Where Dreams Begin

Lisa Kleypas is one of my favorite authors. She manages to create memorable characters, interesting storylines, and sensual love scenes. This book was no exception.I liked this novel because there were a few elements not usually included in this genre. First of all, Holly was married before and actually loved her husband. Usually, widowed women in these stories were abused, mistreated, neglected, etc. And while I don't mind those scenarios, this one was a nice change of pace.Secondly, Holly has a 4 year old daughter. It seems to be very seldom that the heroine already has a child when she meets the hero. It added a very sweet, very touching element when Zachary forms a relationship with Rose (Holly's daughter). I actually teared up at a few of the interactions between Zachary and Rose. So sweet!Lastly, instead of totally reforming Zachary, he reforms her. Instead of making him a straight-laced, boring "gentleman," he loosens her up and makes her into a more relaxed, fun character. Holly's propriety and social awareness is a bit annoying (but most likely very historically correct). Zachary adds spice to her life and shows her that love and passion are more important than public opinion.This book is a keeper. I highly recommend it!

Lady Holland Taylor couldn't have found a man more different from her late husband, George. Zachary Bronson is definitely not a gentleman. Especially, by the ton's standards. Oh, far from it. And when Lady Holly finds herself wanting change, after three years mourning for her late husband, she decided to take Mr. Bronson's offer to turn him into a gentleman. (Of course, this is after that delicious episode in the balcony at the Bellemont ball...) However, Zachary Bronson is a common man, who rose out of the squalor and poverty using his sheer brute strength (and intelligence). And now, he is one of London's most affluent businessmen... and a bit feared, as well. He has just about everything but the respect that comes with blue-blood aristocracy. As Lady Holly tries to teach him manners acceptable with the London elite, this hardened man tries to win the beautiful widow's heart. No doubt, sparks fly from both directions and the reader will surely looser their heart...like this reviewer has. Zachary Bronson does clean up rather well.In the processes of getting a good lesson on peerage titles and other appropriate manners for the aristocracy, I ended up enjoying this book thoroughly. Little Rose was utterly charming and her button string is too cute!! Elizabeth and Jason's secondary love story was brief but delightful. And Vardon, Lord Blake of Ravenhill is the next hero in the making! I've never felt such strong sexual chemistry between two characters and it was so rewarding when they finally gave into each other. I loved reading this book and I highly recommend it to any romance reader looking for an absorbing story. Seriously, it has a great ending. And needless to say, Zachary Bronson is a hero worth reading about.

All I can say is that I am glad that I tried "one more" book by Lisa Kleypas. I tried 2 and didn't really like them, but after Where Dreams Begin, I am glad I persevered. Lady Holly Taylor is a proper lady of her time, and a widow who truly mourns the loss of her husband, George. This in itself was great, since usually we have the widow who has never loved before, but Holly has, and when her heart is once again, awakened, this time to Zachary Bronson, she is shocked and saddened that she could betray George like that.Zachary, meanwhile, can't forget the lady he mistakenly kissed in a darkened room and works it out so that Holly and her daughter Rose come to live with him, so they can teach him and his nouveau rich family proper manners and protocol.As Holly struggles to maintain her distance from Zachary, she realizes that she is losing social standing by her close and scandalous association with this upstart who was once a fighter. Nevertheless, as she begins to fall in love with him and with his mother and sister, society doesn't matter to her anymore.This was such a richly drawn book that I am looking forward to reading what I am told are Kleypas's even better books - Then Came You and Dreaming of You - Holly and Zachary are two truly well drawn characters who make the reader care for them. Rose is neither a brat nor a "precious" child, and Zachary's humble mother, unused to her new luxurious life, is really heartwarming. a secondary romance is written well enough to interest, but not overshadow the main romance. I loved this book and recommend it wholeheartedly.

This is the type of book that gives one the "warm fuzzies". Zach and Holly were made for each other. What was so wonderful was the fact that they genuinely liked each other as well as loved each other. No "I hate you" stuff which leaves me cold. Zach and Holly are about as mismatched as a couple could be; yet, they fall in love and like each other. Holly is a true lady and a widow and is hired by Zach to teach his sister, mother and himself "social graces". He makes her an offer she can't refuse and she moves herself and her daughter, Rose, in his home. Unbeknownst to Holly, Zach is the man who kissed her at a party, in error. The room was dark so they could not see each other; however, Zach follows her out of the room and discovers who she is.There is a small minor problem keeping Holly from marrying Zach but that is soon resolved.Lovely story by Ms. Kleypas, as usual.

Zachary Bronson is a successful merchant and financier whose nouveau riche ways and lack of aristocratic blood keep him from full acceptance in polite English high society. He approaches the problem as he does any other challenge: he analyzes the need, ascertains the solution, and determines what he needs to acquire in order to attain it - then he goes out and buys it. This time, he buys the services of Lady Holland, a well bred Englishwoman still preoccupied with the untimely loss of her young husband three years older. Part Pygmalion, part Beauty and the Beast, part Lady and the Tramp, LK's novel tells the story of a relationship between two opposites, and the transformation each undergoes as they fall in love.The story contains some fun and instructive information about London society of the time. I've always wished for a glossary of terms and and explanation of some of the customs written into this genre, and parts of this book gave me just that. This is a story with a fairy tale quality, and one that readers can empathize with - how many of us have yearned over something that was beyond our reach, and wished for a miracle! Most of the characters are drawn sympathetically, although I expected a little more malice in Lady Holland's family's opposition to her new post. Overall, a book I'm happy to recommend to others, with a good combination of characterization, love, sensuality, and emotional conflict. A different type of story from SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, but I think this shows the breadth of the author's talent. I look forward to her next novel.