Customer Reviews

The Dream

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While Genny Austin recovers from the trauma of seeing her husband murdered outside their Santa Barbara condo, she experiences recurring nightmares with strange, primitive undertones. Symbolic meaning and past life regression lead Genny to sleep specialists and doctors. When a drunken gang attempts to rape her, Jack Brennan steps in like a guardian angel to prevent this violation. He still grieves for his wife and can relate to Genny's pain. As this complicated story progresses, the dreams persist whenever sleep overtakes her. Digressions into frightening past centuries bring back memories that convince Genny of her own reincarnation. An excellent book for lovers of the paranormal genre and another talented, well-executed delivery by Martin.

Genny's husband was murdered in front of her house. She may have witnessed it but you're not sure. She finds his lifeless body and the nightmares begin. After two years of nightly nightmares, she's exhausted. Soon the dreams start to invade her wakeful state. Are they just dreams related to her husband's murder or are they dreams from a past life. While having another wakeful night, Genny goes for a walk on the beach where three thugs attack her. She is saved by a womanizer named Jack. What attracts them to each other is anyone's guess. Together they try to sort out her dreams and fight their building attraction. They are complete opposites but still they pursue each other. The book takes a while to develop into good reading. Too much dead time, the book starts to take off about 20 pages before it ends.

This book was pretty good. I really like the characters and the story line. I think it was drawn out just a little bit though. I can't remember how many times the quote, "He felt this for her and he hated himself for it." Yeah, we get it, he loves her but he doesn't want to. Let's not write the same thing over and over again!

Anyway, this book is about Genny, a woman who's husband had been murdered and no suspect found. This caused her to start having horrible nightmares that kept her up most nights. On the nights she was able to sleep she would have the horrible nightmares.

One night while walking on the beach to soothe her mind, Genny runs across three bad guys who have bad intentions for her. This is when Jack comes in. He saves her from the men and their relationship escalates from that.

Genny finds this guy extremely attractive, but it is obvious he is a player so she isn't sure if she can trust him. Through twists and turns in the story, Genny and Jack become romantically involved and it becomes his goal to help her sleep at night. Through Jack and his friends, Genny finally gets the answer she's been craving about her dreams.

I think Ms. Martin had a good idea with this book. With the widow, and the seaman; and they have completely opposite likes, and personalities. But after a while, I got tired of the dreams the woman was having. She wasn't having much progress, and she couldn't sleep a whole lot. That was her major issue.
And the man, his issue was who he could get into bed the fastest. And even though he seemed like he cared about the woman, the only words that kept coming out of his mouth was, how soon could he sleep with the her. Or who was the next sleeze at the bar he could get into his bed. And that got old fast too.
It was like the issues Ms. Martin took of these too, and kept banging them against a wall.
I eventually dropped the book, and stopped reading.
Needless to say, I liked the 'idea' of the book, but not the progress of the storyline.

Usually I am not a huge fan of paranormal or modern day romances but Kat Martin's The Dream had me hooked thanks to a sexy bad boy hero and a sweet but tortured heroine.

Genny Austin is a widow living in Southern California when she begins to have horrific nightmares about a woman who owns a Caribbean island plantation. Genny is a librarian, in an almost relationship with her deceased husband's business partner. She doesn't have an overly exciting life so she cannot understand why she is having such vivid dreams.

While walking along the beach one night (she has terrible insomnia) she is rescued from some thugs by Jack Brennan. He owns a ship salvaging business and he lives on his boat near Genny's condo. He is a modern day rake, totally uninterested in a long term relationship and he just can't understand how he could be attracted to wholesome Genny. He likes fast cars and fast women.

They have a great romance, albeit an almost reluctant one since Jack feels they have nothing in common. Jack gets close to Genny then finds reasons to back away from their romance, really he is looking for convenient excuses not to feel anything more than basic lust and friendship with her. Jack is concerned though about Genny's dreams because they are becoming more violent and threatening.

As stated earlier, Genny's dreams are about a woman who is mistress of a plantation, she orders slaves about with a wicked temper and is totally self involved. The woman in her dreams is so vicious that Genny feels compelled to investigate these dreams further, leading her to Jamaica to discover if this woman really existed.

There is also a mystery happening in Genny's conscious state, who murdered her husband and why? However, neither this mystery nor the reasons for Genny's dreams ever overshadowed the main theme of this novel which is the building romance between Genny and Jack.

I was practically dragging myself through this book; I don't know how I actually made it through the end. The storyline was meandering back and forth ..... I was mostly irritated and hardly thrilled at the end. A little far fetched...... a SNORE

When I read the back cover I kept putting the book back on the shelf, finally, I had no others to read so I took it on a plan ride with me... and fell in love with it. The characters are wonderful, the plot line is new and really keeps you into the book. I usually read historical romances but this one really kept my interest, I could not put it down. I would heartily recommend it.

By the middle of the book I was interested but I thought it dragged on for awhile. It wasn't a book that will stick out in my mind as a good read. Most of the book was boring.

GENNY IS HAVING BAD DREAMS AND BECOMES ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH JACK, WHO SAVES HER ONE NIGHT. I REALLY WANTED TO GIVE THIS BOOK 4 STARS AS THE PLOT OF THE BOOK IS ACTUALLY GREAT AND MAKES FOR A REALLY GREAT READ. THE PROBLEM WITH THE BOOK IS THAT GENNY IS A SAP. SHE REALLY HAS NO BACKBONE AND SHE COMES OFF MORE LIKE A MINDLESS VICTIM THAN ANYTHING ELSE. JACK IS GREAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HIS BETRAYAL OF HER BECAUSE HE CAN'T DEAL WITH HIS FEELINGS FOR GENNY. I THOUGHT IT WAS WEIRD THAT HIS FRIEND CHARLEY DOES MORE FOR GENNY THAN JACK DOES. THE BOOK STARTS OFF REALLY SLOW, BUT 1/3 OF THE WAY INTO IT IT PICKS UP MOMENTUM AND OTHER THAN THE THE REDUNDANCE OF JACK NOT BEING ABLE TO DEAL WITH HIS FEELINGS, IT IS A VERY GOOD BOOK.

Kat Martin has written a great story. The plot is good, the character both main and secondary are likeable and interesting. There is plenty of suspense and romance. This story really makes you think about what is possible. If you like Kat Martin you will not be let down with this story.