Books When Dreams Tremble
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Certainly not one of her best
I have to agree with the other readers who felt that this book and its characters were subpar. As someone who has read several of Radclyffe's books, I thought this was poorly conceived.

The plot, although simple enough, was plodding and it took too long for Radclyffe to get us to the obvious conclusion. Many of her novels involve characters that we get to know and love, I for one am especially fond of the characters in the Justice Series. But I didn't care for any of the characters in this novel. I found myself increasingly annoyed by the characters' indecision. It wasn't a question of "will they or won't they"? It was more a matter of, "When will they get on with it already and stop torturing the reader?" Sometimes this is a good plot devise in a novel, in this one. . .not so much.

By the by, I had just finished reading, "Passion's Bright Fury" before picking up "When Dream Tremble". It was a much better read but when will Radclyffe stop giving us dark haired (with slightly unruly hair), blue eyed, motorcycle driving, white tee shirt wearing, blue jeaned protagonists? I am a womyn of color and only remember one other character of color in her novels. That is my one consistent complaint but I will continue to buy Radclyffe's books because she is a terrific and skilled novelist.

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Rating: - Love Again
The lives of two women who were in love when they were kids intersect once again when they're adults, but not without issues.

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Rating: - not a favorite Radclyffe story
I really liked the idea of this story and I got the impression that the author was doing something a bit different. Unlike most of the regular Radclyffe reviewers and fans, I don't automatically love everything she writes. I enjoy some of her books much more than others, and I find certain of her characters are much more real than the others. That's a matter of personal taste. This new story is not right up there with my favorites. Two women were in love when they were kids, then they meet again as adults and have to deal with unresolved issues from the past as well as the complications of their present lives. That sounded interesting to me but I must admit, I never felt close to the characters and in the end I didn't care what happened to them. I'm sick of reading about women with health issues who think that means they can treat other people any way they want. Also I know that in real life there are loveless relationships like the one Leslie was in, but I did not respect this character for staying in hers. Her behavior to Devon when they were young, and then her weak excuses when they met again was cheap and I was surprised that Dev still had passionate feelings for her. So that made me disrespect Dev. I thought she had low self-esteem. I didn't hate this book, and were plenty of sensual moments and emotional ups and downs, and the setting was one of the better ones Radclyffe has portrayed. I just felt let down and that's unusual when I read a Radclyffe novel. Usually when I close up one of her books there's a real sense of satisfaction. Not this time.

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Rating: - First In a Series?
I liked Radclyffe's latest book. Leslie (corporate attorney shark) grew a great deal as an attorney. She went from being an emotionally closed off workaholic to being an open, loving woman ready to chuck her career to be closer to her lover. Contrary to an earlier review, I think 225 pages was about right for this big a transformation. I would have found it unbelievable if Leslie had been emotionally 'fixed' by two weeks on a lake. We didn't see as much character growth from Devon, but then Dev wasn't nearly so messed up.

My only complaint is that the final scene was completely out of the blue and did nothing to advance the plot. Given Radclyffe's tendency to commit trilogy & expand her cast of characters, I suspect that she was setting up the love interest for a secondary character, to be explored in a sequel. I also liked that some of the obvious conflicts were not resolved. It will be interesting to see how Leslie & Devon deal with being in a long-distance relationship.

I enjoyed When Dreams Tremble more than Rad's last few books. Hope to see more soon.