Review: Sing Sweet Nightingale

Book: Sing Sweet Nightingale by Erica Cameron
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
Series: The Dream War Saga (#1)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: Mariella Teagen hasn't spoken a word in four years. 

She pledged her voice to Orane, the man she loves—someone she only sees in her dreams. Each night, she escapes to Paradise, the world Orane created for her, and she sings for him. Mariella never believed she could stay in Paradise longer than a night, but two weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Orane hints that she may be able to stay forever.

Hudson Vincent made a pledge to never fight again.

Calease, the creature who created his dream world, swore that giving up violence would protect Hudson. But when his vow caused the death of his little brother, Hudson turned his grief on Calease and destroyed the dream world. The battle left him with new abilities and disturbing visions of a silent girl in grave danger—Mariella.

Now, Hudson is fighting to save Mariella's life while she fights to give it away. And he must find a way to show her Orane’s true intentions before she is lost to Paradise forever.


**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The fact I got this book for free does not change my opinion or my review.**


Overall Review:
If you've been paying attention to my Twitter and the blog once in awhile, you'd know how excited I was and still am for Sing. I've been obsessed with it since I found out about it at the Spencer Hill Press Twitter party in January. When I received an ARC (since I'm a part of the street team for Erica Cameron) I was beyond excited. I pretty much said screw it to my reading schedule and sat down to read it. It was impossible to put down and I easily finished in a day. It was so addicting and down right amazing that I said screw it to all plans I had made that day and just read. It was worth it, so freaking worth it. Sing was as good as I thought it would be. Immediately we're thrown into the story and makes you begging to see what happens on the next page. Erica Cameron has created a dream world that only exists in our nightmares. This is the first book I've read with a story line or even a concept like this. I was a little nervous at first, despite my excitement, because I wasn't sure what to expect. However, my nerves quickly went out the window once I got into the story. Even though this is an entirely new concept for me, Cameron pulled it off beautifully and effortlessly. There was nonstop suspense, hauntingly vivid visions and dreams, and action that was beautifully written and original. It wasn't your average kick, punch, stab kind of fighting. No, this fighting was all about will power and inner strength at its core and I loved it. There was one issue that bugged me with its repetition. Like, the same thing happened over and over and over again. I get why it kept happening, but that didn't mean I had to enjoy that it did. Other than that Sing is full of nonstop amazing. 

Mariella in the beginning seemed like a love sick, ignorant, just stupid person. Orane took so much from her in our world and she didn't seem to care at all. She gave her voice for him, she gave all her emotions to give, she was willing to give her life for him, ready to abandon it all and she didn't care. I wanted to smack her for how she thought and acted sometimes. She was under Orane's spell and loved every second of it. To me, she didn't seem worth saving and she willingly gave her life for this creep. But I was so wrong. Orane's been with her for years, constantly taking from her, most of the time she didn't even know it, and she became this totally different person than who she was but not my choice. Orane has taken so much from her and while her soul, her very essence, tries to fight back every second of every day she's just not powerful enough. Not when she's forced to see him every night and have him take from her. None of what happened to her is her fault, none of what she had done was her fault either. She is a totally different person than I ever thought she was and I truthfully feel so bad for how I misjudged her so. I had assumed and it backfired on me. I was so very wrong and I promise when it comes to this series I will never do that to a character again. And the fact that Cameron was able to fool me so completely like that and show us who Mariella truly is without flat out saying it or expressing it at random was beyond amazing. It takes real skill to pull off what she did with Mariella!

Hudson. Oh my goodness Hudson! In all honesty his physical appearance and outward personality isn't something that normally appeals to me. However, the fact that after everything he's been through he's still willing to do good. That he's still willing to help others and risk his life to do it really says something. He's faced a lot of crap in his lifetime and half the time I just wanted to jump in the book and hug the living daylights out of him! He's a strong, confident fight who while doesn't like to use violence after everything, will do what he must to protect those he cares about. He's a very open and accepting guy who doesn't assume or judge others, especially since it happens to him all the time. He's the kind of guy that when life knocks him down, he'll get right back up and continue on with his head held high even when inside he's breaking. He's also a very patient person, especially when it comes to Mariella. While if I were him, I would've left her to rot after all the crap he went through for him, he didn't abandon her. If anything, the more trouble that happened to him or Mari herself, the more he tried to fix things and save her. He's a kind hearted, sensitive, and very complex guy who has so many layers to him. I fell for him hard while reading Sing and I doubt I'll ever stop loving him, unless of course he suddenly becomes a grade-A jerk which I doubt. Cameron just baffles me. Not only was she able to completely throw me with Mariella, she made me fall for a guy that in any other book I probably wouldn't really care that much for either way.

The romance in Sing is a little complicated. While Hudson started to develop feelings for Mari towards the very beginning, Mari is brainwashed into loving Orane. And since Orane is an evil a-hole that I hate, I'm not going to talk about his relationship with Mariella. There isn't a whole lot of romance between Mari and Hudson, no matter how much I wanted there to be (but I totally get why there wouldn't be!) Hudson's feelings for Mariella and what he did for her time and time again, without her knowing of course, is one of the reasons I fell so hard for him. He couldn't explain it, but he felt something for Mari he has never felt for anyone. He cared deeply for her with no idea why. Their relationship was so deep and beautiful, even if throughout most of Sing it was pretty one sided. I really hope I get to read more of them in the sequel because I love them together so much!

Sing wasn't exactly fast paced, it had it's slower moments, but it was so addicting and impossible to put down that pace didn't really matter to me. I was beyond excited to read Sing and it was just as good as I thought it would be! It's a very complex and original world/storyline that Cameron pulled off beautifully. It's the kind of world that I adore and would love to read more on, but I personally think that Cameron would be the only one that could ever do something like this justice. There's so much suspense, complexity, action, and all out thrills. All of that wrapped up in a hauntingly stunning world that I loved reading about. Mariella was a character that caught me completely off guard. I thought she was some stupid, love sick, ignorant girl who was way over her head. I figured she was so sickly obsessed with Orane that she didn't care about anything or anyone else. I hated it. I hated her. But I couldn't be more wrong. She's been fighting off Orane for years, the very essence of who she was has been battling whatever has been done to her. She was just overpowered. I felt terrible when I discovered the truth. That I could be so wrong about her just got to me. Then there's Hudson. The guy that normally I wouldn't care much about, but I surprisingly fell for him pretty hard. He's such a strong yet sensitive guy. Life has knocked him down time and time again yet he continues to get back up and do good. He doesn't let his bad experiences destroy him, he lets them empower him to do better. I loved that, and everything, about him. There wasn't much romance in Sing, besides the creepy evilness between Mari and Orane, but Hudson and Mari had a deep and power bond that I doubt they even knew about. I loved seeing them together, when Mari was fawning over Orane or something. I really love the title, and you'll get what it means and why it's pretty important once you've read Sing. Plus, it's such a pretty title! I can't say that about a lot of book titles, but this one is definitely pretty! As well as the cover! It's so flipping gorgeous! I fell in love with it on sight!


Overall Rating: 
I give Sing Sweet Nightingale a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. It was so so good and I loved reading it. I was so upset when I finished and realized I would have to wait forever and a day to get my hands on the sequel! Sing was totally worth the wait, though the wait wasn't nearly as long as how I felt it was. I would definitely recommend this book to people. Since I haven't really read anything similar to Sing though, I can't really specify what kind of people may like or dislike it. Let me just say that if you think it even looks the tad bit interesting, pick it up and read it! Fall in love with it like I did. Then join me in the agonizing wait for the sequel! Thanks for reading!

**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The fact I got this book for free does not change my opinion or my review.**

4.5/5 stars

~Kayla~