A chick-lit romance that delves into themes of faith, hope, and healing. The story is noted for its emotional depth and the way it sneaks up on readers, leaving a lasting impression. It's a poetic and grounded tale that resonates with many.

I have not been able to completely finish this book yet but I wanted to give my feedback from what I have read already. I loved this author, Drew Taylor. She always writes with such a heart of gold and from a Heart of God. This is a new experience reading this type of Women's Fiction with clean romance and Christian themes. I loved how the FMC was trying to find herself and how she discovered her value is in Christ, not in man. It was funny also with her dialogue and the way she describes her MMC and with the side characters. I thought I was gonna be confused because of the way the story line is set up, an author in a real world that is writing a book in a fictional world, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this beautiful read. I will definitely be picking up this book again sometime soon.

this was great however My main concern was with the romance, which felt far too rushed for my taste. There wasn’t enough development or explanation behind why the characters were so drawn to each other, which made it hard for me to fully invest in their relationship. I’m generally not a fan of the insta-love trope , and the intensity of the romance was a bit overwhelming at times.

smart, fun and whip smart this book was. it had me in my mystery loving era but then swooped down with a total snot fest of an emotionally deep story. then we swing up high to the swoon worthy points of a romance genre and this book rounds off to be all we need in a book.
it captured me in every page. there was almost sun beams shining from these pages as it just felt so good! i cant really explain enough without giving too much of the plot away. but it was good. really really good. it takes you in and takes you to s snug little corner to feel held and warm whilst you invest yourself amongst the pages.

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. The cover immediately drew me in. It is gorgeous. The amnesia and second chance tropes were the deciding factor in my requesting. This is my first time reading Drew Taylor and I appreciate her desire to bring Christian themes and perspectives to the closed door romantic genre. She gives the reader realistic portrayals of the feelings and struggles that Christians have in relationships. These characters have real wants and desires and have to determine their boundaries based on their beliefs. I personally, as a Christian, do not agree with some of the actions that were written as acceptable but that is neither here or there and I do not factor that into my rating.

I can’t decide whether a reader should go in blind or not for this one. I had a vague understanding of the plot in general. If you are someone who is easily confused or likes things more straightforward then you may want to read the blurb and have some patience for the first third of the book. I’ll be honest I thought about dnf’ing it around the first few chapters but I’m not a quitter and stuck it out. Most books drag or lose steam in the middle. Not the case here. Once I got to a certain point I was furiously turning pages and lost some sleep trying to read as fast as I could. There is a pivotal moment in the plot and I immediately drew a conclusion, paused my reading, and took a few moments to process. When I resumed the story I realized my conclusion was wrong. While I was relieved, I was also disappointed. I felt the story lost its intensity and anticipation that was driving the story not long after that. Then I discovered in the author notes that she initially planned the story to go the way I had expected and later decided to alter her direction. I feel it would have given a more profound and impactful resolution.

This story had a lot of promise, but lost its appeal later on. I felt the FMC was inconsistent in her feelings and actions. And the MMC acted like he had amnesia when he completely forgot the pain he had endured during the conflict. And the epilogue left me scratching my head. I could have done without it.

If you have read Drew’s book before and enjoyed them, then you will probably like this one. I just wasn’t feeling it. And that makes me sad. I really had high hopes. I was looking at 4.5 stars at 50%.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy all opinions are my own.

•𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰•

{𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 & 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: Book 1}

“𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚎.”

🪴 Release Date: June 17, 2025 🪴
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The first thing that really stuck out to me with this book was the writing; it was very well done—beyond excellent! So if nothing else, read this book for the phenomenal writing 😄 But thank goodness there are quite a few other reasons for you to want to read this book beyond just the good prose!

If you love a flirty MMC, you’ll absolutely die over Noah 🤭 He was literally the epitome of a flirt through and through! I lost it multiple times over his comments in Esme’s head—they were absolutely hilarious 😂 I must say, this book had some excellent humor in it!

Esme, the FMC, gave off such quirky vibes since she was an author, and I really enjoyed it! I strongly related to her control issues—it can be so hard at times to simply let go and let God take control. I really appreciated how vulnerable the characters in this story were at times with their struggles. I felt like they very accurately portrayed the real struggles we face on a daily basis. I love books that depict people living Christ-centered lives, and for the most part, this one was very well done!

I do have a few complaints with the story, and honestly, they affected my enjoyment of the story pretty drastically. While I typically love the amnesia trope, I struggled to really get on board with this particular take of the trope. By about 50% into the book, I wasn’t a big fan of where the story seemed to be heading, and I was very torn as to who I was supposed to be rooting for. The characters were a touch dramatic with their emotions, like suddenly sobbing at the drop of a hat, and that started to grate on my nerves after a while. The epilogue didn’t seem to connect very well with the rest of the story and came across as more of an afterthought than a well-thought-out plot.

My main issue, though, was with the romance, which felt way too rushed for my liking. I felt like we didn’t have nearly enough explanation or development shown as to why the characters liked each other as much as they did, and because of that, I wasn’t able to adequately support the romance. I’m just not a fan of the insta-love trope 😬 I also found the romance to be a bit too intense for my comfort, though I did appreciate how the author handled it, for the most part. It’s disappointing because the main plot of this book was the romance, and I just felt like it fell flat for me, with not enough depth 😕
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I received a complimentary arc from Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op. All opinions listed are purely my own.

Wow!! I just stayed up wayyy later than I should just to finish this book. I read it all within a day. I didn't want to stop and clearly I couldn't! I even squealed at one point and told my husband I needed to know what happens!!

This book has so many twists and turns I wasn't expecting and I loved it! My heart was really racing so many different times throughout this one! It's a mix of romance, mystery, and suspense and I was constantly trying to see if I knew what was coming. I never did.

This book also has a biblical word view, which I really appreciated as a Christian myself. I have struggled in the past with finding Christian fiction that excited me, but this one exceeded expectations! I honestly think even if someone that isn't Christian reads this they would still love it, it's just that good!!!

I will be thinking about this book for so long now and am already eagerly awaiting the next one!!

Thank you NetGalley and Taylor Made Publishing for an ARC of this amazing book!! 💖

DNF @ 10% This book failed to grab my attention and I found that I was skimming through most paragraphs rather than reading. Right off the bat, the main character was just annoying enough that her internal dialogue seemed repetitive and never-ending. As a Christian myself who enjoys Christian fiction, I think this author used the first chapter to preach a little too heavy-handedly instead of establishing this character’s wants and needs and setting us up for what’s to come. I think there was potential here, but it didn’t quite hit the mark.

All that being said, if you enjoy Christian romance, pick this one up and decide for yourself—you might enjoy it more than I did!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This review was given on Goodreads on 5/23.

Books have always been my “happy place.” The genre that I can never get enough of is romance. Although my preferred genre is romantic suspense books, there are some genres that I simply have not read before. Because of this, I was extremely excited to read this book, as it introduced a new genre to me.

As this was my first “Christian” romance, it didn’t know what to expect. One thing I knew is that it would be unfair to compare it to others in my mind. I have to be honest that it took me a minute to get into the book, because I felt like I knew what was going to happen, and I was just waiting to get there.

I always try to keep my reviews mostly spoiler free, and this one is really hard to do. One thing I will say is that Chapter 6 shattered my expectations for this book. Another thing I will say is that, although I can see the logic behind it, I don’t really like this specific plot point. It seemed like it changed the trajectory of how the story was going, and there were some things that were added to “save it.” Again, it’s really hard to talk about without spoiling it, so I will leave it alone.

I really wanted to give this book a “5,” but I just wasn’t a fan of that specific plot point. (Especially when I realized after reading the acknowledgement that I wanted the author’s original idea to happen.) I see this is a book one of a series, but I think this may be one where I don’t continue to read it. That’s not to say I don’t like the book, I just don’t want to explore the series any further.

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

A unique concept/plot for a Christian romance where an author writes a romance, except that her fictional characters are modeled after her real life—before she had amnesia. I went into this blind without having read the synopsis, so initially I was confused and kind of lost—there were a lot of characters that I couldn’t keep up with and I didn’t quite understand Esme’s true feelings for the people she encountered. the plot and characters started to click with me at about the 60% mark and the plot tied up nicely at the end.

This book was so good, I absolutely loved it. I love books about authors and publishing with lots of bookish content, throw in a good dose of amnesia and a dash of mystery and I couldn't put it down. Truly loved the mental debate about intimacy and the openness about the struggle. Cannot wait for the next book now, I loved the side characters and families 🧡🧡🧡

3.5 ⭐️

I’m not even sure where to start on this, so let me just start here: I am probably not the target audience for this book.

While I read my fair share of Janette Oke's books in high school, I’ve avoided most faith-based fiction since that point, as it has the well-earned reputation of being subpar. But I tried to come into this with an open mind, and I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, there were areas where the writing could have been improved, but the plot was engaging, even a bit bonkers at times. (What in the satanic panic was that ending? Gave the romantic suspense I read a run for its money.)

I can see where this would appeal to someone who enjoys faith-based fiction. There were twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, and the pacing moved along steadily. There was an unfortunate Donald Trump reference early on that made me think Noah was going to be a MAGA-pixie-dream-boy, but that passed quickly. The characters’ decision to be abstinent until marriage was handled with nuance, rather than shoving purity culture agenda down the throat of the reader.

Things kind of fell apart near the end. There were some fairly shocking plot developments in the epilogue, and they almost felt like an afterthought. I wish those developments had been shared earlier, with more of that plotline woven into the story. As it stands, it comes a bit out of left field and the idea felt underdeveloped. I’m hoping there will be more in future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Taylor Made Publishing for the advanced copy of this book, provided in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

...what did I just read? This book was a WILD ride! Major kudos to Drew Taylor for crafting a Christian romance novel that is so unique. There's metafiction, friends and family, amnesia, suspense, and lots of sizzle.

The story was too over-the-top and insta-lovey for my personal tastes. It also had some tonal shifts and plot shifts that are explained more in Taylor's notes after the conclusion of the book. Overall though, it's just a delectable story. It was so engaging that I read it in a day (RIP, sleep schedule) because I just could not put it down. If you like genre-bending fiction with sizzle and a bit of Christian messaging, check out Reverie!

Thank you to Drew Taylor, Taylor Made Publishing, and NetGalley for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is cross-posted on Goodreads, and it will be posted on Amazon and Instagram within a week of the book's publication.

Content warnings: This is not clean, but a level 3 closed-door; characters frankly discuss sex and longing for sex, and there are very descriptive make-outs. There is also violence, peril, and injury. A few mild swears.

I have some complicated feelings about this one. On the one hand, I truly appreciate its fresh take on clean romance—there’s a clear commitment to Christian values in dating and sexuality, and the characters openly discuss boundaries in a way that feels intentional and thoughtful. On the other hand, the sheer level of attraction woven throughout the story took me by surprise.

The chapters detailing Esme’s fictional love story is especially passionate, diving straight into romance without the slow burn I typically enjoy. Still, while I admire the author’s creativity and the way God-honoring values are woven in, I struggled with the persistent focus on the hero’s sexiness and the innuendo. Maybe I just have a lower spice tolerance, but ultimately, the steamy moments outweighed my enjoyment of the other elements. The rest of the plot is super intriguing: a mysterious past, a wild trip to Bora Bora, and Esme sorting out life in her late twenties. The writing and story are engaging, but in the end, I decided this wasn’t the right fit for me. For those who enjoy an adventurous romance with faith-based themes, this might be a great choice—but be prepared for plenty of passionate longing along the way.

Special thanks to Taylor Made Publishing and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.