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Book Review of Dream Lake (Friday Harbor, Bk 3)

Dream Lake (Friday Harbor, Bk 3)
Dream Lake (Friday Harbor, Bk 3)
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 503 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5


Liked but did not love this book.
Third book in the Friday Harbor series and last of the three brothers Nolan. Alex has a failed marriage and failed business and a drinking problem. He says he likes to be in charge in bed and enjoys his sex with pain. He also has a ghost who follows him around. Zoe is a brilliant chef with a gay ex-husband and a grandmother who is soon to die from dementia. Somehow this all adds up to a lovely and fairly typical Kleypas novel. What I absolutely loved about the book is the descriptions of food! I spent the entire book hungry!

I actually liked the the story of the strange friendship between Alex and the ghost. However I felt like Zoe and Alex kind of got short shrift. Their story didn't get enough airtime and with so many changes in their lives - him quitting drinking, both of their financial troubles, her grandmother's illness and impending death - it seemed like there should have been more with them, and I wish there'd been a fast-forward in time that let us see them after this rough patch. Alex is supposed to be this really successful guy, Zoe a brilliant chef but they're both totally living off of other people's generosity. I wish that part of the story had been resolved. Plus they are both under duress and significant life change - does the relationship that begins in that situation really last?

Considering that Alex describes himself as needing to be in charge in the bedroom and feels he's "dangerous" sexually, none of that came out in the love scenes. It seemed a little odd that Kleypas threw that in there but never resolved it. The love of a good woman changes his sexual appetite? I don't get it.

Something just felt off about this book for me. Good but not great.