Review: Dreams Lie Beneath

Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross

Published By: Quill Tree Books
Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Date Read: October 5, 2026
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 492

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Perfect for readers of The Hazel Wood and The Night Circus, this lush and layered story about magic and the captivating power of dreams is delivered with acclaimed author Rebecca Ross’s signature exquisite style.

A curse plagues the realm of Azenor—during each new moon, magic flows from the nearby mountain and brings nightmares to life. Only magicians, who serve as territory wardens, stand between people and their worst dreams.

Clementine Madigan is ready to take over as the warden of her small town, but when two magicians challenge her, she is unwittingly drawn into a century-old conflict. She seeks revenge, but as she secretly gets closer to Phelan, one of the handsome young magicians, secrets begin to rise. Clementine must unite with her rival to fight the realm’s curse, which seems to be haunting her every turn.

Since picking up the Elements of Cadence series back in 2023, Rebecca Ross has steadily rose to the top of my favourite authors list. I absolutely love her writing, and so it has been a challenge of mine this year (2026) to work my way through her backlist. I am so happy I finally picked up Dreams Lie Beneath as this book was fantastic!

Dreams Lie Beneath follows the story of Clementine, a magician who is training to take over from her Father as her town’s resident warden, the one who can protect them all from their nightmares that come to life. But when two unknown magicians come to town in a bid to challenge her father for the town, she loses everything. Suddenly thrust from her home, Clementine feels she only has one choice. Magically conceal her real identity and infiltrate the home of one of her rivals to take their family down from the inside and get her town back. But what she discovers is that both of their families are hiding secrets and she just may never recover from them.

I really enjoyed this one. This has such a whimsical feel to it and I really loved the premise of a place cursed to have their reams and nightmares come to life and attack them. Right from the start I really enjoyed this concept and it gripped me right from the start. It was really different from other book premises I’ve read so it did feel quite fresh and intriguing to me. I really liked Clementine as a main character. Especially as a lot of what is going on has been kept from her, so we get to uncover all of the plot twists and turns along with her which I really enjoyed.

The characterisations were fantastic. I really do think one of Rebecca Ross’ greatest strengths is her character development. I really loved the dynamic between Clementine and Phelan. I loved to see how their relationship developed and changed throughout the book. I don’t want to say too much, because I really do think the magic of this book is experiencing everything completely blind. So I don’t want to ruin that by saying too much but I really enjoyed their dynamic and the slow burn development of their feelings.

Dreams Lie Beneath was a gorgeous whimsical atmospheric read and I loved it. I additionally loved how it’s a standalone, and it doesn’t need any more. Sometimes with standalones I feel like they’re left a little open to warrant a sequel in the future. This was not the case with this one. It had such a beautiful fulfilling conclusion and I would highly recommend this to any fantasy fans who are looking for more standalones to read. It was fantastic. I will say it’s not my favourite of Rebecca Ross’ work but it was definitely up there and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book.