Dream on [Mass Market Paperback]

Everyone wanted him and Ms. Brandt doesn't disappoint. Bradley Nelson now has his own story and what a wild ride it is. Having his career failing is bad enough, but then his girlfriend dumps him off her bus and out of her life. To top it off, his mother just scooped him up in her Winnebago, along with some poor woman wearing a gorilla suit and has them running for their lives from some mobsters.

Delphine Armstrong is a woman who just wanted to fit in. Changing who she is just to meet other people's expectations. Wanting to belong comes with a high price and Delphine will do anything to pay it. Including lying about who and what she knows just to stay with Bradley.

All the characters in this story have a dilemma. It's amazing to see how they solve them while racing across the country. Ms. Brandt writes a funny, uplifting story that will have you turning the pages to see what happens next. I couldn't put DREAM ON down until I found out where the wild ride would end. For me, it was an extremely enjoyable romantic comedy.

Because he wanted to say hello to his mom while touring with his rock and roll star girlfriend, she dumps country singer Bradley Nelson on the streets of Reno in front of a gorilla. A few seconds later, all hell breaks loose with casino boss Dickie Swanson chasing after Bradley's mom Harriet with a gun. She grabs her son and the gorilla. The trio flees the scene.

The gorilla is Delphine Armstrong who knows she lost her job while Bradley's mom explains she stole three million dollars from the mob who failed to report it on their income tax. Her plan is to give the loot and evidence to her former boss in the Philadelphia office of the IRS. On the journey east, Bradley and Delphine fall in love, but the mob follows planning to take back their cash and silence the fleeing trio.

DREAM ON is a wacky romantic suspense that the audience will enjoy due to the antics of the Nelsons (no comment on mom's name or that the son should have been Rick) and Delphine. The story line keeps the tension high and the humor lofty, but the book never loses sight that it is a romance first and foremost. As she did with RECORD TIME, Beverly Brandt will have her fans dancing to the beat of her wild garden party road show romp.

Harriet Klausner

Bradley Nelson is an aspiring country singer who's just been dumped (literally--out of her tour bus in Reno) by his girlfriend who, unfortunately, is also related to the owner of his record label.

He's just started talking to a woman in a gorilla suit outside the casino where his mom works when his mom drives up in her Winnebago, and men with guns come out of the casino, so he grabs the woman in the gorilla suit and they jump in the Winnebago and all drive off with the mobsters in hot pursuit.

It only gets more complicated after that.

Turns out Mrs. Nelson has just stolen $3,000,000 that she's determined the casino owes the IRS, and she's planning on turning the money over to her old supervisor at the IRS.

Delphine Armstrong is the woman in the gorilla suit. She's caught up in the adventure, now that the mobsters--and her boss--think that she's assisted Mrs. Nelson in the theft. But as time goes on, Delphine doesn't want to get away. She falls in love with both Bradley and his mom, and comes up with better and better stories to get them to let her stay with them.

It's reminiscent of both Housesitter and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which is a good thing, because I loved both of those movies.

Delphine, like Gwen in Housesitter, despite her tall tales and her floundering career-wise, does know who she is. It's a lovely angle that Bradley, who's so sure of his goals, who's trying to be something he's not, and that's the source of his lack of success.

As in all the best romances, both Delphine and Bradley need something from each other, and they complement each other perfectly. The backdrop of madcap adventure and excitement just highlights it all and makes the story more fun.

I'd love to see this as a movie--over-the-top, fun, car chases with a Winnebago, the gorilla suit, and of course the romance and the music--cinematic gold.

By the way, this is connected to Record Time, though I didn't realize that at first. Bradley's ex-girlfriend is the sister of Kylie, the heroine from Record Time. It makes no difference to enjoying this story, by the way--it's not a typical sequel. No gratuitous scenes of the previous couple in their wedded bliss with half a dozen offspring, in other words.