Uncover A Time To Dream Curated By Penny Jordan Categorized In Printable Format

orphaned heroine inherits a country cottage from a complete stranger and tries to wallpaper, “Private investigator” hero catches her after she is falling from a ladder, second piece of wallpaper in hand, This is their “meet cute,” and I cant even, . .

There are pages and pages of the heroine contemplating the wall, the wallpaper, the mysteries of dado rails, the joys and expensive luxury of a fitted carpet.
This heroine lives in her head and we, tortured reader, are invited to dwell with her,

It is obvious from the getgo that the PI hero is the distant relative of the deceased owner of the cottage and that he thinks the heroine is a gold digger of epic proportions.


The problem I had with this story is not the OTT heroine were talking debilitating anxiety, loss of appetite and sleep, inability to connect with people, poor judgment but the structure of the story.
PJ introduced the OW way too late in the story for her threats and revelations to be believable, The heroine believes every word, but this reader was annoyed at the manufactured black moment,

This one is concentrated PJ decorating, anxietyfueled thought patterns, family secrets, suspicious heroes, For PJ Fans only.

Boogenhagen has all the details and a more generous opinion in her excellent spoiler review! Wanted: Prince Charming for damsel in distress

Melanie was in distress all right! But the last thing she wanted was a princeor any man for that matterto come riding to her rescue.
She'd had it with the opposite sexshe wanted only to disappear, to retreat to a peaceful haven to mend her broken heart.
Until she met Luke Chalmers, whose sensual intrusion in her life was anything but peaceful,

His stolen kisses left her flustered, and his rakish grin sent her heart racing, But a disastrous engagement to a man who had deceived her left Melanie unwilling to trust another man, any man, so quickly.
Especially one who left so many questions about himself unanswered, . . Re A Time to Dream otherwise known as Penny Jordan's Guide to Bullying and Harassing Your Way to True Love in Three Easy Lessons.


So as my alternative title suggests, this is a PJColada of harassment and bullying to the nth degree.
We start with an orphaned h who has just been dumped by her employer boyfriend for a nonorphan, wealthy, connected rich girl.
The h had thought she met a nice man, but that soon changed when after refusing to run off with the man for a dirty weekend cause it was against her principles, he announced his engagement to the daughter of the man whose firm was merging with the one the h works for.


The h was shocked, even tho her older female BFF had warned her that this particular office Lothario made a habit of trying to seduce the staff.
PJ does show that this heartbreak moment of the h was probably a good thing, because apparently the office Lothario and his wealthy business merger have so few real friends and well wishers that the h's entire office is commanded to attend the engagement party to make up for the lack of real nuptial supporters I guess.


Anyways, the h soon concludes that she is better off without such a user nematode pustule and has such a kind heart that she even feels sorry for the Lothario's new intended, who has to accept such shabby lying shopworn goods in lieu of real love.
Then the h gets a bad case of flu,

She is out of the office for several weeks and in the interim, finds out she has inherited some land and a cottage in the county of Cheshire, located North West England.
The h is confused, cause her parents died when she was young and she went into a care home, As far as she knows she has no living relatives and it seems the man who died just picked her name out of a phone book.


This disturbs the h greatly, but she has a pure and kind heart, so the h plans to take this unexpected and to her mind, undeserved inheritance, fix it up a bit and offer the lot for auction with the proceeds to be donated to a worthy charity home, that will make orphans like her feel all the love she never did while growing up.


The h's new solicitors advise that there is a potential huge motorway extension planned that could make the h's inherited property even more valuable.
They also explain that the man who left the h the property has a second cousin who is a wealthy businessman.
The wealthy businessman was reasonably expected to be named as the elderly, cantankerous man's beneficiary, but they had a falling out several years earlier, so the h got everything instead for some reason that no one seems to know.


Therefore, no one should be very surprised when not one but two dubious characters show up and both seem to think the h is a tart without heart and seduced the elderly man into leaving his life's accumulation of wealth and property.
The h is attempting to redecorate the cottage, to make it more attractive to potential buyers as it is hopelessly outdated, when she is interrupted by a tall, dark handsome stranger just wandering right into her new home.


The man's appearance startles the h off her precariously perched ladder and when the man saves the h from a nasty fall, he also takes the opportunity to help himself to a very roofie kiss.
The h is melty and shocked all at once and the unknown roofie kisser explains that he is a private detective on a case, renting a nearby cottage and he wants to use the h's telephone he doesn't have one installed yet.


In return, and in a true PJ role reversal that would make the Alpha Male Manliness of the H very suspect if it wasn't firmly established that he is a really roofie lady kisser, the H offers to do the decorating for the h in the cottage as the h is trying hard, but has no knowledge of how to do things like dado rails and toning peach wallpaper.


As the h is dealing with her inner suspicions of such a take charge kinda guy vs her unusual female meltiness, she gets a phone call from another suspect individual.
This man declares that he is a local property developer and he had an agreement with the former owner of the cottage to sell the land and the house to him.
As the h knows that there was no formal offer in front of the solicitors and that the solicitor had mentioned that the elderly man was quite cantankerous, she inquires as to what type of agreement it was.


The man on the phone claims it was a verbal agreement, the h responds that she isn't interested and as there was no written offer, she isn't obliged to honor it.
The man on the phone then calls the h a conniving slut, willing to tup an old man to con him out of his life's savings.
As if calling an unknown woman a tart is going to make her agreeable to doing any kind of business with someone.


The h again refuses any offers for the cottage and is rather shaken by the entire scene, When the H questions the h's sudden fragility, she claims it is the aftereffects of the flu she is still recovering from.
Tho she wonders if the H's sudden icy looks have anything to do with the supposed local rumor that the h is a good time girl on the make.


We get a few chapters of home decor, the h attempts to sort out the garden and gradually the h reveals her orphan backstory to the H.
He relates that he has a mum and stepfamily in Canada, but while the h is overwhelmingly attracted, she is a sensitive sort of girl and feels that there is some hidden barrier between her and the H.


When the H questions the h about her finances and her inheritance of the cottage, the h evades the questions and implies that she knew the former owner.
There is a tantalizingly mauve almost seduction involving the H's watch vs the h's sweater in a wardrobe malfunction in the garden and the H just can't seem to keep his mouth off the h's suddenly revealed bare body.
Right after that, the H and h complete the room they were redecorating and the H suddenly disappears, Almost as if he has inside information about the cottage and knows the h's is evading his questions,

The h has several mopey moments, cause she is totally in love by now, There is another call from the evil property developer and the h refuses another offer from him made via her solicitor.
The solicitor then warns the h that this particular property developer has a fierce temper and bad things happen when he doesn't get his way.
But things really come to a boil after the H has been absent for several days, the h is wasting away and decides to sort out her vegetable garden plot, it is full of old roots and shattered glass from old growing frames.
While the h is venting her frustration and pain over her perceived rejection from the H, he shows up and causes her to fall onto a particularly jagged piece of glass.


The H sweeps the h up in true romantic H fashion and carts her into her house to fix her now copiously bleeding leg.
The feel of the H's hands on her leg, cleaning and bandaging her cut, leads to a deliciously woozy feeling for the h, or it could have been loss of blood.
Either way, once the leg is bandaged up, the h complains of being cold and the H is quick to offer his own body heat as a restorative.


We get a huge multipage purple passion lurve mojo moment, the h is thinking everything is pink and rosy and the H has to go do some H things, but he promises to return.
The h is happily contemplating her newfound romance, when a tall and very beautiful witch of a woman shows up at the h's doorstep.


She claims that she is the H's fiancee, she flashes a gaudy sapphire ring and that her father is the property developer.
She tells the h that the H, who isn't a private detective, was using her to overturn the will because he was second cousin that should have inherited.
She also claims that he will prove to the court that the h is con artist tart, so he can sell to the woman's father and that the OW and the H are soon to be building their own house on the opposite side of the village.
The h is suitably devastated and threatens to call the police on the woman, who is now digging her nails into the h's arm.
This alarms the OW and after a few more tart insults, she takes herself off,

The h is now a wounded non unicorn petting h, so she can't even take any comfort in some grooming, when the H shows up again.
The H asks her what is wrong and she lets him have it with both barrels of her now roused temper.
She tells the H about his fiancee's visit, her thoughts on his utter slime toad pustuleness and his ethics and morals that allow him to lie and even sleep with a woman when all he had to do was explain who he was and ask her about what she was doing there.


The H, in another remarkable PJ role reversal, claims that HE was sexually harassed by the nubile charms of the h, and that he just had to get all gropey hands and roofie kiss her to defend himself from her all too seductive charms.
He admits he lied about being a private detective, tho he does own a security company and he claims he is not engaged to or involved in a personal relationship with the OW, the engagement ring was actually a gift from her doting psycho father.
The OW and her father approached him about the h's property and the H supposedly had gone over to their house to tell them there was no deal.


The h claims he is lying, cause really who would go to the lengths these people did if they weren't all involved with each other.
And PJ gives us NO information on why the H would even be involved in the entire situation to begin with or why he would be making deals with the OW or her father.
The H claims that after his dad died, the man who owned the cottage was his mother's relation and that the man became a second father to him growing up.


However the old man banished the H from his life after he refused to continue in an Army career and the h is very angry that he would just abandon a poor lonely elderly man to his fate, then show up and try to profit from his death.
The h declares that such actions only reinforce how much she doesn't want to know him any more, but the H is now obsessed with the h and refuses to leave her alone.


We get an H POV where he declares he will prove that they are meant

to be together and it was only his guilt over neglecting to keep in contact with the old cranky guy that led him to seek the h out tho he does admit he had suspicions of tartiness that were dispelled when he kissed the h.


Things are at a standoff and the h has gone to a property firm and listed the land and the cottage with conditions that prevent anyone from selling it to the property developer.
Then the h gets hit by the property developer in his car, who tries to run her over in the lane outside her cottage.


She ends up in hospital, being fussed over by the H, who was the closest neighbor when the walkers who found the h needed help.
The H wants to call the police on the insane property developer guy, but the h refuses to let him.
I don't know what PJ has against justice for wrong doers, but this is becoming an increasing sub trope with her during this HP time period.


The h is released from hospital right away and the H declares he is staying with her, The h is still irked at the H, so he has to sleep on the couch, There are also a ton of papers belonging to the man who left the h the cottage, so she figures the H is probably the best person to have them and he can go sort those out in the attic too.


The H, who is determined more than ever to have the h, goes to sort out the papers and finds out that the h really does have a better claim to the cottage.
It seems the eldery cantankerous guy was her grandfather, Her father wasn't an orphan as she had thought, he was cranky old guy's son and the cranky guy cast him out of his home when the dad did not make the Army a career either and became a teacher instead.
The h's dad changed his name and lived his life, then died with her mother and the cranky old guy never acknowledged that he had a grand daughter until his death.


The h, who has by now guilted herself into believing the H's claims that she was just as deceptive as he was for not providing a detailed dossier on her finances and family connections on the first instant of meeting him, has forgiven the H and loves him too.
So the H, who does do a decent I Love You declaration, tells the h that he is the new purchaser of the cottage.
Mainly so if the h continued to dump him, he could have a shrine to her awesome hness that no one else could disturb and a rather splendid example of his equally awesome toning peach decorating skillz.


This so moves the h that she demands they elope immediately and the H and h give us a little epilogue.
They are happy and lurving it up in the cottage and anticipating the birth of their first baby, The money the h inherited, along with what the H gave her for the cottage, has been used to furnish and supply a place that helps teens in trouble with no place to go and we get another rosy glow PJ sparkly HEA for a satisfactory conclusion to another HP outing.


This one was cute and for once has an epic and well deserved h smackdown of a badly behaving H.
It lost a bit on the non prosecution of the homicidal property developer and the evil OW definitely needed a smackdown that she never got.
The addition of the H pov saved this one a lot tho,

Yes, the H really was a bully and harasser, But it is all good in PJ's HPlandia, where the greater the H's handsey gropiness means only the measure of the greatness of the H's sincere and true lurve.
Really that is just the usual HP standard of manly and in love H behavior and should not be considered offensive or in any way related to real world situations where the h would arguably be quite justified in calling the police on the lot of them and charging every single character outside of her BFF and hubby with stalking and harassment.


So keep that in mind if you run into this, it is very sweet and the h is adorable, but it is a far cry from most real world standards and allowances will have to be made for vagaries of HPlandia.
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