A Box of Dreams

Dream #1-5

by J.J. DiBenedetto

What if you could see everyone else’s dreams?

Sara Barnes has just discovered that she can. And this gift – or curse – will lead her on an extraordinary journey.

Follow Sara as her newfound ability leads her into adventures she never imagined. She will hunt down a serial killer, investigate a plot to murder one of her teachers, unravel a conspiracy between a mobster and a corrupt politician and face off against her a woman who shares her talent, but uses it to destroy lives rather than save them. And Sara will have to manage all that while finishing college, becoming a doctor and falling in love, too.

Here are the first five books of the Dream Doctor Mysteries, along with bonus material created especially for this collection. Included in this set are DREAM STUDENT, DREAM DOCTOR, DREAM CHILD, DREAM FAMILY and WAKING DREAM. In addition, you’ll find the short story BETTY & HOWARD’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE starring Sara’s parents. But most of all, when you open this box of dreams, you’ll find romance, suspense, humor and plenty of heart…

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Other Books By JJ
The Dream Doctor Mysteries (all ten books!)

Betty and Howard's Excellent Adventure

The Jane Barnaby Adventures (all three books to date!)

Mr. Smith and the Roach (coming soon!)

Finding Dori (Welcome to Romance)

1477 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2013

About the author

J.J. (James) DiBenedetto was born in Yonkers, New York. He attended Case Western Reserve university, where as his classmates can attest, he was a complete nerd. Very little has changed since then.

He currently lives in Arlington, Virginia with his beautiful wife and their cat (who has thoroughly trained them both). When he's not writing, James works in the direct marketing field, enjoys the opera, photography and the New York Giants, among other interests.

J.J. is the author of the Dream Doctor Mysteries, the Jane Barnaby Adventures and several other works.

Reviews

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle Copy for Review

This is the story of Sara Barnes where we first meet her at college while she studying for her undergraduate degree on towards her career as a doctor. We watch fall in love and have children along the way.

Sara learns in college that she can dream other people that she has met while in college but that ability can get her in trouble as she risks her life at times. Having the ability comes with responsibilities as she ends p solving cases of various degrees like serial murders, plots to kill people, a congressman being blackmail by a corrupt mobster and a woman who can
manipulate other dreams.

We watch her grow as her responsibilities are growing from being married in her early years at college and having her first born before she begin her internship. Life with her is busy without all the other distractions.

A compelling read as we watch them handle not only her dream powers but find out that their four year old daughter has the same ability and eventually her own mom. How much information do you tell the people around you and who can you really trust?

[Linzi Selby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this series to write a honest review.
I must admit it is not the usual genre I enjoy but I did enjoy this series.
The main character Sara goes through life exploring others dreams, with this she manages to make a difference to people lives!
I found the books descriptive enough to put you in them, the characters in the books are well thought out and realistic.
These books have all the things you look for in a book: love, suspense, fun, romance and good old fashioned real life dramas like fretting about exams etc
A great set of books well worth a read!!!

[Carl-hermann Freese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this was an intresting Idea, a simple loving family that tries to live a very normal life.. in spite of a paranormal issue that sporaticly intrudes. Very well done.

[Lenore Sagaskie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A copy of this box set was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. There are 5 books in the box set and 4 short stories. All the books and the stories (with the exception of one) are written from the point of view of Sara, the main character. I have decided to break the review down by book.

Book 1 – Dream Student
Sara is a pre-med student, a quite, bookish girl who is completely focused on completing her work and getting to medical school. While at college, she begins to have very vivid dreams. She dreams of a young man and she also begins to have some terrible nightmares—nightmares so awful they leave her distraught and shaken.
Sara soon meets her ‘dream guy’, Brian at a club and feels something like love at first sight. She soon realizes that that when she dreamed of him, she was somehow present in his dream. She continues to have nightmares that become more and more vivid. The nightmares are of a young girl being brutalized and then murdered. Sara then finds out that the girl in that nightmare was real, as was her death. Sara, aided by Beth (her dorm room-mate and best friend) and Brian (dream guy) are trying to discover who killed the young girl to prevent them from doing it again.
It found that it took a while for the story to build, but once it was, it moved at a good pace and the characters were well constructed and believable. Sara is a good girl and her loyal and devoted friend Beth is more of a wild child. I have to admit that the paranormal part of the books was what originally drew me to them, not the romance as I’m about as romantic as a two-by-four to the face. The romance is not over the top--Brian is the love interest and I found the relationship between Brian and Sara endearing and sweet.

Short Story – Girls on Film
This was a story of what Sara and Brian did during spring break while they were stuck on campus instead of being able to go on vacation to somewhere warm. The story is done as Sara shows pictures of her ‘vacation’ to Beth, who had a less than stellar vacation away.
This story was good in helping to show how Beth is a little insecure about her friendship with Sara. Beth is no longer rooming with Sara and worries they may drift apart. That process has started, at least in part as Beth no longer rooms with Sara and will be attending another learning institution.
This story shows the transition of a friendship and also shows the development of Sara and Brian’s relationship too before the next book.
It was a good story as a lead-in to Book 2.

Book 2 – Dream Doctor
After not having the dreams for a long time, Sara begins to have dreams the night before her wedding to Brian. Someone is dreaming about killing Dr Abraham Morris, one of the doctors that conducted her admissions interview into medical school.
Sara soon discovers that Dr. Morris is intensely disliked by faculty and students alike and the dreams she has suggest that more than one person dreams of killing him. While she is having these dreams and attending medical school, Dr. Morris is getting sicker everyday from a mysterious ailment.
This was a great mystery and another well written story. The primary characters are nicely developed and several new characters are introduced. It was a good mystery and a well crafted story. The epilogue definitely hooks the reader and leaves them anticipating the next one in the series!

Short Story – Doctor Moo
This story nicely bridged the time span between the epilogue and nicely showed her life transition as she applies to graduate from medical school and shows how life is continuing to change for Sara. I am anti-spoiler and it’s very hard to say too much here without spoiling the story.

Book 3 – Dream Child
The story continues four years later. Sara is doing her medical residency in Pediatrics. She has a daughter Lizzie, who is almost four years old, and also twin babies. The story begins with Sara, Lizzie and her mother-in-law, Helen going by train to Washington so Sara can attend a conference. On the train, they meet a woman and her son Billy, who Lizzie befriends. They soon discover that they are the family of Congressman Hanratty, a local politician who was recently elected to office. While Sara, Lizzie and Helen are staying at a hotel, Lizzie wakes Sara up to tell her about a dream she had about Billy. Sara soon realizes that her daughter is able to enter others dreams too. Sara also discovers that Billy’s father is being blackmailed which will put Billy and his mother in danger.
This book was very well crafted and held a few tricks and surprises. Sara continues her residency as a capable and caring pediatric doctor while being a devoted and exhausted mother and attempting to figure out who is blackmailing the congressman and why. During all this she has to teach her daughter how to cope with this unusual gift and prevent something terrible from happening. A lot of things happen in this book, but the author continued to keep a good pace with the action. There are some different characters developed in this story, but again they are believable and interesting. I very much enjoyed the surprise in the epilogue!

Short Story – Cleanliness is Next To Godliness
On Lizzie’s first day at school and Sara gets called down to the school. When Sara gets to the school she learns that Lizzie had chastised a school nurse for not washing her hands before she treated a classmate’s playground injury. It’s a cute transition story, nice, but I don’t think it needed to be in the collection.

Book 4 – Dream Family
Sara begins her first day in her new practice being arrested for prescription drug fraud. While Sara is in jail, she calls Paul Sorrentino, a shady mob character (introduced in Book 3) to help her get out of jail and clear her name. In return, she agrees to his terms of doing anything to help his young daughter Grace (also introduced in Book 3).
This book was multi-faceted. It shows Sara at her most vulnerable as she deals with the shame and humiliation of her experience in jail while trying to cope and move past her experience she is still having to deal with family life, establishing a new practice and helping her mother figure out what is wrong with her life-long friend Kate. Sara also wants to understand why Paul Sorrentino and his daughter Grace are having difficulties.
This was another beautifully crafted story. I found it poignant and touching. It had some very sad moments, but it was a wonderful example of how trauma can deeply affect a person and how life goes on regardless of what happens to you and now matter who you are, help from unexpected sources can aid in moving forward.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Short Story – Betty and Howard’s Excellent Adventure
This story starts between Book 4 and overlaps the beginning of Book 5. It features Sara’s parents Betty and Howard. The story is written as a letter to Betty’s friend Kate as Betty and Howard set off on adventure on an archaeological dig, the first vacation outside of America.
The story helps the story by showing why they will be away from Sara and her family over the Christmas holiday season. I found it an interesting way to showcase some important secondary characters and get to know them a bit better. I enjoyed learning more about them.

Book 5 – Waking Dream
Sara, Brian and their family which now includes Grace, newly adopted, move into their first home. Sara slips into a dream of Brian’s and sees a mysterious woman in a red dress and realizes that she there is someone else who can visit other people’s dreams. Sara find the dream woman intruding many of Brian’s dreams and also the dreams of Brian’s boss Adrian. She discovers that the woman may be extracting information from their dreams and may have nefarious purposes. Sara wants to find out who she is and why she is manipulating the people Brian works with.
Sara’s evolution is completed in this book. She becomes a character who not only knows what the right thing is, but will do the right thing regardless of how difficult it is to achieve. Sara also becomes more aware that not everyone is like her, that some people will make decisions that benefit themselves regardless of the consequences.
The plot in this book is the most elaborate of all in the series. The author crafted the plot and the story superbly. He has the ability to create subtle nuances in the story while keeping the suspense high right up to the unexpected ending.
This book was the finest in the series and it was a pleasure to read. The interplay between characters and the suspense filled mystery was well constructed and flawless.
I enjoyed reading The Box of Dreams very much and would recommend the set and the books to anyone who is a fan of paranormal mystery, suspense, romance and even young adult. I’m sure the next book, Dream Reunion which is to be released in 2014 will be another great story from a very talented author.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dream Student:
This book is one of the best plotted books I have ever read. The characters come to life as the author takes us through Sara's story, page by page. The main character discovers she can see into people's dreams, and she soon finds herself in a nightmare when she sees murders taking place. This, however, is just part of the story. The author does a wonderful job with character development, adding each new friend and acquaintance one by one to build up a huge cast of characters and small storylines to go along with the larger mystery. The heroine is easy to connect with, a very likable pre-med college student. This is the first of the series and even though each book can stand alone, I would suggest starting with this one and working your way through the others. There is so much to learn about each person and their life and the author does a fantastic job of incorporating everything into the storyline and making it all come together smoothly in the end. This first book builds up to a thrilling ending, and I am sure you will want to go right to the next book as soon as you finish this one.
Dream Doctor:
This second installment of the Dreams series is a wonderful continuation of the story of Sara and Brian's life. This picks up soon after the first book and very much like the first book, the couple is in deep in their studies, in student life. Only this time, Sara is in med school and studying and going to class, which takes up most of her waking time. But when she isn't awake, she is back to dreaming and she has a new mystery to solve--who is trying to kill her professor? Everyone seems to hate him, so it could be anyone. This mystery is in the background throughout this book. What seems to be in the forefront is the personal life of Sara and the friendships she makes, the hardships of being a med student and a newlywed. The author does such a fantastic job of character development, leading us into the lives of Sara and her friends and family. This book was a joy to read. There is a little bit of everything in here: humor, mystery, and romance. You don't need to read the first book to understand this one, but I think you would get more out of the story if you did. Plus, I just think the set of these books is better read together, in order. Enjoy!
Dream Child:
This third book in the Dreams series seems to take a little different turn. Sara and Brian have children and the responsibilities of parenthood. Lizzie, their smart little girl, has ended up with Sara's gift of dreams and has her own mystery to solve when she runs into a congressman's son on the train and starts to have dreams of some kind of cover up. Sara and Brian are there to do what they can to help her solve the mystery and track down the clues. This storyline has a lot more mystery in it, which is what I really enjoyed in this book. There were a lot of characters to track down and investigate, but in the end, the little family find the answers they are looking for. The end culminates with Sara in a controntation that is one of the best scenes in the entire book and shows us what a strong character she is. Yes, you can read this book by itself, but I think it would be better to read the other two first to get more background on the main characters and get a feel for their lives.
Dream Family:
This fourth book takes a turn in a different direction than the others. Sara is just beginning her career in her pediatric practice when things go completely wrong. She is arrested, wrongly acused of something she did not do. Still, she is locked up and the expereince changes her, making her see the world differently and question herself. Sara has to face these challenges to come out on the other side or she may just crumble and lose everything she has worked so hard for all these years. This book moves very fast, you see an entirely new side to Sara and see the depth of the character that the author has created. There is also a background story that sneaks up on you and steals the thunder at the end of the book, something I did not see coming. This book is so full of emotion--have your tissues ready as Sara struggles through this dark chapter in her life. You don't want to miss this book! Like the others, you don't need to read the others to understand this book, but I strongly suggest you do. It just adds to the background of the characters and build up of the wonderful finale of the ending.
Waking Dream:
If you have read the other books in this series, you know the whole background of Sara and her family. Sara has the talent of "walking" into people's dreams. In this fifth book, she and her husband Brian are now new homeowners with 4 kids and a dog and all of the stressors that go with all of their hectic schedules. What really throws them for a loop is when Sara is in one of Brian's dreams and finds another dreamwalker, a woman in a red dress with her own devious intentions. Sara decides to find what this other dreamer is up to and realizes that whatever happens in the dreamworld actually happens in real life; dreamwalking can turn deadly. With this new dangerous twist added to the story, along with the fact that someone is trying to steal the secret details of the project he has with the Department of Defence, this book has more of a thriller/mystery/danger feel to it than the others. DiBenedetto still does a wonderful job of weaving in a little romance and touching family scenes, especially when it comes to their adopted daughter, Grace, who is quickly turning into a teenager. As with all of the other books, this one has no profanity and light romantic scenes; it would be a great read for all ages, preteen through adults. This is one of my favorite of the series. The action never stops until you hit the final page.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books make me think of Agatha Christie books with the mystery that is solved in each one, but with a paranormal twist that has the main character Sara capable of seeing the dreams of anyone she has ever met. As a whole I thought it was a great series.

The first three books are fairly similar with Sara seeing dreams that she uses to solve a mystery and help someone with the help of her boyfriend (later her husband) Brian. In the third book she has some help and isn't the only one in her family seeing dreams. The fourth book was an extremely emotional installment in the series. I can't imagine how horrible such a situation would be in real life. The fifth and final book in this set opens the possibility that other families have this inherited trait that allows Sara and her maternal family members to see the dreams of the people they meet.

The plots are interesting and unique. The books are well written. I love the rock-solid relationship between Sara and Brian. The author does a great job of keeping a distinction between the dress and what is actually happening to the characters so there is no confusion. I would strongly recommend the series to anyone that loves a good mystery.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely an easy read that kept me entertained. Every time I finished one book I thought there is no way I can keep goin, but then the next one turns out totally different and I just had to keep going until I read them all.

[Boneist · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this - I read book 1 first (it was free), and liked it enough to buy the omnibus of the first 5 books. The stories are a little simplistic, and the characters are a little too perfect (even the breakdowns are too perfect) and unrealistic, but on the whole, they are engaging, and don't require much brainpower.

They were perfect reads for when I was ill with a bad cold!

[Carla Mcfadden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only barely made it through the first book.. This book is really slow to me.