Dream ManWild Rose Press
Nancy Parra
$6.75
(304 pages) Spicy
A NO NONSENSE WOMAN…
Dr. Eva Stanford only wants to help her patient sleep through the night. Little does she know that the old woman holds the secret to a thirty-year-old mystery that threatened the political life of a presidential candidate and Eva’s own family.
A MAN WITH A DREAM…
FBI Agent Nate Cancaid has a reoccurring dream of a woman with dark hair and blue eyes whose murder he is unable to prevent. When the blue-eyed doctor enters his office, he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
A MYSTERY THAT TRANSCENDS TIME…
It’s bad enough when Eva’s patient claims that Eva and Nate are her married assistants, but coincidences grow too complicated for her scientific mind when some of the clues come straight out of Nate’s dreams. Can Eva keep from losing her heart to a man of intuition or has fate already dealt her a losing hand?
EXCERPT:
Nate thought about how beautiful Eva was...
How soft, how she held him close and tore him apart bit by bit. But she never promised him anything. That simple truth was hard to swallow. He was the one who pursued her. He was the one who pushed her into his bed. All she did was ask him to help her client.
It was no wonder she came at him like she did this morning. In her mind, the sex was good, but that was all they had. He pounded the pavement beneath him and scowled. No, it was more than that and he knew it. Nate swore she knew it too. They could pretend otherwise, but it didn’t make it any less real. It complicated things. She was hip deep in this damned mystery and he felt fate closing in around him.
Fate was a tricky thing. Sometimes free will wasn’t strong enough to combat it.
How the hell was he going to keep her safe? She didn’t want him around her twenty-four-seven. And yet that was what he needed to do if he was going to keep the dream from coming true. Speeding up, Nate turned a corner and headed home. He was certain of one thing. He shouldn’t have let Eva go to the clinic alone.
Available to buy in paperback or e-book format: Dream Man
My Thoughts:
I’ve read and enjoyed other books written by Nancy Parra. Dream Man wasn’t all what I expected it to be. I expected a contemporary romance. What I got was a tightly written, very entertaining, suspense. I made the mistake of opening it just to see the opening scene before I went to bed. It grabbed me and didn’t let go. I read a fourth of it before my eyes simply would not stay open. I read the rest the next day in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down. Nancy has a way of developing interesting characters and this was the first real suspense of hers I had read. I had no idea she could write such a gripping story.
This is well written suspense involves politics, love, and an unsolved, thirty-year-old cold case. While I won't give away any spoilers, I will say the premise of using dreams is fascination and current.
The story begins with a mystery. An older woman has been sleepwalking and brought to the sleep Clinic for help. Mrs. Patterson, who during the day, is an innocent and sweet grandma, but during her deepest sleep cycle and becomes someone totally different for an hour or two. Further more, she claims to be someone who has been dead for thirty years. How is that possible? This is the riddle facing Dr. Eva Sanford.
Eva can’t make up her mind whether her patient is a multiple personality or is it an elaborate charade. If it’s the truth, then it’s a very dangerous one. Eva’s family is well connected politically and Eva is well acquainted with that world. She knows that this secret can bring down a presidential candidate. A candidate with connections who will do whatever it takes to see their *boy* as the President of The United States, and if it’s the truth, already has several dead bodies hidden. If Eva pursues this, she knows that not only is life of her patient, Mrs. Patterson, in danger, but so is Eva’s.
Eva contacts Nate Cancaid, an FBI agent specializing in solving cold cases. He’s a very much “just the facts ma’am” man who doesn’t believe in anything woo-woo—except he’s had a reoccurring dream every night and at the same time, for years. Coincidence or Fate?
Nate reluctantly meets with Mrs. Patterson’s alter ego and is unnerved when she recognizes him. How is that possible? He’s never met her before. He’s convinced it’s some sort of sophisticated hoax, because the truth isn’t possible, or is it?
What I enjoyed about Dream Man is as each piece of the puzzle falls into place the tension tightens and danger stalks Eva and Nate. My background is in psych and the dialog is realistic. You know Eva is a doctor from the way she speaks. She uses current terminology, as does Nate.
Both have issues and internal conflicts that both have to work through for their relationship to succeed. Eva swears she’ll never marry and doesn’t believe in happy ever after—she’s never seen it in her world where marriages are bartered for the good of the political party. Love has nothing to do with it.
Nate, due to his reoccurring dream, has sworn off blue-eyed brunettes for fear she’ll die if he marries one. Yet he recognizes Eva as the one for him. Externally conflicts come from someone who will do anything to keep the secret behind the thirty-year-old cold case buried. It’s a race against time.
Dream Man was a joy to read and I have to say, kept me on my toes right up to the denouement.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Nancy J. Parra holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism but turned to writing fiction when she discovered it was more fun to interview the people in her head. She lives in the Midwest with her wonderful husband. Since her two, almost-perfect children have left the nest; Nancy now fills her free time nurturing a mutt named George Bernard, and a bichon-poo, named Gracie Lou.
Nancy is currently hard at work on her next book. She loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at her website http://www.nancyjparra.com/.
