Waiting on Wednesday (120): Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith #waitingonwednesday #wow

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Dreamstrider
Author: Lindsay Smith
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan)
Release Date: October 6, 2015
A high-concept, fantastical espionage novel set in a world where dreams are the ultimate form of political intelligence.

Livia is a dreamstrider. She can inhabit a subject's body while they are sleeping and, for a short time, move around in their skin. She uses her talent to work as a spy for the Barstadt Empire. But her partner, Brandt, has lately become distant, and when Marez comes to join their team from a neighboring kingdom, he offers Livia the option of a life she had never dared to imagine. Livia knows of no other dreamstriders who have survived the pull of Nightmare. So only she understands the stakes when a plot against the Empire emerges that threatens to consume both the dreaming world and the waking one with misery and rage.


I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this. It being a standalone (that I can see so far) makes it all the more appealing.

What are you waiting on this week?

Early Review: Sekret by Lindsay Smith (2)

Title: Sekret (Sekret #1)
Author: Lindsay Smith
Publisher: Roaring Book Press (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: NetGalley
Release Date: April 1, 2014
From debut author Lindsay Smith comes an espionage thriller with a dash of both history and dystopia.

Yulia’s father always taught her that an empty mind is a safe mind. She has to hide her thoughts and control her emotions to survive in Communist Russia, especially because she seems to be able to read the minds of the people she touches. When she’s captured by the KGB and forced to work as a psychic spy with a mission to undermine the U.S. space program, she’s thrust into a world of suspicion, deceit, and horrifying power where she can trust no one.

She certainly can’t trust Rostov, the cruel KGB operative running the psychic program. Or handsome Sergei who encourages her to cooperate with the KGB. Or brooding Valentin who tells her to rebel against them. And not the CIA, who have a psychic so powerful he can erase a person’s mind with his own thoughts. Yulia quickly learns she must rely on her own wits and power to survive in this world where no SEKRET can stay hidden for long.

My Review

You can read Kayla's review of Sekret HERE.

Yulia gets abducted by the KGB because she has special psychic powers and they need her in the Russian’s race to space and the Cold War against the U.S. I really liked the story and was immediately interested - spies, the KGB and the CIA. But, it was really slow in parts. When the psychics are going on missions and we are learning about the KGB or the race to space, it was entertaining. When they are back at the mansion and Yulia is either plotting (and failing, because she’s plotting in a house full of psychics) or moping, it was slow and easy for me to put the book down. I’m still a little confused on all of the powers. Can everyone read everyone’s minds at all times and they just each have some other ability too?

Early Review: Sekret by Lindsay Smith

Title: Sekret (Sekret #1)
Author: Lindsay Smith
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: April 1, 2014
From debut author Lindsay Smith comes an espionage thriller with a dash of both history and dystopia.

Yulia’s father always taught her that an empty mind is a safe mind. She has to hide her thoughts and control her emotions to survive in Communist Russia, especially because she seems to be able to read the minds of the people she touches. When she’s captured by the KGB and forced to work as a psychic spy with a mission to undermine the U.S. space program, she’s thrust into a world of suspicion, deceit, and horrifying power where she can trust no one.

She certainly can’t trust Rostov, the cruel KGB operative running the psychic program. Or handsome Sergei who encourages her to cooperate with the KGB. Or brooding Valentin who tells her to rebel against them. And not the CIA, who have a psychic so powerful he can erase a person’s mind with his own thoughts. Yulia quickly learns she must rely on her own wits and power to survive in this world where no SEKRET can stay hidden for long.

My Review

Since I adore both historical fiction in YA and nearly any sort of supernatural realism, I was very excited to get my hands on Sekret by Lindsay Smith. It is the story of Julia Chernina, who is a young girl wih psychic powers in the Soviet Union (aka Cold War-era Russia to the younger crowd). Sekret has a little bit of the Cold War spy novel thing going on, but it mostly read like a coming-of-age story. Yulia had to come to terms with both her ability and her situation after being captured by the KGB.