My Rating: 3.5 stars
This is a book that left me conflicted and struggling for
quite some time trying to sort out how I felt about the story and its
characters. When I read the summary and understood the premise of the
story would be about a woman who repeatedly sees the same man in her dreams and
then upon meeting him in real life, she finds out he sees her in his dreams as
well, the first thought that popped into my head was that this would perhaps be
yet another love story involving time-travel. I’ve actually read a few
time-travel related romances the past few years and my reaction to them has
been mostly mixed – some I enjoyed immensely while others I really struggled
through…so going into this, I had a certain expectation of what this book would
be like. Well, it turns out I was
wrong, as this book actually had nothing at all to do with time travel –
rather, this was a uniquely original love story about fate and coincidence and
the complexities of relationships, with their constant ups-and-downs.
I found the premise interesting, however the story actually
didn’t grab me right away – in fact, if I’m being honest, I don’t think the
story really resonated much with me at all. While I appreciate the way the author, Colleen
Oakley, wrote her characters in a way that made them feel genuine – and overall
I did like the characters for the most part – I never felt truly connected with
them. I’m not sure if it has to do with
where I am in my life currently or perhaps I just don’t read enough in this
particular genre, but I didn’t seem to feel the emotional connection to this
story that many other readers did. I
didn’t cry or feel heartbroken during the parts where I think that type of
reaction would’ve been expected – instead, I was annoyed more than I was moved,
mostly with the character of Mia, and later, with the direction that the story,
specifically the plot, eventually took.
Writing-wise, I didn’t have much of a problem with this
one, as the writing flowed well, though I do have to say that the strongest parts
of the book, for me at least, were the ones not narrated by Mia. I enjoyed those chapters more because it gave
me a chance to see those characters on their own rather than through the lens
of Mia’s limited (and flawed) perspective.
I also appreciated the way those chapters – and what we learn of the
characters from those chapters – eventually tied back into the plot. Though with that said, I have to agree with
some of the other readers who indicated in their reviews that they felt the second
half of the book was not as strong, and the ending especially seemed a bit
contrived and forced. I think for me,
what kept me reading more than anything else was curiosity and wanting to know
what this whole thing with Mia dreaming about a stranger she’s never met before
only to discover that stranger had been dreaming about her too, was actually
about and how the author would resolve the story.
Overall, I feel this was a decent read, one I did enjoy
while I was reading it, but not a story that will stay with me. I think the best approach with this book is to
go into it without any expectations or preconceived notions – instead, let the
story unfold whichever way it ends up doing and see where it takes you. In retrospect, I think I would’ve enjoyed
this one more if I had taken that approach from the beginning.
Received ARC from Berkley (Penguin Publishing) via
Edelweiss.
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