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I’ll let romance writers in on a secret – I’m a sucker for a hero with a sad and lonely childhood. Dylan Stonehouse was raised by a stern grandfather who believed emotional displays were a sign of weakness. So how could I resist rooting for him? While it’s not without flaws, A Wish and a Dream is a fun book, and paranormal fans will likely enjoy it.
Dylan’s former fiancee is about to marry his business rival, which could result in Dylan’s losing control of his family’s company. Usually conventional, he responds by getting drunk in the attic. He finds a painting of a lovely woman – the painting he used to talk to when he was young. Magically, the woman emerges from the painting. She is Seraphina, half-pixie and half-human, and she was trapped in the painting by her brother. Seraphina offers Dylan the standard three wishes. The rational Dylan refuses to accept what he has just seen. He wastes his first wish by asking for a lemon pie. His second wish is that he and Constance make the marriage they had initially planned.
The next morning Dylan gets his lemon pie, and Constance’s wedding is postponed. Despite what has happened, Dylan still doesn’t believe Seraphina – she must be a liar or nuts. He lets her stay at his family’s guest house while he has her investigated. It’s only when Seraphina’s mother appears and starts making items move by themselves that Dylan realizes Seraphina really is what she claims to be. Dylan begins to question so many things he had taken for granted and decides to control his own destiny; no longer will his grandfather run his life for him. So, does he really want to marry Constance or is he marrying her out of familial obligation? After all, he’s falling in love with Seraphina.
Seraphina and Dylan were both enjoyable characters. Because she had a human father, Seraphina was part of two worlds. She was carefree, like the pixies. But while the other pixies made things happen for the fun of it, Seraphina could see the consequences of her actions. She could also feel strong emotions such as love. As for Dylan, he never learned about love. His carefree parents died, leaving him with a grandfather who taught him only about business and success. While I sympathized with Dylan from the start, I wish more attention had been given to Dylan’s business activities. When I finally saw him in action, trying to protect his family’s employees, I got a better idea of his strengths.
Constance isn’t the typical other woman. Like Dylan, she has been doing what was expected of her by marrying someone suitable. Dylan’s grandfather is practical and humorless, but he actually was revealed to have a human side. Unfortunately, the author didn’t show this soon enough. And, some of the other secondary characters, unfortunately, were cliches. Constance’s fiance, for instance, was greedy, and out to grab control of the company – I never knew what Constance saw in him.
The magical element was well integrated into the story. On one level, it added humor. By manipulating luck, Seraphina created comedic, and sometimes slapstick, situations. She also had to keep up her energy by eating lots of junk food – a rarity in romance! On another level, the magic reflected the emotional theme of the story. The pixies were much like Dylan’s parents, fun-loving yet immature – sometimes too immature for my tastes. Seraphina’s mother thought nothing of it when her son trapped people in paintings and left them there for decades. Perhaps the author was trying to demonstrate the need to balance our pleasure-loving side with our responsible side.
Near the end, the comedic elements of the book were a little overshadowed by the plot twists. Still, I had a lot of fun reading this book. Seraphina is just what Dylan needed to bring fun back into his life.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 17/11/98
Publication Date: 1998
I buy too many books, too many weird heavy metal albums, and too many pulp novel reprints.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.