3.5/5 stars 
 It is refreshing to read about a female protagonist who is not perfect or a damsel in distress. Dusty is neither of those, but a girl who is just so normal, or as normal as a nightmare can be, that it was so much fun to read about her. She would embarrass herself at times, get in odd situations because her curiosity got the best of her, crush on a guy but deny it to herself because.. why would she even want to crush on the popular guy? and have very normal girl problems; it was all very amusing and entertaining. 
 On top of how awesome Dusty is, she is also a nightmare, in the literal sense. She can get into people's dreams.. a bi-weekly dosage of fectus from them to keep her energy levels. She stumbles upon a nightmare that actually came true and ends up in the middle of a murder mystery that she needs to figure out fast before more people, including herself, end up dead. With the help of the guy she saw the murder nightmare in, Eli: the popular guy, they try to uncover the evil schemes that could bring destruction to the whole world. 
 Personally, I found the mystery to be a bit obvious but also shocking at the same time. I knew immediately that one of the characters introduced was evil, but at the same time I was rather shocked to find out who was really behind everything. In all honesty I was a bit restless with the mystery and how Dusty, her only real flaw in my opinion, was too trustworthy towards the wrong people but very doubtful towards the people who are closest to her. The middle of the novel lulled a bit.. and I was waiting for when the plot would pick up its momentum, and it did towards the end, especially with the shocking ending. As for the romance, I found it to be very sweet and secondary to the real plot; just the way I like it sometimes in my novels. All in all, The Nightmare Affair is a great novel with a kickbutt heroine that all the girls can relate to. I would definitely recommend it to paranormal and mystery young adult fans.