Customer Reviews

Daring to Dream (Dream Trilogy, Book 1)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have to start by saying that I'm a big fan of most of Nora Roberts' trilogies and other groupings of books about families. That said, some are definitely better than others, and for me, this one was one of the best.

"Daring to Dream" is the first of this trilogy about "sisters of the heart" -- three women who grew up together in the same household. Margo Sullivan is the heroine of this tale, and she has spent most of her life trying to shed the "housekeeper's daughter" mantle that she wears with no small chip on her shoulder. She has made a name for herself in modeling and has traveled the world, but when her career falls apart she knows there's only one place she can go, and that's "home".

Many readers who didn't care for this book seem to have felt that Margo was selfish and self-centered. While I agree on the latter, I wouldn't say that she was selfish at all. It was very clear that while she's very "me" oriented, she would have dropped anything at any time to help her friends if they needed her. She's an extremely realistic character, and that means that she is, of course, flawed. Those closest to her are always quick to point out her flaws -- in fact, she often refers to them herself. But her best trait, they agree, is her loyalty, and this makes her the kind of person most people would want as a friend.

I also really enjoyed the love story in this book. Josh Templeton, the "heir apparent" to a hotel fortune and her best friend's brother to boot, isn't at all the spoiled jet-setting playboy that some have said. In fact, he works ultra-hard during the course of the book to prove his own worth, to show that he deserves his success and is not just a trust-fund baby. He was the perfect match for Margo and it was sweeter (and all the more realistic) that he has loved her all his life.

A wonderful beginning to the "Dream" trilogy.

DARING TO DREAM is the first book in the Dream trilogy. An interesting tale about Margo Sullivan who had visions of grandeur but wouldn't let her dreams die. She grew up in Monterey, California in a mansion. She was treated like a family member, but was actually the daughter of the housekeeper. Her mother tried to keep Margo's feet on the ground, but it didn't work. She went on to have a successful modeling career until scandal ruined it and caused her to go bankrupt, but she continued to dream. She retreats to her hometown and back into the friendship with Kate and Laura, her two childhood friends who grew up in the same house with her.

Sound like a normal romance - it is up until the first few pages, then it has jumps and turns that are very unexpected. Margo ends up talking her buddies into a business venture that saves each of them from the ghosts that hound them.

One thing that is interesting is that the running of the business is not glamorized and is shown as very hard work, but still enjoyable. This runs more along the real lines of actual life than fantasy, but has a dose of "real life" now and then for good measure.

DARING TO DREAM is a very enjoyable book. The only trilogy that I liked better than this one was the Born In series!

I love this book. From trilogy, this is my favorite. Ever since I bought it a couple of years ago, I've gone back to it again and again. I just can't get enough of it!

While it's true that Margo seems a bit too spoiled and selfish at the beginning, you also come to understand her motivation for using her body--which is her only asset--to create a world for herself. Margo is not all bad. She's caring about her friends, and in her own way, she does things for them. She gives them support, and is there when they need her.

I liked Josh from the beginning. He could easily have been a very snobbish, spoiled person, but he wasn't. He cared very much about his sister and nieces. The good relationship between him and his family was evident, and that clearly says something about him.

Although we don't see much interaction between Margo and Josh, the reader does believe that there is a caring, loving relationship developing between them. Although Josh is a bit too possessive, it's reasonable since he's had to do without Margo for a very long time. Personally, I like them and think that they would be great people to know.

If you like the DREAM series, you may also want to try the MacGregors, the BORN IN trilogy, the Stanislaskis, and the O'Hurleys.

This is my third trilogy by Nora and so far so good. I like Margo, the main character and her relationship with Josh. She is fiesty and fun. The friendship between the women is also nice to read about. It will be interesting to find out if the dowry really does exist. I look forward to learning more about the other two women, especially Laura!

Daring to Dream is the first story in the Dream Trilogy. It focuses on Margo Sullivan, the daughter of the Templeton's housekeeper. Margo's best friends are her two "sisters" whose stories are told in the other books. Margo is beautiful and has always had plans to see the world and be famous.

Margo gets her wish, becoming a famous model in Europe, but a scandal involving her agent takes it all away. With nothing left, she returns home to Templeton House. Josh Templeton, the heir of the fortune, has had a crush on Margo since they were kids. He jokingly gives her the idea of opening a store, which of course, she takes seriously. With the help of her sisters, she finds a building near Fisherman's Wharf and opens Pretenses, a store that customers can purchase high-end second hand items. Margo sells a lot of her own things that are no longer needed to get things going.

Josh and Margo go the usual route in a romance relationship, but I enjoyed reading it tremendously. Josh is not the spoiled heir, he's a lawyer for the Templeton Hotel chain, and actually goes to work. He sees a new side of Margo when she starts her store, which draws him to her even more.

Intertwined in this story is the one of Seraphina, a young girl who killed herself when the love of her life died. She left behind a treasure buried somewhere in the cliffs by Templeton House, and the girls hope to someday find it.

This is also a great story of the love and friendship between Margo, Kate and Laura. They have completely different personalities, but together, they make a great team. They are there for each other no matter what, no questions asked. We should all be that lucky in our lives.

This was a great start to the series. I recommend it to anyone. If you've read Nora Roberts before, you know you won't be disappointed. If you've never read one of her books, this is a great one to start with.

Model, Margo Sullivan, is trying to patch her life back together after her career is shattered by a dirty scandal. She heads back home to heal her wounds and to help out an old friend going through an emotionally trying time and falls in love with the friend's brother, an old childhood crush, Josh now a rich playboy and sometimes Attorney.

This is the first book by Nora Roberts that I could easily put down. Her beautiful knack for description was there as was her easily readable style but I didn't like the two lead. Margo, the gorgeous model heroine, was whiny and spoiled and used her looks to get whatever she wanted out of life. She did grow up a little bit towards the end and realized that the world didn't revolve around her but I still didn't like her much. The hero was just plain spoiled and wasn't present for a huge part of the book so I never grew to care for him. I found Daring To Dream to be more effective as a story about a woman's struggle to rebuild her life after devastation, and her attempts to reestablish caring and loving relationships with her childhood friends.

Although I didn't click with either main character in this story, and wasn't excited by the romance, Nora Roberts kept me entertained with the strong interaction between the friends. Their love, devotion and banter came through as very believable and I am looking forward to the two sequels about Margo's friends' Laura and Kate. They appear to be sensible and compassionate (and less self-centered) women.

I finished the entire Dreams trilogy in less than a week. Her books never fail to engage and keep my attention. When I finish one of her books I often find myself missing the characters I have just spent so much time reading about. The characters of the Templeton family were no exception. I think Kate's story was my favorite as it was the most realistic of the three. But I loved them all. I would love to see more books in the future - perhaps written in a similar fashion to the McGregor family series of books. I would like to see books written about Ali, Kayla, and JT's journeys into adulthood. Keep writing Nora - I'll always be a great fan.

I truly admire authors like Nora Roberts, whose every work seems to be a masterpiece. I wonder how authors like this can write one great book after another. I just finished reading the Quinn Brothers trilogy and thought that it was a marvellous set of books. Until I started reading the Dream trilogy which is impossibly just as good if not better.
Margo, Kate and Laura are three best friends brought up in the Templeton household. In Daring to Dream, the author focuses on Margo, the daughter of the housekeeper in the household. Margo dreams to be rich and famous and she made it...until a scandal forces her back home. There, she has to set her life straight once again and she does that by setting up a shop with her best friends to help get herself out of debt.
Along the way, she manages to fall in love with Josh Templeton, Laura's brother and heir apparent. Josh has loved Margo forever and has waited for her to be ready to settle down and come home. Their love is hot and steamy, but yet so extremely sweet and tender. It's not often that authors show heroes wearing their hearts on their sleeves from the very beginning but Nora Roberts does that and so successfully as well.
I started reading this book at midnight on a work night and did not finish until three in the morning. Instead of going to sleep, I started on the second book instead and had to force myself to stop after an hour because I would not have gotten any sleep otherwise. This trilogy is so good and I'm halfway through the second book which is so far just as exciting, though I still prefer Margo's story.
Read this trilogy - it's got everything. Read IT!

I have to say I love this book, I could not put it down!!

I was really looking forward to reading this when I read some of the other reviews, but I was really dissapointed. I could not get into this book. It was such a struggle, half way through the book I gave up and deleted it off my kindle. There was nothing redeeming about these self centered characters, and the plot failed to deliver.