Customer Reviews

Dark Dreamer

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a hard book to review because there's much more to it than meets the eye. Dark Dreamer is a real page turner that successfully mixes romance, paranormal mystery, and thriller.

Rowe Devlin, a horror author, moves in next door to two identical twins, Phoebe and Cara Temple. Phoebe is looking for love but seems too dependent on her twin to make room for it. She also possesses telepathic abilities that have two government agencies competing to control her. Cara is trapped between protectiveness and love of her sister, and a desire to lead her own life. They both flirt with Rowe, who has a bad habit of falling for women who don't want her. She's a down to earth person who doesn't believe in ghosts, but she's sharing her new house with one that wants her to leave. To discover why the ghost is lingering, she must solve a mystery from the past.

What sets this book apart is not only the excellent writing and great characters, but also the fascinating and believable portrait of the twins. The complexity and intensity of their bond is shown with great subtlety and skill. Another thing I loved was the erotic side of the story. I've read most of this author's romances and it's obvious that she's so good she can write at any temperature she wants. She turns up the heat in this book! Dark Dreamer is easily one of the best books I've read this year.

You can see from my reviews that I don't rave about every book. But this one is worth raving about. I was hooked from the first sentence and captivated all the way through. As usual, this author has written a highly original book full of memorable characters. Rowe has plenty of commonsense except when it comes to women. Cara is hot and trendy and sleeps around. Phoebe is seductive and dreamy and her story alone is compelling reading. There are also some amazingly good secondary characters.

The plot is fast paced and engrossing and the writing is vintage Fulton - sharp, funny and classy. I was a nervous wreck in the scenes when Rowe is in danger from the ghost in her house. As far as the romance goes, the tension had me sweating, and the sex is spicier than in the Moon Island series - no complaints here! The bath scene was one of the most teasing and erotic scenes I've ever read, and at the same time it was very emotional and real. Also the ending was nothing short of brilliant, and the complicated bond between the twins is written with true perception.

Dark Dreamer is a romance wrapped within a thriller built around a mystery from the past and a threat in the present. The author pulls off the demanding plot without skipping a beat or losing the reader, demonstrating why she is one of the best. This is the first book in Ms. Fulton's new 'Heartstoppers' series and it's obviously meant to be a different kind of book from her ultra-romantic Moon Island stories. I thought it was stunning and I can't wait for the next one.

I thoroughly enjoyed the character development of this novel. A number of readers often express concern when an author separates women into sterotypes. In theory, I have the same problem, so it surprised me when I knew the sterotypes were there and they didn't bother me.

Phoebe is so delicate on so many levels, from beginning to end, but the author doesn't try to hide that fact, or force the character out of her comfort zone. Instead, she allows us to witness Phoebe's personal growth as multiple mysteries develop and unfold. The result is a very believeable character, one who has a gift and is in a position to help so many people, drawing strength not from her own ego, but from those who love her.

Conversely, Cara initially appears to be the more attractive target as she is the one who kepts everything under control. But we eventually see that, despite her mental strength, Cara is not immune to her own set of vulnerabilities.

In the end -- and I must commend the author for her choices in when and how to bring this all to a close -- the reader is left with feelings of warmth and compassion that are not easily forgotten.

Rowe Devlin is a best selling horror novelist and attractive butch who has hit a rough patch in her life. She`s recently moved from the Manhattan scene to make a break from a fruitless relationship in the hope that she will be able to meet her next deadline. The move is not going well. Or, as she claims, she is "a washed up writer living in a haunted house in Maine in the middle of winter. She now had exchanged a hopeless passion for someone's wife for a doomed crush on her neighbors. Plural. And instead of finishing the piece of crap novel her agent was hounding her for, she was on some wild ghost chase with two young males who thought the government was spying on them." (68). Needless to say, this is not a high point in her career.

The neighbors in question, Phoebe and Cara Temple are identical twins and unusual women in their own right. Orphaned at age seven and reared by their grandmother, the Temple twins have a highly symbiotic relationship. Cara is the grounded, no-nonsense woman who works in the music industry. Phoebe is a more ethereal of the sisters. A few years ago Phoebe was in a car accident that left her in a coma. After she woke, she began having compelling dreams of women who had met with violent deaths. These women talked to Phoebe, asked her to send their love to their parents or spouses, and told her where to find their bodies. Recently Phoebe has begun using these communications to assist the FBI in tracking down serial killers.

Meanwhile Rowe's dogs will not enter her kitchen and the knives have a nasty habit of refusing to stay in their drawers. The writer begins to research former inhabitants of the house and in the process finds a tragic story with a possible connection with the Temple sisters. This revelation prompts more interactions with her neighbors and an offer to help with the ghost from Phoebe.

When the attraction between Phoebe and Rowe heats up, Cara becomes jealous, angry and conflicted. She'd been interested in Rowe herself and dreads what she sees as Phoebe's inevitable disenchantment with Rowe. -- Phoebe has a history of falling in love and failing to end relationships when she was ready to leave. More than once, Phoebe has convinced Cara to impersonate Phoebe for the needed break up. -- Venting about the relationship with Rowe, Cara decides "she'd been Phoebe's minder and interface with the world for twenty years. Twenty years! Enough was enough. She wanted a life of her own. Let Phoebe find out the hard way that the world was not her oyster just because she was sweet and sensitive and beautiful. In fact, the world chewed up women like her and spat them out. And let Rowe find out that Phoebe didn't just have issues, she had a subscription." (133)

However, other elements of Homeland Security discover that Phoebe's gift is "the real deal" and the plot takes an ominous turn. Fast-paced with an engaging and suspenseful mix of spooky -- the supernatural and the political variety -- happenings, Dark Dreamer is peopled with intelligent, witty, complex characters. The romance between Rowe and Phoebe is sweet with some fine lusty moments. Dark Dreamer is a highly enjoyable story that lives up to its series title of "A Heartstoppers Thriller Romance." This reviewer hopefully foretells that there could be future stories featuring Rowe and the Temple sisters and would look forward to them.

Jennifer Fulton has written a tantalizing gothic mystery that keeps the pages turning with inspired plot twists and highly sympathetic characters. Her tale of down-on-her-luck horror writer Rowe Devlin's escape from Manhattan to Maine (where she inhabits the haunting and haunted) Dark Harbor Cottage is the kind of personal journey that I love to be taken on by an accomplished author. When you throw in Dark Harbor Cottage's secret, a hot lesbian romance with one (or both?) of the twins next door (one of whom is psychic and who becomes mixed up with the government in a huge way), you have a rollicking good read.
Rick R. Reed, author of Obsessed, Penance, A Face Without a Heart, and Twisted: Tales of Obsession and Terror

I noticed that many have already covered the synopsis of the story, so I won't go into it. Instead what I will express is my honest thoughts about Dark Dreamer.

First let me say that I loved this book! When I began to read it I
couldn't help but be reminded of the numerous Stephen King novels
that I've read. Jennifer Fulton not only manages to encompass the
formula of Horror in this novel, but she clearly has a handle on the
literary style of Gothic Literature. What surprised me the most is
that this novel is listed as Romance when, in my opinion, it should
be listed as horror as it has far more horror/terror aspects. I would
even say that it should be listed as a Modern Gothic tale, in that it
centers around the traditional theme of a Haunted House rather than
pure romance.

Now here is where I'm probably going to get many readers upset. Yes,
there were the various love interest within the novel, and even the
obligatory sex scenes, but I believe that these scenes detracted from
the overall ghost and haunted house storyline. In my opinion, the
sex scenes were unnecessary and could have been lessoned or even
completely omitted without detracting from the plot. But for those
of you who won't read a book without the sex scene, I'm sure the
sections in this book were enough to keep everyone, excuse the
pun, "sated." ;-) But for myself, I did skip over these scenes
because the actual story was far too exciting and I was in a hurry to
see what was going to happen on the next page with the ghost and the
rest of the intrigue, rather than be bothered with all the extra sex
scenes.

Over all it was an excellent read and from time to time it did have
me gripped in Horror. Fulton even wrote a bit of comedy into certain
sections when the fear grew too great, and this offered a well
deserved chuckle. It was like the type of laugh that you share with
friends when you've been caught being frightening out of our wits on
a haunted house ride, lol. I'd highly recommend it, especially to
fans of Horror, Gothic (Stephen King style) novels.

When Rowe Devlin buys Dark Harbor Cottage she hopes to accomplish two things: escape a love she could never have back in Manhattan and find the ideal place to dig herself out of a writing slump. She soon finds that, although the former is fairly easy, the latter does not happen as effortlessly as she had hoped. An already faltering career as a best selling horror novel writer is fast deteriorating and Rowe can't seem to find her way out of her dilemma. To add to her difficulties, Dark Harbor Cottage is repudiated to have a resident ghost. Although Rowe doesn't believe in such things, in spite of her genre, events do not allow her to dismiss the idea of ghostly habitation of her new home.

To complicate her life just a little more, she is befriended by her new neighbor, Phoebe Temple, and finds herself immediately and strongly attracted to her. But Phoebe is more than she appears to be. She is visited by the specter of dead people who want some issue resolved so that they can rest in peace-and she uses her gift to help the FBI to solve cases. One more thing Rowe Devlin has to learn about Phoebe is that the beautiful, enigmatic woman has an identical twin named Cara. Once Rowe finds that out, she doesn't know what to make of her attraction-to them both.

As if struggling to figure out which beauty Rowe would really like to be with wasn't enough of a complication in her life, things get more convoluted when the psychic occurrences increase at Dark Harbor Cottage. A young woman has been seen dancing in the ballroom of the cottage, a fairly benign visitation. But when knives start moving threateningly in the kitchen, accompanied by cupboard doors slamming, Rowe almost loses her own life fleeing from the ghostly presence. When Phoebe flees a ghastly vision in Rowe's kitchen, Rowe is forced to admit that there may just be such things as ghosts.

Determined to get to the bottom of the history of the house and its earlier inhabitants, Rowe makes inquiries at the local historical society and finds an unexpected link between the beautiful Temple twins and the Bakers, the inhabitants of Dark Harbor Cottage in the early 1900s. As the tale unfolds, questions beg answering: Who is Verity Adams? Why does she have a child 14 months after the death of her husband? What does Phoebe Temple really do for a living? Which Temple twin will win Rowe Devlin's heart? Why is there an ominous presence in Rowe Devlin's kitchen so menacing that her dogs won't venture over the threshold?

To add to the air of mystery swirling all around Rowe, she witnesses Phoebe being escorted from her home by government officials one night-and the two women have no idea if they will ever see one another again. However, even at a distance, the two women begin to piece the story together of what has happened at the cottage. Soon the paranormal experiences start to make sense as the discovery of what happened at Dark Harbor Cottage is revealed from both sides of the netherworld.

Dark Dreamer is the first in a new series called "A Heartstoppers Thriller Romance" by Jennifer Fulton. Difficult to put down, the reader is carried along throughout this entertaining tale. Twists and turns in plot and subplot keep the reader turning page after page to find out what happens next. Fulton has begun a series that promises to be both thrilling and fulfilling to fans, old and new alike, and will leave them longing for the next novel in this series.

If you are a fan of Jennifer Fulton and think you know what to expect because you have read her other books, be forewarned. Dark Dreamer is very different from her earlier work.

Rowe Devlin is a best-selling writer who has developed a total block, the consequence of which is that her last two books have been complete flops. Her private life has not fared much better as she has bounced from one unsuccessful relationship to another. In desperation she retreats to an old Victorian house in Maine called Dark Cottage. If she cannot find the idea for a new book, at least she can hide from her fans and her publisher. Unfortunately, the peace and quiet she hopes will provide inspiration is short-lived when it becomes apparent that Dark Cottage is haunted by a spirit that will not leave Rowe alone. To add to her misery, her neighbors Phoebe and Cara Temple, who are identical twins, provide more distraction when Rowe finds that she is romantically drawn to each one. At one point in the story there is a real perception that Rowe may give in to her confusion and be involved with both sisters.

The Temples have a secret too. Phoebe, who was injured in an accident years before, has been left with psychic powers, which the sisters use to help solve crimes. Cara is the outgoing twin who functions well in the regular world and acts as the facilitator/manager for Phoebe, who would rather stay in her quiet home, cook and ignore the rest of the world. At first the sisters are able to keep their service quiet, working only with a single FBI agent who helps to keep them out of the limelight. Eventually though, Phoebe's talents draw the attention of the CIA and the Office of Homeland Security and the sisters find themselves unwilling recruits in the war on terrorism. And, with all of this going on, the sisters are also trying to help Rowe solve a gruesome murder that happened many years ago and produced spirits who are making it impossible for her to enjoy Dark Cottage.

If you have the impression that there are a lot of story lines, you would be correct. This is a more complex book than many of Fulton's fans are used to. There is also a darkness, a brooding feeling of evil, that is new to Fulton. Dark Dreamer is the first of a new series that Fulton is embarking on and it is obvious that she is experimenting with some new writing, perhaps drawing on the old Gothic mystery format for inspiration. It will be up to her readers to decide if they will embrace this new approach like they have her earlier romantic novels.

I applaud Fulton's efforts to follow her successful 'Moon Island' series with an entirely new story line. At first blush, it seems the 'Heartstoppers' series will be just as good.

As expected, Fulton's characters are extremely well-developed, interesting women who experience personal growth through the telling of the tale. First there is Rowe Devlin, an attractive butch who is also a successful horror author. Rowe is suffering from a slump and, unknowingly, moves into the most famous haunted mansion in northern Maine. Even though she writes about it, Rowe doesn't believe in the supernatural. Her new home opens her eyes to new possibilities.

Rowe's next door neighbors are two young women. Identical twins Phoebe and Cara are an enigma of their own. Cara, the "normal" one, is a record producer. Phoebe, a psychic... the result of an accident when she was younger, is secretly employed by the FBI to help solve missing persons cases. Neither sister has ever been lucky in the relationship arena. However, both are attracted to their new neighbor... and the interest is reciprocated.

On top of dealing with relationship issues, Rowe is forced to deal with the discontented spirits living in her home.

Will either sister become Rowe's lover? Will the twins' love for each other get in the way? Will Phoebe be able to help resolve the mystery at Rowe's home? Will there even be a home left to save?

These questions and many others are answered in the book. (I'll not give anything away!) Enjoy this wonderful and intriguing first novel in Fulton's promising new series. Excellent!

I just started reading this book the other day and I am HOOKED. It is a great story. I won't bother summarizing it because that is already done. I would also give away tantalizing sneak peaks. This steamy story is one of my favorites and I'm only half way through! I recommend it for anyone. It is actually the first of several hundred Lesbian Paranormal Romance novels that I have on my reading list and this one just caught my attention to read it first!