The perfect dream, the third book in my series Mental.
When sleeping, there are certain levels of slumber: Light sleep, the first layer of the onion, where you are conscious, and unconscious at the same time. Deep sleep, where you are unconscious and this is when you usually dream. Vivid sleep, when you are completely asleep and are dreaming to the point of affecting your wellbeing, and mental health, they arise from the normal REM-cycles. Lucid dreaming, where you know that you are dreaming, and in some cases can control what happens, almost like when you fall asleep thinking about something, there's a 36% chance you'll dream about it. Some people can Lucid dream when they want, but most are on accident. Dreams are often a product of our subconscious mind processing emotions, memories, and experiences, and they can be influenced by a variety of factors beyond just our pre-sleep thoughts.
Penelope has always loved sleep, she slept 10 hours at night, and even took several naps throughout the day. That is, until something or someone scared her awake. She can't sleep without seeing it, only living off of a few minutes of sleep everyday, she comes undone with exhaustion, and finally breaks. She does research on sleep, and dreams, and REM, the REM-cycle of sleep. And she finds out how to lucid dream, how to control her dreams. And she starts to master them, living in paradise, having the perfect life, and even a few crushes turn into steamy romance, but someone shows up, someone she can't control, a sleep demon.
Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option.
*****
Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her...
Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault.
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