Wildest Dreams

Fantasyland #1

by Kristen Ashley, Tillie Hooper (Narrator)

18 hrs 49 mins

Seoafin "Finnie" Wilde was taught by her parents that life was meant to be lived, every breath was a treasure and to seek every adventure she could find. And she learns this lesson the hard way when they perish in a plane crash when she's fifteen. But she never forgets and when she discovers there is a parallel universe where every person has a twin, she finds a witch who can send her there so she can see her parents again and have the adventure of a lifetime.

But nearly upon arrival in the Winter Wonderland of Lunwyn, she realizes she's been played by her twin of the alternate universe and shortly finds herself walking down the aisle to be wed to The Drakkar.

Instantly thrown into inauspicious circumstances, with years of practice (she did, of course, survive that elephant stampede, if she could do that, she can do anything), Finnie bests the challenges and digs into her adventure. But as Frey Drakkar discovers the woman who is his new wife is not Princess Sjofn, a woman he dislikes (intensely) but instead, his Finnie, a free-spirit with a thirst for venture just like him (not to mention she is his destiny), without her knowledge he orders his new bride bound to his frozen world, everlasting.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance, Magic, Dragons

19 pages, Audible Audio

First published August 15, 2011

About the author

Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorise and she hadn't taken her first breath!).

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

Reviews

[Lauren (Shakespeare & Whisky) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is actually a decent book if you don't mind causal homophobia and accidental sexism.



Personally, I fucking hated it.



Leaving aside the derivative, unoriginal title and world (Fantasyland are you fucking kidding me?), and the TSTL MC lets talk about the big elephant in the room.

Drakkar

The male love interest. He is a bossy, controlling asshole who constantly pins the MC down and won't let her move, interrupts her and makes major life decisions on her behalf.

To the girls that think this is hot- have you ever been in a relationship where you are continuously over-powered and interrupted? It isn't hot, it isn't sweet, and it isn't cute how "protective" he is. It is suffocating and fucked up. It genuinely concerns me that young girls are reading these sort of books and swooning. Tell me how much your swooning when you're in a huddled in refuge, terrified and broke, ladies.

Why can't he be normal? Why the fuck do hyper sexualised, hyper masculine men have to be the norm in this genre?

He threatens her with sexual violence multiple times before telling her it's against the law. He throws her around and pins her down. That sort of play- when consensual is fine but it isn't. She is actually scared of him.

What stupid fucktard books like this teach girls is that if they feel frightened of a love interest that is arousing instead of a very clear indication that the girl should gtfo of the relationship.

They have a fight over him sleeping with another girl and in a fit of immaturity he gets revenge by telling the MC he is going to go fuck the other girl. Then the MIL tells MC she should offer him incentive not to cheat by giving him the best sex she can… ffs..

He makes a permeant and life changing decision for the MC without even fucking telling her but its ok cause they are soulmates… ffs.

His, and frankly the author's, disturbing attitudes towards homosexuality are also completely normalised. The causal disgust and despair about girls who "waste" their beauty by being gay- only fat, ugly chicks can be dykes k? ;)… actually made me angry and a little ill.

It also seemed to have this weird pro-life underpinning as well.

To put it shortly:



And Drakkar… you're a cunt.

Recommended for: Abso-fucking-lutely nobody.

[Christine Wallflower & Dark Romance Junkie]

I know you're judging me lol!


What the hell is wrong with this woman??? I really don't know lol!

DNF @ 25% No Rating

Once again, I don't like a book that everyone else loves. I feel so inadequate. It's really a matter of personal preference. To be quite honest I'm full of shit, I don't like certain characteristics in the books I read.

In this book there were two:
1. Information overload, I don't want to know what colour the dot on the carpet is. I don't want to know what the heroine made for supper and how awesome it was.
Eg. I was wearing ice blue too. An ice blue velvet gown that had this kick freaking ass sheen at the tip of the pile that looked iridescent white, like the shimmer on top of new snow. The neckline was square, had thick, braided embroidery around the edge and it shoved my breasts up so I was giving some serious cleavage. The sleeves of the dress hugged my body from shoulder to wrist, a sharp point of embroidered-edged material coming down my hand that hooked at the end around my middle finger.





2. The heroine talked way too much.
Eg. Elves!
Oh my God!
How cool this world had elves!
I looked back at Frey and whispered, "How cool!"


At this point, I figured it was time to bring out the white flag, and call it a day!

[Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

4.5 stars

BR with my peeps at: Buddies Books and Baubles

Specifically: Robin (Bridge Four) , Stephanie, and Chrissy. ALSO, it's all my fault. *preens*

SO. If we're Goodreads friends, you probably already know this (if we're not, you soon will): I LOVE Kristen Ashley.

LOVE her.

About three years ago I stumbled across one of her books on Amazon, one-clicked it, read it, and then . . . read every, single one of her other 40(ish) books, back-to-back. It took about a month, but I did it.

Yes. I did. B/c MANIAC. #cantstopwontstop

There are two reasons why this is the first KA review I'm posting:

1. I'm OCD, so even though I've read several of her paranormal books since joining Rabid Reads, I've read them out of order, and thus they must wait.

2. KA writes a lot of romantic suspense, and as awesome as it is, no paranormal elements, so no RR review. *shrugs*

But don't be mislead by my previous lack of SQUEE on the KA front, b/c trust me, it's there.

Finnie Wilde is an adrenaline junkie.

She comes by it honestly, being the daughter of two adrenaline junkies, but as fun as that sounds, it's actually quite sad. Finnie is essentially an orphan, having lost both mother and father to said adrenaline junkie-ness when she was twelve, so she jumps out of airplanes in an attempt to feel closer to her long-departed parents.

When she learns about an parallel universe populated by alternate versions of ourselves, she enlists the help of a witch to contact Alternate Finnie, who is more than eager to arrange a temporary body swap.

Real World Finnie is ecstatic, b/c Alternate Finnie's parents are very much ALIVE, so against the admonishments and skepticism of her friends, RW Finnie pays Witch an exorbitant fee to perform the swap of her and Alternate Finnie's consciousnesses.

Meet Frey Drakker:

*swoons*

One of the most powerful and feared men in the realm, he has agreed to marry to Alternate Finnie to secure an alliance with her father, a significantly less powerful (b/c Frey is just that badass and important), but still powerful king.

BUT.

He is not happy about it.

Alternate Finnie is as beautiful as her RW counterpart, but that is where the similarities end.

Alternate Finnie feels constrained by the limitations of her world. She is tomboyish in a reality where a good and proper princess does not favor hunting and archery over more "womanly" pursuits, or *gasp* prefer the company of women to men *waggles eyebrows* (something she admitted to Frey after imbibing too much wine during their betrothal negotiations).

But Alternate Finnie is as pragmatic a choice as any, and Frey has never considered marrying for any reason beyond necessity, so . . . the marriage is arranged.

Which brings us to the circumstances Finnie finds herself in--post swap--in a FANTASYLAND version of our reality filled with magic, and herself a princess about to be wed to a man she has never met.

Yes, really.

Sound a little far-fetched to you? A little uh-huh, sure, whatever you say, boss?

I'm inclined to agree.

BUT.

If you're unfamiliar with KA, you don't know this yet, but KA can do things that others cannot do. To KA an outlandish/ridiculously far-fetched scenario is a playground. To KA women who make choices that would be questionable in any other context are instead quirky and fantastic. To KA brutish and extreme examples of alphaholes are sex on a stick.

It's baffling.

And WONDERFUL.

You should read it. *nods emphatically*

It is worth noting that the only reason this is a 4.5 and not 5.0 star read is an excessive use of the term "cool" in the beginning of the book. I am not grading it on a lesser scale b/c indie. It's really that good. That being said, Kristen Ashley is not for everyone. If you do not enjoy supremely Alpha-type males (similar to those you find in Kresley Cole's IMMORTALS AFTER DARK series, then I'd skip these).

However . . . if you do enjoy that kind of character, I encourage you to exercise your ability to one-click, b/c despite KA's extreme popularity, her books are still downright cheap, so even if you don't love it like I do, you won't break the bank over that discovery. It's a basic cost vs. (potential) benefit scenario, people! Check it out!
 

[Bibi · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ Chapter 10

I skimmed, I skipped, I jumped. Imagine my surprise when after the skims-skips-jumps, I saw "Chapter 10". What? That's it? Ho boy!

I freaking lost it.
Awesome, it wasn't.

Really, it was really not cool. Freaking un-awesome/un-cool/un-whatever.

Chapter 10 of 32?
And then, I said, "Bibi, you must not do a DNF"
And I said, "Bibi, what will people think? And what about Finnie's clothes? The ice-blue gown with the bell sleeves? Then, the cloak- picked for its warmness(?)- and all the platinum threads and silver this and dark wood that? Huh? Surely, you can take more?

Eek. Whelps. Ho boy. Oh God. Squeeeee (Okay, that last one is all me). The point being, I need to take a step away from this book lest I gouge out my eyes.

Finnie, at 30, had the speech pattern of a 12-year-old. Frey, the H, was sterile, devoid of any gravitas (beyond his hunk-ness status). Don't misunderstand, the story and plot were exciting and different. Finnie pays a million dollars to magically teleport from present day to medieval times, hoping to connect with her long-deceased parents. This medieval world ran parallel to hers, more than this, there lived another version of her in said world.
Teleport, switch places, stay for a year, afterwards, beam-me-up-Scottie, back to the present she goes. Except, in the other world, circumstances are not as expected. Sounds freaking cool, right? Yes, one would think so.

Until it wasn't.

The author's use of the basest most simplistic vocabulary turned a really interesting plot into a prosaic, sophomoric story. Meanwhile, I understand this book is 500+(dear lawd) pages long... I imagine half of that can be done away with had the editors done their job. To fill a book with colloquial and idiomatic phrases etc is vexing to this reader.

Could this be the reason KA is such a prolific writer? Pick 20 words, switch them up, repeat at close intervals, then BAM, 100,000 words done and published? Huh? There it goes......my last nerve.


One last thing, here's a quick survey of the most repeated words and phrases.

1. Then: got over 1,000 results
2. Cool: >80
3. Really: >90
4. There was: >110
5. Freaking: >70
6. And then: >130
7. And I: used over 1,000 times

Am I being a bore? Perhaps even nitpicking? Sigh

[Dino-Jess ✮ The Book Eating Dinosaur ✮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just don't think Kristen Ashley and I are going to get along.

I nearly rage quit this book three times. I will try not to use all caps in this review, but I make no promises.

Spoilers abound. I'm not tagging them, so read further at your own risk.

The first time I nearly quit this book was when Frey, our hero, straight out told his wife he was willing to cheat on her with his former lover. Oh! And when after saying this, she didn't respond to him being all handsy, he got upset about her DARING to deny him her body.

The second time I nearly put this book down was when Finnie's mother explained that it was a "woman's burden" to deal with the fact that husbands sleep around. It was also insinuated that if this is happening, clearly the woman is at fault and should be better at sex. Yes, this actually happened and I put the book down for nearly a week for fear of throwing my kindle at the wall in a fit of rage.

The third time I wanted to kill myself instead of reading any more of this book nearly rage quit this was when Frey took away Finnie's choice in relation to starting a family when he swapped her birth control herbs for a placebo, thereby impregnating her against her wishes. And he did this because he is a man. That is his justification. He is a man and it is HIS choice when he wants to start a family, even though he doesn't have to carry the child around INSIDE HIM for nine months. It is Finnie's body and yet she had no say in the matter, at all. JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A MAN DOES NOT MEAN YOU GET TO MAKE ALL THE DECISIONS, YOU STUPID ASSHOLE.

*deep breaths*

Let's not forget that Frey also took Finnie's choice to return to her original world away from her, lied to her for weeks about knowing her true identity, and was just a general asshole for most of the book.

The writing style of this was a little jarring. There were sentences upon sentences with multiple commas in them, making it difficult to distinguish where one thought started and ended and I often had trouble figuring out who some statements were relating to because the narrative meandered so much. And there was the annoying habit of the internal dialogue being repeated as actual dialogue, one line after being thought by the characters. That's probably why the book was SO FUCKING LONG. I took to skimming passages and passages of the descriptions of EVERY SINGLE THING THAT FINNIE LOOKS AT. Seriously, woman. Stop describing your underwear to me. I don't care.

I feel like this really needed a run through with another editor. The beginning few chapters were especially messy and there were wrong words used a lot that could have easily been picked up with another pass.

This book was really quite tortuous to read. I found it infuriating at times, and yet, I did manage to finish it. KA does have a way with words, but I am now starting to understand why people can be hesitant to recommend her stories to others.

There is something in these books that keeps you turning the pages, even if you want to stab the characters in the face at the same time. I am not giving up my KA journey, there are plenty more of her stories out there and hopefully one of them will be my KA book of dreams. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

2 get-me-my-chainsaw Stars

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Wee One stars!



I’m not a huge fantasy reader. I don’t mind reading it every now and then, but it is not my genre of choice. Wildest Dreams makes me want to change that! I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but I loved this book! Oh Frey... he was just amazing!!! And Finnie was pretty great too!


Are you ready... to be transported to another world? A world where most everyone has a ‘twin’? Finnie is spending a lot of money to have a witch transport her to this world for a year. She will switch places with her ‘other world twin’, who happens to be a princess. Finnie has her reasons for this. The biggest is she needs an adventure, and she wants to see her parents again. She had absolutely no clue what she was getting herself into...

When Finnie arrives in Lunwyn, she realizes that she was left in the dark by her other world twin. Ten minutes after she gets there, she is expected to walk down the isle and marry The Drakkar. Frey Drakkar does not care for Princess Sjofn (Finnie’s other world twin) and he makes that very clear. But Finnie... he realizes fairly quickly she is nothing like Sjofn and he’s very taken with her. Frey scares Finnie a bit at first, but then he starts to show his sweet side. He’s protective, very alpha male, sexy and just as adventurous as she is. I love Finnie and Frey together! I really like the back and forth communication between the two. Finnie is always using words Frey does’t get and it’s fun to hear her explain them.

“It’s good you’re hot, Frey Drakkar, and good in bed and command elves and dragons or you’d seriously be in trouble.”
He kept smiling but his brows drew together. “Hot?”

I nodded. “Hot. Handsome, good-looking, pleasing to the eye,” I leaned into him, “Hot.”

He tipped his chin back and laughed then, still laughing, rolled me to my back, his arms around my belly tucking my side into his front, he looked down at me and quit laughing.
“And it is good you are beautiful, Finnie Drakkar, or you would have a very pink arse for risking such a venture.”

Finnie expected the adventure of a life time, but she never expected to fall in love. Frey has fallen for her as well. He comes to the conculsion fairly quickly that she is not of his world, and he’s not willing to let her go back.



Frey will do whatever it takes to keep Finnie here permanently. He does the man thing and makes huge decisions without her input. I wasn’t happy about that, but I think it was more of a time period thing for some of the choices he made. Even so, I still just adored this guy. Everything he did, right or wrong, he did for the right reason. It doesn’t matter what time period the book was set in, a KA alpha is a KA alpha! Always a little bossy, protective, sexy and swoony! Finnie was a fun heroine. I loved her sense of adventure and positive attitude.

I had so much fun reading this book! It felt like an adventure in itself. I’m really excited to continue with this series!!!

[Norah Una Sumner · Rating 1 out of 5]

HAHHAHA IT'S SO FUNNY TO HAVE A FEMALE PROTAGONIST WHO SPEAKS AND ACTS LIKE A TEN YEAR OLD HAHAHAH

NO.

The writing is weird. The characters are weird. The length of this book is weird as well, as it could've been 200 pages shorter. The whole atmosphere is weird as fuck. But... above all, the female protagonist, Finnie, is dumb as hell. I have no words that would describe how I've felt while I read her silly conversations. Every little thing she does is described to the smallest details. Who the fuck cares what the stove she prepared her meals looks like or what exact colour is the bow on her underwear? Kristen Ashley tried to make her look like a fresh, funny and just modern character in this weird fantasy world but she only made one whiny, stupid and unbelievably ignorant female protagonist. I wanted to pull my hair at the way she speaks or the way she just gets angry at Frey for not taking advantage of her... WTF?

YOU THINK I'M KIDDING? If I see word cool one more time, I'm going to cut a bitch. Let me give you an example - passages from one of the chapters:

"As we raced through the forest, I was seeing I needed way more practice on Caspia as Frey and his men snaked at a full gallop through the trees, sometimes coming so close I could feel the win as we whizzed by them and all the boys, as far as I could tell, did this without hesitation using nothing but instinct.
It was super cool.
...
"Only I can penetrate it... and you as you're with me."
Wow. Cool.
...
Once they formed, they immediately turned, touched a glittering branch and grew to the size of a normal human right... in front of... my eyes.
Unbelievably cool.
...
"And we do hope you are present when there are future joyful messages we will share with out lord Frey."
Joyful messages.
Cool..
...
Apparently whatever the news was, it was joyful.
Awesome.
...
When the last disappeared, I stared at the glowing tree and whispered, "That is so cool."

Yes, this is indeed from just ONE chapter. I seriously couldn't deal with this anymore. I applaud myself for finishing this idiotic book. Well done, you poor soul. Well done. How this book gained such success is an enigma for me.

Will I continue with this series? Barney, tell 'em babe.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every once in awhile, I crave a story with an over-the-top Alpha and a sassy heroine. I know that I can always count on Kristen Ashley to deliver when I'm in a "caveman" sort of mood. Her heroes are always uber-masculine and about as far from metrosexual as you can get. Though what they lack in sensitivity, they make up for in pure, primal sex appeal.

True to form, 'Wildest Dreams' did not disappoint on any of those fronts. In fact, travelling to this alternate universe felt much like travelling back in time by a few hundred years and then throwing in a plethora of supernatural elements. This story takes us to a world where there are ancient royal families ruling over their lands; where travel is by horse and wagon; and where witches, elves and dragons exist. 'Fantasyland' is an apt name for this series and I am already hooked.

The first book in the series, 'Wildest Dreams' introduces us to this magical world. The descriptions were so vivid that I felt like I had been transported, right alongside Finnie. I listened to the Audible edition of this book and I thought that the narrator did a fabulous job. I am glad that I chose to listen vs. read this time around. If, like me, you enjoy a good audiobook from time to time, this is a great selection.

Kristen Ashley has built an alternate world, where everyone has a "twin". Although they may have a physical twin in this alternate world, the personalities and other characteristics are certainly not identical. With the help of a witch and a large dose of magic, people in this world may communicate with people in this alternate world, or even travel between worlds. That is how this story begins.

Seoafin "Finnie" Wilde has plenty of money, but has lost the most meaningful people in her life - her parents. Ever since her parents died in a plane crash while on one of their adventures, Finnie has been heartbroken. She misses them more than anything and like them, Finnie is always up for an adventure.

When Finnie discovers the existence of an alternate world - a world where there are living versions of herself and her parents - she decides she is going to go there. Communicating with the "her" in this other world through a powerful witch, she comes to an agreement with her to trade places for one year. Despite the pleas of her best friend, Finnie pays a fortune to the witch and sets out on the biggest adventure of her life.

Only, when Finnie arrives in this new world she quickly discovers that the other "her" hasn't been completely forthcoming about everything. Stepping into the shoes of Princess Sjofn, she is set to wed the fiercely intimidating and ultra- male, Frey Drakkar immediately upon her arrival in this new world. Finnie doesn't even have time to read the note that Princess Sjofn left for her before she is marched down the aisle. She's been duped.

To make matters more complicated, it is clear that Frey Drakkar does not care for Princess Sjofn. In fact, he seems to barely tolerate her presence. After whisking her away to a remote cabin far away from her parent's castle, he promptly takes off, leaving her to fend for herself in this new land.

Determined to make the best of the situation, Finnie makes the most of her time while Frey is away. She befriends the inhabitants of the nearby small town and bides her time until his return. She cleans their cabin and makes it a cozy home.

When Frey returns, he is shocked to see that the pampered princess has morphed into a completely different person than the one he knew. She is kind and funny. She performs manual labor that the old Sjofn would have thought was beneath her. Perhaps most importantly, she denies that she prefers women lovers over men. He doesn't know what game she's playing at, but he intends to find out.

With the changes in their relationship, the two begin to grow closer. As you can imagine, Frey is initially interested only in bedding his beautiful bride. Finnie wants to take things a bit slower. Of course, there are plenty of misunderstandings and awkward moments along the way as the Finnie of this world tries to blend into the life of Princess Sjofn of that world.

Eventually, Frey discovers the truth. However, he and Finnie are already deeply in love by that point. In fact, he has realized that she is his prophesied soul mate and their union signifies the beginning of a new era where the dragons will awaken again. Did I mention that Frey commands dragons and talks to elves?

Overall, I thought that this was a fantastic story. I enjoyed every minute of this fantastical world that Kristen Ashley created. I fell in love with Frey and Finnie. I cannot wait to see where else this series will lead. I will be starting the second book immediately.

Check out more of my reviews at www.bookaddicthaven.com

[Rachel L · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Ho Boy stars

“She waits for me at windows and buys me dragons. There are reasons we walk this earth, I’m coming to realize mine.”



Wow. I mean, wow. I did not expect this book to be as wonderful as it is. I love Kristen Ashley. I know that 99% of the time I can read one of her books and love it. Admitting that, I can now say I was extremely skeptical that KA, queen of contemporary romance, could pull off a fantasy book.

So I need to go and eat myself some humble pie. Because this shit was fucking awesome.



Finnie tragically lost her parents at the age of fifteen. Upon learning there is an alternate universe where everyone has a twin, and that her parents were still alive in that world, Finnie pays a huge sum of money to a witch to switch places with her and her other twin. Upon arriving in this new world, this is the note her switch twin left for her:

Seoafin,
Tonight, you marry The Drakkar. In the ancient tongue, this means The Dragon.
Good luck,
Sjofn

And so Finnie is thus married to a man she's never met before within one hour of reaching this new world. Even worse, he seems to absolutely despise her.

“My husband was clearly not only scary but also a dick.”

Finnie's adventure begins from here.



I was completely enraptured with this book. I could not put the damn thing down unless I had to for important real life things. You know, like work and stuff. I really wish I had begun reading this book on a three day weekend or something!!!

I loved the world building. This is one of the few KA books where I didn't get annoyed with the endless clothing descriptions because well, the clothing was pretty damn cool in this fantasy world.

Example A (this is how I pictured the wedding dress):


I definitely had some issues with Frey throughout the book, those of you who have read it know what I mean. Basically, he earns himself a spot on my "men can be stupid" shelf because his thoughtless actions throughout the book were guaranteed to make Finnie feel hurt and betrayed. Otherwise Frey was all KA alpha male sexiness.

Is this book perfect? No. But it's incredibly interesting, enthralling and everything I hope a Kristen Ashley novel to be.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

IT’S FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTY NIGHT!!!

I don’t know what I’m more excited about…finishing and LOVING Wildest Dreams or starting The Golden Dynasty. They’re both awesome but doing them one straight after the other WITH a glass of champers in my hand and it’s FRIDAY makes it monumentally AWESOMER!!

Now, before I go on with this review, it’s going to be extremely spoilerish because I feel the need…the need to dish.

(If you don’t want to read this spoilerish review, exit stage right)

OMG!!

I think I need my hubby to start calling me *My Wee Sassy/Stacey* (he can choose, I’m not going to be fussy). I need to be a wee lassy at least once in my life. I’m 5ft 6.5 and it would be lovely to be called wee. I know, I’m not extremely tall, but I’m tall enough to still tower over a few blokes in my time. Anyways…I wouldn’t mind being a wee lassy for awhile.

Funny thing…today, hubby and I had a bit of a bust-up (in my world a bust-up is considered me pulling a cranky face and telling him I’m not happy…no violence, I promise) and I left him to go to work a wee bit cranky. That lasted about 10 minutes. See, I couldn’t get it out of my head that Finnie had had a bust-up with Frey and then he was arrowed down (you know, shot down but with arrows) right in front of her eyes. Bloody hell, how bad would I have felt if my last words to hubby were…*Yeah, have a great day* (with extreme sarcasm)? Those 10 minutes were HELL… I caved and sent him a mushy gushy text telling him I loved him. And, because he’s AWESOME…I got a mushy gushy one back and we’re all good.

Seriously…I absolutely LOVE Wildest Dreams. Who wouldn’t, mind you? Considering our hero is the Frey Drakkar. Sure, for about 4.5 minutes throughout the story I’m slightly peeved at him, but he more than makes up for his douchewaffle ways. Seriously, Frey, Viola…what the bloody hell were you THINKING? Lucky he does the *My Love* and the *My Wee Finnie* thing a lot.

Again…ANYWAYS…Finnie, oh how I wish I could be as strong and brave as dear old Finnie. I’m not sure I could step into another world and handle it as well as she did. ESPECIALLY, considering she had to boil her own water AND she had to clean. There is no way I’d be a happy camper if I’d just forked out a million dollars for THAT kind of adventure.

I think I’m rambling…ANYWAYS…I loved the excitement, mystery and FREY!! Yep, he’s one heck of a man. I know, I know, he does some REALLY dodgy things but come on, we’re stepping into his world and his rules apply, we’ve got to give him a little leeway for that. BUT Frey…DRAGONS…ELVES…BOSSY…SEXY…TIGHT BRITCHES…GROWLY…HOLY MOLY…Hubby, how do you feel about be calling Frey for awhile???

I’m sorry readers, this was a bit of a mess. Blame it on the champers…or that it’s Friday Night Party Night…or that KA’S A FRICKIN LEGEND!!!

I’ll probably regret this slightly tipsy review in the morning…BUT FELLOW FANTASYLAND FANS UNITE!!!!!

**********

The audio was Awesome and Brilliant

I knew the story was brilliant already but the audio just enhanced the experience. Onwards...it's time to visit The Golden Dynasty.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I drooled my way through all of Kristen Ashley's non-pnr/non-fantasy books and then, in dire need of a KA fix because no matter how fast the woman writes, it isn't fast enough, I decided to bite the bullet and give this series a try.

I am so glad I did.

If you have any doubts, if you find your ass planted firmly on the fence of indecision, stop. Just hop your ass down off that fence and read them. They're different than the non-pnr/non-fantasy books, that's true, but so, so good none-the-less!

So yeah, clue in and just read them.

------------------------
If you're already a Kristen Ashley addict, or interested in checking out her books, be sure to stop by our Kristen Ashley Addict's Support Group here on Goodreads

[Arini · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Elves and fire breathing dragons, but not enough of them (because they were very secondary and their story wasn’t developed enough) to make up for:

- all the times Finnie said the word cool which effectively made the word itself uncool;

- the tone of the book sounding kinda homophobic, sexist or misogynistic (not that this one was anything new, but normally I liked how KA adressed and handled it), and creepy (the disgusting kind) especially at the beginning;

- me NEVER having THE moment I was DYYYING to see which SHOULD HAVE been when Finnie confronted her husband Frey and going all ape shit on him for making life altering decisions behind her back;

- this book being so long with too much detail that didn’t matter to the plot.

Wildest Dreams walked so The Golden Dynasty could run. If anything, read that book instead! Frey Drakkar’s got nothin’ on Dax Lahn. At least, that’s how I see it.

(Read as an Audiobook)

[Amy | Foxy Blogs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I saw the audible deal of 2 books with 1 credit. Wildest Dreams and book 2 were an option so I quickly grabbed both books. For me, Kristen Ashley, books are so long that I prefer to listen to them and this book was no exception.

WILDEST DREAMS is GOT meets Parent Trap!

Actually, I could also throw in Outlander with the whole parallel universe thing happening. While I’m at it I could even say it had the feel of the Disney movie, Frozen, with all the ice, snow and winter talk. Roll those 4 things together stick them in a blender and pour it into a tall glass and you have WILDEST DREAMS.

Three years ago Kara and Christy invited me to read this series with them and at the time I declined. I’m not a fast reader and those two are speed readers so I knew I was no match on buddy reading with them. Also, the sheer size of the books held me back from giving them a chance. I’m thankful for the audible deal, I mentioned above, because listening to them seems less daunting of a task when tackling big books.

Now a little bit about the story ... Finnie pays a high price to travel to a parallel world where her twin from the other realm has agreed to switch places for year times with her. In this parallel world, everyone has a twin and the caveat is their twin is the opposite of them. Which makes for challenges when switched because Finnie must try and act the way her twin would but she knows very little about her new world she is thrust into. BAM!!! Right there, I’m hooked.

Finnie's twin leaves out important information about what will happen when she agrees to switch places. Oh, the blunders and adventures begin when Finnie is switched into her new world having no clue that she’s getting ready to walk down the aisle to marry a man who despises her. Yep, I’m all in on this story.

Over the last couple of days, I listened to this story which by the way is 19 hours long. It wasn’t until the last couple of hours that my interest waned a little. “Someone” was missing from the storyline and that deflated my interest. Even though there were those moments at the end where I wasn’t enjoying it like I did the rest of the book it still was enough for me to give this book 5 stars.

SERIES

The Fantasyland Series is a series of five novels that take place in our world and a parallel universe where fantasies are true... but perhaps not all you would expect.


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[Penny Well Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

"You, everything about you is beyond my wildest dreams.”

Such a beautifully fantastical story. Loved it.

I can't wait to keep reading this series!


The Winter Wonderland of Lunwyn



My Drakkar


My Finnie (totally)





The Dragons!



This was great.

[Aestas Book Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elves and dragons and hot guys, OH MY!!





Well we all know that KA is the one of the queens of contemporary romance books, but it turns out she’s just the queen of romance books in general cuz her fantasy book was pretty freaking awesome too!

It was fun, adventurous and romantic . Filled with palaces, balls, adventures, sea voyages… thrones to be won, assassination attempts, betrayals, political plots, battles, kidnappings, executions, oh, and did I mention romance? Much swoony romance!

There is a parallel universe in this story, in which ever person has a twin. Desperate to reconnect with the parents she lost when she was young, Finny finds a way to make a deal with a witch to switch lives with the alternate ‘her’ for one year…. and so, she is magically transported to the winter wonderland of Lunwyn where she steps into a beautiful palace, finds out she’s princess of the realm and is then promptly taken to a hall where she is marched down the aisle straight into an arranged marriage to Frey Drakkar (aka big, dark, broody, scowly hotness) who then, in true macho Alpha caveman style, drags her off to a far off cabin in the woods and leaves her there for several weeks.

But fear not, he doesn’t stay away for long, and once he returns, some of their mis-communications are overcome (like, for example, sorting out with him that, unlike the alternate version of her, she is, in fact, not a lesbian and is actually attracted to him) and begin to learn more about each other, ooooo boy, hold on to your panties because the swoon gets turned to max!!

"So here I was, a princess in a frozen world with a very scary yet very hot husband who could really kiss and liked to cuddle."

I think my first love in this story goes to the heroine actually. She pretty much defined “can-do”. She absolutely loved life and was adventurous, smart, resourceful, adaptable, reasonable, always with a positive attitude and ready to make any situation work… this chick was complete ‘survivor’. I mean, here she was, thrown into this whole new world, married off to a big, dark, scowly guy, driven out to the middle of nowhere, ditched and yet she just assesses her situation and, with not one sniffle or mental break down, figures everything out. One thing at a time. I totally loved that about her!

And then we have the hero – Frey Dakkar. He was both swoony and loving as well as a total ass/jerk/dick (take your pick). He came off as gruff and caveman-like on the outside, but once he started to warm up to her, his thoughtful, sweeter side began to emerge until my heart was pretty much just melting.

“I do not know, my wee Finny, where I came from but I’m beginning to know why I’m here”…
His eyes held mine as his mouth murmured, “She waits for me at windows and buys me dragons. There are reasons we walk this earth, I’m beginning to realize mine.“

I’m pretty sure my heart skipped beats every time he would call her “my wee Finny”. Total swoon!! But despite his epic swooniness, there were some things about him I had a hard time getting over which I’ll address below (in slightly overly ranty detail). He was totally Alpha – fierce and lethal to his enemies and totally protective and caring of his new wife with a lot more to him than initially meets the eye that we begin to discover as the story progresses.

The whole book kind plays out like one big romantic fantasy adventure about a couple who were quite literally DESTINED to be together <3

“I love you, Frey. I’m on love with you. So in love, I’ll never stop loving you. Not ever. You, everything about you is beyond my wildest dreams.“

And then, there I was, just totally lost in this awesomeness of this world when suddenly: elves! Freaking elves!! … I honestly wasn’t sure how much I’d like the fantasy side of this world. That genre is not usually my thing, but it serves me right for doubting KA because they totally worked for this story.

Ok, but I’m going to have to be honest here and say that there a few things that the hero did that reeeeeally pissed me right the hell off. Absolutely infuriated me! Like BIG TIME!!! I seriously wanted to geld him! I was swearing and ranting and my heart just hurt so much!! I’m going to try and talk about it vaguely without giving spoilers but still so you’ll have an idea of what it was to see if you think it’ll bother you.

I loved the hero, I really did. He was very very protective and swoony and Alpha and loving and all but, in many ways, he was very old fashioned – with a ‘man knows best’ and ‘man does no wrong’ kind of attitude that went with the culture of his world… their men were culturally granted a lot more liberties - they got to decide when and if contraception was used, they (and only they) got to choose if they wanted to sleep around even after marriage *shudder* etc…

There was one issue that happened at 37% that I hated but what really got to me more than the issue itself was that it much was never addressed directly. Once, like 20% or so after it happened, it was kind of glossed over and dismissed but that was it…

But THEN came a whole other big issue which, basically, without spoilers, he does something behind her back which was really disrespectful of her body. No, don’t worry, he doesn’t sleep with anyone else, that’s not the thing he does. But still, see, if it was a cultural mistake, I could have gotten over it because his world was very different than ours but what I couldn’t get over was that it wasn’t just a cultural misunderstanding mistake because during the scene where he did it, he clearly REALIZED that there was a chance that it was HER cultural norm from HER world and yet even knowing that, he STILL did it. To me, *shakes head*, I’m sorry, but that was just an UBER dick move. Total disrespect for her. No matter how much he loves her, to do that, consciously KNOWING that its probably all a cultural difference and not respecting her enough to talk to her, and instead just making that choice against her will AND just plain not communicating about it EVER was just too big a disrespect for me to disregard or fully forgive.

But I would have probably been easily able to forgive him (given their cultural differences) had he just done the action, then thought about it, come to a realization on this own and then approached her on his own about it. BUT, he didn't. The only reason (at 97% I might add) that the issues were actually addressed were because someone else actually brought what he had done to Finny’s attention. Otherwise, it pretty much looked like he had no plans to tell her and that, to me, didn’t sit right.

And I also think that if someone who has read this had told me that those issues wouldn't be resolved until the very end, I might have been able to be more tolerant of them... but I just kept WAITING for him to say something to her and so I was pretty disappointing when he never did so of his own accord. So if YOU are going to read this, hopefully you'll know what to expect and be able to be more forgiving maybe? After all, if the heroine can forgive it, I guess I should have been able to do.

Now, I understand that a lot of this book was about them overcoming their cultural differences and so I kinda tried to overlook these issues and move on and the fact that they pretty much lapsed into total HOT swoony happiness together really helped take my mind off anything that bothered me. There was a whole lot more adventure, more super hot (and magically enhaced) sexy times, more relationship development, a kick ass heroine moment, and general happy swoony reading.

And I will point out that in the end (which, by the way, was pretty epic), they both came to an understanding about everything and did resolve their issues :)

I absolutely loved how much Finny and Frey loved each other. Because they really did. They fell completely in love and they fell hard. What they had was beautiful and hot and totally KA-style magical and if it weren’t for those issues, the story would have easily been a 5 star read for me, so I’m going to settle with a 4 star rating instead.

Please don't let what I've said deter you from loving the hero. I’m hoping that by knowing this in advance, it’ll help you kinda ‘prepare’ yourself for it and be able to overlook the issue for a bit and just focus on the swooniness of their romance. Because it really was totally swoony. I was completely lost in the world, in the adventure, in the romance and with the characters.

The parallel world wasn’t very focused on equality. Men had a lot more rights than women, there were a lot of things in their world which were totally acceptable that in our world would probably have the man either slapped across the face or slapped with a divorce but I loved how Finny slowly introduced bits of her strength, fairness, and justice into their world and by the end I really liked where things had ended up.

It looks like the rest of the series will take place in the same world – we have already met or heard of all the next heroes so their stories are all set up and I’m very much looking forward to continuing on in this series

Oh… one more thing. I’ve heard some people were avoiding this series because of some ‘time travel’ element so I just wanted to diffuse the rumors and say that there is NO time travel in this book. The only thing is being magically transported from our universe to the parallel universe but not backwards or forwards in time.

CASTING (see above and below)



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[Jennifer Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

”This adventure was totally worth a million dollars. Totally.”



Kristen Ashley delivered the story of modern-day Finnie who pays one million dollars to go to another world (where we all have a twin) to spend time with her deceased parents, whom she misses greatly.

"Although the twin will look like the other, sound like the other, they are not the other but two separate beings.”

Her "twin" agrees to the switch and she is in fact a princess and once the transformation takes place it seems the princess left out A LOT of information and our Finnie finds herself on the biggest adventure of her life.

I truly enjoyed Kristen Ashley’s writing. She delivered a magical place where dragons, elves, and hot guys reside. I was immersed in this winter wonderland and wished I could stay with Frey but thinking about it… his twin is somewhere in our world. So ladies get looking!!

”You are, my wee Finnie, beyond my wildest dreams.”

"I love you, Frey. I’m in love with you. So in love, I’ll never stop loving you. Not every. You, everything about you is beyond my wildest dreams.”

I never wanted to leave this world. Well Done Kristen Ashley!

[Blacky *Romance Addict* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. Am. Addicted. And I don't want to be cured XD I don't think I'll be able to stop myself untill I read every single one of KA's books :) This one was a delight! I loved the way it got straight to the point even in the first chapter, she goes to the alternate universe and finds herself in a biiiig mess XD and it just keeps getting bigger :) Loved Frey (beautiful name <3 ), the story was never boring, always something going on, and that something was always great XD A big recomendation even for those not open to fantasy :) Just a great book :)

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read time with the unsinkable Jessica before we read the new book set in this world

While I never recommend Kristen Ashley to people because she fits a very unique reader and so many of her books and characters shouldn't work for me but they do, I am happy to say that I'm loving being immersed in this world again. She wrote romantasy before it became mainstream and she rocked it.

Romantasy (Romance + Fantasy) at it's best.

Buddy reading with a few of my Buddies Books and Baubles friends.

I blameThank Jessica and along for the ride are also Stephanie and Chrissy

I have to pace myself with KA books because I really have a difficult time doing anything else once I start one. She takes things that should upset me and make me roll my eyes and instead I'm flipping pages wanting to find out what happens next and then when I'm done I go back and reread my favorite parts. I love and hate the alpha men in her books. It really makes no sense. The dialogue is different and some of the situations ridiculous and still I can't help myself I love her books, especially her fantasy series.

She is definitely a love or hate author there is no in-between but I fall totally on the side of love and Wildest Dreams was no different for me.

╰⊰✿ The Premise ✿⊱╮

There are two worlds and in each one there is a twin to the person of the other world *waves to the Robin in Fantasyland*. With the help of someone with magic (a lot of magic) you can swap places with your twin and voila you are in a whole new world full of new adventures and possibilities.

Why, you might ask would anyone want to do this? For Finnie it is easy, she is an adventurer and wandered it heart. She lost her parents at a young age but they left her in a very comfortable position financially. She has tried a lot of daredevil things in this world but she longs to connect with the people she lost so long ago. When she finds that her parents in the other world are still alive, she jumps at the opportunity to get to know them. Her twin on the other hand is trying to escape from an arranged marriage and longs for freedom from some of her responsibilities.

So poof the switch is made and that is when the story really starts to take off.

╰⊰✿ The Characters ✿⊱╮

Finnie - She is so easy to love right away. She is a little bit broken by the loss of her family so young…but she has this positive spirit that just won’t stop and makes the best out of every situation handed to her. Including the one that has her marrying The Drakar or Dragon not even 10 minutes after she arrives.

Frey a.k.a. The Drakar - He is a KA hero to the extreme. The man is infuriating at times. The choices he makes throughout the book totally piss me off and have me wanting to smack him around a little lot.

But then in true KA fashion she makes me love the stupid alpha jerk all the same. *throws hands in the air because there is no resisting* He does some of the sweetest things for Finnie and can be remarkably caring and adorable. He is hot as well so it is hard to resist his pull.



There are other characters but there are so many and each only contributes a little to the story. But I did especially love Finnie’s growing relationship to Aurora who wasn’t afraid to tell-it-like-it-is to Frey, especially where her new daughter is concerned and Frey’s cabin boy Skylar who was so adorable.

╰⊰✿ The Story ✿⊱╮

I’m not sure how it happens but it always does KA draws me into her story every time. Fantasyland has some very cool things in it including:

✦ Elves
✦ Dragons
✦ A Winter Wonderland
✦ Talking animals
✦ Magic Portals
✦ Assassination Plots
✦ Mystical Artifacts
✦ Frey (Don’t judge me he is cool)

Frey and Finnie’s relationship starts out in a rush and with an obstacle. It seems that Frey pretty much hates Finnie, because of the other Finnie she swapped places with. Our heroine will need to convince him that she is a changed woman and destroy that wall that he has erected between them. Finnie NEVER backs away from a challenge and since this is her adventure she is going to make the most of it.

I loved the overall story that was equal parts romance and actual plotted storyline. The only reason this gets 4 stars instead of 5 is that KA has a tendency to over detail little things in the story like the surrounding and clothing that at times distracted me from the actual story. But all in all this was hugely entertaining and I loved being in this world.

[Astrid - The Bookish Sweet Tooth · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ MY REVIEW ON THE BLOG





I went into Wildest Dream with low expectations. Kristen Ashley and Fantasy? A parallel universe which is inhabited by doppelgangers of most people in our world? I just didn't see it. Now imagine my surprise when this turned out to be a delightful, well-plotted and developed story with magic, dragons, elves and two wonderful main characters I fell in love with in the blink of an eye.

Rich, young, beautiful heiress loves adventure just as much as her late parents who died in a plane crash. She has been missing them for such a long time. When she is being offered the chance to travel to another world where she will see her parents again...well, not exactly her real parents, but their carbon copies...how can she say no to this? I wouldn't! In exchange her twin has to travel to her world.

“There are reasons we walk this earth, I’m coming to realize mine.”

I loved Finnie's open, effervescent, bubbly, adventurous spirit. She was lovely, sweet, endearing, brave, even daring. With her beautiful personality she wraps the seemingly broody and cool Frey Drakkar around her finger. I loved how she adapted but still stayed true to herself.

Since this is KA we expect, of course, one of her signature alpha males and as it happens Frey fits the bill. Most of the time he is super-sweet with Finnie and it's so adorable to see how she charms him with her spirit. But being the powerful man he is, he is also manipulative, a little deceitful and sometimes a big ole jerk.

I loved these two, they were so crazy about each other and there wasn't a minute I doubted their connection. They were destined to be together. Frey and Finnie charmed me with their banter, their deep feelings for one another and boy, they were hot together!

“You’re beautiful, Finnie, but by the gods you have never been more beautiful than you are right now, spread before me, wrapped in my wool and filled with me”

Wildest Dreams is a divine introduction to this series. It has the feel of a medieval magical world with a little Game of Thrones thrown in the mix. Now I'm off to read Golden Dynasty, which is supposedly the best in the series!

[Pavlina Read more sleep less blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG I LOVED IT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 REVIEW TO COME TOMORROW!!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Brain candy for alpha guy romance novel lovers, with a glossy veneer of fantasy. I have to admit that I read the Kindle sample and totally got sucked in, enough that I actually paid $4 for this book. But this one is best left to romance readers who like sexytimes with take-charge guys and don't mind much if they make a few serious douche moves.

Seoafin Wilde, who goes by Finnie, has deeply missed her parents since they died in a plane crash when she was a teen. When a witch finds Finnie and tells her that there is a parallel world where her parents are still alive, and that Finnie's twin in that world would like to trade places with her for a year, Finnie jumps at the chance, and even pays a million dollars to do it.

The good news: Her twin Sjofn is a princess in a winter wonderland.

The bad news: Sjofn is gay and didn't tell Finnie that she wanted the trade because she was entering into an arranged marriage with a powerful, tough guy known as The Drakkar. Which happens within an hour of Finnie's arrival in this world. Frey Drakkar, none too pleased with having his hand forced into marrying a (he believes) lesbian, dumps her in a filthy dirty hunting cottage way up in the mountains and leaves her, totally alone, for six weeks while he goes off and Does Important Stuff. Finnie is NOT happy but decides to make the best of things. She cleans up the cottage, and when Frey shows up six weeks later she's thriving, having the time of her life with people in the local village, hanging out at the pub and playing cards. <---I loved this part, which is what tempted me into downloading the book.

As one might expect, there's hot (married) love, though it takes longer to get to than you might guess. Also lots of adventures of the romance novel sort, in a fantasy world with magical elves, dragons, and people who want to take over the kingdom and get other people (like Sjofn's parents, Frey Drakkar, and even Finnie) out of the way.

This one is for readers who like:

✲ alpha males -- and this one has a bad habit of making huge, fundamentally life-changing decisions for a woman without her knowledge, let alone her agreement. He's terrifically protective, and he has his kind moments, but they're surrounded with some eye-rollingly bad "Me Tarzan, You Jane" kind of stuff. Seriously, don't bother with this romance novel if this kind of thing is a deal-breaker for you.

✲ Mary Sue heroine: gorgeous, stacked, beloved by all who meet her, talented at (almost) everything. Except her vocabulary is lacking a little. "That is so cool." "Unbelievably cool!" "Absolutely freaking cool." "Super-freaking-scary." You get the idea.

✲ fluffy worldbuilding -- "winter wonderland" pretty much describes it. It's medieval-lite: all of the citizens are happy and prosperous in the kingdom ... though how they're prospering with so much snow covering their land was a question that crossed my mind. No one ever seems to get dirty unless they're housecleaning, but then they can jump in the handy-dandy hot spring by the cabin. And the clothes and underwear are AWESOME. Plus: sexytimes for all, despite the medieval-like setting. The fantasy world was supremely unrealistic and you have to be willing to just roll with that.

✲ romance-novel explicit love scenes. Also Finnie throws around F-bombs when she's upset. Which, understandably, happens quite often with Frey.

[Elise ✘ a.k.a Ryder's Pet ✘ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third re-read: 16.03.2020
This book is actually quite interesting. Sure, there's overloaded with information - which I did skim - and Finnie annoyed the crap out of me with her use of words, acting like a child, but it's still somewhat what I would call good. It's not great, book two in the series is better, but this one is definitely worth reading. But yeah, I did skim the information, and mostly focusing on Frey and Finnie's relationship. Wish there was more about the dragons though...
New Rating: 3.5/3 stars.

Second re-read: 04.02.2017
I just couldn't not re-read this one. Being in Fantasyland is awesome, and I kinda want to be there in real life. Frey is still fucking hot, Finnie is still cute (though acting a bit like a 13 year old, then a grown woman with all her "awesome", "cool" "freaking" use of words...) and together they are still adorable. And shit, the romance there is... lots of it, too much at times... Book's still good though. Specially Frey. But damn, no matter how many times I read this book, I keep forgetting how long it is. Another thing I had forgotten, and got beaten into my head, was how much information we got. Jesus, my head blows every read.

“She waits for me at windows and buys me dragons. There are reasons we walk this earth, I’m coming to realize mine.”

Quick basic facts:
Genre: - (Adult) Paranormal Romance
Series: - Series, Book One
Love triangle? - No.
Cheating? - No.
HEA? - Yes.
Favorite character? - Frey Drakkar
Would I read more by this author/or of series? - Yes, she writes perfect alpha males.
Would I recommend this book/series? - Yes, definitely.
Will I read this again in the future? - Probably.
New Rating - 3.5 stars.

Re-read: 02.04.15
I indeed liked this book more this time around!! I want more of Frey!!!
New rate: 4/4-3 stars.

“Love is everything.”

First read review:
Okaay, so this book was interesting for sure... I liked the main story, that it's based on 'love'. There's war, politics, betrays, friendship, laughter and crying. So I can pretty much say, this book has it all. Though, for me, it lasted so long.. But I couldn't stop, I mean, I was pretty 'hocked', as you can say. I think that there was a lot that didn't needed to be in the book, and that there was things that should be in it. So yeah, I think for me, something was missing... Something that didn't make the book perfect for me. Perhaps it was too much love, or too little action? Or perhaps it simply was a wrong day to read the book on :P But the book was cute and gave the message that it's okay to be afraid in a situation where you have to be brave. And that it's is okay to love again, even if there is a chance you might lose it in the feature.

“I love you, Frey. I’m in love with you. So in love, I’ll never stop loving you. Not ever. You, everything about you is beyond my wildest dreams.”

The characters was good. Seoafin "Finnie" Wilde (how old is she?) was a cute young woman that lived like there was no tomorrow. Cheerful and lovable, smiling all the time and always tries to make everyone happy. But.. Yes there is a but, Finnie simply became to much sometimes, for me... Sometimes she sounded like a mature woman, wise and brave,

“Today, you witness something infinitely sad. Three people who have gone wrong somewhere in their lives, done wrong be-cause of it and therefore are paying the ulti-mate price. Do not stand there shouting and jeering, demonstrating that they were right to move against this great nation, those for-tunate enough to inhabit her ice-bound earth and those privileged to wear her crowns.Stand there and, as the Lunwynians I know you to be, stand strong, stand proud and stand filled with mercy.”

But most times she sounded like a five years old with all the 'awesome' and so 'cool' all the freaking time! I mean, I get that it's all new and magical but come on, there is other words, other more mature words to be used as well. Frey Drakkar (36), on the other hand, is one of the reasons (main and a big reason) that made me continue with the book. He was wise, smart, brave, dangerous, sexy, and a really good man. Why good, you might ask? Well, let me explain, 1. Frey is the most powerful man in Winter Wonderland/parallel universe, yet, he never really uses his power to gain power. He fair and helps his land with everything he can. He can take it all, yet he chooses to be a Raider and tries to find lost treasures for the kingdom. And helps his King and Queen. 2. As soon as someone tries to kill Finnie, he goes all protective and alpha male. He does everything he can to keep her safe, and I mean everything!

“You are, my wee Finnie, beyond my wildest dreams.”

Finnie and Frey's relationship is pretty adorable, and a couple worth shipping, and cheering for. I do hope we get another book for these two :D!

“I’m coming to you, baby”
“No, my love, I’ve come to you”

I really liked Skylar and I wish we got more of him. Other than that, I think the book was worth reading and perhaps I'll re-read this book sometime in the feature and then the book might be even better.
Rate: 3/4 stars.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing !!!! Magical !!!! I absolutely loved every minute of this book !!! Did Frey just displace my number one KA alpha Hawk !???ummmm yesss !!!!! I loved him !!! I want to be his wee one❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

My Frey ~



My Finnie ~ his Little One



Onto the next book ❤️❤️❤️❤️ mind blowing review to come ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finnie’s adventurous heart and deep love for her deceased parents bring her to Valentine’s doorstep. Valentine is a powerful, modern day witch from New Orleans who communes with people from parallel worlds. For a million dollars she offers Finnie the chance to travel to another dimension and switch places with her twin Sjofn. Finnie’s only thought is to reunite with her parents twins who are alive and well in this new world. She is so desperate to see them again, even if they won’t really be her parents, that she jumps at the opportunity with minimal questions. Unsurprisingly, she gets more than she bargained for, the first of which is a husband, Frey Drakkar.

The last thing Frey wants is to be shackled to the beautiful Finnie (Sjofn). But the future of the kingdom is at risk and as Drakkar, it is his duty to ensure an heir to the throne. While he secretly yearns for her, he mostly despises her because he knows that a future with her is one fraught with rejection and loneliness. The ice around his heart slowly gives way as he gets to know her and realizes that she is nothing like the Sjofn he had come to abhor. Finnie and Frey’s journey in discovering true love turns into an adventure of a lifetime.

So how did I feel about this one? Well by the 30% mark I was ready to create my first ever DNF shelf, that is how much I hated it. Being an anal retentive about finishing books, I persevered (although it was very difficult at times) and forced myself to keep reading. I am glad I did because ‘Wildest Dreams’ did get better, enough to go from a DNF + ranty review to a 2.5 star, l kind of liked it but had a number of issues one.

Things I liked:

-I liked Finnie’s resilient personality. She didn’t succumb to the many challenges she faced. She adapted to every situation (almost too well really for being from a different world) and always looked at the glass as half full.

-The new world was interesting. Very liberal in some senses, like in the area of sexuality and totally conservative in others, for example, men decide if and when you take birth control and if you go against their wishes there is a legal penalty..lol...pleaaaaaase.

-The elves, dragons and some of the world descriptions were entertaining. Though I would have enjoyed the book way more if the whole dragon/elf thing would have been exploited further.

-Finnie’s ladies in waiting

-the cat

Things I disliked:

-Finnie’s dialogue. I am not sure if I should ever make assumptions about characters again. Finnie comes from a lot of money and while she spent most of her life going from one adventure to another, I assumed she had enough money & time in between to get an education. Her dialogue just drove me crazy. I have never seen the world ‘cool’ so overused. When she wasn’t saying cool, she was saying EEEK! or Ho boy. It’s like on one side she was this mature woman who could handle whatever you threw at her and someone you could be proud of, but then she would open her mouth and all your hopes were dashed away because she sounded dumb and immature.

-The whole spiel at the gallows came out of left field. Don’t get me wrong, I loved what she said but the way her dialogue was going throughout the book, it didn’t fit her personality to suddenly start talking like one so intelligent. I was expecting something more like “My people, this is so uncool. EEEk! The coolness of our country depends on the coolness of its people. Showing kindness and mercy is the cool thing to do. I am loved by everyone, yes I am that wonderful, so show your love by following in my oh so cool footsteps!” Ho boy

-Too many detailed descriptions of Finnie's mundane activities

-The book was too long

- The elves and dragons were very secondary. Their story wasn’t developed enough to highlight the supernatural aspect of the book.

-I don’t think Frey ever apologized or felt more than a mild annoyance with himself when he got busted for making all those life changing decisions behind her back. There seemed to be a lot of guilt on her side for, correctly I might add, freaking out on him but her guilt was underscored compared to his in a way that just didn’t make sense to me. Why was she apologizing for his bad behaviour?

This is the first book I have read from this author. Since I purchased all the books in this series at the same time, I guess I will be reading them at some point.

[Angie - Angie's Dreamy Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 FREYTASTIC STARS

What a MAGICAL book. A lot of people don't think that they would enjoy a fantasy book, and therefore haven’t given this series a chance, but I think that you would be missing out if you skipped this fantastic book by Kristen Ashley. The world she has created is incredible and majestic. KA has taken a 21st century girl and thrown her in an incredible parallel universe that makes you think, “ WOW, Kristen Ashley's imagination is fan-freaking-tastic.” I mean, the fact that she can create something so extraordinary blows my mind. Along with all the splendid little details of the scenery, the plot and characters are incredible. Of course no book would be complete without a delicious, steamy love story which KA absolutely one hundred percent delivers.

"I thought I had Frey memorized but that afternoon every nuance of him was burned so deep in my brain I'd never forget it, not a second, not a touch, not a taste, not a vision, not an aroma, not the barest whisper. It was the most intense profound agonizingly beautiful thing I've ever experienced; every second sheer perfection. And after hours, when we came down, when the strokes became more languorous, the whimpers more subdued, the groans turned to growls and our eyes grew less fevered, I knew I was in love." ~~ Finnie

Finnie has the heart of an adventurer. She is still grieving over her parents death, which happened when she was fifteen. So she decides to take an adventure to a parallel universe. This universe has the same people that are in Finnie's land. She makes a deal with Seoafin Wilde the Winter Princess who is Finnie's twin, to switch lives for a year, while doing this she will get to reconnect with her parent's twins’. Finnie is transported there just in time for a life changing crazy moment, her wedding to none other than Frey Drakkar, Leader of the Dragons and Elves. Frey is not a huge fan of the Winter Princess Seofin Wilde and scares the living daylight's out of Finnie; but Finnie being the amazing person she is, makes the best out of a bad situation. After being married and announced as husband and wife the Drakkar whisks her away to his Winter Cabin where Finnie's unbelievable adventure begins. She learns that her alternate twin Seofin has not been very honest with her and she has much to overcome; between death threats, being married and learning a whole new world Finnie's journey is EPIC.

LOVE, the real reason for reading this book! The love story is amazing, swoon worthy and heart meltingly perfect. You fall in love with Frey Drakkar the same way that Finnie does. They are PERFECT together. I can't say enough about how amazing Kristen Ashley is and the way she set the love story up. It's not an instant love connection but one that grows over time as they slowly discover things about each other. Frey is hard and rough but Finnie softens him up. There are so many moments that made me smile ridiculously and made me sigh out loud. It was lovely.

“She waits for me at windows and buys me dragons. There are reasons we walk this earth, I’m coming to realize mine.” ~~ Frey

“I love you, Frey. I’m in love with you. So in love, I’ll never stop loving you. Not ever. You, everything about you is beyond my wildest dreams.” ~~ Finnie

Frey Drakkar is leader of the dragons and the elves. He is devastatingly gorgeous but kind of an ass. He's KA's classic alpha male with a magical twist. He is also a raider which is the same thing as a Viking in our world and has a spirit for adventure. He is honestly delicious...I fell for him big time and could not get enough.

There is a small issue that does arise in the book that I had a moment of "OH, I DON'T THINK SO!", but, I felt like it was handled and written beautifully and the ending overcame the issue. It added to the story and the characters dealt with it well.

I think all in all this book was incredible. The details were superb. The writing was amazing. The pace was fantastic and the characters were so lovable that it left a lasting mark in my heart. This is a book for the favorites shelf without a doubt. Bravo Kristen Ashley you rocked my world!

[Sophia Triad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories and magic worlds like this one make me realise why I absolutely ADORE fantasy books.
There are so many things happening in the book that my head is spinning.
Finnie wants to live an epic adventure and meet again her parents who she adored but sadly she lost them when they she was young. When a witch mentions the existence of a parallel universe where everyone have their twin, Finnie decides to have the opportunity to exchange souls with her twin there and meet her parents again and spend some time with them before she gets back to her real life after a year.
Finnie and the reader are transfered to a strange land full of magic, witches, bloodthirsty kings, epic adventures in the sea. What Finnie does not expect is to get married straight away to a guy who commands elves and dragons and to fall in love.
Although there were times I wanted to strangle Frey, Finnie's husband and true love, I really enjoyed the book. Frey is almost barbaric, without manners. He never asks Finnie's opinion and he is hiding things from her which are influencing deeply her life.
I only wish there were more dragons included in the book.
Oh well still it was a great book and an epic full proportion adventure.
Time to start next book in the series, which I heard it is awesome.

[Starr (AKA Starrfish) Rivers · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded to 4.

So. I really liked Finnie. And of course I loved Frey. (Which BTW, is a strange name for a man).

Now, some readers might find Frey's antiquated notions annoying. But, I look at it from his POV and it's the way he's been brought up, it's what's expected, and when he met Finnie, he wasn't in love with her. So when she went ballistic on him for sleeping with a maid YEARS ago, I was kinda like... hmmm... girl, if you were dating a guy in your world, pretty sure you wouldn't be having the same fit. Pretty sure if said girl was serving you both at a restaurant, you wouldn't demand to have her fired.

So, sometimes, Finnie annoyed me with her fits, bc she accuses Frey of not taking her POV but since when has she taken HIS POV BEFORE having a fit???

NOW. Don't get me wrong, Frey is an ass sometimes. I don't excuse him for some of his assholishness. But. Since he met Finnie, except for threatening to seek comfort in another woman's bed when she was having a hissy fit at him for something he did YEARS before he met her(!), he really hasn't done all that much a man can do to be a true asshole, so I give him credit.

He's shown in so many ways that he loves her. And he knew that she's been withholding telling him she loves him. I think he's shown in many many ways that he's willing to be patient and kind and sweet to the woman he cares for.

What she said toward the end to him, that kinda ruined things a little for me. That and the fact that I didn't feel compelled to read every word is what made me round this sucker down a star.

She said some awful awful things. And yet again, she never tried to take his POV BEFORE she has her fit. And then, I was kinda glad she was "punished" for saying those awful things by his near-death. Lesson to everyone: don't ever leave the one you love saying awful things in anger. Even when you're angry, tell them you love them. Because what if that's the last time you saw them? I got a little teary at that stage...

So some of my favorite moments of Finnie:

"Um..."

"Uh..."

"Alrighty then."



"holy moly"


And the other reason this is 4 stars is bc I think this might be the best in the series, at least based on what I've read of the other books. They don't tempt me. I wanted to read about Apollo, but ppl say he's a jerk for a long time and it's a slow burn romance and there's more focus on the plot, which, I'm not that big into... So... if a book 1 can't get me to continue, it's def not 5 stars.

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @20%

How sad that my very first Kristen Ashely book is a hard DNF.

I just can't push through 500 pages of an asshole Mary Sue FMC, the major cringe and the extreme amount of usage of 'cool' and 'awesome'

It's my understanding that this series is made up of standalones so I will try book 2 but damn what a terrible start.

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep! Still love it. March 27, 2025

**March 15, 2023**

Same as October 8, 2021. I got to read this with one of my book besties. She was reading it for the first time and this gave me so much joy. She loved it! Happy reading!

**October 8, 2021**

🎵🎵And Iiiiiiiiiii, eiiiiiiiiii, will always love you...🎵🎵

**October 1, 2017**

Still love it. Fun times with the TPAM ladies. Happy reading!

**Audio read/listen July 30, 2016**

Still absolutely love this story. The narrator is good. Happy reading (listening)!!

** Re-read January 26, 2016**

Still one of my favorite books. This is the kind of story I truly LOVE to read. A story that takes you away to another world. I'm off to visit with Cora and Noctorno again. Happy reading!

** UPDATE JANUARY 26, 2015**

I still love this book. Finnie is the best. I love her adventurous spirit!

**Original review January 2014**

Oh so good! Magic and dragons and elves, oh my! Treason and espionage and betrayal, oh my! So so good. In my mind, a cross between Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Chronicles of Narnia with an heart melting romance at the center. I loved it!

This is only my third Kristen Ashley book, but I have loved them all very much. She has a cool writing style. I think I'm about to go through a KA faze. I'm on to the next book in the series even though I'm a little nervous about it. I read some reviews (which I should not have done) already and I don't know if I'll get over the beginning. I hope so. Anyway, If you haven't read this one yet and you like fantasy romance, it's a must. Happy reading!!!

[✰ Liz ✰ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho boy I enjoyed this read!

Kristen Ashley is such a gifted author. Her books are full action; suspense, romance, and her characters leap from the pages of the book and come to life. After reading all of her modern pieces of work (all of the books that are based on our world), I was a bit tentative to dig into her works on the fantasy world. What a shocking surprise Wildest Dream turned out to be! So if you are on the fence, don’t wait download this entire series today!



Finnie is a wealthy, single, and bored woman. Although she has dear friends, her parents died in an accident. She has never been able to get over the pain of their loss. She carries a drive deep inside of her to travel and explore and not be afraid of anything! Finnie decides to hand over a gigantic amount of cash to Valentine a witch from New Orleans who has great powers. Valentine has the power to send Finnie on a great adventure. It is decided that she will switch places with her “twin” from an alternate world. Now I know what you are thinking, this sounds crazy! Guess what it is crazy! It is so crazy good that I practically stayed up all night to experience Finnie’s adventure.

As soon as Finnie switches places with her twin counter part, she is literally thrown into a wedding. Her wedding to a wild, handsome, strong, man named Frey Drakkar. Her twin Sjofn has left her a note upon her arrival:

“Seoafin,
Tonight, you marry The Drakkar. In the ancient tongue, this means The Dragon.
Good luck,
Sjofn”


The wedding was abrupt but finished with one HOT WET ONE!~ Although Finnie is charming, funny, and beautiful her new husband Frey seems completely unimpressed with Finnie. As soon as the nuptials are over, Frey drags Finnie to his hunting lodge where he leaves her for six weeks. What Finnie is unaware of is Frey thinks that she is Sjofn (her not so charming, funny or beautiful twin).

Needless to say, as soon as Frey figures out what has happened he falls madly in love with Finnie. Finnie reciprocates the feelings and the story truly takes off.

Finnie is one amazing heroine. I was truly inspired by her no nonsense attitude and willingness to jump right in!

“You know, marriage is marriage, a partnership. You aren’t the only one who needs to step up and keep one of us safe. It’s my job as your wife to do the same if a time comes when I have to and it’s my job to do it however that might need to come about.”

There isn’t a KA male that I don’t love in some way shape or form. However, Frey tops the chart as a favorite! The way that he embraced his love for Finnie was unforgettable! He comforted her and carried her through all the while maintaining his hot alpha male goodness!

“I prefer your smiles and laughter, wife, but there are far worse things than your tears wetting my skin.”


Wildest Dreams is nothing short of amazing. With magical landscapes, elves, dragons, ships, archery, passion, and troubles of the heart (to include one hell of a mother in law). This is a must read! Kristen Ashley has done it again! Never judge a book by its cover. Turns out I love this series just as much as all of her other works (maybe even more)!