Total Book Geek: Review & Giveaway: Sleepless (Bird of Stone #1) by Tracey Ward

*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*

My name is Alex Mills and I have a superpower.

Don't be jealous, it sucks. I can't control it. My mind is a mutinous SOB that takes over when I go to sleep. I'm just a girl trying to get some shut eye while it decides to throw a rager that can land me just about anywhere in the world.

The base of the Eiffel Tower.
The shore on the coast of Ireland.
The third baseline at Wrigley Field.

Sounds exciting and fun right? Wrong. My not so superpower is unpredictable, uncontrollable and annoying as hell. It's also how I met Nick.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Nick is mine.

Nick is extraordinary as well. He can't feel fear. Never has, never will. It's worked out for him as a PJ in the Air Force, one of the most dangerous jobs in the military, but where it's not helpful is with his social skills. Nick is cold, distant and apathetic.

He's also my hero. And if he's to be believed, I'm his.

I first met him when he died and that wasn't even the weirdest moment of our relationship. Neither is this moment here and now, trapped together in an island prison on the Behring Sea. It's a long, strange story between his death and this prison. One full of sheep, docks, Jabberwocks and a very special stone. I could tell it to you if you'd like to hear it. I've got time...

Review:
The first sentence immediately grabbed my attention, still I had no idea what to expect, some great novel romance or a paranormal struggle.

After reading a couple of chapters I was honestly believing it was the start of a romance like only star-crossed lovers can do. I don't fully understand how Nick and Alex are exactly connected on to that dream-plane, but what I do know is that the two of them complement each other very well.

Nick is focused, driven, always giving it 200%, never doubting himself, going after that dream and getting what he wants. To say he's intense is putting it mildly, the guy is insane and I mean that in a good way. He has this weird ability that makes him not feel fear, or almost any other emotion, but mostly fear. Which is great since he's a PJ in the Air Force. Still that lack of emotion makes it hard for him to connect with other people.

Then he starts meeting Alex in his dreams or her dream or rather it is both their dream. They are not sure. Since Alex' life has always been about dreams, she knows a little something about it. Meanwhile Nick thinks Alex stems from his imagination, so to him she's not 'real' real. Nick likes her, though not immediately, the first few times they talk, whenever he doesn't like where the conversation is going, he throws her out of the dream. Still slowly Nick starts opening up to Alex, almost needing to talk to her.

Alex has not had an easy life. Because of her ability to transport to wherever her dreams decide to take her, it's been hard to keep a job when you disappear for days on end, or go to college or start a relationship. Her parents couldn't handle it and threw her, she's know living with her sister. The dreams have always been about her, so the first time she sees Nick, it's quite the surprise.

I loved everything between Nick and Alex. His grumpiness, her optimism, the bickering, the humorous notes in-between and the slowly growing love they feel for each other. I am so glad it wasn't an instant kind of love, which made it so much more realistic. The most focus of the book was on the growing thing between them, but their is also plenty of background from both their lives to keep it very interesting.

The only thing I didn't like so much was towards the ending. While most of the novel is romance, except for the part that it all takes place in their dreams, the ending becomes suddenly very paranormal. We go deeper in her ability to Slip and his lack of fear, what that really means and how it all happened. I absolutely didn't saw it coming and it kind of broke the rhythm of the novel. For me the focus could have stayed more on the romance part, because I was really, really liking that.

Sleepless has two amazing main characters. They are both so different and still perfect for each other. The setting of the novel, the dreamworld, was divine. The progress of the storyline went so smoothly and Tracey Ward has simply written a beautiful love story.