Dream Weaver

by Jenna Ryan

Someone was watching Dr. Meliana Maynard's every move…

First, there were the single white roses. In her home, her office, her car. Then, the notes came.... And the nightmare began. The skillful surgeon was in trouble — and now the only man who could protect her from a madman was her estranged husband, ex-FBI agent Johnny Grand.

But uncovering the identity of a shadowy stalker seemed less frightening than facing the feelings provoked by the one man she'd never stopped loving. Meliana would stand strong against her twisted pursuer, but with Johnny...she'd surely buckle the minute he held her in his arms.

Genres: Harlequin

251 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jenna Ryan was born in Victoria, British Columbia. After long stints in different cities across Canada, she returned home to Vancouver Island where she has lived ever since. She has had thirty-one books published in the Harlequin Intrigue series. Her ideas come from real life, and she is helped in her writing by her sister Kathy.

She enjoys reading and is a big fan of women's fiction, psychological suspense and mystery novels. She also enjoys watching classic suspense movies. She loves strong heroines, heroes with character, romance stories and a good whodunit by the fire on a rainy night.

Her heritage is a blend of English and Irish — which is probably where the gift of blarney comes from. She is unmarried, but involved with a wonderful man. She also has a little white cat named Sheena.

Whenever she is not writing, she travels as much as time and finances will allow. After North America, Europe is her favorite continent to explore, because it was in those countries that many of the myths and legends she drew upon in her early years of writing were born.

Growing up, she considered various careers and dabbled in several of them, including, after university, the travel industry, tourism, sales and modeling. Work in the fashion industry in Toronto and Montreal gave her an interesting peek into various aspects of that world. She learned that where money, power and people come together, there will always be unpredictability — an element she feels is essential to a strong mystery. Add a healthy measure of personal conflict, an intriguing setting and a spicy romance into the mix, and you have the ingredients for what she believes to be the best of all possible stories — a great romantic suspense.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the story of Meliana and her husband Johnny, from whom she is currently separated. Johnny was undercover with the FBI for two years that messed up his mind, and afraid of his rage issues separated from Meliana. Meliana has recently started to find white roses in private places, she was also given a white dog, and some of her lingerie was stolen. She calls in her police friend to help her, and when Johnny finds out he comes back to help protect Meliana. The threats then turn nasty as Johnny and Meliana begin to reconnect, with the stalker threatening to kill both of them.

First of all, I guessed who the culprit was in the first 5 pages, and that's not an exaggeration! To me the Intrigue line should have lots of action, snatched moments of passion, and actual suspense, and when you can easily guess the culprit then it takes the suspense away. As for the other two things, well there wasn't really much in the way of action and the passion wasn't that great.
I thought that the whole stalker problem wasn't taken seriously, I mean if your being stalked would you really go to at least 2 parties and hold a party in your home? I don't think so! Yes, the characters in this book did these things. Meliana didn't think anything of random roses appearing or a dog with a note left outside of her house one evening, it was only when her lingerie was stolen that she thought about it, come one! Wouldn't you be freaked out by these things, I know I would. The characters were not developed enough and I just could not warm to them. I also found the story really dull.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[Mojca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenna Ryan is (still) my favorite HI author, but unfortunately this story just didn't pull me in as others did. The suspense was still amazing and extremely well-written with clues pointing in multiple directions (sometimes even at the hero himself), red-herrings, and a nicely devised build-up and perfectly twisted villain.

I had major problems with the hero and heroine, though. They were married for starters, which quickly removed any hopes of a budding romance (I love those in my H. Intrigues), and it obviously removed any kind of chemistry as well, since they seemed more like a couple of good, old-time friends than spouses, even estranged ones...So even when the romance element was finally introduced it seemed forced and strained. Bummer.
Also, the lack of back story about Johnny and his two-year undercover assignment that resulted in said estrangement didn't help matters, just muddled everything further.

Still, 3 stars for the effort, and an amazing (as always) suspense plot.

[Mary Mackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space filler. It did keep me guessing though.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read. Kept me interested from the beginning. Liked the mystery of it and it kept you guessing. Not my favorite genre, but I do like it them to have a change in my reads. Recommend this book for someone who likes a little mystery with a lot of romance...