Dreams of You [Mass Market Paperback]

Paranormal and suspense elements blend nicely in popular New Age romance novelist Wainscott's latest (after Shades of Heaven). Narrowly surviving an automobile explosion, fragile Nikki Madsen now lives incognito among the homeless of West Palm Beach, Fla. At the exact moment Nikki's car blew up, fashion photographer Adrian Wilde was struck by lightning in Hawaii. In a bizarre confluence of life and death, their souls melded; now he's haunted by visions of a woman whose face he can't see until he goes to Florida on a shoot and she wanders into the frame. Adrian discovers that Nikki's running from a killer?and fearful of strangers. This is an emotional, tender tale occasionally marred by bad writing ("a detective-looking man").
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The question I get asked most often is how do I get my ideas. Dreams of You is a good example of how many things can contribute to a book. Three different things inspired this story. First was a rock ballad that came out in the 80's by a group called Rainbow. The song was "Street of Dreams" and it was about seeing someone for the first time and knowing you'd met them before in your dreams. I had been intrigued by that concept for years.

The next inspiration came from a movie about a homeless woman. As we writers tend to do, I wanted to change the movie and make it more romantic and more suspenseful.

I wove the first two elements together, but I needed the impetus for my once-wealthy heroine to take refuge on the streets. That's where real life came in. Down in Southwest Florida in the 70's, a hideous murder occurred that made nationwide news. One sunny morning a car bomb went off in a prestigious community, killing two people and injuring another. More hideous was the suspect, who was later convicted: the brother and son of the victims.

This time I wrote my own ending and made the story my own. The cute puppy decided on his own that he wanted to be part of the story. When I'd decided that the story didn't lend itself to including an animal, Crackers decided he was going to fit in anyway. Who am I to argue with my muse?

NIKKI - In a West Palm Beach homeless shelter lives a fragile young woman in tattered clothes. Every night she is haunted by the frightening secret that drove her to a furtive life on the streets. And every day as she slips through the streets with a scarf wrapped around her head, she feels the eyes of a stranger following her.

ADRIAN- In a New York City penthouse lives the fashion world's most sought-after photographer. Adrian Wilde is a man with everything-except love. The one person who touches his heart doesn't even exist. She is only a specter-a beautiful, mysterious woman who appears in his dreams.

Adrian and Nikki are worlds apart. The bond between them lies just beyond their reach. But sometimes worlds have a way of colliding, and sometimes wanting love is enough to make it happen.