DREAM A LITTLE DREAM, by Kerstin Gier

The story: It's weird enough when Liv's mother moves in with Ernest, her current boyfriend--but even weirder when Liv realizes his son, Grayson, is someone she's seen in her dreams: amazingly lifelike dreams, featuring him and three other handsome boys who also attend her new school. In one of those dreams, Liv stumbles into an occult ritual that spills out of the dreamworld and over into her everyday life, threatening danger, possession, even death. Can she trust any of the boys? And especially--can she trust Henry, the adorable one with the messy hair and gorgeous eyes? Or is he just another way she can fall off the edge of the world?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG; Sexual content PG-13; Nudity PG; substance abuse PG-13; magic & the occult PG-13; adult themes (demonic possession, ritual sacrifice, parental cohabitation) PG-13; overall rating PG-13 (although I suspect that if the Demon Lord ever actually puts in an appearance, the overall rating will shift to R...guess we'll see).

Liz's comments: This book teeters between the light-heartedness of an Eva Ibbotson ghost story and a serious creep-out with demonic possession, possibly because the translation from the German occasionally chooses a lighter- or heavier-weight word. In many ways, it reads like a high-school romance, with a little evil-doing thrown in for good measure. I expect girls who like ghost stories will be all over this one, although I find myself uneasy about stories with devils and demons. Not sure why I think they're worse than ghosts--maybe because you meet the occasional good-hearted ghost. Not so much with demons. Plus, the way the story ends indicates it'll get darker as it goes on, not lighter.