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Dreamer

by Julia Alaric (Goodreads Author)

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 23 ratings · 6 reviews

Jonah considers himself the most boring person in existence. Even his dreams are boring; the most exciting dream he's ever had involved folding laundry. But then, in the middle of a dream about eating cereal, everything changes. A faint memory of an unseen visitor, impressions that vanish upon waking, become dreams that leave Jonah exhausted, afraid, and determined to figu...more

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Published August 2012 by Less Than Three Press LLC

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How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis

Best M/M Book by a Debut Author of 2012

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Aug 28, 2012 Cole Riann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: armchair-reviews, m-m, m-m-angels-demons-or-gods, m-m-fantasy, m-m-mythology

Review posted at The Armchair Reader.

Jonah is pretty boring, and his dreams are too. His best friend's dreams are always so interesting, but Jonah just dreams about things he does in real life -- like laundry, or eating cereal. Yet, even though he seems self-conscious, being rather nerdy and a 28 year old virgin, he's pretty honest with himself that he likes his life the way it is -- until a strange man shows up in his dreams… chasing him. The only thing is that Jonah isn't sure he wants to get...more Review posted at The Armchair Reader.

Jonah is pretty boring, and his dreams are too. His best friend's dreams are always so interesting, but Jonah just dreams about things he does in real life -- like laundry, or eating cereal. Yet, even though he seems self-conscious, being rather nerdy and a 28 year old virgin, he's pretty honest with himself that he likes his life the way it is -- until a strange man shows up in his dreams… chasing him. The only thing is that Jonah isn't sure he wants to get away.

This book was really a delight. Up front, though, there isn't a whole lot of tension in the story. There is certainly cause for it. The central relationship is definitely put to a fundamental test, right from the start, but there is little angst or conflict in the prose. The way they they spend their time makes for mostly a sweet story.

Jonah is a great character. We get to see someone who is entirely pragmatic faced with an impossibility. His pragmatism is actually the reason he's able to understand such an impossibility and later become more than he is, all through the power of his mind. That pragmatism is a rarity because Jonah is someone who is ultimately satisfied with what he has, and takes pleasure in his life. He doesn't need the fantastical from his subconscious mind because he's aware of himself.

Much of this book, the vast majority actually, I can't really talk about because the identity of Jonah's dream man is revealed only about a quarter through the book. The reveal is the only really big secret in the book and it should be kept, though it wasn't a big surprise. Still, I found that I liked and understood the way the fantasy elements were done and derived from mythology. I did wonder about Jonah's friends and family, who all took the information about the secret dream man much better than I expected.

In all, I would definitely recommend this story. All I can really say is that it was a sweet piece of escapism that was still quite smart and truly delightful to read. I couldn't put it down. Now, someone please go read this so I can actually talk about it with somebody! I think this is one of the shortest reviews I've ever written and it's all because there's stuff I can't talk about! Damn it all :((less)

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Jul 29, 2012 Mandy*reads obsessively* rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mandy*reads obsessively* by: Simsala -Vio-Calathea

Shelves: ebook-owned, m-m, paranormal, age-gap, geek-mc, fun-or-funny, sweet

3.5*
This story was much different than I imagined it would be, more of a flowing tale with lots of intricate world building than a mysterious suspenseful read I thought it was.
Jonah considers himself very ordinary, he's 28 and has never really dated ( 4 dates being his longest streak) but lately his dreams have been disturbing and aggravating but also arousing.
It seems Jonah isn't so ordinary after all.
(view spoiler)...more 3.5*
This story was much different than I imagined it would be, more of a flowing tale with lots of intricate world building than a mysterious suspenseful read I thought it was.
Jonah considers himself very ordinary, he's 28 and has never really dated ( 4 dates being his longest streak) but lately his dreams have been disturbing and aggravating but also arousing.
It seems Jonah isn't so ordinary after all.
(view spoiler)
The beginning dragged a bit for me and at times the story felt repetitive , of course considering the length, that's not surprising, but the dream world was descriptive and interesting. Considering how I thought this book would go, and the MC's being so different, I mean a mortal and a god...I expected a lot more angst or conflict or issues, I guess, but they were all handled pretty easily and there was little to no drama, not sure if I liked that, I think I would have preferred a bit more 'work' I guess for them. Although I normally hate angst and drama, this story needed a bit more IMO.
(view spoiler)
The sex was minimal and mostly off page , both MC's were interesting and enjoyable, it was fun to see a god out of his element.
I think I also would have liked the dreams at the beginning, before we really know what's going on to be in more detail, to really feel what Jonah is feeling, the ones later are more detailed, but I wish the first few had grabbed me more.
I'm not sure how the romance worked for me sure they loved each other, I was just never totally convinced it wasn't more of a 'fate' thing, since Jonah was 'one of a kind' for Morpheus and Jonah was pretty naive in the romance department.
All in all an enjoyable read.(less)

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Sep 11, 2012 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks-i-own, male-male-romance, paranormal-romance, read-2012, romance

Dreamer is a promising novel suffering from a lack of character development and, much more glaringly, a lack of research. You would think that a paranormal novel wouldn't require much research, but that's only true when the author doesn't try to explain paranormal phenomena with real world science. For instance, sleep and dreams are obviously important to this book. If the author had simply stated that Jonah dreams straight through the night, without trying to go into detail about his sleep cycl...more Dreamer is a promising novel suffering from a lack of character development and, much more glaringly, a lack of research. You would think that a paranormal novel wouldn't require much research, but that's only true when the author doesn't try to explain paranormal phenomena with real world science. For instance, sleep and dreams are obviously important to this book. If the author had simply stated that Jonah dreams straight through the night, without trying to go into detail about his sleep cycles, then I would have shrugged and taken it in stride as a piece of fantasy. But when the author tried to explain that Jonah is dreaming all night because he is constantly in REM sleep, and because REM is "the deepest sleep," Jonah is able to stay well rested, I had to call BS. Three minutes of research revealed that REM is actually the phase of sleep in which brain activity most resembles the waking state. The deepest stages are stage 3 and 4 of non-REM (NREM) sleep. One of these days, authors are going to discover Wikipedia and it's going to change the world. In the meantime, silly errors like this one will continue to weaken otherwise interesting books. But anyway, on to the rest of the story.

This book is about Jonah, an ordinary, slightly pudgy twenty-something with a boring life and even more boring dreams. Jonah is a very endearing character. I love how ordinary he is. I love that his apartment is always a mess, that his freezer is constantly stocked with frozen dinners and ice cream sandwiches, and that his body is not exactly svelte. Jonah is great. Jonah's love interest, about whom I can't reveal too much without spoiling a major plot element, is much less interesting. He's sexy and a bit winsome, but there isn't really much to him as a character. As a result, their romance lacks a certain spark. I found them rather boring as a couple.

Unfortunately, the best thing about this novel is the part about which I can't go into much detail without moving into spoiler territory. I will only say that the description of the Dreaming, and the details about the mechanics of dreams, are quite fascinating. The book starts a bit slow, but by about the 25% mark it gets very interesting as Jonah learns more about his own dreams and dreams in general. I loved this aspect of the book, and it definitely made it worth suffering through the frustrating parts. I'm always looking for stories that have little twists which make them feel fresh, and Dreamer definitely feels different. I just wish some of the other aspects of the book had been stronger.(less)

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Sep 01, 2012 Hearts On Fire Reviews added it

Reviewed by: Aggie
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Rated: 3 hearts

Check out the review at: Hearts On Fire Reviews

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Aug 07, 2012 Moniqee rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's a pretty weird story unlike what we watch ( the concept of dreams ) on TV but interesting enough to keep my attention span to the end.

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Aug 11, 2012 Lana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: genre-m-m-paranormal

An interesting take on mythology, I was a bit anxious about the dark figure in the dream but it's really sweet how the book ended.

like · see review

May 15, 2013 Amanda marked it as to-read

Shelves: mm-to-read, own

May 07, 2013 Ashlee added it · review of another edition

Apr 27, 2013 Bookbee marked it as wish-list

Shelves: hmmmm, p

Apr 21, 2013 Shannon marked it as maybe

Apr 20, 2013 Tru marked it as to-read

Apr 19, 2013 jules0623 marked it as to-read

Apr 19, 2013 Amanda is currently reading it

Apr 21, 2013 Anastasia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 10, 2013 Miika rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mar 26, 2013 Davina marked it as own-ebook

Mar 13, 2013 Secret marked it as to-read

Feb 04, 2013 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jan 27, 2013 Zarmeen Rashad marked it as to-read

Jan 24, 2013 Kerstin marked it as to-read

Shelves: ebook, m-m-romance, mine-to-read

Jan 24, 2013 Andrea marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-read-ebook

Jan 22, 2013 Noughty marked it as 2

Jan 21, 2013 Andra marked it as to-read

Jan 03, 2013 Kellie Dennis marked it as to-read

Shelves: my-books

Jan 07, 2013 Erin marked it as dnf

Dec 28, 2012 David marked it as to-read

Dec 27, 2012 Peggy marked it as to-read

Shelves: mm, paranormal

Dec 24, 2012 Shruti Bansode marked it as to-read

Dec 24, 2012 Governor Yahaya rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dec 22, 2012 Qi rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Julia Alaric

The discovery at age five of her mother’s typewriter lurking the bowels of her basement inspired Julia’s first story, a moving, multi-chaptered, twelve-sentence masterpiece about a blood-thirsty blob. Since then, she’s gone on to write many vastly better spelled stories with much happier endings.

Julia finds absolutely everything completely fascinating, which is why she spends most of her time in a...more

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