Review: Man of Her Dreams by Teresa Blue

Man Of Her Dreams by Teresa Blue was a light, sweet, often humorous small town romance with just a sprinkle of magic thrown in. I picked it up and read it right through, always a good sign for a book.

Leslie drops by her soon-to-be cookie cutter home her fiancé bought, and finds him in bed with her best friend. Though Leslie should be devastated, she can’t help but feel relief. She never really felt much for him, but since she was always the predictable good girl, she let herself get swept up in her social climbing fiancé’s plans. So Leslie hops in her 30 year old Datsun and takes off to Sleepy Falls, Michigan where her family has owned a cabin since she was little.

As she stops in the gas station, the car wouldn’t start up again. There she meets Jay, the gorgeous local mechanic and all-around handyman. Luckily, Jay lives in the cabin next door and offers her a ride home after she picks up a few groceries and some little bottles of booze to drown her misery for the night. The attraction is immediate, especially when Jay sees her holding her lifelong companion, Mr. Jingles, a ragdoll she tells all of her secrets to.

The next day, Jay sees her hungover when he offers her a ride to town. He is immediately put off by a woman who drinks, due to his estranged mother’s exploits in the carnival. Leslie is a pretty straight laced young lady, who wants to just live a little. Plus she needs money to fix her car. When she sees a sign for a mechanical bull riding competition at the local biker bar, she signs right up. There she meets Sally (I loved Sally) who gets her all dolled up to win. She also catches the attention of the scary biker, Spike. Luckily though, Jay comes in just at the right time to rescue her, and finds himself lured in by her charms, despite her drinking and being the center of attention (which he did NOT like). He also finds her lost Mr. Jingles who seems to reveal a lot about her personality to him.

Sally and Leslie hit it right off and go to see a fortune teller, Madame Luella, but she turns out to be so much more. When Leslie’s well-meaning but intrusive family arrive, they throw an even bigger wrench in her plans to get to know Jay better. We also have a bit of a mystery with Leslie’s parents, who I really liked.

Likes:

I enjoyed the whole cast of characters.
Jay and Leslie had a combustable attraction.
I was caught up and read it in a day.
Madame Luella turned out to be very different than expected.
I loved Sally.

Dislikes:

Left with some unanswered questions about Leslie’s parents.
The doll part of the story, which seemed so important at first never really went anywhere, in fact, what happened to it? It came in again at the end, but I kept wondering….it just seemed unnecessary.
The end wrapped up really fast, I felt like I skipped a section. I would have liked to watch the relationship progress a lot more.

Rating: 3.5 stars, 2 for Heat

Man of Her Dreams was a sweet, often funny, fast read without a lot of angst. It had a nice down-home, small town feel, and I found myself smiling throughout. You definitely have to suspend belief a lot in this book, and the whole story takes place over a week.

Purchase Man of Her Dreams (about 200 pgs) at Amazon || BN.com || iBooks

*Book was supplied by the author in exchange for a fair review