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andrea_author's review
4.0
Romance author Gaia has grown used to the fact that the scenes she writes magically come to life in her dreams. But she's shocked when, after a single kiss, her dreams begin melding with those of Jacob, her best friend's handsome brother. What's going on? And what does it mean? Jacob is even more freaked out than she is, but somehow, they're able to weather it together. Until family secrets threaten to tear them apart.
This story is delightful. The magical elements were fun without intruding on the story or the character development. The worldbuilding was on the light side—I'd have preferred a little more setting detail to ground me in the story. The dream worlds were much more vivid that the real life world, so maybe that was intentional. Overall, it's an emotional read as Gaia deals with her anxiety and her wounds from a childhood in foster care.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This story is delightful. The magical elements were fun without intruding on the story or the character development. The worldbuilding was on the light side—I'd have preferred a little more setting detail to ground me in the story. The dream worlds were much more vivid that the real life world, so maybe that was intentional. Overall, it's an emotional read as Gaia deals with her anxiety and her wounds from a childhood in foster care.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
ruxandra_grr's review
3.0
I really liked some of this, but some things felt a bit... thin?
For instance, I liked the protagonists, I thought they were nicely drawn and the communication between them felt completely refreshing. They're both observing, aware people, so their interactions were quite nice, they *read* each other really well.
Another thing I really liked was the friendship between Gaia and her best friend, Seth. There's a paragraph that gave me JOY to read:
But that sounded stupid and quickly put his own jealousy into perspective. Human beings didn't have a finite amount of any feeling. Simply because she shared something special with Seth didn't mean what she and Jacob had wasn't special.
PREACH! I love reading romances, but I'm not a person who believes in the One anymore. That way laid a lot of suffering for me. I do believe that love is abundant and shouldn't be caged and that paragraph really reflected that.
At the same time, the dream sequences didn't do that much for me? It felt like they were there for a drop of magic, but didn't add that much to the story, except for some bit of conflict/ obstacle.
So the main issue I have with the book, reflected in multiple issues, is that I kept waiting for it to start, it felt a bit like an endless tease. Sure, the two characters advanced in their affections toward one another, but it feels like some side plots, had they been in the spotlight, would have enriched the whole thing. The friendship with Seth is put on hold for a long while. And then there is another plot that I kept waiting for it to get kickstarted.
The sexy times also felt like a tease, but those are my expectations and my problem.
Another thing I liked was how Gaia's anxiety was rendered. And how being alone and feeling lonely and abandoned can turn into a vicious cycle. I relate to that. I just wish this book hadn't postponed all of the developments until late in the game.
For instance, I liked the protagonists, I thought they were nicely drawn and the communication between them felt completely refreshing. They're both observing, aware people, so their interactions were quite nice, they *read* each other really well.
Another thing I really liked was the friendship between Gaia and her best friend, Seth. There's a paragraph that gave me JOY to read:
But that sounded stupid and quickly put his own jealousy into perspective. Human beings didn't have a finite amount of any feeling. Simply because she shared something special with Seth didn't mean what she and Jacob had wasn't special.
PREACH! I love reading romances, but I'm not a person who believes in the One anymore. That way laid a lot of suffering for me. I do believe that love is abundant and shouldn't be caged and that paragraph really reflected that.
At the same time, the dream sequences didn't do that much for me? It felt like they were there for a drop of magic, but didn't add that much to the story, except for some bit of conflict/ obstacle.
So the main issue I have with the book, reflected in multiple issues, is that I kept waiting for it to start, it felt a bit like an endless tease. Sure, the two characters advanced in their affections toward one another, but it feels like some side plots, had they been in the spotlight, would have enriched the whole thing. The friendship with Seth is put on hold for a long while. And then there is another plot that I kept waiting for it to get kickstarted.
Spoiler
The whole sister thing was the ultimate tease. We find about it early and it would have been *so* interesting if Gaia had had some healing on her abandonment issues through the relationship with her sister, in the actual book, and that would have helped her relationship with Jacob. Instead, she finds out almost at the 90% mark, there is no catharsis there in the plot, we don't get to see them together. But that's because of the sequel. That bothered me a lot. The book about Gaia ended with a teaser about her sister, and that was a disappointment, like, for this book to feel richer, I needed something to happen between them in this particular book. Instead it's just a tease.The sexy times also felt like a tease, but those are my expectations and my problem.
Another thing I liked was how Gaia's anxiety was rendered. And how being alone and feeling lonely and abandoned can turn into a vicious cycle. I relate to that. I just wish this book hadn't postponed all of the developments until late in the game.
cassiesnextchapter's review
3.0
3.5 Cute, some good laughs, and nice chemistry. The pacing was a little slow, and I just kept wanting more. I’ll still check out the next book though!
verovivaldi9's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
neishaduh_'s review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
blklitmagic's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jen286's review
1.0
I really wanted to like this book as I love the idea, but I couldn't get into it. I couldn't connect with the main characters and so it didn't work for me and I ended up DNF-ing it.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book.
Update: I did actually finish this one. Sometimes I can't sleep so I keep a couple of books I am not really enjoying around to read when that happens (so I don't get sucked into a story and stay up way too late). This was one of them and....yeah it didn't get any better. I have seen a lot of praise for this book, and I wanted to love it, but it wasn't good. The way it was written, the characters, everything was not great. They didn't read like real people, our main lady was so annoying by the end, the Gemma subplot didn't seem to be necessary? It was odd as I thought there would be a lot more to that, but by the end it felt almost like it was forgotten. The "best friend" was awful. He treated Gaia horribly. He knew of her issues and yet he still did lots of things that hurt her. And then we get a weak apology at the end and yeah. It didn't work for me. I still really like the idea, but the execution was really not good. Not the book for me for sure.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book.
Update: I did actually finish this one. Sometimes I can't sleep so I keep a couple of books I am not really enjoying around to read when that happens (so I don't get sucked into a story and stay up way too late). This was one of them and....yeah it didn't get any better. I have seen a lot of praise for this book, and I wanted to love it, but it wasn't good. The way it was written, the characters, everything was not great. They didn't read like real people, our main lady was so annoying by the end, the Gemma subplot didn't seem to be necessary? It was odd as I thought there would be a lot more to that, but by the end it felt almost like it was forgotten. The "best friend" was awful. He treated Gaia horribly. He knew of her issues and yet he still did lots of things that hurt her. And then we get a weak apology at the end and yeah. It didn't work for me. I still really like the idea, but the execution was really not good. Not the book for me for sure.
aprilalwayswithabook's review
3.0
I had to think on my review a bit, bc there were a lot of THINGS wrapped up in this "light" romcom. I think there was too much going on, honestly. I disliked the Gemma storyline all together, and I get that a line to another book was needed but it was not well woven and made no sense. I enjoyed the magical realism but also sometimes it was clunky. I liked both the MCs but parts of the story were far too fuzzy.
brandece1's review against another edition
3.0
So I really wanted to love this book and I just knew that I would, and while I did really enjoy it I have to say; I didn't know how to explain the premise of this book for so long. Once I got it together I enjoyed it, but it was not a love for me. I was excited to get the South Africa setting, but I don't feel like we got a lot of descriptions of the setting which was disappointing to me. I was also disappointed that the foster care rep was the negative side of foster care (as someone who hopes to foster some day I was really hoping for some positivity), but I get it for the storyline. I will say that this book was heavy with lots of trigger warnings, and I did love that the author let that be known before the book started. I enjoyed the fun and unique premise of this book, I liked the MC's enough, but they wont go down as my favorite (individually or as a couple), and I liked the side characters. I will say that I am curious to see how this series ends and I will pick up book two. After reading this book and seeing how book two is set up I feel like I will like that one much better.