Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Avon Books (HarperCollins)
Release Date: November 2003
ISBN: 038077352X
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Paperback
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Genre:   Historical Romance [1820s London and various]
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde
Reviewer Notes:  Some Sex
Copyright MyShelf.com

Dreaming of You
By Lisa Kleypas


      This is the sequel to Then Came You (also reviewed on this site) and features the romantic adventures of Derek Craven, the cockney whose origins may have been the gutter, but whose vast wealth and fabled gambling palace makes him the envy of royalty. After Lily Lawson’s marriage to Lord Raiford, Derek thinks that the only woman he has ever loved is lost to him and thus he embarks on a series of shallow affaires. But genteel country mouse Sara Fielding is about to come into his life, save it and turn it upside down. The authoress of the hugely popular novel Mathilda, she is researching a new book about gamblers and has come to his gambling house for research. Somehow nothing will ever be the same again, although it certainly isn’t going to be all plain sailing. For starters, she is already engaged, and what will Lady Ashby do when she hears about Derek’s latest love?

      Just like Then Came You, this is another well-plotted Regency romance that manages to avoid falling into many of the clichéd pitfalls of other similar novels. For one thing, there is no contrived misunderstanding to separate the protagonists for several chapters, which makes a nice change. This is less humorous than the earlier book, but is still absorbing and imaginative; the character of Derek is sufficiently interesting to make a good hero, even as Sara is rather more predictable, though realistic enough for what she is. So once again Kleypas has delivered the goods, and the fact that this has stood the test of time since its original publication in 1993 shows that this is a cut above the average, although personally I thought that Then Came You had the edge, being like a cross between P G Wodehouse and Georgette Heyer, which is surely what many Regency authors aspire to but seldom manage. I’ll certainly be adding Lisa Kleypas to my wishlist.