Monday, February 16, 2015

Destined for Dreams , a Series


Destined for Dreams
By Ginna Moran

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Nadia Petrov is an outcast in her tight-knit community of people with special abilities. Nadia must invade people’s dreams to survive. She sneaks into sleeping victims’ rooms, slips into their heads, and then turns their dreams into horrifying nightmares.

When a new girl arrives at her compound, Nadia can’t resist giving the girl a nightmare. In the dream world, Nadia discovers Hunter Sullivan, a soul trapped in the girl’s mind. Intrigued by Hunter, Nadia secretly builds a relationship with him in the dream world, and they find solace through each other. 
Unable to accept a love fated for dreams, Nadia must risk losing the safety of her community to help Hunter get back to his body before he’s lost forever. 
Embarrassed and conflicted by who she is, Nadia is an outcast even in her community of people with special abilities. Nadia relies on volunteers—thrill-seekers and horror junkies—to allow her to intrude their dreams. After an incident leaves her feeling more like a monster than ever, she fights to gain control over her ability. Can Nadia win the battle within herself before her humanity is lost forever? 
The Nightmare Inflictor is a prequel short story to the Destined for Dreams series.
Read as a prequel to the first book in the series, it opens the world of the book and enlarges the understanding of one the central characters. Personally, I wish I had run across this novella before I read Destined for Dreams, because it would have heightened my enjoyment of the book. Not reading it first was not a detraction, but would have just been a wonderful addition, and is a personal preference.
I deeply appreciate the fact that Ginna is taking the time to write these short, in depth novellas of the main characters. With each one, the depth and breadth of understanding of the series and the panorama of the story broadens. 
I look forward to continuing the series and watching the story blossom with each new chapter of its tale.


Review:

A new and upcoming young author has burst on the scene with a Young Adult Paranormal offering that leaves you spooked enough to make you think twice about a good night’s sleep.  Ginna Moran has reached into a world filled with people who have genetic special abilities, especially psychological ones.  How does one function in the normal world when you are not “normal”? Well, you don’t very well, especially if your abilities are super paranormal.  The human population of this future earth wasn’t so comfortable with this group of “super” being, either.
With the telling of the story of four young people who seek to find a safe haven in a world that is on edge because of human fear of their paranormal abilities, mistakes happen, lives are lost, and the least likely of people find bonds of friendship and even love as they seek to save the soul of one friend who otherwise will be lost forever.
What strikes me most about this novel is that these four young people, who have very little in common except for their uniqueness, come together in such a tight bond to protect and aid each other as the world continues to close in on them.  Even with their potential deadly differences, they come to care for each other and reach beyond their own fears and concerns as two of the principal characters circumstances continue to deteriorate. 
What each of the characters craves most is to “belong”, to “be accepted”, to be “loved” for who they are.  Though a universal theme, Ginna presents it in such a way, as to be appealing to not just the younger audience she wrote this for, but to a wider audience.  For we all know and understand that longing and need for acceptance and friendship, and can easily identify with the angst and terror that the characters are feeling as the story progresses.
The twisted kink of the love interest being between a soul living in the mind of a Sin-Eater, and a Nightmare Inflictor is truly original.  The only time they can communicate is when the Nightmare Inflictor, enters the Sin-Eater’s dreams to visit and talk to the Innocent Soul that was inadvertently trapped.  The interpersonal dynamics between the four main characters is complex, as the Soul Eater is not aware that the other two girls know about the guy who lives in her head and in turn she is not aware of the Nightmare Inflictor’s ongoing invasion of her dreams. 
I was thankful when I reached the last page of the book, for I knew I would be soon reading the continuing story of this interesting set of friends in a turned-upside-down-world.  Though the story is complex and intricate, the underlying story of the power of friendship and the fight for right is straight forward and powerful.  I see great promise for the entire series, as it unfolds and we come to know and appreciate each of the characters of this debut novel better.
I would definitely recommend Destined for Dreams by Ginna Moran. 
Rating:  FOUR STARS


The Nightmare Inflictor
By
Ginna Moran

Synopsis:
Born half-human and half-nightmare inflictor, seventeen-year-old Nadia Petrov struggles to find balance between her humanity and her predatory side. She must invade dreams to survive, though she hates inflicting terror in people.

Embarrassed and conflicted by who she is, Nadia is an outcast even in her community of people with special abilities. Nadia relies on volunteers—thrill-seekers and horror junkies—to allow her to intrude their dreams. After an incident leaves her feeling more like a monster than ever, she fights to gain control over her ability. Can Nadia win the battle within herself before her humanity is lost forever?

The Nightmare Inflictor is a prequel short story to the Destined for Dreams series. 

Review:
The Nightmare Inflictor was a wonderful addition to the Destined for Dreams Series. The series of vignettes about Nadia's dream sequences, her interactions with her best friend Alyssa, and her coveted short times with her beloved father gave great insight into this puzzling young lady. 
Read as a prequel to the first book in the series, it opens the world of the book and enlarges the understanding of one the central characters. Personally, I wish I had run across this novella before I read Destined for Dreams, because it would have heightened my enjoyment of the book. Not reading it first was not a detraction, but would have just been a wonderful addition, and is a personal preference. I deeply appreciate the fact that Ginna is Qtaking the time to write these short, in depth novellas of the main characters. With each one, the depth and breadth of understanding of the series and the panorama of the story broadens. 


I look forward to continuing the series and watching the story blossom with each new chapter of its tale. 

Interview:
* Where did the idea of an innocent soul living in a Sin Eater's mind come from?

When I was plotting Destined for Dreams, I knew that Nadia had to stumble upon some sort of major secret in a person’s head. One so big, that it would turn her world upside down. So I thought, what would be the craziest, most unexpected thing to discover in a dream? And that’s how Hunter came about. His character was much louder than his host, Jacqueline, so he ended up with his own perspective.

After I knew that Hunter had to somehow exist in someone else’s mind, I thought about all the different kinds or supernatural creatures who could do such a thing. I came across the idea of a sin-eater in my research and tailored Jacqueline’s abilities so she was capable of manipulating souls while also easily hiding who she was and what she could do. I put limits on all my creatures abilities, so they’re not all powerful, and since a sin-eater needs sins to redeem a soul, one who doesn’t carry the burden of major sins would not be redeemable and become trapped as a sort of punishment. Hunter is Jacqueline’s reminder that she’s not all-powerful.

* What drew you to the YA fantasy genre?  

I’ve loved fantasy for as long as I remember. I was a huge fan of Anne Rice as a teenager and actually wrote my first unpublished novel when I was fresh out of high school. My voice was distinctly young adult as were my themes and characters, so that’s how I ended up writing YA fantasy. My voice never grew up. Besides fantasy, I also enjoy writing YA contemporary that deals with themes of self-discovery and overcoming obstacles. Hopefully I’ll be able to share novels across both those sub-genres in YA.

*In the story Nadia struggle's with the perception of her as a monster.  I read your prequel novella, The Nightmare Inflictor.  After reading this, I came to understand that Nadia was half human and half Super.  Can you tell us how this affected her?

Coming from a nightmare inflictor father and a human mother left Nadia straddling both the human world and the supernatural world. Unlike her father who is in complete control over his ability and hasn’t known anything different, Nadia struggles with the constant fight between her humanity and her nightmare inflictor side. She wants the same control over her ability and life like she has when she takes control of a dream world. She despises that she lives off creating nightmares, with possible psychological effects on her volunteers/victims, and knowing her mother succumbed to insanity caused by nightmares, it gives her more awareness of the damage she can unintentionally cause if she lets her nightmare inflictor half take control.

*Destined to Dream is the first book in a series.  Can you tell us about the series and your vision for the series?

The Destined for Dreams series will follow Nadia and Hunter and their journey in navigating a world that leaves them star-crossed. As the series progresses we’ll get to see Nadia and Hunter manage life outside of the dream world and also get to see where Hunter comes from. It’ll definitely be a rollercoaster ride for all my characters. Besides Nadia and Hunter’s story I also have planned two companion series which will take place in the same Destined for Dreams world with different main characters, but don’t worry, some of the favorites will still make appearances.

*What is the title of your next novel that will be released?  What is the premise? When will it be out?

The next novel in the Destined for Dreams series is called Destined for Despair and will be out in early March. Below you can find the book blurb.

Life isn’t easy for seventeen-year-old Nadia Petrov once she’s in love Hunter Sullivan, a boy whose mother is on the board of the Human Preservation Agency, an organization determined to kill people with special abilities like her own. Desperate to experience a forever love, Nadia and Hunter risk their lives to be together even though the discovery of their relationship will not only destroy it, but will kill them in the aftermath.

A swell in HPA activity in a nearby city puts Nadia and Hunter on edge. Nadia finds her world falling apart when someone she loves is captured by the HPA and held prisoner in their termination facility.


Nadia and Hunter’s relationship must survive the ultimate test when Nadia, with the help of her friends, plans to cross enemy lines on a rescue mission to free her loved one. Faced with a heartbreaking decision, Nadia must decide if her love for Hunter is worth the fight or if she should accept that their life together is destined for despair…



About:
Ginna Moran started writing poetry as a teenager in a spiral notebook that she still has tucked away on her desk today. Her love of writing grew after she graduated high school and she completed her first unpublished manuscript at age eighteen.

When she realized her love of writing was her life’s passion, she studied literature at Mira Costa College in Northern San Diego. Besides writing young adult novels, she was senior editor, content manager, and image coordinator for Crescent House Publishing Inc. for four years.

Aside from Ginna’s professional life, she enjoys binge watching television shows, playing pretend with her daughter, and cuddling with her dogs. Some of her favorite things include chocolate, anything that glitters, cheesy jokes, and organizing her bookshelf.


Ginna is currently hard at work on her next novel.

Links to Books by Ginna Moran at Amazon.com










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