What do you think?
Rate this book
Dream of Me: Paint Me Rainbows / Whisper My Name
From New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels come two captivating, contemporary romances.
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
8 people are currently reading
377 people want to read
About the author
Fern Michaels
431 books6,575 followersFern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 15, 2012
I really don't understand what Mira/Harlequin was thinking reissuing these books. There are some novels that age well enough to be introduced to a modern audience, but these are certainly not in that category.
The men of both novels were horrible misogynists. I kept hoping someone would kick them in the balls or something just to shut them up. And that is basically all we knew about them. The third person POV was limited to the women and there were very, very few conversations and no backstory given (even if something about their pasts were mentioned it was never explained).
The women were such vapid, pathetic bimbos that you actually started seeing the misogynists' point. They were so stupid I was hoping they'd die just to deliver me from reading this thing. Both books had the worst cases of insta-love I've ever read. There was no rhyme or reason for it, simply the audience being told they're in love.
The writing left a lot to be desired. It read like a college freshman's creative writing first draft. I kept wondering if anyone actually read the story after it was written. The first book completely escapes me. I don't really know what happened because it was like a series of scenes thrown together. There was no motivations given for actions. Something seemingly important would happen, someone would say something that needed discussing and it was never brought up again. There was no continuity. The story resolves but how? They never discussed anything! She acts like an idiot, he's a brooding moron, there are issues of some sort (trust me, they don't make sense at all) but apparently none of it needed to be talked out.
I was hoping the second book would be better. I have no idea how, but it was worse. This one at least read as a cohesive story but again there was no delving into characters or plot. It was this woman making one stupid decision after another. And when you think there's no way she could make another stupid decision, couldn't do something else idiotic, couldn't be more of a dolt, couldn't possibly let herself be walked over and used with no qualms for the sake of this man she's known for five minutes, she somehow managed to take it a step further and end up in an even more stupid situation. I can't wrap my head around what happens. And, again, the story ends and the big issues between them go away with no talking, no resolution just her giddy over getting to serve him since he threw her an ounce of affection. I honestly can't remember the last time I read a book with a female protagonist who was this pathetic.
I started super skimming just so I could finish because I literally started throttling the book. I wish I had a way to safely set it on fire because I would do so with glee. I have so much book reader and female rage right now it would take an act violence against the book to assuage it.
The men of both novels were horrible misogynists. I kept hoping someone would kick them in the balls or something just to shut them up. And that is basically all we knew about them. The third person POV was limited to the women and there were very, very few conversations and no backstory given (even if something about their pasts were mentioned it was never explained).
The women were such vapid, pathetic bimbos that you actually started seeing the misogynists' point. They were so stupid I was hoping they'd die just to deliver me from reading this thing. Both books had the worst cases of insta-love I've ever read. There was no rhyme or reason for it, simply the audience being told they're in love.
The writing left a lot to be desired. It read like a college freshman's creative writing first draft. I kept wondering if anyone actually read the story after it was written. The first book completely escapes me. I don't really know what happened because it was like a series of scenes thrown together. There was no motivations given for actions. Something seemingly important would happen, someone would say something that needed discussing and it was never brought up again. There was no continuity. The story resolves but how? They never discussed anything! She acts like an idiot, he's a brooding moron, there are issues of some sort (trust me, they don't make sense at all) but apparently none of it needed to be talked out.
I was hoping the second book would be better. I have no idea how, but it was worse. This one at least read as a cohesive story but again there was no delving into characters or plot. It was this woman making one stupid decision after another. And when you think there's no way she could make another stupid decision, couldn't do something else idiotic, couldn't be more of a dolt, couldn't possibly let herself be walked over and used with no qualms for the sake of this man she's known for five minutes, she somehow managed to take it a step further and end up in an even more stupid situation. I can't wrap my head around what happens. And, again, the story ends and the big issues between them go away with no talking, no resolution just her giddy over getting to serve him since he threw her an ounce of affection. I honestly can't remember the last time I read a book with a female protagonist who was this pathetic.
I started super skimming just so I could finish because I literally started throttling the book. I wish I had a way to safely set it on fire because I would do so with glee. I have so much book reader and female rage right now it would take an act violence against the book to assuage it.
December 19, 2019
Lost the book yesterday so considered complete. Was enjoying the first of the 2 stories.
September 16, 2020
Ugh!! Horrible characters, poor writing.
Read
February 13, 2021Both short story books were just ok. Not great.
August 10, 2023
When I checked the copyright date and saw it was 1981 I should have skipped the book. Thirty years ago I probably would have enjoyed this, but my tastes have changed in that time.
December 31, 2015
I give up. The first story is so stupid that I'm not going to give this publication any more of my time.
First of all, a Chunky bar with it's dark chocolate and raisins would have killed a dog. Secondly, and even bigger, no sane woman is even going to LOOK at another man -- let alone be pining for a stranger's kisses -- a mere few days after being left at the altar.
I'm glad Ms. Michaels "grew up" with her story writing.
First of all, a Chunky bar with it's dark chocolate and raisins would have killed a dog. Secondly, and even bigger, no sane woman is even going to LOOK at another man -- let alone be pining for a stranger's kisses -- a mere few days after being left at the altar.
I'm glad Ms. Michaels "grew up" with her story writing.
February 26, 2011
Combines 2 short (about 150 pages each) old fashioned eye rollin cheesy love @ first sight even though they don't like each other romance's.
April 10, 2015
A fun bit of romance to break up the teen contemporary and series I've been reading recently.
December 9, 2015
Good book picks up towards the middle
February 13, 2010
Love it!!! :)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews