'MAN OF MY DREAMS'.....HOW DID HER FICTIONAL GUY TURN REAL? AND WHO'S STALKING THE AUTHOR?........

 Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley (2026)

     I can always depend on a swiftly paced twist-filled read from author Olivia Worley. And this one not only delivers that well, but comes up with a wild wild triple-whammy of a final revelation.........which I had to stop and read extra carefully to make sure I was fully comprehending it after picking my jaw up from the floor.

     Romance writer Ivy Harcourt, currently basks in the success of her new bestseller, a modernized re-invention of "Wuthering Heights" (but with a happier ending that she'd wistfully dreamed for Heathcliff and Cathy.). Her new work-in-progress features a charming dreamboat architect named Liam. And, as the strangest of fates would have it, whom does she encounter one day in a meet cute but a charming dreamboat architect named.......well, do I even have say it out loud?

     So how is this far-fetched life-imitates-art coincidence even possible? How did this guy manage to literally walk right off of Ivy's rough-draft pages and into her real life, capturing her heart so quickly? All manner of suspicious, unsettling little things begin to pile up in her mind about too-perfect-to-be-true Liam and something even more anxiety inducing plagues Ivy. She's being stalked by someone with knowledge of her darkest long repressed family tragedy......someone who appears to know the terrible truth of that nightmarish moment she's managed to block out of her mind.

     Suspense, dread and surprises start quickly tumbling through the storyline, which made 'Man of My Dreams' a lightning fast one day read for me. And then topped off by that super Jumbo twist......which to be honest, requires you either go with it or stare at the book muttering "you gotta be kiddin' me, right? Seriously?"

     But personally, in a book like this, I'm not looking for hardcore, down-to-earth reality and I love it when thriller authors take a swing for the fences to come up with a finale to knock a reader upside and down and sideways.. So thank you, Ms. Worley for taking that grand slam swing that had me shaking my head for its sheer outrageous daring. Had a fine time with this one.

     4 stars (****).