Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Amber Quill Press
Release Date: November 2003
ISBN: 1592798861
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Paperback
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Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense [California & Texas] 
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde
Reviewer Notes:  Some sex
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Dreams
By Catherine Snodgrass

     It is always encouraging to find an author who is prepared to resurrect a long-dormant genre, and Catherine Snodgrass has written a real gothic novel. If, like this reviewer, you once thrilled to the works of Victoria Holt and Virginia Coffman, you will enjoy this tale of romantic suspense.

     Jenny Matley has no idea that she even has a father until she sees a man on television appealing for his long-lost daughter, and there is a picture of her as a child. Something terrible happened the night that she and her mother fled from her father's home twenty-seven years ago and now dreams haunt her. She is reunited, too, with her childhood friend Jared Russell, who is now a widower with six children as well as being drop-dead gorgeous. But no sooner has she arrived back at her father's house when it becomes clear that somebody is trying to kill her, and too many people don't want her to remember what happened on the night that Uncle Frank fall from the balcony.

     This has all the trappings of an enjoyable modern gothic novel. A young woman in jeopardy, a handsome but bereaved man with children who need a mother's love, large mansions, lots of money to inherit, frightening dreams and a sinister, stalking murderer at large.

     There is more romance than suspense though, with childless Jenny mothering the six children and falling in love with Jared while the gothic part of the tale takes a back seat. This caused it to lose momentum somewhat, but then the story's darker side crept back and it was gothic all the way to the end. This did make the whole seem a little disjointed, but also appealing to fans of both the romantic and the gothic. The protagonists were sympathetic and modern people and I didn't guess all the secrets; I was left wanting to read another novel by this author and if you are a fan of this type of tale, so will you.