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In My Dreams I Hold a Knife was definitely entertaining. I enjoyed trying to figure out which of these “friends” was a murderer. If you’re okay with very unlikable characters and enjoy books and shows with a lot of interpersonal drama, this is the book for you! IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE starts in a microcosm: a woman, flush with achievement and saturated in desire, on the verge of attending a college reunion. Jess is arresting, both in her clear, lyrical voice and the way she wants the same things so many of us want, even if we're afraid to admit it to ourselves. Each of the East House Seven carries some form of guilt over Heather’s death. Compare the ways they manage that guilt. Besides the murderer, do you think any of them should be blamed? With her debut novel In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, Ashley Winstead has woven an intricate mystery full of twists and turns that will surprise most readers, and she has devised a clever and original method for her characters to reveal details from the past and put the pieces together to solve a ten year old crime. I devoted a lot of time to imagining who each character was and how they felt about each other and themselves, so I felt like I knew my characters inside out. By the time I started writing In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, it was almost like they were friends whose stories I’d absorbed.
Solidly written fast-paced mystery! Definitely had shades of The Girls Are All So Nice Here with the reunion theme and something terrible happening while they were at school. I felt like this novel did more justice to the theme and kept me more intrigued and entertained. They were called the “East House 7”—a group of popular best friends at Duquette University. They were always in the public eye, and they had inseparable bonds. But near the end of senior year one of them was murdered and another was accused, and things were never quite the same between them. I’ve been so excited about this book for weeks now—next to For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing (another absolute must-read) it might have been my most anticipated thriller of the year. Did it live up to my expectations? Yes, yes, hell yes! Jessica and Caro argue about the “girl code” when it comes to leaking the sex tape. How do you feel about the girl code? Do you think they violated it? When? In My Dreams I Hold a Knife definitely offered more drama than plot. Or rather, the friend and relationship drama was the entire plot.
New York Journal of Books “[A] captivating debut...Winstead does an expert job keeping the reader guessing whodunit. Suspense fans will eagerly await her next.”
Ten years after graduation, Jessica plans to return in triumph for a class reunion. She has a secure job, but not the one she craved. She has had a beauty makeover, dresses better, and presents herself as more self-assured. She is determined to stand out and make people notice and envy her as never before. A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.I think the fact that we can recognize a range of possibilities within ourselves and within one another is the reason we find storytelling so compelling. We want to trace the good in the people we might otherwise call bad, uncover the bad in the people who appear good. We’re all hungry to explore our complexities through book characters, so in that way, I do think they follow the same rules (the interesting ones, at least!). The license book characters have is they get to explore the outer limits of our good and bad tendencies, extremes most of us wouldn’t be able to get away with. So in that way, reading a book is like watching an experiment unfold: What could happen if I leaned into certain possibilities within myself? Even though clearly, I’m capable of imagining those things! I guess my advice is to nurture the flame of your desire, tend to it daily, and become friends with it, so neither of you undermines the other.
She whined all the time that NO ONE paid attention to her and that she felt “invisible.” Meanwhile, she seemed pretty visible in the romance department. She’d dated one guy in the group, while cheating on him with another. All seven characters had full stories but the focus was on Jessica. Not without faults, a reader would be tempted to view her as superficial as she’s so focused on her image. A quote from the first chapter appears to support this theory: An addictive and riveting psychological thriller. Put this one at the very top of your 2021 reading list.” –Liv Constantine, internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish My University days were prior to this story in a different time and place with very strict rules. I was unable to relate to this University and the events that occurred there. Reading this book was like wandering solo in some remote, little-known country, not knowing its culture, expectations, or language. I do believe many readers will find his a tense, compelling thriller, and I am probably in the minority.But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years’ worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden. Ten years ago, everything fell apart, including the dreams Jessica worked for her whole life and her relationship with the one person she wasn’t supposed to love. I say: the character development is mind blowing, surprisingly honest and deeply layered. The pace is well balanced, intriguing. Haunting this was underwhelming really, i kinda didn’t care for who it was or the character honestly. everyone says how messy this book was but this book wasn’t messy enough in my opinion. everyone’s scandals were weak. maybe i watch too many teen dramas idk, her romance book had me gasping more than this. i read thrillers for real life gasping reveals and this along with most of the thrillers i read just didn’t make the cut. Jessica has planned carefully for her ten year college reunion. Homecoming was going to be HER night.
In a University such as Duquette, second only to Harvard by the way...competitiveness is at an all time high...as to be expected...yet...will it make one of them kill to be at the top? Will jealously push them over the edge?The novel has some surprising revelations, and one stunning final admission that I didn’t see coming. The reunion from hell ends up having some positive effects, though, and the story ends on a high note.
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