Imagine having to stand trial for other people, to face someone else's judgement, and to take on their sentence. That's what Jessica Bailey has to endure every time she falls asleep, and the sentence she faces is either gaining a place in heaven or being branded and sent to hell.
Jessica has had to live with this curse for as long as she can remember. As a result of this, she hardly ever sleeps, and when she does sleep she wakes up screaming from having a brand seared into her neck and the scar of wings on her back.
Jessica left home when she was very young, when she overheard her mother making arrangements to have her committed. Her mother could never understand her and did not believe in her nightmares being real. She eventually became a caretaker of a house for a couple who did not live there themselves. When the couple die, their grandson, Alex Wright, inherits it and comes back to the house to live in it. Just when Alex moves in, Jessica's nightmares begin changing where they've always stayed constant and she doesn't know what to make of these deviations.
Alex and Jessica form a close relationship very quickly, but then Cole moves in two doors down and threatens to break them up. Cole is perfectly handsome, some would say too perfect. Though Jessica forms a friendship with him, she is wary of the fact that he feels vaguely familiar and often his expressions turn sinister especially when she rejects his attempts to get closer to her.
Jessica also finds a friend in Emily Lewis, her yoga teacher. To her astonishment, Emily confesses that she also had to endure the same nightmares that Jessica herself faces, only Emily's nightmares ended. Emily, however, refuses to divulge how she achieved this feat.
Jessica's health also begins to deteriorate despite the fact that she has never been sick since the nightmares began. Unfortunately, Emily can't shed any light on this particular problem either since she had never faced it herself.
Jessica's life seems to be spiraling out of control very quickly. Will Cole succeed in separating Alex and Jessica? Will Jessica's nightmares stay confined to the few hours of sleep that she gets each week? Will Jessica survive the illness that threatens her life?
I rate this book 4/5. The book was very hard to put down. I enjoyed it thoroughly and look forward to reading the next installments in the series.
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