The Cure for Dreaming

By: Cat Winters

Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl - a suffragist - in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: She’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

©2014 Catherine Karp (P)2014 Recorded Books

Well written and enjoyable

Thoroughly enjoyed the writing, story and reader. Historical references to suffragettes and the politics of women gaining the right to vote were thought provoking.

I absolutely love the author

I have read a couple of books by the author. The way she writes is something that drew me into liking books. I have never been a book reader but love to read books like this

Ok

This was a bit tedious because of the fact that the narration was robotic in sections... Like a computer voice. Whoever edited this did a poor job. Ignore that and it's a good story.

Took a chance

I loved this book … I didn’t want it to end but I’m pleased w how it did. I thought the narration was good & recommended this on my IG 🫶

Good Historical Fiction, audio could use some work

I'll start with my review of the audio itself. The reader needs to fix her microphone or get a new one. It became distracting when the audio would suddenly change volume and quality for a sentence, and then go back to normal. Maybe this is some kind of rendering issue, still an issue none the less. And while the skipping wasn't frequent, there were skips throughout the reading. The reader herself was wonderful, and she does some good accents, I was just distracted by the quality.

The story itself was good, and I could see myself using this with my students one day (I'm a teacher). I enjoyed the allusions to Dracula (the novel), as I am interested in the way Dracula reads from the feminists point of view. If you read this then I strong encourage reading Dracula as well. This is a good companion piece and almost acts as a response to that novel. The ending is not very shocking, though the climax of the novel is quite exciting. The author brings up many important issues about gender equality and the importance of having a voice.

Cure for sexism...

Cat Winters has done it again! I seriously LOVE her books!!!! She totally gets me and how to rope me into her stories. I feel like I’m the fly on the wall watching all of this go down. You fall in love with her characters and want to know what happens to them after the story ends!

This story is set in 1900-once again in Portland, Oregon. Olivia Mead is celebrating her 17th birthday (which happens to be on Halloween) watching the famous French hypnotist, Henri Reverie. She is called on stage to be hypnotized in front of everyone. It does catch the eye of her crush, Percy.

Olivia’s father, Dr. Mead, is a crazy dentist who is super strict on Olivia. Her mother ran off to NYC when she was 4 year-old to be a broadway star probably because her father is so overbearing and sexist! Many men were during that time. This was during the suffragette period of time where women were fighting to be equal enough to vote!

Dr. Mead gets a crazy idea! He wants to cure Olivia’s dreams of voting, going to college, and working by being hypnotized. Little does he know, Henri gives her something better- a gift to see the world as it truly is. She begins to see vampires and ghosts of people everywhere she looks. She even sees Percy for who he truly is- definitely not what she thought!

Dr. Mead decides to cure her for good by having Henri hypnotize her once more by making her ill when she hears certain words. The joke will soon be on him because Henri and Olivia have cooked up a plan that will have the whole town talking.