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Book CoverVeena’s review of Lake Of Dreams by Linda Howard
Contemporary Romance published by Pocket Star 02 May 16

The back blurb on this book seemed familiar, but it wasn’t until I was reading the first few pages that I knew for sure this is a previously published story. The plot line deals with reincarnation where lovers meet but are unable to sustain a meaningful long-term connection.  In this lifetime they have another chance. How will it work out?

The story is extremely short and I feel cheated not once but twice, because I recalled wishing the author had fleshed out the story a little more to develop the characters and the story when I read it originally.  This story has the potential to be so much more that a string of sexual encounters and fear.

Thea is a house painter. She has gone through several career choices before she finally finds satisfaction with this one. As she nears her thirtieth birthday, she’s plagued with increasingly sexual dreams which leave her fearful and dissatisfied. Despite this being her busy season, she takes a week off and goes to her family’s lake house, hopeful that a change in scenery will make things better.

The stranger from her dreams is her next door neighbor and appears in the flesh. They can’t keep their hands off each other, but it also seems that the violence foretold in her dreams has a strong possibility of coming true. Can they trust each other enough to avoid what appears to be an inevitable outcome and create a new future?

The author provides very cursory information about their past lives or how they loved and lost. It’s pretty hard to imagine falling in love with a virtual stranger, let alone trusting that stranger with your life over the space of less than a week from meeting him. Even so, romance is stranger than fiction, but before a reader can build a connection to the characters of the story it’s o,ver.

Grade: C

Summary:

Dreams and reality collide—with potentially deadly consequences—in this stunning novella from New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard, available for the first time as a standalone ebook at an unbeatable price!

House painter Thea Marlow hasn’t been sleeping very well. Her nights are plagued by dreams, the setting by the water and the mysterious man who appears in them always the same. But the outcome of the dream changes nightly: sometimes the man loves her…and sometimes he kills her. Desperate for some much needed relaxation, Thea travels to her family’s remote country lake house. Imagine her surprise when a knock at the door reveals the man from her dreams…who happens to have just rented the house next door.

So will he love her—or will he kill her?

No excerpt available.