Review: Sleepless by Cyn Balog

Sleepless by Cyn Balog

publisher: Delacorte Press

release date: July 13, 2010

hardcover, 224 pages

intended audience: young adult

rating:


Description from Goodreads:
Eron De Marchelle isn't supposed to feel a connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce human charges to sleep. While he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn't encouraged to--after all, getting too involved in one human's life would prevent him helping his other charges get their needed rest.

But he can't deny that he feels something for Julia. Julia, with her fiery red hair and her sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. Eron has always felt protective of Julia . . . but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can't seem to reach her . . .

Sandmen are forbidden from communicating with humans outside their dreams. But will Eron be willing to risk everything for a chance to be with the person he loves?

Review: I really loved this book and plan to read it again when it comes out in July! It's such a sweet story and such a unique idea. I've never read anything else that involved a sandman (I know there is more out there, but this is my first brush with it!) and it felt very fresh what Cyn Balog did with creating a Sandman culture, the rules to their existence, and how they become sandmen. The plot is great, so much more going on in this story than it's description lets on. All of the characters were well written and developed---I loved the two main characters, Julia and Eron. Eron was charming and a little bumbling because of his displacement in time (Oh, how I do love a little bumbliness!), while Julia was a bit of a mess, but strong and able to hold her own, which I loved.

Even though I thought, with this book being as short as it is, it would have been really great to see a few things even more fleshed out(for example, I would love to hear a little more about Eron's life before he became a sandman), it was still a fantastic and satisfying tale.