Initial Impressions 10/15/15: Hmmmmm maybe 3.25 - 3.5 stars. Good but missing some big things for me. 
 Dreamland was really interesting and I always love a good book about dreams! There's just so much you can do with that concept and really and unlimited amount of places you can go. The biggest problem I had with this book, though, came down to world building and a little bit of structure. 
 (Some SUPER MINOR spoilers (that some might not even consider spoilers) as I explain what Dea encounters this but if you want to be totally in the dark, maybe best not to read it.) The world-building just seemed ultimately lacking. In the beginning of the book, we only see the dream world as Dea and her mom (but really only through Dea's eyes) walk through other people's dreams. There are all these rules that clearly hint at something sinister (cover/destroy mirrors, don't any one person's dream more than once) so the reader picks up on that and wonder what it is. THINGS start to happen when Dea breaks the rules (of course) but the it felt like concepts were spiraling out of control. We pretty much know nothing about how dream walking works, why it's possible (though I don't always need a "why" in books like this -- I can take a character's word for it that it's just a special ability they've always had), and what possibilities there are when walking a dream. Then a little over halfway through the book, it's like instant reveal. There was no build up to this HUGE expanse of possibilities and entirely new world that Dea discovers. It seemed like the book totally took a turn and SURPRISE! There's a whole entire world out there that you didn't know about!! Okay, fine. I can accept that... But I think it needs to be hinted at more throughout the book. There didn't seem to be enough clues for Dea to even consider that as a possibility and I sure didn't. I was thinking of it as more of a rigid dream-walking structure and the "bad things" would be damaging to Dea, not that outside forces would be involved. 
 Her family that's touched upon in the beginning but that was another SURPRISE moment (which I do like surprises but not how this was structured) where the answer just APPEARED and seemed to come out of left field. Again, something I hadn't even considered and not in the best way. I guess I should have seen it coming in a way but it was all a part of this super secret thing that was all of a sudden totally okay and not even questioned. 
 The book wasn't bad but I was saddened that I felt like the world-building seriously lacked. There seemed to be some big holes that could have been filled in nicely by more explanation and I think that could have brought the reader into the story more, thinking about all of the possibilities instead of just being in the dark. For what the ending was, the book felt weirdly structured and I didn't seen one hint of that at all from the beginning. This isn't like some twist ending where you're not supposed to see it either -- surprised with a good turn of events, yes, but it just seemed like two different drafts of a book smooshed together and from the beginning into the second half just didn't flow. 
 I actually did enjoy the characters which I think really helped the feel of the book and I listened to this on audio (Thanks, Harper Audio!) with Kristine Hvam narrating and she does a fantastic job! Those elements really made the book much more enjoyable for me. If I had read this in print, I'm really not sure what my outcome would have been but I'm not sure I would have stuck around as long or been as into the situation at hand. 
 So overall, very interesting ideas but I just really wish the flow and structure would have been much smoother. I think it really should have tied together much better. 
 Also, this isn't a series, right? The ending seemed okay and wrapped up but open enough to add more books to the series (which I probably wouldn't continue based on where those books would head) and there were so many things mentioned in this SURPRISE section that really seemed like there should be more to this story. If there are no plans for other books, I definitely think that set something up that left the story feeling unfinished. I know sometimes there are other books planned that may or may not get picked up so that could be the case here but now I feel like I'm missing something that was left open. 
 Full review originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 12/7/15: I was so excited to start DREAMLAND and was thrilled to see it as an audiobook from Harper Teen (thank you for the review copy!) so I just couldn't wait to start it. I just adore books involving dreams because the possibilities are endless and every new story has a brand-new take on what character interactions with dreams mean. 
 I was incredibly interested as the book kicked off and I loved the concept and rules around Dea's ability to dreamwalk. There were some pretty specific rules that hint at something sinister and come with very specific warnings should Dea break those rules and I was super anxious to find out what they were! The dream worlds were interesting and it was really fun to see how Dea interacted with the dreamer and within the dream world. 
 I also really liked the relationships in this book! I enjoyed the mother-daughter relationship with Dea and her mom. I liked that her mom was present for most of the book and that she was there to help Dea when she needed it. Clearly her mom had a few secrets of her own and that didn't make life easy, but I enjoyed their positive relationship (well, until things started falling apart). I also enjoyed the buding romance between Dea and Connor. They had a great report and they were a really fun couple to get to know! Naturally, I love any couple that has a little bit of banter going so that was a definite bonus! 
 I did really have issues with the world building throughout the book, though, and that was sadly a big deal. There were a lot of world-building concepts that were introduced but not developed until the very end of the book and there were even some concepts that weren't introduced at all until they were necessary in this big, epic conclusion. It made it confusing that all of a sudden there were so many THINGS that Dea never knew about and therefore the reader never knew about and it really threw the book for a crazy loop. I felt like the way things were revealed and resolved at the end were entirely too abrupt and very info-dumpy, which is usually a problem I have in the beginning of a book, not the end. The fact that all of this happened at once -- including several big reveals, a huge world-building concept, and a ton of action -- well, it really gave the book an entirely different feel and not at all what I had experienced throughout the first three quarters. I would have loved some more hints at what was to come in the end instead of being totally surprised by it. I love a good reveal but it felt like way too much all at once. 
 With how much happened in the end of this book, I really felt that it could have benefited from being two separate books. I'm not sure if there was enough information to really split into two FULL books but it really did have a very distinct splitting point for me where it felt like two different concepts that should have been separated. The ending of the book also left me with some feelings that maybe a second book had been a possibility but didn't come to fruition? Or maybe it was just a bit of an open ending. Any which way you slice it, I had some pretty big issues with the ending and it just didn't feel cohesive and solid to me. I wouldn't say disappointed but it really wasn't the satisfying ending that I was hoping for. 
 Sadly this had a few too many world-building issues coupled with some info-dumps towards the end. I was engaged the whole time and I mostly enjoyed the characters but it just wasn't quite the satisfying ending that I was hoping for. I really wish some things would have been slowly revealed throughout the book which really would have kept me even more hooked and allowed some concepts to sink in as the reader continued.