Book Review: Nightmares! by Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller

Title: Nightmares!
Author: Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller
Hardcover, 355 pages
Published: September 9th 2014 
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Genre: MG > Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Source: via publisher (hardcover)

"Coraline meets Monsters, Inc. in this delightfully entertaining offering from actor [Jason] Segel and co-author [Kirsten] Miller."— Publishers Weekly 

The hilariously frightening, middle-grade novel Nightmares! is a Texas Bluebonnet nominee and the first book in a trilogy about a boy named Charlie and a group of kids who must face their fears to save their town. 

Sleeping has never been so scary. And now waking up is even worse!

Charlie Laird has several problems. 

1. His dad married a woman he is sure moonlights as a witch.

2. He had to move into her purple mansion, which is NOT a place you want to find yourself after dark.

3.He can’t remember the last time sleeping wasn’t a nightmarish prospect. Like even a nap. 

What Charlie doesn’t know is that his problems are about to get a whole lot more real. Nightmares can ruin a good night’s sleep, but when they start slipping out of your dreams and into the waking world—that’s a line that should never be crossed.

And when your worst nightmares start to come true . . . well, that’s something only Charlie can face. And he’s going to need all the help he can get, or it might just be lights-out for Charlie Laird. For good.

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository | Kobo | Indiebound

Before I begin I want to say that one of the main authors of this book is actor, Jason Segel. If you don't know who he is, he played Marshall in How I meet your mother and has been in a ton of other movies, such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets and Knocked Up! I've never actaully read any books that have been written by an actor so I jumped at the offer. Wouldn't you? I was excited to read it simply because of that aspect alone and ended up totally loving this book! But of course, I already knew that...

The story takes place in the small town of Cypress Creek where 12-year-old Charlie Laird, his Father, and his annoying little brother, Jack lives. They live in a purple mansion on DeChant Hill with their new step-mother Charlotte. Ever since moving into the mansion, Charlie has been having horrible nightmares. They sometimes seem so real that he does not want to go back to sleep in fear of another nightmare. Ever since Charlie moved into his step-mother's home he has felt uneasy and just not right. Unhappy in more ways the one, Charlie begins to see odd things happening around the house and his nightmares are getting so bad now he doesn't sleep at all. In these nightmares, he often sees an evil witch who looks an awfully like his new step-mom. Exhausted and angry, Charlie begins picking fights with Jack and sometimes wishes he would just disapear. These dreams that plague him are becoming more and more real, until one night Charlie awakens to see the evil-charlotte-looking witch coming into the real world and steal Jack away....to the place of which all of Charlie's nightmares roam. 

Now Charlie must enter the Neverworld and fight his way to find his little brother and bring him home before it's too late! Facing his fears may be the only way to succeed but when you're living in your own nightmare nothing is ever that simple.

Will Charlie be able to save his brother from the witch before time runs out? Well...you'll have to read the book to find out. 

For a middle-grade book, it totally rocked! I mean I was so surprised but how much I truly enjoyed this story. Charlie was such a fun and interesting character. He would do anything to get his brother back, and I mean anything. All of the people, creatures, and monsters he meet along the way were so outstanding and I love how each of them played such a huge part in helping Charlie throughout the book. The world building was beautifully done, with such a spooky ambiance throughout. The story itself was so much fun to read and the experience of being there alongside Charlie while he faced his fears to save Jack was epic! I can't say enough great things about this book. I knew going into it that the plot sounded like something I would like but I never expected to love it as much as I did. 

Another fun thing that really made this book even better than it already is, are the illustrations that go along with the story, like the ones below. 

These beautifully draw images add so much to the book and really make the story come alive. I am so excited and looking forward to reading what happens next, especially since there was a cliffhanger at the end.

I recommend Nightmares to all of my readers, young and old. 

Props to Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller, you both did an amazing job writing this book. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Totally EPIC! One of the best books I have read. A MUST read!!