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Dream On
Since her husband Jack left her five years ago, Kate has done nothing but dwell on the anger and feelings of betrayal, vowing to forget their twenty-year marriage and move on. But she can't. She dreams about him every night. Dreams of his smile, his touch, the way he used to look at her and the way he made love to her. Her body responds as if he's really there, but in the harsh light of morning she knows that she's living in the past and needs to let go.
When Jack suddenly returns without explanation of where he's been or why he left, Kate fights the attraction that still smolders between them. Determined to win her back, Jack reminds her of the passion they shared, when every touch, every look, every word sent her soaring into heights of ecstasy. It's like a dream she can't wake up from, a trip to the past when life with Jack was wonderful. But the past is over and Kate is determined not to live in dreams any longer, even if that means she has to face reality and live without the man she's loved all her life.
When Jack suddenly returns without explanation of where he's been or why he left, Kate fights the attraction that still smolders between them. Determined to win her back, Jack reminds her of the passion they shared, when every touch, every look, every word sent her soaring into heights of ecstasy. It's like a dream she can't wake up from, a trip to the past when life with Jack was wonderful. But the past is over and Kate is determined not to live in dreams any longer, even if that means she has to face reality and live without the man she's loved all her life.
Kindle Edition
First published February 9, 2005
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272 people want to read
About the author
Jaci Burton
157 books8,296 followersJaci Burton is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of over 85 books. She lives in Oklahoma and when she isn’t on deadline (which is often), she can usually be found wrestling with her uncooperative garden, wrangling her dogs, watching an unhealthy amount of television, or completely losing track of time reading a great book. She’s a total romantic and longs for the happily ever after in every story, which you’ll find in all her books.. Visit her website at www.jaciburton.com for excerpts, book information and contests.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 24, 2009
This was a "strange" story, with an unconventional HEA that left me very unhappy. That's all I can say without giving away any spoilers.
February 18, 2014
GET THE TISSUES READY
A short but poignant story about Kate whose husband Jack left her five years ago after twenty years of being married. During the past five years Kate's emotions have run the full course from sadness to anger but most of all the pain of loneliness. Then without warning Jack reappears, looking as handsome and sexy as ever.
I was surprised by this story the ending and the question of where had Jack been for the past five years certainly surprised me I didn't see that coming. Kate had never got over Jack leaving her. They certainly have a passionate reunion. But will it last.
A short but poignant story about Kate whose husband Jack left her five years ago after twenty years of being married. During the past five years Kate's emotions have run the full course from sadness to anger but most of all the pain of loneliness. Then without warning Jack reappears, looking as handsome and sexy as ever.
I was surprised by this story the ending and the question of where had Jack been for the past five years certainly surprised me I didn't see that coming. Kate had never got over Jack leaving her. They certainly have a passionate reunion. But will it last.
January 21, 2014
I kind of expected something like this but with Jack coming into the picture. I was gone. But this left me with a sadness in my heart. Oh Jack, Oh Kate!!'
December 2, 2014
A heartwrenching read.
The tears are sure to flow with this one, make sure that you have tissues on hand.
A sweet read about an older woman, Kate, whose husband left her 5 years ago and she can't forget him.....and dreams about him every night. She has let herself go and no longer cares about her image. It takes Jack coming back into her life to get her motivated to be happy and live again.
This book keeps you guessing until the end.
A really sweet sad/happy read.
The tears are sure to flow with this one, make sure that you have tissues on hand.
A sweet read about an older woman, Kate, whose husband left her 5 years ago and she can't forget him.....and dreams about him every night. She has let herself go and no longer cares about her image. It takes Jack coming back into her life to get her motivated to be happy and live again.
This book keeps you guessing until the end.
A really sweet sad/happy read.
May 23, 2013
OMG....I got married at 16 and we have just celebrated our 31st anniversary. I am crying my freaking eyes out. It may not be a traditional love story but it is the truest of love stories. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
February 2, 2012
To be honest I really don't know what to say about this book!!
April 14, 2012
Jaci Burton's books are always awesome. This was a tear-jerker!
March 25, 2013
Different!!Definitely worth reading....tissues please
August 16, 2013
Shook me up - all the way through. Cannot recommend to my friends, because it would tear them apart.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2013
Worth reading the book. Keep the tissues ready ladies.
Funny how we never seem to appreciate what we love the most until we don’t have it anymore.
Funny how we never seem to appreciate what we love the most until we don’t have it anymore.
March 13, 2016
Muito legal! Não era o que eu esperava, mas foi muito boa a leitura. Recomendo!
July 5, 2023
Kate feels abject sorrow, distraught in her grief. She’s spent the past five years angry at Jack for dying, feeling betrayed that he hadn’t lived long enough to see their dreams come true. An amazing man, he made her happy from the time she was sixteen years old until the day he died.
The reader will quickly recognise that despite the dreamlike state, after twenty years of marriage, Jack is gone. Years of stress and overworking took its toll resulting in him not realising that he had a bad heart.
“I didn’t know I was going to die, Kate.”
Neither did she, but he died … one day he was fine, the next he was gone. The doctor said that he had to have felt pain for weeks or months beforehand.
In life, one never seems to appreciate what we love the most until it’s no longer there. She held on to her feelings of betrayal and anger for five years, protecting herself from the pain of grief, desolation and her own sense of guilt, for not insisting that he slow down, see a doctor, take better care of himself, anything that might have prevented his death. She laid her palm against his cheek, “I should have taken better care of you.”
She’d spent an incredible day and night with her dead husband in an alternate reality.
They hadn’t taken enough time to make one another a priority…and then one day, he was simply, gone.
“I’ve been watching you ever since I left. My heart hurt watching you, baby, you’ve done nothing but wander through the city house and out here, angry at me because I left and angry at yourself because you couldn’t stop it. What happened to me wasn’t your fault at all. It was mine and mine alone. You need to start living again, Kate. You need to find…”
“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare tell me to find someone else! There is no one else but you. There never has been and there never will be! When you…died, my heart died too. When I married you and promised to love you forever”.
He reappeared to encourage her to live out the rest of her years without him.
“I don’t want you to ever love anyone else but me.”
“I never will, I can’t, Jack. I don’t know how to love anyone but you. I don’t want you to go.”
“I’ll never leave you, Kate. I’m here, like I’ve been, by your side, every single day.”
He reached under the covers and pulled out a pink rose. She took it and wiped away the tears. To see something that could materialise outof nowhere made her truly believe in the magic.
“Put this in a vase. Every day when you wake up, there’ll be a fresh one in there for you.”
“I’d rather have you here.”
“You will. You might not see me during the day, Katie, but I’ll come to you in your dreams. “I can’t be alive in the way you want, but we can still be together, if that’s your wish.”
“It is.”
“I won’t. I’ll never leave you again.”
The time for feeling sorry for herself was over, for some unfathomable reason, she’d been granted a magical gift, a second chance to love her husband for the rest of her life. No matter how it happened, whether in her dreams, she knew they were destined to be together. It would be an unusual relationship, one that she couldn’t explain to anyone, but it would be enough to know that they’d been granted a second chance.
Epilogue (Thirty-Five Years Later)
Kate finished dictating the last chapter of her latest book, she’d just celebrated her eightieth birthday with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, surrounded by everyone she loved. Dragging her worn-out body into bed. She was tired now. Jack had never aged, while she’d grown gray and wrinkly and riddled with arthritis. He still appeared to her, his eyes filled with love and desire, despite her advanced age. To him, she was still the same woman he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
She sighed, her chest aching, her old body unable to support her any longer. Her eyes drifted shut as complete exhaustion overtook her. Tonight was different. Instead of coming to her in the darkness, he was surrounded by a soft light.
“Katie.” He stood next to her bed and held out his hand. This time it was easy to spring up and into his arms. The shackles of old age had been thrown off and she met him eagerly.
“It’s time, baby,” he said, producing a pink rose. “It’s your time.” She’d known as soon as he’d come to her, that there was something different about tonight. The light was the eternal light. She was ready. She’d done everything she’d ever wanted and it was time to be reunited with Jack.
“Now we can be together, night and day, for all eternity, no limits on our time together, no day running into night, no leaving you ever again.”
The moment she’d waited years for, had finally arrived and she now stood on the same plane as the man she loved. The man she would spend forever with.
“I love you, Jack.” His eyes glistened with tears as he pressed his lips to hers. “Forever, Katie. Just as it always should have been. You and me together.”
His arms enveloped hers and bright light fused them together, body, heart and soul. Forever.
T H E E N D‼️
The reader will quickly recognise that despite the dreamlike state, after twenty years of marriage, Jack is gone. Years of stress and overworking took its toll resulting in him not realising that he had a bad heart.
“I didn’t know I was going to die, Kate.”
Neither did she, but he died … one day he was fine, the next he was gone. The doctor said that he had to have felt pain for weeks or months beforehand.
In life, one never seems to appreciate what we love the most until it’s no longer there. She held on to her feelings of betrayal and anger for five years, protecting herself from the pain of grief, desolation and her own sense of guilt, for not insisting that he slow down, see a doctor, take better care of himself, anything that might have prevented his death. She laid her palm against his cheek, “I should have taken better care of you.”
She’d spent an incredible day and night with her dead husband in an alternate reality.
They hadn’t taken enough time to make one another a priority…and then one day, he was simply, gone.
“I’ve been watching you ever since I left. My heart hurt watching you, baby, you’ve done nothing but wander through the city house and out here, angry at me because I left and angry at yourself because you couldn’t stop it. What happened to me wasn’t your fault at all. It was mine and mine alone. You need to start living again, Kate. You need to find…”
“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare tell me to find someone else! There is no one else but you. There never has been and there never will be! When you…died, my heart died too. When I married you and promised to love you forever”.
He reappeared to encourage her to live out the rest of her years without him.
“I don’t want you to ever love anyone else but me.”
“I never will, I can’t, Jack. I don’t know how to love anyone but you. I don’t want you to go.”
“I’ll never leave you, Kate. I’m here, like I’ve been, by your side, every single day.”
He reached under the covers and pulled out a pink rose. She took it and wiped away the tears. To see something that could materialise outof nowhere made her truly believe in the magic.
“Put this in a vase. Every day when you wake up, there’ll be a fresh one in there for you.”
“I’d rather have you here.”
“You will. You might not see me during the day, Katie, but I’ll come to you in your dreams. “I can’t be alive in the way you want, but we can still be together, if that’s your wish.”
“It is.”
“I won’t. I’ll never leave you again.”
The time for feeling sorry for herself was over, for some unfathomable reason, she’d been granted a magical gift, a second chance to love her husband for the rest of her life. No matter how it happened, whether in her dreams, she knew they were destined to be together. It would be an unusual relationship, one that she couldn’t explain to anyone, but it would be enough to know that they’d been granted a second chance.
Epilogue (Thirty-Five Years Later)
Kate finished dictating the last chapter of her latest book, she’d just celebrated her eightieth birthday with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, surrounded by everyone she loved. Dragging her worn-out body into bed. She was tired now. Jack had never aged, while she’d grown gray and wrinkly and riddled with arthritis. He still appeared to her, his eyes filled with love and desire, despite her advanced age. To him, she was still the same woman he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
She sighed, her chest aching, her old body unable to support her any longer. Her eyes drifted shut as complete exhaustion overtook her. Tonight was different. Instead of coming to her in the darkness, he was surrounded by a soft light.
“Katie.” He stood next to her bed and held out his hand. This time it was easy to spring up and into his arms. The shackles of old age had been thrown off and she met him eagerly.
“It’s time, baby,” he said, producing a pink rose. “It’s your time.” She’d known as soon as he’d come to her, that there was something different about tonight. The light was the eternal light. She was ready. She’d done everything she’d ever wanted and it was time to be reunited with Jack.
“Now we can be together, night and day, for all eternity, no limits on our time together, no day running into night, no leaving you ever again.”
The moment she’d waited years for, had finally arrived and she now stood on the same plane as the man she loved. The man she would spend forever with.
“I love you, Jack.” His eyes glistened with tears as he pressed his lips to hers. “Forever, Katie. Just as it always should have been. You and me together.”
His arms enveloped hers and bright light fused them together, body, heart and soul. Forever.
T H E E N D‼️
November 4, 2010
One of those "super" novellas for which Jaci Burton is so well known. It is very strange and the reader will be surprised as I was. Yet it has the stamp of reality mixed in with the fantasy and the heroine's dilemma that is so very common in real life. Some are not happy with the HEA in this novella, but I was delighted--it is just one of those edgey stories that is enough off kilter that it stays in the mind and keeps on resonating in the heart. Maybe I am just weird enough to have responded as I did. It is on my "favorites" list and I will be re-reading it very soon. It is not one of Burton's latest books, but I think it ranks "up there" as one of her unique contributions to the erotic romance genre.
November 9, 2016
Yeah. This one requires tissues and a very open mind about the ending. Some might say it's happy, others might disagree. For my part, it made me somewhat uncomfortable - I found myself stuck in the middle. I could see how the heroine would be happy, but I'm not sure it was the best thing for her. . So yeah. It was very emotional and pretty sexy at parts, but also sad and romantic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2014
This story is so sweet. I don't want to say too much, the author does a nice job of letting the story unfold. You will start to get a feeling of where the story is going and once it does the feeling is so sweet and tender.
I would call it erotic romance. The scenes are hot between a couple who love each other intensely.
Recommended.
I would call it erotic romance. The scenes are hot between a couple who love each other intensely.
Recommended.
December 19, 2015
Get tissues at the ready folks! A beautiful and unusual love story that made me cry my eyes out. I was kinda expecting the development of the story and yet I was thrown for a loop as I moved along. It's been too long since the last time I considered a story worthy of 4 stars...
June 22, 2012
Ok not your normal read. Husband disappears to reappear five years later. I figured it out right away why but won't spoil it for you. Still kinda of creepy and depressing to.
March 29, 2014
Beautiful, made me cry!
August 29, 2014
I'm not sure how to feel about this story. I have to admit it was just weird what I least expected
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews