Dream to Me
by Megan Paasch
High School    Feiwel    384 pp.
1/23    9781250817051    $19.99
e-book ed.  9781250817068    $10.99

After the death of Eva Sylvan’s beloved father (about which she feels lingering guilt), she and her half-sister, Rhonda, move from New York to the (fictional) small town of Madrona, Washington, and into a spooky, decrepit house willed to Eva by a great-aunt she never met. When people in Madrona learn that Eva and Rhonda are Sylvans, most seem to view them with fear (with the exception of a few new friends). And Eva becomes terrified that she might really be as monstrous a witch as people believed her great-aunt was when her dreams about the inhabitants of the town cause them to fall into comas—including Rhonda. Eva must rely on her own wits and bravery to reach back into memories that have been hidden away and solve a years-old mystery about her family, the town, and a tragedy that involved two Madrona residents when they were children. This is a compelling combination of gothic YA fiction and psychological thriller. The magical elements of astral projection and battling shadows in dreams feel human and intimate rather than fantastical. A vibrant cast of characters populates Madrona, and Paasch clearly understands grief, guilt, and what moves the teenage heart.

From the March/April 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.