But it's not surprising that when Sarah starts dreaming about a handsome stranger, she begins to look forward to falling asleep every night. Reality isn't nearly as exciting. That is until her dream-stranger makes an unexpected real-life appearance, leaving Sarah questioning everything she thought she wanted.
Because no one ever really finds the person of their dreams... do they?"
Rating: 4.5/5
Available to buy now.
Amazingly, this is already Giovanna's third novel - those 3 years have gone so quickly! I loved her first two, so was really pleased when I got a copy of her latest book Dream a Little Dream on Netgalley to review - I just knew I was going to enjoy it! The cover, too, is beautiful, drawing you in with its pretty colours, and the synopsis made me very curious too! I love Giovanna's writing, so I eagerly sat down one evening with my kindle and devoured half the book, and spent the next night finishing it off - what a wonderful story!
Giovanna's characters are what makes her books so brilliant, and that is definitely the case for this story. The main character of Sarah was one that I liked straight away. She works hard at her job as a PA despite the fact her boss is a bit of a pig, and doesn't seem to recognise her want for promotion, and how she is willing to work for it. She begins to have dreams about someone she used to barely know, years ago, and when he makes a shocking appearance in her real life, she can't cope, unable to differentiate between dream Brett and real Brett! Sarah's narrative is very readable, getting straight into her mind, and getting her true feelings on everything from Brett to her job to her dismal relationship with her mother.
Sarah was a really kind-hearted and loving person, and I couldn't help but feel that she was a bit of a walkover, especially when it comes to her boss! She really needed to grow a backbone and stand up for herself, but I understood it just wasn't in her nature, much like it isn't in mine! I enjoyed reading her growing in confidence throughout the book, standing up for herself, especially to her mother, and her boss. She has some great friends too, although I felt for how she was internally struggling with her ex boyfriend still being part of their gang, and having his new engagement rubbed in her face, albeit intentionally. In fact, this was a very interesting part of the book for me, how Ben and Sarah managed to stay friends, well acquaintances, after their split and continued to see each other socially, not something you see very often! Each of the group of friends were great characters to read about, none of them were there for no reason, they each had a purpose for the story, and I loved reading their stories, and how their lives were intertwined.
The dreams part of the book was very interesting! The chapters often started with one of Sarah's dreams, always a bit random and off the wall, but that's dreams for you. She gets up to quite a lot in these dreams, especially with Dream Brett, so I understood her total mortification when she comes across him in her real life too, even though he of course has no idea what she's been dreaming about! I always read that our dreams are our subconscious giving us a message in some way, and that certainly rings true for this book - it definitely made me think, and I'll be analysing my dreams from now on! I also liked that Giovanna writes Dream Brett to be very different from real Brett, ending up in a very confused Sarah in parts, it led to some very funny moments, and Sarah being rather confused! The relationship between the pair just felt very natural, growing slowly from strangers to friends, and closer as the book progresses.
This book was a joy to read from start to finish - it had everything I love in a book - romance, laughs, love and great characters that I can care about and want to read more about too. As well as the main part of the story which was Sarah's dreams and her growing friendship with Brett (real, not dream!), the book also covers some very sensitive topics and I was pleased by how well Giovanna handled these issues, with real care and compassion, she put across the right level of sensitivity and emotion which made it all the more wonderful to read for me. More pleasing is the fact that these characters will be back later this year in Giovanna's new eBook short story Dream a Little Christmas Dream - yay! I'm so pleased that she is bringing them back and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sarah, Brett and co! As I said, this is Giovanna's third book and feel she is totally in her stride with her writing now, and gets stronger with each book - I can't wait for the next one! I can highly recommend Dream a Little Dream, a wonderful read.
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