The Life we Dream J H Glaze

Well, I didn't think I would cry. I got through the whole book and then it got me right at the end. I was done for. Yep, I cried.

This is short ebook, approximately 50 pages but it is charming and says much in the pages allocated.

Jack has always loved Sarah and when he finds out she is in a hospice, and dying, he heads straight to her side. Irrespective of the drive ahead of him he has to see her one more time. It's been twenty years since he's seen her but he's never forgotten her. Her smile, her auburn hair and her green eyes. Jack met Sarah the second week of kindergarten and they were inseparable all the way through school together. He never stopped loving her even when she said  the dreaded let's be friends. Even when his friend Tony, who could speak Spanish to her, won her over, he kept loving Sarah. Even when her family moved away in year eleven, Jack remained in love with Sarah.

This little ebook uses two primary devices to help drive it. The first is the use of memories, via flashback. I know there are more than a few who dislike flashbacks in their romance books, but it isn't long and it sets the tone and the reasons why, how Jack loved Sarah so much. The other device is the telling of stories once Jack arrives at the hospice. Sarah asks him to tell her how life would have been had they lived together, had they been man and wife. The stories that he weaves are charming and full of every romantic notion you could think of -  there is nothing but a perfect life, perfect children, perfect holidays and reruns of holiday classic movies; complete with snow falling outside at Christmas. It's grand romantic fiction and it's all for a good cause, to make Sarah feel better and to make Jack feel good about a life lived without his true love. Now he has cause to express his deep-seated feelings. There is more to it, but you have to read the story yourself.

There were a few minor niggles with editing and some over-zealous exclamation marks, which are a pet peeve of mine. That aside, The Life We Dream is so sweet, so charming, so romantic it made me cry. I think it did the job it was supposed to. It elicited emotions from me, the reader, which I have to have in order to enjoy the book I'm reading. There is a slightly magical quality to the book as well, and I think that makes it even better.

This is my second J H Glaze ebook, the first being Forced Intelligence, which is also reviewed on  this blogspot. The difference between the two is unbelievable. I always say the best writers can mix it up. I highly recommend The Life We Dream for lovers of sweet romance, something that makes you feel for the characters involved, a story about love that overcomes all hurdles and will not die. I definitely advise readers to have a tissue or two ready.