Franki deMerle

Dragonfly Dreams – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Shortly before 2:30 AM, Daphne awoke from a vivid dream. She dreamt she was in Scotland and had just been widowed. Her husband had been murdered. It was some distant time in the past, and she was dressed in a long black gown with a stiff white headdress She could feel the tightness of her corset contrast the softness of her gown’s material on her skin. Richard was there, but other people in the dream were saying he was responsible for her late husband’s murder. She was confused and didn’t know what to believe. She had thought she could trust Richard, but a voice in the dream announced, “During the Protestant Reformation, these sides were divided.” As she wondered what that meant, Richard captured her and took her against her will to a castle, where he raped her. Then, when he left her alone with a woman companion to look after her, the two women escaped. They disguised themselves as men and used bed linens to climb through a window and down the castle wall. She was terrified. She and her companion rode across the nearby border to England, where they thought they would be safe. At first, when they told their story of what had happened, they were given sanctuary by kind people. But after about a week or so, word came to the household from the authorities that she was to be held as a prisoner again. She did not understand why. Then she was told that Richard had also fled Scotland and was also imprisoned, but in another country.’

Daphne Robin and her sister Deandra were both accustomed to strange dreams. Deandra has dreamed, since childhood, that she was a soldier with lots of brothers. In her dream she was a man and someone was beating her face in. Daphne’s dream about Scotland came shortly after her marriage to Richard Gatorman, owner of a construction company as well as Daphne’s boss. Scotland was a place Daphne had always wanted to go to so when the dream coincided with Richard announcing that they would be honeymooning in Scotland, she let her excitement override the possibility of a warning. But, Richard had always been the perfect mate. He was loving, caring and offered her everything she could ever want…so she thought. The honeymoon would turn out to be the beginning of her seeing the true Richard she had married. A marriage that she soon realized had been a big mistake. The only out for Daphne becomes sleep in which her dreams have her flying the skies with a handsome man. If it weren’t for her dream time she would probably give up on life itself.

Deandra, being an officer in the Army, enlists the help of her friend Major Ursa-Barrios to help Daphne escape the abuse being inflicted by Richard. Major, as he likes to be called, has had his own dreams over the years. In his dreams he would help a young lady and falls in love with her. Could Daphne possibly be the woman in his dream? Could Major possibly be the man in Daphne’s dreams?

As Deandra, Daphne and Major come together, they start searching for the answers to their dreams. Deandra wanting to know who the person getting their face bashed in is and who are the brothers. Daphne wants to know who the woman in Scotland could be as well as who she soars the skies with. And Major wants to meet the lady from his dreams.

Franki deMerle has done it again with a book of mystery, love and a certain air of suspense. The more I read, the more I wanted answers to the character’s dreams but I wasn’t really expecting what the dreams actually turned out to be.

2010
iUniverse
299 pages
ISBN# 978-1-4502-7244-5

Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com Stir, Laugh, Repeat… (meer)

Dragonfly Dreams by Franki deMerle, author of Deception Past, is the story of two sisters and the man one of them falls in love with.
Daphne ignores the dream she has on her wedding night, right before her honeymoon on the Scottish Isle of Arran, and finds herself trapped in an abusive marriage. She dreams that there is a man somewhere who will truly love her and treat her with respect, but she doesn’t know how to find him. Thanks to the sacrifice made by a stray cat, she finally finds the courage to escape her abusive husband.

Deandra, her sister and an army officer, sends a friend to rescue Daphne. He is a retired officer, and he turns out to be the man of Daphne’s dreams. When she meets him, the Major is preoccupied with his recent retirement. He and Daphne fall in love, and then she and Deandra discover their hidden pasts. Together, while living in the Pacific Northwest, they explore their past lives and what the past means for them in the present. This is a romance novel about dreams that connect us, dreams that come true, and dreams that reveal the past. “There are places we can only reach in our dreams while our bodies sleep.”… (meer)

Deception Past – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Growing up, Sand was confused by the two recurring nightmares. The dream about the house with the black cloud was vague and what preceded and followed it changed each time, but the other nightmare was a vivid memory that repeated itself exactly the same way each time. She was in an adult body, naked and being dragged by men in black uniforms toward a brick building. To the right of it next to the wall was where they let go of her, and she sank to her knees onto the ground with her head tucked under her body. There was a loud bang. She felt even more pain searing through her upper body and neck, and she knew she’d been shot from behind, but she was still conscious. Then the uniformed men picked her up and carried her into the brick building toward the left side of the room. It was a room with the ovens.’

Sandra Strasberg, called Sand by her friends, was born the day after Thanksgiving in 1953. She was born to normal, southern parents who showed very little affection between themselves much less Sand and her older brother Jody. Due to her mother being Catholic, she attended the local Catholic school and live went on smoothly, but the times were on the verge of changing.

At the early age four Sand would dream of living in another life during another time. For most of her life she had no idea of what could possibly be causing this disturbing dream. As Sand will later learn, her dreams seem to follow the life of Nadia Narim who was arrested in 1943 by the Nazis. Could she possibly have been reincarnated? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Being born as a baby-boomer, Sand grew up with many changes going on throughout, not just America and the south but throughout the world. She lived through segregation in the schools, Alabama governor Wallace being shot, Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, the Viet Nam war, and even a few disasters involving the race to the moon. What made Deception Past so interesting to me was that I too lived through these times and events. Reading Deception Past was like reading the “cliff notes” of American history from 1953 to 2006. I found myself pausing with each new occurrence to remember where I was and what I was doing at that time. It was a sometimes very enjoyable sometimes not so enjoyable walk down history lane for me.

If you’re a baby-boomer, like myself, I feel sure you will enjoy following the life of Sand, her family and friends as they travel through this time period in history. I have no doubt that you too will be sent down a road of memory. If you aren’t a baby-boomer, give our history a try to see how it stacks up with your own.

2010
213 pages
iUniverse
ISBN# 978-1-4502-1473-5


Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com Stir, Laugh, Repeat… (meer)