In the Media

Patrick was like any other high school kid. A senior, he had a group of close friends, had been in love/lust with the same girl for 4 years and she had no clue he existed and was a latch-key kid since his parents were NEVER home, left for weeks at a time and came back oblivious to Patrick and his classes, pals, etc.

Back to that girl -Nualla Galathea- to be exact. Nualla always hung with her cousin, Nikki, a friend named Shawn, and was the most gorgeous girl at Bayside Academy. Rich but not pretentious, she had a smile for all, was kind and did NOT like Michael who was determined to make her like him. She never saw Patrick in the throng of students in the halls.

In a magical story Ms. Dillman takes us into the mist of San Francisco – into the world of the Daemons who we never see. Nualla and friends are daemons and others as well. Patrick hasn’t a clue but he is beginning to have some stress headaches which causes Nualla, after meeting him; to whisk him off with her and her friends to Vegas. After a night of fake ids, many, many drinks and partying Patrick wakes up with the hangover of his life. With Nualla. Married. Hmmmmmm…

I loved this book! The characters were so believable, the plot outstanding and the conclusion left me wanting more, more! This is just an excellently written, well done story that you should get to your teenager (then yourself) ASAP!

This novel was one crazy ride. One of those that just keep surprising you page after page. Going from euphoria to desperation in matter of seconds, it was completely engaging from the very first until the last sentence. Just when you think you got it all figured out, the next chapter brings a twist-and there’s more than fifty chapters, so go figure.

The story is told both by Nualla and Patrick. After all the crazy stuff you go through with them, they grow on you (so much that last night I had a dream about it.) Plus, I was constantly humming Waking up in Vegas…

One think I had some troubles with was the voice. It didn’t always sound completely authentic, like something your average eighteen-year-old would say or do…also, I don’t really like instant crushes, I’m more for a slower build-up of a relationship…but then again, we’re talking about daemons, so I let it slip and went along. At moments it was hilariously funny, and sometimes sadness, loneliness and fear were oozing from the pages.

As much as some things weren’t completely to my liking, it kept me entertained from the beginning to the end. Daemons in the Mist is one to be read when you need excitement and a crazy, exploding romance, a story to throw all cautions to the wind and just relax.

I didn’t immediately love the book because it started off a little heavy on the telling. But by a few chapters in, I was engrossed with Nualla and Patrick’s story. The novel is written in their alternate points of view, which I happen to have a particular weakness for (think Destined).

In short, you have a guy who sticks up for a girl when her ex-boyfriend is bullying her, and that wins her heart. When a chance meeting at the mall brings them back together that Friday night, Nualla convinces Patrick to join her & her friends on a spur of the moment trip to Vegas. And you know what happens when teens with fake IDs get hammered in Vegas and mention marriage… Yep, everything unwinds from there. But what was really cool was that once back in San Fran, Nualla & Patrick do the whole dating/falling in love thing. So it’s not like we miss that step because of a mistake the characters make. Their relationship is still very well-developed.

Another thing I really enjoyed were all the twists and turns. I love when I don’t see an ending coming, and this book had loads of surprises. I also liked that there was a happy ending but not a perfect ending. I thought the author did a great job with that.

Also, the secondary characters were awesome. It bothered me a little bit that Nualla referred to her patents by their first names given how close they all were, but the parents were still great characters. I also felt like a got to know both Nualla and Patrick’s circle of friends, both of which groups felt real to me.

The one thing that bothered me throughout was the typos and grammatical errors. Despite these problems, though, the story line was so engrossing that I was able to overlook the flaws.

Bottom line: I give Daemons in the Mist 3.5 out of 4 Greek coins – a URA*+rating. If you like a great YA love story with paranormal elements and a fast-moving plot, check out this novel. A sequel and an illustrated version are also due out soon.

This novel will pull the reader in right from the first page. The main characters, Patrick and Nualla, are both teenagers who don’t really know each other all that well. Patrick desperately wants to change that fact, while Nualla doesn’t seem to notice him. Patrick has a good sense of humor and a realistic way of approaching events in his life. Nualla appears otherworldly at times; she is slightly more vacant as a character. The author does a very good job of portraying the teenagers in her novel, as teenagers aren’t always the easiest to write, as it is writing from a different point of view.

The reader will root for Patrick to get the girl, and for Nualla to become more involved. The plot takes off after the first couple of chapters, fairly fast-paced events. The reader will not be confused as the author explains the more convoluted parts. The characters will become friends with the reader, both are very likable. The story is slightly predictable, but it doesn’t detract too much from the overall novel. This book is recommended for young adults/teens that enjoy fantasy.

She has created a story that is engrossing from start to finish. The detail she uses in her descriptions are like the strokes of an artist’s brush bringing to life images on canvas. Her words create a wonderful mind movie.

Likes: I loved the two main characters, Patrick and Nualla. The story is told from the perspective of both characters. Patrick is an ordinary 17 year old senior in high school. He is insecure when it comes to Nualla Galathea. How could she possibly want to be with Patrick? Patrick is so believable because he reacts the way a teenager would to situations he is involved in. His thoughts are humorous which make the reading fun. Nualla does impulsive things but she doesn’t come across as an average teen. Possibly because she comes from behind the mist. She’s a daemon. I liked the aspect of daemons. The author gives some background but I was intrigued so I looked up more info. The idea of daemons was new to me which made this book all the more interesting. I love the descriptive writing that the author uses to build the setting and background knowledge. I could picture everything as the author was unraveling the story.

Dislikes: The only thing I disliked is that the story ended with an unresolved issue. I suppose it needed to since there will be a second book. I just have questions burning in my mind that I now have to wait to resolve. I guess that is just part of the life of a reader

Recommendation: This book offers a variety of wonderful characters, an intriguing story line, action/adventure, romance, and page turning fun. It was my pleasure to read this well written book. Any fan of the YA genre will not be disappointed in Daemon’s in the Mist. I recommend it for anyone who wants to be swept away into the mist for awhile. You won’t be able to put it down until the very end. Daemon’s in the Mist is enticing.

This book made me feel like a kid again through the skillful use of subtle quality writing that actually made me worry and guess about characters I had really grown to like. Read this book.

The author of this book is a friend of mine, and she had me read it because definitely NOT the target audience. She figured I’d be much more brutal and blunt since this kind of book is definitely not the kind I’ve ever read before, except Twilight more out of morbid curiosity at best. So with that piece of garbage as my only reference I was a bit hesitant, but she’s got some dirt on me so I stuck it up.

My mental stages went like this:

At first I was pleasantly surprised that the teenagers actually ACTED like teenagers. It’s always hard to portray them because they aren’t as experienced, and of course have not “come of age”, but many authors considered great translate this into: “Acts like an idiot”. But this is far from the case, real teenagers make plenty of rational decisions, and many of the naive or inexperienced mistakes they DO make are subtle and not as cliché as television and movies would like us to believe. I’ve always been a big fan of the authors who went out of their way to give real personality and realism to their characters. They make logical choices, or at least have an explained logic to their reasonings. “The Sword of Truth” series does this really well when it’s not getting too preachy.

After this initial courting stage I become guiltily engrossed. I don’t know about everyone else but when characters are real enough you feel almost like a peeping tom spying on all their goings on. It doesn’t help this book manages to be completely hot and heavy at times without ever resorting to any actual Mature content. This in and of itself is something of a miracle, I found myself thinking “This can’t be kosher for something like this.” but upon further reflection it manages to be sinfully dirty while remaining teasingly virtuous. That feeling of course is ridiculously tantalizing and frustrating. But so was being a teenager.

As the narrative finally dug it’s delicious claws into me I found that there was plenty of things I could easily predict, clichés in character, but it never hurt the story because they made sense. Moreso then not I also found myself being surprised. Me, the guy who gets popcorn thrown at him because I can predict every twist in any piece of media, surprised. I’m not sure how she did it exactly, but I suppose it rolls back into my earlier insinuations that this author has the perfect capability of being subtle. That might seem sort of weird but if you REALLY reflect on that you can see that this is an amazing quality. For someone like me (Or you), whose read and seen it all, to feel like a kid again. To feel that magic of being genuinely surprised. I almost forgot what it feels like.

I won’t spoil those surprises of course, and talking too much about the ending parts would give a lot away. If I had one constant nag to the author as a I read (Because I totally had that privilege), I pointed out lots of loose ends and hanging plot points. It ANNOYED ME TO NO END, until finally she said “You know there’s going to be a sequel right?”.

I badger her every day about that sequel and she absolutely refuses to tell me the outline of it.

Probably for the best really, no matter how much it drives me crazy.

I really liked this book because it kept me guessing almost until the end. A really fun read. I look forward to the next book in this series.

I’m not really one for Young Adult Romance, but after reading the book it’s almost silly to pigeon hole it in such a genre. Comedy, action, drama, suspense, and just a bit of slapstick. I liked this book because the characters were real. All too often writers typecast every teenager as basically an idiot, as if being a bit naive and inexperienced will cause people to do catastrophically illogical things. Sure they’ll make mistakes, and in hindsight they’ll be silly or stupid, but it never quite translates on television when acted out by washed out thirty year olds.

Point being, I was surprised by this book. And for a guy who can predict who will die, what the twist is, and when the big reveals happen, that was refreshing. Enough familiarity to make me remember this time in my life, not always fondly, and enough subtlety to surprise a jaded veteran of literature. Definitely check it out.