What Dreams We Had By Phill Featherstone

‘What Dreams We Had’ is the latest book by Phill Featherstone.

Five friends who are at the end of their schooldays and dream of the long summer ahead. They’re in a band and out of the blue they receive the offer of a lifetime – to play at the wedding of a young football star and his celebrity girlfriend at their luxury villa in Tuscany. Too good to be true? A cruel joke? The only way to find out is to take a risk and go. Once there a series of horrific and mystifying events begins and they are forced to face uncomfortable truths about themselves, their friends, their families, and their futures. It’s not until the very end that we learn the shocking reason why they have been brought to the villa. Not one of them will ever be the same again!

For me, this book had great potential but failed to really hit the spot which was quite disappointing.

Teenage band Friendly Fire have been giving the opportunity of a life time to perform at a celebrity wedding in a castle in Italy. With an expense paid trip, the five teenagers are hoping this will lead to an exciting future but instead find themselves alone in a secure house with a scary woods and strange sounds along with a deaf Italian elderly woman who provides them with delicious food.

The story is seen from the various narrative of the teenagers and their thoughts in the strange house. Alex is the main person in the book, he’s self centred, arrogant and quite a unlikable character, his girlfriend Elena is equally arrogant so they suit each other. DJ is a quiet brooding boy, his girlfriend Mia isn’t in the band but helps with gigs whilst Joey, the drummer is a kind boy with a sensitive nature that I found particularly endearing.

Whilst away in this mysterious house with a woods that they’ve been warned to stay away from, some of the characters experience terrifying dreams and witness terrible things. With these scenes, I found interesting and the writing pulled me in, I thought the story was going for a supernatural vibe or a cult, but it took a completely different slant and to be honest, when I reached the conclusion of the book, I was disappointed.

In some places the story was wonderfully written with vivid descriptions of the delicious food and drink and the stunning landscapes. A story that had potential but sadly missed the mark for me, ‘The Dreams We Had’ is an interesting concept.

You can buy ‘What Dreams We Had’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.