering from the loss of Jane's mother many years before–inherits a house and a history in Coney Island that she finally begins to find a home. With the help of a new community of friends, a mermaid's secrets, and a tattooed love interest with traffic-stopping good looks, the once plain Jane begins to blossom and gains the courage to explore the secrets of her mother's past.

Dreamland Social Club is awesome. I kept putting off reading it because I didn’t know what to expect. Once someone finally gave me a little push and told me to read it, I happily dove in.

Dreamland Social Club is one of those books that you know is contemporary but it feels a little like fantasy- like you’re living in a dream state or something. In Dreamland Social Club, you slowly get eased into the story. I really liked the way it was told and how smooth the narrative was. I could really understand Jane and what she was going through.

Even though I’ve never been to Coney Island or visited a Circus Town, after reading Dreamland Social Club I felt like I had been to Coney Island. Everything was described really well and I think that Tara Altebrando did an amazing job with the story in general.

All of the characters in Dreamland Social Club were incredibly well developed and I wanted to be friends with nearly all of them. The island is nearly a character in the book because of how big of a part it plays in the story. I love books like that. This novel was a wild ride of dreams, secrets, and friends.

I highly recommend Dreamland Social Club. It is a magical book that you won’t be able to put down.

FTC- Publisher.