Dreamless

Helen’s world is turned upside down when she discovers that Lucas, her beloved, is her cousin. Tormented by the guilt of being in love with someone she is related to, and unable to banish her feelings for him, her despair begins to affect her time in the Underworld. Her experiences in the Underworld are so grueling that her friends and family begin to worry Helen is going insane, or even dying.

Despite her failing health, Helen can’t avoid the Underworld. She is the Descender. She must wander through Hades’ world, and search for a way to stop the Furies from tormenting her family. But her strength is fading. Even a demi-god can only survive so much before the trip to the Underworld stops being a visit, and becomes permanent.

Dreamless keeps the stakes high. Helen is plagued with incestuous thoughts and tries to avoid those by falling in love with her friend Orion. However, that only brings about a love triangle. Lucas burns with jealousy, and Helen is still unable to let go of her feelings for her cousin. This book has adult themes and conversations, as well as a smattering of language and a decent amount of violence. Most violence isn’t extremely graphic, aside from the final battle, which will leave readers dying to get their hands on the third and final book in this beautifully written trilogy.

Sexual Content

• Castor tells Lucas, “Scions have been plagued with incest since Oedipus. And there have been others in this House who have fallen in love with their first cousins, like you and Helen . . . the children born to related Scions always suffer our greatest curse. Insanity.”
• Orion and Helen kiss. “His head fell listlessly toward Helen, inch by inch, until his lips grazed lightly against her own. His mouth was very warm and soft. Like a new flavor she couldn’t quite place but that she wanted to swallow whole, Helen pulled his lower lip into her mouth to take a bigger sip of him. Catching his face in one of her hands so she could tilt his wilting mouth towards her . . . “
• Morpheus, the god of dreams, tries to seduce Helen. “Helen ran her hands across his chest and allowed him to kiss her lightly as he spoke . . . [he] slid her hands up over her head, pinning her under him.”
• Orion and Helen make out. “He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. Her knees melted. This guy was that good a kisser . . . He guided her down to the ground, careful not to crush her underneath him.”

Violence 

• When Castor tries to stop his son from yelling at Helen, Lucas, “spun around and hit his father. The blow was so hard it sent Castor flying halfway across the kitchen and into a cabinet of glasses and mugs over the sink. Noel screamed, covering her face as shards of broken dishes went flying in every direction.”
• The Furies make Orion and Helen try to kill each other. “There was blood on her hands. Stunned out of her trance, Helen looked down and saw a dark, wet circle expanding across Orion’s shirt . . . She had stabbed him. And then she kept pushing the tip of the blade into him a tiny bit at a time.”
• Zach’s master abuses him. “Zach crumpled onto his knees, all the air rushing out of his lungs. Automedon had punched him in the gut so fast he’d never seen it coming.”
• When a child is born with the ability to cause earthquakes, the child is “left on a mountainside to die of exposure to the elements.”
• Ares tortured Helen. “Ares hit her face again and then stood up so he could kick her in the stomach. The wind came out between the seized-up muscles . . . He kicked her again and again. If she tried to avoid the blows by curling up and turning her back to him, he stomped rather than kicked. She felt her forearm snap and tried to bring her leg up to protect her side, but that only made him attack her more viciously.”
• Automedon stabs Zach in the chest, killing him.

Drugs and Alcohol

• None

Language

• The words hell, ass and damn are used frequently.
• Other profanity is used rarely. The profanity includes crap, bitch, dick, asshole, bastard, son of a bitch, bullshit, and dickhead.

Supernatural 

• There are Greek gods, demi-gods, and myrmidons in Dreamless. These beings have an assortment of powers, from super-strength to the control of hearts.

Spiritual Content   

• None