Bryn has an unusual condition, lapsing into comas for weeks or months at a time and left to struggle to put her life together when she isn’t trapped in a dream world of her memories. She had been alone in dreams for so long that finding a man washed up on the beach with no memories is a welcome, if terrifying, shock. Then as she lapses in and out of the dreamworld, she finds he knows things she doesn’t – and that he is still in their shared dream alone when she wakes. Could he be real, and if he is how can she find what happened to him? She hasn’t much time to find out, for something dark is stirring in her coma dreams, and it’s after both of them.

The characters come across deeply, as rounded people not perfect dolls, and Bryn’s frustration with her condition is an ongoing theme. Her wish not to miss Christmas is particularly poignant. The writing needs special mention, changing style between dream and reality to make a subtle distinction between the two. The presentation is professional and well written and there are some spooking and compelling scenes in it.

The ending was a problem for me: it held me hooked to the last page looking for answers, but the story never gave them. It is a natural break point and may be deliberately ambiguous, but so few questions were answered I felt disappointed. It is the first book in a series, so it is an understandable decision, but in some ways it does feel unfinished.

While it builds a fantastic premise, and was absolutely engrossing, I was a little disappointed by a lack of pay off: Bryn does find the man of her dreams, but with threads like the ghost issue, the backstory, the doctors, her cure etc, still unanswered, I found it frustrating.

I would have said a 4, but the ending for me lowered it to a 3. Romance readers may enjoy it more, but I’d suggest treating it as a sample for the trilogy.