I have to say a big “Wow” to Victoria Valentine’s book Love Dreams.  The book starts out with a pretty steamy dream sequence and as a reader we might say, “oh this kind of book!”

But then the story line just sizzles from there, with or without the sex.  The characters come across with such force we can’t help but identify with them, in a good way or bad.  The heroine is someone who, for me, grew as a character.  I was not fond of her personality or choices early on, but she became much stronger as the novel went on.  I migrated from wanting to slap her to wanting to hug her.

As for the male characters, Michael is so endearing.  He is not always a sweet guy, given his limitations, but he is someone we can sympathize with and later on in the story, empathize with.  As for Trainer, the other male character, he was someone I disliked from the beginning, maybe because I was pulling for Sienna and Michael and my heart overrode my mind.  It seems that Trainer is really a pretty normal guy, competing for the heart of a woman, no differently than anyone else would.  Like a rollercoaster ride, this book is an up and down array of emotions.  We feel sure the ending will be what we want, and yet...as we traverse the story we become not so sure.  The mystery is nicely mixed with the romance and creates several levels of enjoyment.

The novel has exceptional pace and this novelist gives us such vivid description that we feel we are there in the story.  We visualize the characters and the settings, and the dialogue is snappy and engaging.

It is page turner, and kept me immersed in its velocity from page 1 until the very last word.

I highly recommend this read.  Victoria Valentine never fails to touch our hearts with her writing, whether it be a poem, a short story or as in this case, a novel.

jacob erin-cilberto

(author of “an Abstract Waltz”)

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9/17/2011