Customer Reviews

Into the Dreaming

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

"Into the Dreaming" by Karen Marie Moning portraits Jane Sillee, a romance writer like Karen Marie Moning, who has been struggling since her hero and inspiration, a highlander named Aedean MacKinnon, has been lost from her dreams.

One day after misteiously receiving an ancient tapestry Jane Sillee wakes up and finds out that she has traveled back in time to middle age Scotland, a land of castles, kings and magic, where the good news is that she ran into the arms of her lost dream highlander. The bad news: his magical and dreamed highlander does not remember his own name, neither remembers her, let alone the love they once shared in her dreams. To make things worse she finds out that Aedean has been turned into an ageless creature called Vengeance by a dark and evil king. Jane Sillee finds herself in an adventure where she only has only one month to help Aedean remember who he really is, remember her and re-ignite the pasion and the love they both once felt in their own magical place that she created on her dreams.

If you like Karen Marie Moning books you will absolutely love this one.

At first I was confused when I opened my Amazon box and found this TINY little book in the stack. Was it a freebee? A teaser of Ms. Moning's next book? But then I looked at the invoice and realized that I had paid $4.98 for this, this bookmark. I felt cheated. I thought I was buying a novel and instead I got a 100 page SHORT STORY!

After I got over the shock, I sat down to read it (it took about 30 minutes). The writing was great, the characters endearing and the story line intriguing; but all those pluses just pissed me off more. What a waste. What a way to squander a good story line. By adding a few secondary characters, a few twist and turns of the plot, this premise could have been molding into a truly memorable novel. But now I'll only remember Ms Moning's "Into the Dreaming" as a disappointment.

I rarely read anthologies or short stories, but since it was Karen Marie Moning I simply had to read this book--short or not--and I must say I was definitely NOT disappointed! Ms. Moning again writes a phenomenal story with a hero redeemed by love and two soulmates who find each other--which is my ultimate favorite type of storyline. This book may be short, but it is chalk full of passion, romance, adventure & fantasy. The story is about a tortured soul saved by a time traveling romance writer who must break an evil spell, and has a clever and witty storyline, time travel, well written characters and a lovely bonus is that it takes place in Scotland. Intersperced in the book I also appreciated the humor and chuckled often at Ms. Moning poking a wee bit of fun at her profession and love the play on Jane's last name, and also what a hysterical name for the kitten! I do not feel bad saying that yes, I wish this had been a full length novel what with the intriguing passionate plot, enjoyable characters, and the delightful sense of humor throughout this tale, but please do not let that stop you from reading a fabulous book! Also, if you missed reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates, go and read it.

What's with the new trend in romance lately - publishing short stories as stand alone novels? Short stories have their place - in a collection of short stories. This should have been published as one of 3-4 short stories in a time travel romance collection.

Luckily I did not pay full price for this, as I would have been very upset if I had. In fact, I received it as a gift from someone who ordered it for me on Amazon and she probably thought she was ordering a novel. Most people don't take the time to look at the number of pages listed on an item when they purchase online. At $2.99, this is overpriced for a 100-page short story. Full length romances are 350-400 pages long and usually between $6.99-7.99. I was "tricked" this past year when I purchased Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dragonswan online and didn't know until I received it that I was paying $2.99 for a single short story. Again, that short story could have appeared in a paranormal romance collection - and should have.

In spite of this major gripe, I did like the story. Although I also think it could have been expanded into a full length novel. I have not read any of Karen Marie Moning's books previously, but now I will check out some of her other novels. I'm still a bit annoyed about the short-story-masquerading-as-a-novel issue though!

I really liked this novella. It was about 100 pages long and very to the point. I felt I had read another of Moning's Highlander book but in a much shorter time. I took the advice of other reviewers and bought it as a part of "Tapestry". I read two of the other stories in the set and am please with them all. I can't believe the used book stores here are charging $20 used an $50 new. Just buy tapestry.

In "Into The Dreaming", the Fae king tricks highlander, Aedan into serving a 5 year sentence to save his people, only 5 years is in Fae years which is 500 years. 500 years in the Fae ice prison, acting as servant to the Fae king, leaves him a shell of his former self with no memories. The Fae queen wanting to counteract this cruelty, gives him dreams to keep him sane. Jane a modern woman shares these dreams and is totally ruined for any relation in the real world because what man can compare to the highlander of her dreams. When Aedan is released from his prison, a Tapestry sends Jane back to his time. He has no memory of her and rejects all her advances. Now she has a month to get Aedan to remember his self and dreams or he will return to being a servant to the Fae king.

Definitely worth get Tapestry because the other stories are all good and quick reads.

Those of you unfamiliar with Karen Marie Moning may be disappointed and pout when you realize that this book is a bit of a novella. Personally, I am always sad when her books end because I have to wait for the next one. I don't feel that this book is a disappointment at all. It is a gentle transition into the Fae series and without this little installment, how will you understand where the Seelie Queen is being held prisoner??? Read it and consider it a sneak peek or a bridge between those delicious McKeltars in Scotland and Mac in Ireland.

This was a good story but not worth as a 5 dollar stand alone. I recommend finding the anthology it was previously published in and enjoying all the stories therein.

Upon reading a couple of the reviews for this story I was surprised that other reviewers were startled that this was a short story as it was clear to me that that was what I was purchasing. I rarely read anthologies or short stories for that matter, but since it was Karen Marie Moning I simply had to read this book--short or not--and I must say I was definitely NOT disappointed!

Ms. Moning again writes a phenomenal story with a hero redeemed by love and two soulmates who find each other--which is my ultimate favorite type of storyline. This book may be short, but it is chalk full of passion, romance, adventure & fantasy. The story is about a tortured soul saved by a time traveling romance writer who must break an evil spell, and has a clever and witty storyline, time travel, well written characters and a lovely bonus is that it takes place in Scotland. Intersperced in the book I also appreciated the humor and chuckled often at Ms. Moning poking a wee bit of fun at her profession and love the play on Jane's last name, and also what a hysterical name for the kitten!

I do not feel bad saying that yes, I wish this had been a full length novel what with the intriguing passionate plot, enjoyable characters, and the delightful sense of humor throughout this tale, but please do not let that stop you from reading a fabulous book!

"Into the Dreaming" is a great story. If you are a fan of Mac and Barrons and the whole FEVER series, you MUST read this little goodie! Don't buy these ridiculously priced versions of the novella, buy "Tapestry" instead and get the story for $7.99 and 3 other great ones to boot by other authors.

This is a short novella from the Karen Marie Moning Highlander series which I wanted to read but was not going to pay $60 for a less than 150 page story. This story was published in a four story collection by different authors in which this was one of the stories in a book called Tapestry, it is on amazon and is only $7.99. A much, much cheaper way to get this story plus you get three others from other female authors (which I have not yet read, but they are all the same genre). Hope this helps.