Once Upon a Dream [Mass Market Paperback]

Alex Simon has just moved to America from England after his breakup with his fiancé. His newly widowed sister and her son live in America and Alex wants to be there for them. He checks a Western out of the library about a hero named Johnny Amigo. Somehow or other he falls asleep while reading the book and has the most incredible dream about helping a woman find out how and why her great grandmother was murdered. He doesn't think anything about this until he meets his neighbor Robin Wise.

Robin has agoraphobia and hasn't been out of her house for a year. Her uncle has perpetrated this condition by relaying his superstitions onto Robin when he took her in after her mother died in a freak accident before she turned thirty just like her mother and her mother before that. Now Robin is two weeks from turning thirty and this weighs heavily on her mind. Can she get past this birthday or will she die too? Then Robin starts having dreams about herself and a man wearing a mask back in the old West. She has asked the man to help her investigate her great grandmother's murder.

Then Alex and Robin meet. Alex is taken aback that Robin is the woman in his dream. Robin thinks Alex is the man in her dream but because of the mask she isn't really sure. Can Robin and Alex solve this mystery in their dreams before it's too late?

This book is a must read. I laughed and I cried through the whole book. I highly recommend this most wonderful book!

When Professor Alex Simon moved to Canyon, Texas from England, he welcomed the opportunity to change his locale. Not only would he be aiding his recently widowed sister, but he would have a chance to forget a failed relationship. One in which his fiancée had tried to change him. He knew he was not dashing, but he wasn't the dullest knife in the drawer. Perhaps he might be a bit set in his ways . . . Maybe he could use a little more excitement. He gets more than he bargained for when he encounters his attractive next door neighbor. He could do without her prickly nature, and that little dog too. Until he found an alternative, he would have to settle for the vicarious adventures in the western novels he'd recently discovered.

Robin Wise is less than impressed by her new neighbor-- and his little devil-cat. The feline taunts her dog, and its stuffy owner has the gall to blame her pup for the squabbles. At a second glance, Alex isn't quite as nerdy as he seems. As a matter of fact, when he isn't insulting her dog, he can be quite charming. She didn't need charming. She has her own problems. Such as the inherited curse looming over her impending thirtieth birthday. Until Robin can overcome the hex, she can't indulge in any fantasy she might have regarding the more-perfect-by-the-minute professor. No matter how she wishes she had the courage to act on the awakened desire in her heart.

By day Robin and Alex fight their feelings of attraction. By night, however, their souls have another way of dealing with one another. For you see, when they meet in their dreams, the wishes they make in their hearts really do come true....

This story evokes images akin to the Cary Grant movies of old! The premise is original, and the paranormal plot is well blended with passion, humor, and rich characterization. Guaranteed to keep a reader turning pages long past bedtime!

Robin Wise also calls Dr. Dave telling him about her greatest fear that she will die just before her thirtieth birthday. Robin explains the "accidents" that happened to the four previous generations of her female ancestors including her mother. She turns thirty in two weeks.

Robin and Alex begin to share identical dreams (Freud would have a field night with that relationship). Not long afterward Robin's "surrogate" mother invites Alex to dinner where he and Robin finally meet. They begin to fall in love with one another from the start, but Robin knows that the curse prohibits her from giving herself to any man, let alone her beloved professor, because long-term relationships are out of the question.

ONCE UPON A DREAM is an amusing, witty, and entertaining paranormal romance that will provide vast pleasure to sub-genre fans as well as lovers of contemporary tales. The story line is fun whether it occurs in the mundane realm or the subconscious dream world. The lead couple is a deserving duo who readers will hope attain lasting happiness while the secondary cast cements the tale with humor and depth. Jennifer Archer hits a bulls-eye with this sensational story.

Harriet Klausner