[Review] Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Rating: 3.5 stars

Series: Nightmares! #1

Version: Paperback

Release Date: September 9, 2014

Goodreads synopsis:

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.

Charlie is unable to sleep due to the horrible nightmares he has and he is desperate to stay awake. He thinks that his "stepmonster" is causing them and goes on a trip though the Netherworld to stop the Nightmares from invading the real world.

The book was so charming! It reminded me a lot of Monsters Inc. mixed with Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. It had the same idea of how most of the Nightmares were just appearing/acting scary but they were only doing their jobs. I loved the journey that Charlie went through of exploring the Netherworld and the Nightmares that were in it. The Nightmares were such great creatures! I thought that they would be a more outright grr-I'm-inhuman-and-scary, and while they were inhuman, they were so funny and I would find myself smiling at their antics.

The illustrations throughout the book added such a nice touch to the story. You could really picture the story more through Charlie's point of view. They were especially wonderful when it came to picturing the nightmares that he was having and the creatures in the Netherworld.

I really enjoyed the concept of the story- although I felt that I would have enjoyed the book more if I was in the target age range. Charlie's adventure was still really fun to follow and also surprisingly deep at times. There were so many great lessons about facing your fears and heartwarming scenes about family. While going to the Netherworld to battle their fears, Charlie and his friends also learn more about themselves.

I can't wait to see where Charlie's story goes next! Things wrapped up nicely in this book but I'm happy that we get to further explore Charlie's world in the next book.