This was my first SEP novel and it won't be my last. I laughed, I cryed it was just wonderful. The hero is such a lost sad soul you can't help but love him and the heroine is understanding, fiesty and just a great mother who would do anything for her son. The h/h interacted so well with each other you could just feel how much they needed each other. I thought the hero was a little hard on the son but I could also understand the pain he was going through. I was a wonderful book that I read in one day because the characters just pulled me into the story so much I could'nt put it down. Kudos to SEP for making a real winner.

The book club I belonged to before my Amazon days accidentally sent me this book instead of the Nora Roberts book I ordered. I stayed up all night reading and the next day bought every one of Phillips' titles. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a master of the craft! Dream a Little Dream is a bit different from most of her others. You'll need Kleenex, but by the end of the book you'll understand the redeeming power of love.

Cal and Jane from Nobody's Baby But Mine reappear in this story of Cal's brother Gabe. His other brother Ethan is the secondary plot. This books makes me the most sniffly of all SEP books. It's definitely darker and more emotional than most of her works but still very much a terrific read.

Gabe lost his family and never really recovered. It takes meeting Rachel, who has lost everything, to bring him back to life. Together they help each other heal and build a new life together.

This book wasn't as funny and snappy as other Phillips books I've read. Dealing with dark issues like the death of the hero's first wife and child, it just got heavily emotional and made me sad but didn't leave me with a smile on my face like some of her other books had. Still the romance was strong and the characters vivid. I liked revisiting characters from Phillips Nobody's Baby But Mine and other family members.

When you pick up any of SEP's romances you expect to laugh out loud and just plain have fun with witty dialogues and interesting characters but `Dream a little dream' was not so much a laughter provoking book, instead it was so emotional that it almost made me cry for Rachel sometimes.
Humor was no doubt there but it was so sarcastic that you don't even smile you just feel sad that someone like Rachel had become such a cynic in this unfair world.
I felt so much for her, may be because I am also a mother and could very well understand how you can't let anything or anyone get in the way when you have to take care of your child, not even your pride. Rachel took so much insult from Gabe or just about anyone and kept smiling , if I would not have been a mother I would have thought how can anyone make this woman a heroine? She hasn't got a pride or even integrity because she took whatever was given to her even if it was out of pity. But I really felt so much for her that I almost cried when she offered her pathetic body to Gabe in exchange of a job and Gabe asked her, "where is your pride?' and she said " I am fresh out of it?" she didn't even cry then, she said it cheerfully... I was like WOW! She is really tough.
Although Rachel wasn't beautiful, she had no pride where her child was concerned, she wore Gabe's grandmother's loose gowns, but she was still a heroine, because she was a survivor, she didn't let anything break her spirit! She made even the hero seem like a weak guy being pampered by his brothers. Now can you think of any other romance that shows the hero weak... I don't think so. That's the beauty of this romance. As another reviewer says this romance breaks all the rules of romance genre. And that's good. there shouldn't be any rules because there are so many kinds of people in world so there should be just as many kind of relationships then why generalize?
It was fun to meet Cal again and see him as a Villain this time! He really acted bullheaded. He tried to pay Rachel to leave his brother alone! In fact I was kind of disappointed in Rachel when she accepted that money but the way she got back at Cal was great! You will just have to read the book to know how....
Ethan and Kristy's romance was sweet.
Read it if you want to read something emotional and thought provoking. One of SEP's best!