Howdy YAL!

This book could also be known  as Jane Austen Did Have a Happily Ever After and Married a Reform Rouge.

Okay, Sara is not exactly Jane Austen.  Instead of writing witty commentaries on society, she writes gritty books about undesirables that might even have Dickens blush.  And she’s out researching a novel-because unlike certain authors she doesn’t rely on Wikipedia as her only source material (Not that there was Wikipedia back in her day) and ends up saving super hot and rich Derek.

Of course, things develop from there.

But first Derek and Sara have to deal with obstacles.

And while the obstacles in romances always annoy me to some degree, I couldn’t help but swoony at them throughout it.

Lisa Kleypas is one of those authors I can usually count on for a solid experience.  Some of her books are better than others, but none of them I’ve read so far have been bad.

This one while not the best Kleypas’s book I ever read, was thoroughly enjoyable.  The characters were richly described.  Particularly, Derek.  The side characters also held my interest enough where I’ll probably-okay, I know-I’ll be indulging in their stories later (I bought a lot of Kleypas’s books on Amazon a couple of weeks ago).

The characters also deviated enough from the typical Regency stereotypes which made it more enjoyable.  I liked that Derek was a self made man-something you hardly ever see in these books and that Sara wasn’t a the stereotypical pathetic spinster.

Instead, she was a kick ass activist with a pistol.

The characters themselves were stellar.

The plot.

Eh….

It was just sort of stagnant, while there was more excitement than Again the Magic, the villain though annoyed me.

I just really expected more from Kleypas than to use that trope of all things. I just didn’t like how one note that villain and it made what was a good book a bit over dramatic.

Still though, Dreaming of You is probably one of the better historical romances I’ve read recently. I liked the characters and their backstories, and their romance was charming.  I just wish there wasn’t that over the top melodramatic villain.