Dream of ME [Mass Market Paperback]

I devoured this book, which blew me away in its daring and originality.

The hero, Theron, is an incubus, a dream demon who has spent thousands of years giving women sexual dreams. He strikes a bargain with Vlad of Moldavia. In exchange for creating an enmity between the rulers of two lands, Dragosh of Maramures and Bogdan of Moldavia, Vlad promises he will allow Theron to possess Vlad's body for three days. Neither Vlad nor Theron, however, is making an honest deal. Theron does not plan on ever leaving Vlad's body. Vlad has no intention of ever letting Theron into his body at all.

Theron arranges for his demon friend Samira to give Dragosh a nightmare that has the effect Vlad was hoping for. After waking from it, Dragosh imprisons his once-beloved sister Lucia in a castle, breaks her betrothal to one of Bogdan's sons, and betrothes her to Vlad instead.

Six years pass, and Vlad does not keep his end of the bargain. But Theron still has one joker up his sleeve. If Vlad does not allow him to possess his body, Theron has threatened to visit his fiancee, Lucia, in her sleep, and use his dreams to teach her every sexual act he knows of.

Lucia is isolated in a castle with only women for company, mostly a kindly but senile old nun and her maid who secretly disdains her. At the behest of her brother and fiance, both women constantly harp on Lucia to preserve her purity, so she secretly feels ashamed about her body. Lucia is lonely and her self-esteem is low, because she has no real friends. Vlad is a cruel man but since Lucia only met him once she's not aware of that. She spends her days daydreaming about the kind and gentle prince who will one day come to her. She doesn't know that the one coming to her is Theron who plans to seduce her in her dreams for revenge.

DREAM OF ME is a dark, dark, erotic fairy tale. Because of all her daydreams, Lucia exerts more control over her dreams than most women do, and she is determined to stay pure and true to her fiance, who she thinks is kind and gentle, even in her dreams. But Theron is just as, if not more so, determined to seduce her mental virginity away from her. But in order to do so, he has to make his dream self take on some of the kindness and gentleness of Lucia's dream prince.

Though DREAM OF ME is not perfect, it is very daring and original. I loved that Cach was not afraid to make Theron as dark as she did. And I was mentally fanning myself as I read this book.

There were two main flaws in the book for me. The first (and this was also true of COME TO ME, the prequel) is that the language sounded too contemporary for the medieval era characters. The second, also true of both books, was that I never really felt like I was in Transylvania or Moldavia, where the story takes place. I didn't get much sense of the climate, the vegetation, the food, or the dialect of this foreign land.

Nontheless, I loved DREAM OF ME. It's rare to find a romance that truly surprises me anymore, and this one definitely did. It was truly original, unique, and different. It's definitely not the kind of book that will work for everyone, but it worked for me in spades. I hope Cach writes more books as dark and unique as this one. I know I will be the first in line to buy them!

After the slight disappointment of Come to Me, I'm really glad I opted to buy this one new, both to read it and to support Cach. This is the kind of book from her that I'd hoped Come to Me would be. Overall it has a slightly darker tone lightened with flashes of Cach humor. The world is well thought out and described, the characters

are consistent, their changes are believable and don't feel forced or too about face.

There is a great deal of sexual tension throughout the story (the true love scene

doesn't arrive until the very end). Some might quibble about how ignorant the

heroine is about sex but I kept in mind that she was raised in a convent,

was never around young women her own age and status with whom she

could gossip, lived in an environment where there were no men and the

women around her who might have set her straight had been threatened

with torture by her fiance should she learn "the facts of life." (The reasons

are all explained in the book) But Theron soon sets about opening her

eyes to life and in her dreams, they begin a passionate relationship.

I like how Cach shows Theron's gradual realization of the life to which

his actions have condemned Lucia. How he really "sees" it and hates

what he's done. And how once he and Lucia have had their great

confrontation, his thoughts are not of revenge against her but how

he can save her from a terrible marriage and future life. Her reasons

for what she does were slightly more shaky to me but not totally

unbelievable.

I did also like the changes in Lucia. She starts off as a kind of dreamy

(and sort of self indulgent) young woman who has to face some hard

truths about herself. That she does and matures from them is a nice

treat.

The secondary characters add needed elements to the story and aren't

just place holders. Some of them aren't too nice (and it's nice to see

them get what they deserve). The opium withdrawal illusions of one

character are deliciously fun to read.

As to the question of which book should be read first, I think you could

start with either one. The main reason to read Come to Me first is to

find out just what was in the dream that precipitated both stories. If you

read the prologue of CtM, you'll know. I think we see enough of Theron's

character and drive to obtain his goal to appreciate how much he changes

over the course of the story.

While I wouldn't give this one a straight A, it comes close and will probably

end up an extremely high B or A- for me.

I have read both books by Lisa Cach- Come To Me and Dream of Me (my first time reading this author) and I have to say both books were good. They had interesting premises and both delivered some good storytelling. I liked Dream of Me a little better though.

Even though many people might have complained about the darkness of the book or about the heroine and hero themselves, I think the author did a good job capturing and portraying both the characters. The hero Theron is an incubi hunguring to become part of the human world and his feelings were well played in this book as well as his growing love for the heroine. As for Lucia, I know many might have found her character annoying, but readers must take into account her situation and her environment. She was shielded from the world and it showed in her character. I thought that by the end of the book she really grew, transforming from a timid girl to a stronger woman.

The author also did a great job capturing the setting of the time period and the history of that region, which were incorporated really well into the book. I had no trouble buying into the setting.

Overall the book was good. Despite its dark points (which I feel did not really distract from the story) it had a great romance and character development, an interesting premise, and a good setting. Their were no slow points; the book was action packed from start to finish. And unlike the other reviewer I enjoyed the small twist the author threw in at the end, it really wrapped things up nicely and let you know in a small way that this story was far from over.

Good job Ms. Cach!