Dark Dreamer

Dark Vista #1

by Jennifer Fulton

Author Rowe Devlin never expected the solution to writer's block to be a beautiful psychic, her sexy twin, and a haunted house that is not only very real, but very deadly.

Best-selling horror author Rowe Devlin keeps writing flops and falling for straight women. Seeking inspiration and a fresh start, she abandons life in Manhattan for an old Victorian home in Maine. But Dark Harbor Cottage is a far cry from the tranquil writing environment she was hoping for. Rowe doesn't believe in ghosts, yet she finds herself sharing a home with one who scares her dogs and wants her out. As if that's not distraction enough, she is living next door to irresistible identical twins, Phoebe and Cara Temple. Phoebe is psychic, Cara is a flirt, and both twins seem to be hitting on her.

When Rowe delves into the past to find out why her cottage is haunted, she uncovers a dark and disturbing mystery. Even more disquieting is the startling connection to her beautiful neighbors, one of whom has begun haunting her dreams.

Intrigue, passion and suspense combine in this taut paranormal thriller/romance, the first in Jennifer Fulton's new Dark Vista series.

Genres: Lesbian, Paranormal, LGBT, Mystery, Romance, Fiction, Fantasy

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jennifer Fulton is the romance pen name of best-selling lesbian romance and mystery novels writer Jennifer Knight. She is the prolific author of romance and mystery novels under three pen names — Jennifer Fulton, Rose Beecham, and Grace Lennox. She was first published by the Naiad Press in 1992. Jennifer is a recipient of the Alice B. Reader's award for Lesbian Fiction, multiple Golden Crown Literary Award winner, and Lambda Literary Award finalist for both romance and mystery.

Jennifer Fulton, Rose Beecham, Grace Lennox

Reviews

[lov2laf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite the hodgepodge of a story...ghosts, a psychic, identical twins, FBI and CIA, a serial killer, murders, romance, dogs, a frustrated writer, an MTV Music Video Producer, multiple mysteries...and we mustn't forget the black hawk helicopter.

Somehow, as far-fetched as it all sounds, the story pulls together enough to make it work. Yeah, it's a stretch...But, the book was written proficiently so I was game. On the whole, I felt there was a lot going on but nothing got too deep. Not the characters, the romance, the mysteries, etc..but it was sufficient and the story flowed well.

In the narrative, we jump between three main characters' POVs and I wasn't sure if I liked the characters much. The author purposely throws in reasons to doubt two of them. As a result, I was trying to feel the characters out longer than I'd expect.

I was also anticipating that the story would be scary but I didn't find it to be. Though, there were some grisly aspects.

Overall, it's an entertaining read.

[Professor Ratigon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope Becky would be happy once the truth was revealed. ;( *sobbing*

[Lucky Luc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was just ok. It didn’t hold my interest for very long, which is why it took me 20 days to read, but wasn’t so boring I didn’t finish.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dark Vista series by Jennifer Fulton is nothing like her moon island series that fans are accustomed to. But in my opinion, that's a great thing! it's amazing that they come from the same author. I just finished Passion Bay before this book, and the difference is astounding. Passion Bay focused on the romance and tried to work in some plot lines around the characters.

This book was primarily a complex paranormal thriller, with some romance built in. I abandoned the Moon Island series, because to me it seemed like the author was just... writing. But when you then come and read Dark Dreamer, you get to see the author reveling in her beautiful, complex creativity and bringing characters and places and situations to life. i certainly didn't expect active spooky hauntings, murder, a psychic, the fbi and cia,... i might not have bought it, since i tend to veer away from the scarey. and i warn you, there are some scarey parts! but it is broken up nicely by the women investigating a mystery, and a budding romance.

Mind you, the romance is not the main theme in this book. I'd say most of the story involves the mystery behind the hauntings, along with the relationship of the sisters. There are a couple brilliant sex scenes once Rowe picks a sister, that showed more intimacy and soul bonding than just your usual hot and steamy. but they were a part of the story, rather than the story being built around them.

This book is a nice break from your typical lesfic romance, where you know who will hook up by the end of the novel but you read anyhow. In this one, i had to keep reading to find out what happened in that house all those years ago, who Rowe would chose, and other mysteries included in this story. It truly is a captivating story that would make a great movie.

Writing/editing 5 stars
Captivating storyline: 5 stars
Character development: 5 stars
ending that doesn't suck: 5 stars.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot - at first. The characters were likeable, the story of horror writer owning a hounted house and being neighbour with a psychic girl working for FBI was promising. It delievered the promises: but only partialy.
Have you ever read a romance novel and was angry because the romance was the ONLY focus? Well, this book is quite opposite. No, not to little romance: too much of everything else.
We had: hounted house. Dark family secrets. Rowe's writing career and writer's block. Ghost hunters. Phoebe's work for FBI. Serial killers. CIA wanting to use people with powers to hunt terrorists. Relationship between sisters. Phoebe's problem with building stable relationships. Cara's ex girlfriend. Rowe's problems with past relationships. Phoebe's and Rowe's romance. Cara and Phoebe rivalry over Rowe. Rowe's fascination with both sisters. Cara's one-night stand that quickly developed into relationship of sort.
Too much for one book. It was like the author had idea for more books than just one, and then cramped all the ideas into one (she wrote a series, but as I see each book is about different characters). As a consequence, all the things I mentioned seem to be underdeveloped.
This said, I enjoyed it. Characters were likable, writing was good. For the first lesbian paranormal romance I've read in my life - not a bad choice.

[Sergey Pavlov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Мой английский все еще на стадии изучения, однако беглый взгляд по обложке книги вселил в меня уверенность в том, каких-то сложных грамматических форм я здесь не увижу. Впрочем, книга оказалось не так плоха, как можно было вначале подумать. С одной стороны здесь полная мешанина из близнецов, фбр, цру, террористов, серийных убийц, призраков, охотников за призраками(кого-то забыл?). С другой, главные персонажи хорошо прорисованы, а автору удалось хорошо передать чувство захлопывающейся ловушки, когда известный писатель сталкивается с писательским кризисом. Также хорошо передано, хоть и без лишних эмоций, эффект отчаяния, когда сюжет начинает разворачиваться в Лэнгли. В качестве романтической линии описываются отношения девушек, но эта линия не сказать, что превалирует в сюжете. Впрочем, финал книги, каждый может воспринимать в меру своей испорченности) В целом, книга подойдет для легкого чтения.

[CDL · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot packed into one book (as another reviewer commented). I found the prose to be very solid. I liked the mix of romance and horror. I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

[Trudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely unhinged, but surprised me with the sheer audacity of the plot and prose (and the critique of post-911 America). Felt like someone describing a wild dream they had that they barely remember.

[Celina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't like I thought it was going to be. At least from the review I heard from a podcast. Buy it is ok.

[Paschalis]

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[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a decent book, there are some grueling bits in there, and some less believable, so you will be stretching your make-believe muscle a tad not to be annoyed. There is a lot of plots in this book, at least two of them are pretty good. Apart from this I found that Rowe more or less picked one of the twins randomly like out of a all-you-can-eat twin-buffet, the relationship isn't fleshed out that thoroughly. I liked the CIA and FBI acts the most, and the ending was satisfying enough.

[ZJLS · Rating 3 out of 5]

I devoured this book on a 6 hour plane ride. I finished it in about an hour or so. It was a really quick read for me, because it was interesting, entertaining, and the language wasn't necessarily complex. But it's not a 5-star book and I would rate it more towards a 3.5.

Here's the thing. The story is engrossing - the attraction between the characters is very well written and you can almost feel it yourself. And when they are together, it's a blush-worthy moment. Like, I am super conservative and struggled to read it AND I felt the need to hide it from the person sitting next to me hah. But the paranormal part of it is very obscure. For example, Phoebe has an accident and is suddenly psychic but it's not explored enough for me to feel like I understand that. I also hate that she is 27 and is so unbelievably oblivious and naive. It doesn't feel realistic to me but I don't have a guilty twin that thinks they have to mother me and then guilt me about it. I liked the character of Cara but after a while, I thought she needed a slap from Phoebe. That's the thing about writing with twins. It's almost as if they are being written as one person and then the personality traits are split in half (and here, it felt like Cara had 3/4ths of the personality and Phoebe had like an ounce of her own personality).

There is also a ghost story and the way it is resolved feels a little anti-climactic. Jennifer Fulton's writing style is just not consistent. She writes the romance part really well and that makes the story good enough to recommend. But the FBI/CIA is a bit ridiculous, comes out of nowhere, and is not really written that well. Same with the ghost story - the descriptive language in the romantic parts is amazing and I wish she had applied that skill to AT LEAST the ghost story.

I will certainly continue reading this series, mostly for the entertainment value.

EDIT: Wait, the other books don't have Phoebe and Rowe? I want more of them!

[Julieta Steyr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Veamos, en cuanto a la genealogía, aplaudo que parezca complicada cuando en realidad no lo es para nada. 2 o 3 garabatos sobre una página, la mayoría develada en una única conversación (le quita lo divertido) y después eso... un par de cambios. Sí, parece ser más elaborado. No lo es.
Las gemelas amor-odio, bien, supongo que esa clase de sentimientos pueden llegar a existir pero como termina resultado su relación (sí, en el final) veo la posibilidad de 1 en 1 millón. Una mezcla rara mental que sugiere ratoneo incestuoso pero que no se llega a concretar.
El fantasma atormentando y los servicios de defensa estadounidenses es una mezcla muy pero muy rara, por un momento parece que estamos en una película sobre un libro de Stephen King y por otros parece Cazafantasmas o incluso peor, Scooby Doo; pero al siguiente estamos en medio de Matrix o alguna tipo Operación Pelícano. Y, además, uno nota por ciertas cosas que Jennifer comenzó este libro, lo abandonó y después lo retomó para venderlo. Hay cosas que no tienen sentido y que las dejaron sin más después de que parecían esenciales para la trama, ¿aburrimiento de la autora? Tal vez. Pasa.
Diosssss, ¡tanta nieve! Horrendo. Miles de descripciones de nieve en la ropa, en el pelo, en las casas, en el piso. Ok, entiendo la locación, pero no estoy precisamente interesada en lo poético de la nieve. A ver, o hablan del fantasma o los fantasmas o hablamos de cómo se comportan los servicios de defensa estadounidenses. Decidite.
En fin. Un libro que en realidad parece más profundo de lo que es pero que si alguien tuviera la decencia de leer con detenimiento, vería lo mismo que yo probablemente.

[Debra Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It actually had me spooked in some spots. I thought it was well written. .... The following is a synopsis, probably from the hard copy book jacket. ...
Best selling horror author Rowe Devlin has had two flops in a row and keeps falling in love with straight women. Seeking inspiration and a fresh start, she abandons life in Manhattan for an old Victorian house in Maine. But Dark Harbor Cottage is a far cry from the tranquil writing environment she envisioned. For a start, the place is haunted, and the ghost is none too friendly. To make life even more difficult, her neighbors are a huge distraction. The Temple twins, Phoebe and Cara, are identical and profoundly alluring, and Rowe is soon under their spell, unable to decide which of the two she is more in love with. Just when it seems things can't get any worse, she finds herself embroiled in a mystery more bizarre and frightening than anything she's ever written.
Intrigue, passion and suspense combine in this taut paranormal thriller/romance, the first in Jennifer Fulton's new Heartstoppers series.

[MiserableFlower · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but not a really good one either. I found the story rather cliched. It was an easy read and followed together well, but at the same time I was half way through the book before anything really happened. Who Rowe picked to go with seemed rather willy nilly, with not a whole lot of lead up. I was also rather disappointed by how Rowe was the sterotypical lesbian, especially with the way she responded to Phoebe and Cara even. As for the story behind the disappointed dance, yeah had that figured out once the character was introduced really. This book can be classified as a sweet fluff.... but otherwise average. Phoebe being about to see people that have died seemed rather out of place, and her getting kidnapped by the CIA was a rather lame and super boring conflict.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm guilty of judging a book by its cover; I went into this thinking it was going to be part horror part thriller and was thus heavily disappointed. Not a terrible book per se, but just not very good either. The author tries to do too many things, hit too many genres (ghost story, mystery, romance, political thriller) and as a result the story as a whole is muddled. By the end I was simply just skimming the pages to the resolution because content-wise it was just ridiculous. Quick read but not particularly rewarding.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. Love the idea. The book is written by all 3 main characters. Rowe is the dyke who is an horror story writer buys a cottage with a ghost story back ground in maine. And she lives next to the gorgeous dark hair twin phoebe and cara. All nice little lesbians. Phoebe is psychic ish. She can speak to the dead to solve their deaths and murders. Anyways rowe eneds up with phoebe and there in love. Cara dates the one night stand fran. Ghost story might come back bit it was gruesome.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good but about half of the book is spent in a plot having nothing to do with the book's description. Still, it was a cute and fun read. I love their relationship. A little climactic but still good.

[Verónica Díaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se queda a medio camino, podría haberle sacado mucho más jugo sobre todo a la historia del pasado relacionada con las gemelas, lamentablemente es todo muy fragmentado y las revelaciones aparecen como "colgadas".

[Miriam Cortez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading my first book by this author it was pretty good. I got lost in some points but i really enjoyed the paranormal behind it and the love they found but still it was okay.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this quick book was not going to do it for me. But, it is a nice, quick little ghost story.

[kaye d.hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done

Ms Fulton has done it again .this is a well written mystery/love story.. the characters have substance and the story has depth. A very good read.
.

[Dide · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. Though I'd classify this book as romance it supplied other interest such as paranormal and action. There were some over stretched aspects like that of the FBI-CIA and that of the characterisation of Phoebe as the have them and dumb them type....that description just didn't flow well rather I'd say it flowed better with Cara's.