Review: Better than my wildest dreams
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I’m not a big historical romance reader, as in I pretty much don’t read historical romance. Wildest Dreams is set in a parallel universe but that universe is very much the place of myths and legends like you’d find here in the medieval era. My very first note about this book was “What am I getting myself into?”, but I was quickly swept away in the story. As in true Ashley fashion it picks up quickly and you find yourself lost in another world.“Seoafin,Tonight, you marry The Drakkar. In the ancient tongue, this means The Dragon.Good luck,Sjofn”The heroine Seoafin “Finny” Wilde is another great Ashley character. I love when she writes a strong woman and Finny is just that. Finny does what she needs to do in order to survive and thrive, she has a great personality and I love how she just blathered on at times. The writing of her character made her seem more real than quite a few heroines I’ve read lately.  She’s an adventurer looking for the ultimate trip, which she gets when she switches bodies with  her twin in the town of Lunwyn in that pesky parallel universe. Finny is thrown into a troubling situation where she is forced to marry a man within ten minutes of her switch. And trust me that is not the strangest thing to happen in those first few chapters (or any other chapter for that matter). Yet, Finny takes it all in and while going with the punches also finds a way to excel in  her new life. That is until her new husband comes back into town…“My husband was clearly not only scary but also a dick.”I loved the Drakkar, as in Frey Drakkar. He’s a special guy in more than one way but you have to read the story to find out why. He makes some mistakes, things that in our world would have totally ticked me off to no end. I would be on here ranting and raving how horrible he was, but the fact of the matter is that he lives in a different world where there are different expectations.“She waits for me at windows and buys me dragons. There are reasons we walk this earth, I’m coming to realize mine.”At first Frey treats Finny like crap and you’re just so confused and ticked off about what could this dude’s problem be, but as the story unfolds we figure out why. You see Frey did not like his bride to be and he’s not sure what to do once he realizes that there’s something wrong with the woman he now has to call his wife. He was expecting someone else and once he learns the truth that changes everything. I ended up loving Frey Drakkar, he’s protective and fierce but has no problem letting his wee Finny know that he loves her. Even if that means making some choices for Finny that we might not approve of, he was a man of desperation and couldn’t let her go.  Wildest Dreams is told in duel point of view between Finny and Frey so we get to read his side of things as well which I think helped with understanding his choices. Plus male point of view.. come on.This meant his plus column was growing. So far there were only four things on it but yesterday there were none so I had hope.There is a lot going on in Wildest Dreams but ultimately it comes down to a love story between two people from very different worlds who have destiny on their side. These two were fated to be together. Frey and Finny were both learning the whole marriage and love thing together, it’s a love story. Then throw in some dragons, elves, conspirators, and cultural differences for just a dash more fun.“You better go. The cool-as-s*** elves are waiting.”For a girl who doesn’t do historical or fantasy romances, I loved this book. I think I might be expanding my acceptable reads list. Kristen Ashley flipped me in a way only she could. Wildest Dreams was a more serious read than her other books that I’ve read so far. There are a few funny places but for the most part it’s more on point and serious. Now don’t get me wrong it’s not a dark read or even a book that deals with troubled emotions. It’s still a Kristen Ashley fun read but the scenes are a bit more realistic and maybe even somber. There is a lot of action and suspense but none of those KA car bombs I love so much… oh maybe because they don’t have cars? The threats are still real though and Finny finds herself in some very intense situations on more than one occasion.Apparently being princess wasn’t all about beautiful palaces, fantastic castles, shopping, archery lessons, wearing awesome crowns and kickass underwear and being married to a hot guy who named his ship after you. Apparently there were drawbacks.This is not to say there weren’t a few parts that I didn’t like, but they were few and far between. I love Kristen Ashley but I find she spends more time than the average author describing clothing. I can see how in a book like this since the clothing choices are so unlike our own it might be needed, but I still thought it went a bit overboard.  There are quite a few time jumps in the book, they were needed in a way but a lot happens during these jumps that I wanted to read about. And lastly we never really learn what happens to people. There are still quite a few unanswered questions, some big and some not. There are other stories in this series that this couple may be mentioned in so hopefully we’ll learn more about them then. But the other questions like; what happened to Finny’s twin in our world might never be known.Obviously I had a lot of feelings about Wildest Dreams, but I barely had any notes on it because I read it almost straight through. It was truly a day where Owen was allowed to watch cartoons and do whatever he wanted all day. Not surprisingly he was ok with the fact that Mom was sucked into a book and couldn’t look away because it meant I let him watch Paw Patrol from our DVR all day long. See good books make Owen happy too.Wildest Dreams has already secured its place in my Kindle re read collection where it will never be deleted. You should add it to yours as well.