She Went to Sleep Engaged and Woke Up Supernatural | Beautiful Nightmare Book 1

This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and purchase something, I get a tiny commission. It does not fund my lavish lifestyle (there is no lifestyle), but it does help keep this blog caffeinated and emotionally stable.

In my opinion, Beautiful Nightmare is the literary equivalent of waking up from a spicy dream, staring at the ceiling, and whispering, “Wow. That explained nothing, but I liked it.”

Beautiful Nightmare Book 1

Genre & Tropes

Paranormal Romance

‎Rating

4/5

The Part Where I Try to Explain the Plot 

We meet Damina Nicaud, an art buyer in Washington, D.C., who is beautiful, successful, engaged, and—naturally—being emotionally catfished by a mysterious dream man every single night. Because why go to therapy when your subconscious can just drop a paranormal situationship into your REM cycle?

Damina insists these dreams are “just anxiety.” Sure, Jan. Anxiety now has cheekbones, emotional depth, and a slow-burn connection. Very normal. Very science.

Then life does what life does best: it implodes. Cue heartbreak, existential dread, and a one-way emotional escape hatch to New Orleans, because if you’re about to discover you’re more than human, it legally has to happen there. Vampires? Check. Wolves? Check. Art, passion, ancient powers, and trauma served with a side of romance? Absolutely.

😵‍💫 THINGS THIS BOOK DID TO ME: Yell in to the void

The book says “What can be more haunting than true love?”

The answer is: true love PLUS destiny PLUS orphaned lineage PLUS supernatural lore PLUS emotional damage.

This novel does not ease you into the paranormal pool. It shoves you in, holds your head underwater, and whispers, “You’ll thank me later.” The vibes are gothic romance meets supernatural soap opera, and honestly? It works. The dream-man-to-real-man pipeline is alive and thriving here.

Now, let’s be fair (because I’m nothing if not a benevolent menace):

• Is Damina occasionally dramatic? Yes.

• Does fate do a lot of heavy lifting? Also yes.

• Do you sometimes want to yell, “Girl, ask ONE follow-up question”? Constantly.

But that’s part of the charm. Goodreads readers tend to agree—many praise the lush atmosphere, the romantic intensity, and the dreamlike quality, while also side-eyeing the pacing and info-dumps like they’re suspicious cocktails. Strengths and flaws holding hands, walking into the supernatural sunset.

At its core, Beautiful Nightmare is about identity, desire, and realizing that your life is way bigger (and messier) than the version you were handed. It’s angsty. It’s romantic. It’s dramatic in capital letters. And it absolutely knows what genre it’s in.

What my Braincell Has Spoken!

Final Verdict:

If you like paranormal romance where dreams are horny prophecies, New Orleans is emotionally mandatory, and love might literally awaken ancient powers, this book will grab you by the soul and say, “Relax. This is destiny.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (minus one star for emotional distress and unanswered questions I will now carry into Book Two)

Important Links

My Linktree

Buy from Amazon

This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and purchase something, I get a tiny commission. It does not fund my lavish lifestyle (there is no lifestyle), but it does help keep this blog caffeinated and emotionally stable.