Dreams and Vampires

Saga of a World Called Htrae #1

by Dee Krull

A love story with a twist. Two people from different universes fall in love but not before the main character is enmeshed in a mystery of frustration and self blame. She is human from earth and he is a vampire from a parallel world called Htrae. Once on his world she finds herself in danger not only from the world itself but from those who inhabit it. The choices she makes will determine her fate.

Genres: Vampires

210 pages, Nook

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Retired after 25 plus years of private practice I have written a great deal about my profession and experience as a Clinical Hypnotherapist.

When I decided to write Fiction I had no idea how much it would fill my life and how much I would love it.

"Dreams and Vampires" was written in Tucson, Arizona. However, when I decided to place the beginning of my book in Northern California it rekindled my love of the great northwest. "Power of the Vampire" was written in Arcata, California with my cat Gwynie at my side.

I miss my children and grandchildren in Southern California very much and I look forward to seeing them as often as I can but I believe I have found the perfect place to write. A quiet little town by the ocean and under the shade of the Redwoods.

Reviews

[Lavern Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first of this series is an introduction to the world and characters of Htrae. The story begins on earth with a psychologist specializing in regression hypnotherapy. Strange events occur as Laurel's patients begin having nightmare dreams after their regression hypnosis therapy sessions.

The first part of the book concentrates on character development of Laurel and plot set up for the second part of the book. The second part further develops the plot along with character development of the male protagonist, a vampire, as well as the heroine, Laurel. Htrae is an alternate world with vampires, werewolves, witches, and humans all of whom live very long lives.

This first book is more of a long preface to the Saga of the World Called Htrae. It is well written, but if you are not committed to reading the entire series then don't start this one. This is not a stand alone book. The end is not the end, rather it has an abrupt "to be continued" ending without resolution or climax.

I give this book a four star rating. The character development and plot background development for the series were well done and essential. The novel was not as captivating in drawing me into the characters as I would have liked. However it was interesting enough to make me want to jump right into the next part of the story. Adults 18+ because of explicit sex.

[BookNerdette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Reread(2013) as the first time I read and enjoyed the book I did a poor detail of the book for my memory. You can find that review here Dreams and Vampires by Dee Krull

Now the second book has been released and I wanted the memory fresh in my head, since my review was no help with that I reread the book yesterday (1-13-13)


* * *

Laurel has been having these dreams for as long as she can remember. She knows she has a mother and father here on earth but she always dreams of another world, which always makes her wonder if she really is an earthling?

I like the way the book started, how we are building relationships with the characters laurel and ben. I really like him and them together. But as you know I am a sucker for connections and bonds. ;-)

Laurel believes the man in her dream wants to hurt her, and she speaks of different colored eyes.

Later she mentions a man watching her .. and again I remember the first time i read this book how this reminded me of the tv-show FRINGE … where the others or the watchers watched the special children. How they watched Olivia.

She and Ben graduate from College and now are at a party of sorts and she meets Peter. They dated, and then a year later married. They have a son and then retire together and travel. A fulfilled life of love and devotion is what they had until the day he died of heart attack.

One thing I noticed she has connection with Ben… it is like they can read each others mind. Then she instantly had connection with Peter as well. Later she had the same intense connection with Kianas.

Raithe her best friend shares the same birthday and they too have a special bond even though ten years separates them in age.

Now we move on to Laurels clients and how they have this same spiral tattoo, they all seem to have this same dream or nightmare to some. Then we meet Naken he is from the other world and here to collect the seeds. I thought of changelings the first time I read this book but that isn’t correct because in this book they were just planted not switched. I would have to read more on that to understand more clearly of these seeds. How did they plant them?

Ok we finally get to the part where Naken introduces Laurel to Kiana’s and they immediately are electrified to each other. I love it!

I love that our main character is fifty years old and not the tall Barbie model that so many books give us. I also love that she is adult so I don’t have guilt issues reading about a teen having sex. ;-)

Here on this world the hierarchy is Vampires, then werewolves, witches and last are humans. That explains why when she first met Kiina and she tells Laurel to learn her place that is what she was referring to as she was vampire and higher in rank than Laurel the human.

The interspecies breeding is forbidden. Laurel has to remind Kianas when he hisses at the werewolf Lour for loving a witch named Addii… that he is vampire and she is human. But the fact being the more we learn of Laurel I don’t think she is Just human – she seems to be way more. An example is how accepting she is of it all and the connections she has plus the mind reading she does with others.

Naken mention to her that she has helped him with his travels and how she has taken years off his research.

*I thought it interesting how you have Ben living in Eureka. =) for anyone that doesn’t know the tv show Eureka is of another world.

After the car wreck things begin to move fast as her patients begin to disappear and Naken makes more frequent visits or is it him allowing her to see him more. Yea that might be it.

Then Ben spends the night with Laurel and they fall-in-love all over again. They have a passionate night together and half the morning. That was there last day together as she goes missing from earth the following day and to the other world.

p.197 Naken says he is her master. ?? what? That caught my attention and I believe when he said that …. He still didn’t know who she really was he just thought she was a seed.

I love when Kainas pops in to visit and tells her of himself… and they immediately bond. It was sad he lost his mate in the great war. When Naken appears and she slaps him I LOVED IT! The the three go POOF!

This time the book is going very fast.. I don’t know if it is because I have read it before or exactly what but I am sure I will finish this book tonight.

** Book two (p.254) begins with detailed history and I was so thankful for the way you wrote it as it was interesting and I took many notes.

This land is further away from the sun than the earth..
One day = 42 hours
One year = 38 Earth years
Vampires can breed and have children in this book. I am racking my brain and believe I’m correct that this is the first book I have read on vampires where they can have children. I like that J

So everyone continues to tell her that she needs to change in order to live among them and she continually reminds them that she is among them with no sickness so she must not need to be changed. She also pointed out that the prophecy doesn’t state she has to be vampire, it just mentions she was mated to one. So she may stay human throughout or at least until she wins the trust of the people.

Have I mention how I love that she is fifty and her best friend is in her 40’s. It is so hard now to find a book with adults, since most of this genre targets teens their characters are mostly of that group as well.

They finally tell her the prophecy is of Lysander, a human man that was the keeper of Peace… Oh and he time traveled. So now she is the keeper of peace?

Her first kidnapping was by Nox – he beat her severally… Kianas told Laurel he killed him for it.

Her second kidnapping was by Lour and he took her to a cave and they talked about the future and the prophecy. She later learns he is kin to her as well. She makes the comment that she must look like a small doll to everyone on this world as they all want to carry her.

…she run this time.. to stop Kianas from controlling her and straight to the king where she meets Trey – the father of Solia. As her and Trey talk she revels her thoughts and that she is part of all of them. So he runs off with her-

Trey is a Hybrid = a human in the day and a werewolf at night, his eyes glow. He takes her to the cave of humans where she meets many of her patients twins.

Kiana finds her even though there is a spell to hide the cave. Kirn said because their bond is very strong.. Kiana kissed her and gave her more of his blood to make her strong… she needed the strength as Trey took her to Slin and left her.

Now at Slin she see’s the portrait of a woman that looks like her mom and resembles herself. She learns this too is an ancestor of her’s. She learns her mother was a seed and this was her twin, they were witches. So where is her mother?

Aleeld, Addii’s father come to Slin’s to see Laurel. Slin acted odd when she went to leave by grabbing her arm, so Aleeld knocked him away and went in the house with him as Trey was going to take her to her next location ‘Rouxor’ found them.

Rouxor mentions how only humans from their world can summon the power of vampire. He found that curious that she could do that.. He takes her back to his den and was going to mate with her. He answered the question I wanted to know … what happen to the original Laurel? He mated with her and she bore him a son – Coal – but she died in childbirth. He then beat her over and over to almost the brink of death when Kiana found her. It was sad that his own father killed his first mate and took his twins to make them seeds. So I found it fitting that Coal killed his father when Kiana found Laurel just before Rouxor beat her to death. This time Kiina gave her blood for her to heal…

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book but toward the end, Laurel really got on my nerves. She would not listen being one that always runs away.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't the most exciting read, and I could barely keep reading it, though the second half of the book is slightly better to read than the first. The hypnotizing part of this story is kind of got annoying, and I was confused often in the first half of the book. it started out with her life in college, then quickly jumped to her adulthood and marriage for about a page or two, then moved onto her midlife and the oddities with her hypnotist patients. It was an odd read and didn't transition well because not much was happening until people started disappearing. It was a very hollow read, with everything purely at face value with little to think about besides pondering what was happening and why sometimes. As I said, the second part in Htrae is okay, but it's still not a scintillating read and I will overall rate this with an "It was okay, I liked it" because it was a read I could get through, but not without effort and the determination that it would get better eventually. I was just expecting something different from this book. Sorry to those who absolutely loved it, I just couldn't ever get into it as I did with many others.

[Delphina · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started this book, I really had no idea where it was going. I have read where more vamp stories than I should probably admit to and this one did not seem to be anything like them. I loved that! While formulaic reads have there place, I was so ready for something different.
While the beginning was a bit slow, the pace picked up quickly as the adventure truly began. What I loved about this book, aside from the fact that the gorgeous heroine was a bit older than the standard late teen early 20's type heroine I have seen time and time again, was the lore. Somehow Ms. Krull managed to create a paranormal romance/adventure that completely captivated the sci fi fan in me. She definitely did some research before writing this book.
The only issue I had with this book is that some of the numbers did not add up to me, but I doubt most people will even notice. I am a big old math geek, so numbers stay with me in a way that the do not with most people.
I am so excited that this is going to be a series and am really looking forward to reading the next book.

[Sara Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is poorly written, there is no depth to the characters and Laurel is not believable as a 50 year old woman or a mother. The background felt rushed at the beginning, instead of the author weaving it into the story so that we could identify with Laurel more, it was just dumped on the reader.

The Fantasy part of the story was shallow and repetitive with Laurel repeatedly being kidnapped and rescued - just got boring and repetitive.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was free on my nook and based on customer reviews I thought what the heck. Then I realized that the reviews must have been from the author's friends, family, editor, publisher, etc. I read the first half and then skipped to the last chapter, and it didn't end well either.

[Amy]

getting very irritated with this book. not even 100 pages in. i need to take a break from this..

[Jenn M · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely loved it. couldnt stop reading. the story captivates you and is beautiful. sucks waiting for the next book =[

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost finished this book and then my
e-reader decided to breakdown. So I still
have the book saved, but haven't been able
to finish it.

[Cathie Mcgowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book

[Jan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it but it was hard. Just did not enjoy it very much.