Girl of his Dream (Dream Jumper, #0.5)

James is a cop from Seattle visiting Maui for vacation.  He’s also a clairvoyant, which is sometimes a gift and sometimes a curse —it helps with his police work, but interferes with his love life.  When he meets Kristina, a beautiful, spunky dive instructor who is battling with her family, he has the feeling he’s met her somewhere before but can’t put his finger on it.  While she instructs him in deep scuba diving, James does his best to talk her into his bed. Kristina isn’t sure if she can trust him, but she finds out she can’t resist him.

As the cover warns, “Girl of his Dream” is the prequel to Ms. Hornsby’s “Dream Jumper” series. The writing is lively and colorful and will definitely leave the reader ready to head to Maui to take up scuba diving.  The setting is lush and the main characters are both richly drawn, compelling and ultimately likeable.  Where this short work truly shines, however, is in the author’s descriptions of diving around Maui. Wonderfully atmospheric.  She gives a vividly accurate account of what it’s like to scuba dive in tropical waters.  The plot, though engaging, feels rushed at times, as does the dialogue.  At the end of this novella, the reader will be left with the need, and desire, to read the first book of the “Dream Jumper” series to understand this story’s suspenseful conclusion.

Marc Joseph