Before I Wake:The Nightmare Chronicles [Mass Market Paperback]

Dawn, the half human daughter of the dream god King Morpheus, has shunned her father and his realm in order to be `normal' and fit into the human world. Still even though she tries to deny her heritage, the dream world calls to her and it has shaped her human profession as a dream therapist and a psychologist specializing in dream research. A subject of Dawn's own personal dream research project is sexy artist Noah. Though Noah is only human, Noah has his own power over dreams - as a lucid dreamer, Noah can control and alter his dreams. Dawn finds Noah incredibly attractive but has stifled those thoughts out of professional ethics, but that is about to change as suddenly Noah's dreams start to spin out of control.

When there is a sudden rash of people dieing in their sleep, Dawn begins to suspect that something is attacking and killing people from inside their dreams. And now that something is targeting Noah for an even more diabolical purpose. When Dawn has a disturbing encounter with the evil entity in her own dreams, Dawn realizes that she must claim her birthright and return to the Dream Realm and to her father. Morpheus is the only one who can help Dawn develop the powers that she will need to assume her rightful role as Nightmare, a guardian of dreams, in order to save Noah and defeat the evil that is stalking their dreams

With Before I Wake tying into the contemporary world in addition to the dream one, author Kathryn Smith makes a decent transition from the historical genre of her Templar vampires with only a bit of her roots showing through - instead of the descriptions of gowns and hairstyles, there were make-up centric details: their application, color selections and brands, but Smith does leave that behind once the action kicks in and the story starts to spend more time in the Dream Realm. And even though the scenes there are essentially dream sequences, which I don't normally like, the forays into the Dream Realm were smoothly integrated and essential to the story line. One thing that I really like about the story on the whole, was that even though Dawn has an inherent power, Dawn isn't instantly capable of wielding it and has to scramble to acquire some training in order to ensure her survival.

Dawn and Noah are well drawn characters. Dawn is an intelligent and, for the most part, likeable heroine and Noah was flawed but intriguing - I especially liked the insight gain through the brief exploration of Noah's art. Both have quite a bit of relationship baggage. Dawn has issues with her mother's dream coma abandonment of Dawn's human family -- Dawn's rift with her mother is a bit childish and annoying at times. Noah has some control freakiness stemming from his past and abusive father and is not keen on needing help from anyone. Noah's difficulty with the unevenness of power between he and Dawn, keep their relationship from being an easy one despite their intense attraction. The conflicts caused by Dawn's need to protect and Noah's unwillingness to seek help even when outclassed, causes some tiffs that serve to build the sexual tension between them early in the book, but also suggest that a long term happily ever after between the two is not a done deal.

Though there were major romantic elements in the story, Before I Wake looks to fall a bit more on the Urban Fantasy side of the fence, and it is a promising addition to the genre. Author Smith has only scratched the surface of both the Dream Realm and Dawn's role as Nightmare. There is such potential for further exploration on both of these fronts that I hope to see more from this original new series in the near future.

First off, that cover is so not a size 12 woman. It bothers me when the character on the cover doesn't match. Not that I can't imagine from the story line, it's just a bit annoying. Second, I thought the story was a good idea. It's not a topic that is over done, yet. The whole dream world mixed into folktales and mythology makes an interesting story. Smith even makes the character sound a bit more believable by using realistic sounding psychology terms, and doesn't dig so deep to make it boring.

My fault with the novel is that very few things seemed to be resolved. Noah's past, Dawn's relationship with her family, and even her relationship with Noah is a just a little weird. She thinks she loves him, yet she knows so very little about him. And he's not opening up. Also, I thought the painting of her that he keeps in his bedroom was not "awww," but "ewww." After all, he was a patient of hers. These unresolve issues leaves the plot hanging. Otherwise, it could have been a good novel.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was something I wouldn't normally read, within the paranormal genre I usually stick with vampire/shifter stories but I thought I'd give it a go. And I'm glad I did. Great characters, witty dialogue, sizzling chemistry, gritty action scenes and love scenes had just the right amount of passion and banter. I'm glad the author will be continuing the series with the same hero and heroine. It's the first time I've read her so I'll be looking out for her other books.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 24 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars