One Woman’s Struggle Between her Dreams and the Reality of Love After Newly Discovering her Sexuality.Lana lives a perfect life in Washington DC with her husband, Greg. Right in the middle of a peaceful and simple life, she awakens from a dream that ironically reveals a new reality to her that questions the very essence of who she is.Enter Claire, a beautiful young woman who Lana is supposedly in … is.
Enter Claire, a beautiful young woman who Lana is supposedly in a relationship with.
Meandering between Slovenia and Washington DC, sleeping and waking hours, this love story makes Lana evolve and grow.
But a decision must be made. Love wins in the end, undoubtedly, but love for whom?
Magnetic Reverie is the first novel from the series The Reverie, but may be as well read as stand alone book.
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Let’s start this review by discussing the title: Magnetic Reverie. For me, it conjures images of elated happiness and strong, instantaneous attraction. In the first book of a new series by author Nico J. Genes, we find a woman torn between the love she has for her husband and the attraction she has to a woman she met in an airport and continued to dream about. Only… as time and the chapters pass by… we no longer know for sure which of these two relationships is the dream and which is reality.
Genes creates a torrid conflict in the first few chapters. Lana is leaving her country (Slovenia) to get married. Was it arranged or did she fall in love? She’s at the airport when a beautiful woman flirts with her for hours. It ends, and then readers are transported to Washington DC were Lana and Greg are happy but something is missing. Alternating chapters for a while, we learn that Lana has some amnesia and cannot remember her relationship with Claire. The story continues like this for a while, absorbing readers and sharing a tale of two different loves. It seems at first that this is a case of amnesia or dream states, but savvy readers will pick up on a few clues that tell you otherwise… and I’m not giving away any spoilers here, as the truth is a lot more complicated.
I enjoyed this story a lot. At first, I thought… it’s a bit like fantasy where I am lost in terms of what boundaries exist in this non-existent world. Genes clarifies several key ones, enough so I could focus on the dynamic and complex relationships. It suddenly became more about a woman in love with two different people, and how would she choose which one to commit her future to. When Lana finds out she’s pregnant, a whole new element of pain, love, confusion, shock, and intrigue develops. Genes keeps you guessing but mostly forces you to debate which love is stronger. For me, despite my concern over what was happening with the memory loss, I wanted Lana to be with Claire. There was an edge and strength in their relationship, where with Greg, it was solid, dependable, and comforting — that’s a great thing, but it was missing a tiny bit of spark which made me root more for Claire.
When the book ends, I found myself wondering — what’s next? There are answers but there are also questions. A choice is made, but a situation is still open. Will we ever learn what happens with the dreams versus reality? A curious book series, and one I look forward to continuing to read…
Thought-provoking!
Which do you choose, reality or the dream? Which is which?
Lana is happily married, or so she thinks. Her husband is a successful businessman working in Washington. An immigrant, Lana is trying to adjust to her new way of life without old family and friends. Why then, in her dreams, is she living another life back in her home town in Europe, in love with a woman?
We follow Lana when she first meets Claire, though Claire claims a relationship for a long time. Lana begins to rebuild this relationship, curious and excited. Less time is spent in her real life and with her husband. There is a slow and steady feel to this story and a lot of detail in location (which the author clearly knows well) and the dialogue.
There are mild sex scenes in both reality and dreams, as Lana negotiates her newfound desires, and several questions left unanswered, presumably for the next book to delve into.
Worth reading if you like twists and turns in dream vs reality sequences.
Magnetic Reverie is an erotic romance, reminiscent of H. P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands. The protagonist, Lana, has a relatively happy marriage to her husband Greg in Washington, DC, but passion is beginning to fade as the enter their fourth year. Then Lana begins to have a dream that she is back in her native Slovenia, and in a lesbian relationship with a beautiful woman, Claire. The story goes back and forth between Lana’s real life and dream life, exploring different aspects of her straight and gay relationships. She is torn by guilt, because she loves both partners and has no desire to make either one unhappy. Eventually Lana must choose between reality or her dream.
Genes’ descriptions of her characters emotions are deep and extensive, perhaps a little bit too extensive for my taste. Magnetic Reverie is also a travelogue of Slovenia, and the descriptions of Lana’s travels are just as detailed. So even though this is a short book, it makes for a slow read. However, I think it could be fascinating for those more attuned to this sort of thing than I am.
Admittedly this book was somewhat hard for me to follow. It takes you from reality to dreamland and back again. Lana was having dreams that returned every time she fell asleep at night. She was happily married to a great guy and loved her life–but the dream had her loving someone else. She couldn’t get the dream out of her head. Then something happened-which you will not know until later on-and Lana stays with her dream lover for approx 10 days. She does start feeling guilty about her husband back in reality and decides to go back to him. She awakens and is back in reality–but still can not forget the person in her dream. She decides to take a trip to her homeland to see if she can find this person–Does she find her? There is a second book in this series which will let us all know.
The author sent me a mobi edition of this book for entertainment purposes and for a possible review.
Compelling Page Turner from Nico J. Genes
Captivating gripping love story that I read in one sitting. A woman married for three years living in Washington DC finds herself in a strange apartment with an unknown woman in Slovenia, not knowing how she got there.
The deeply touching and powerful story describes the two realities, showing Lana loving both the husband Greg, and falling in love with Claire. The characters were realistic and so well written.
I loved the holiday in Croatia. The descriptions were beautiful and atmospheric. It was a perfect romantic holiday. I felt it was magnetic and had me completely spellbound as to what was going to happen next. Wonderful exciting debut novel from Nico J. Genes and I am looking forward to the next book. I Highly recommend this marvellous book.