Title – In a Dream
Author – Ava Lynn Wood
Genre – Romantic Suspense
Release Date – September 28, 2017
Word Count – 79,807
HEA? – Yes
Part of a Series? – Yes, book 1 in the
Reflection series
Can it be read as Standalone? – Yes
When will book 2 be available? – August 30,
2018
In a Dream Synopsis:
Emma
Potter has led a tragic life, witnessing her parents' murder at the tender age
of five then being swept away to the Texas Hill Country to live with her
grandparents. By the time she enters college, her uncle Peter is the only relative
she has left and, while he's a bit unconventional, she treasures the familial
bond they have.
But
that familial bond is tragically ripped away when her uncle is killed in the
night and Emma mysteriously witnesses the whole thing in a dream. While she's
trying to sort reality from her nightmares, she finds solace in the arms of
Aiden, her unexpected knight in shining armor. But Aiden has secrets of his
own.
With
Emma’s tendency to put up walls and keep secrets, she is hesitant to trust. Yet
Aiden persists, even when Emma continually pulls away. She’s drawn to him; to
his charm, his compassion, his smile, but she’s scared. She fears that falling
for Aiden will only result in heartbreak once again.
While
Emma fights to find her uncle’s murderer and decode the dreams that have become
a nightly nuisance in her life, she must decide if she can accept the love she
spent years trying to avoid, or if she’s willing to throw it all away to hide what
she envisioned In A Dream.
Prologue
Staring
through her dance academy window with her hands pressed firmly against the
chilled glass, Emma waited impatiently for her parents to pick her up from her
lesson. Tall, brick city buildings surrounding her nearly touched the sky. Cars
passed, quickly heading to their next destination, leaving gray vapor trails in
their wake.
Emma
peeked back at the clock on the wall in the quaint lobby, hoping her mother
would arrive soon. Three months earlier, her mother taught her to tell time. Big hand on the 2. Little hand on the 6.
It’s 6:10 PM. She was the only kid in her kindergarten class who could tell
time. Her jet-black braid swung over her shoulder as she twirled in her tutu,
thinking of how proud her mommy was when she finally told her the correct time.
Her mommy usually arrived around this time so she turned her attention back to
the glass, her face smashed against the windowpane. Her mommy always had
trouble finding a parking spot.
“I
see them, Ms. Adams,” Emma called to her instructor while running out the front
door. Ms. Adams called after her, turning to get her coat, but Emma was already
through the door, hurtling toward her parents. What happened next, as Emma
jumped the cracks of the city sidewalk, was beyond anything her innocent young
mind could comprehend. “Mommy!” she screamed, watching her parents fall to the
ground.
Two
figures in black hooded sweatshirts fled the scene after firing bullets into
each of her parents. One shot hit her father in the head, sending him crashing
to the ground next to a small puddle left from the previous night’s rain. The
other bullet hit Emma’s mother in her upper back, causing her mother to gasp
for air.
Ms.
Adams heard the gunshots and ran to the window with Emma’s coat tucked in her
hand. She saw Emma’s parents lying on the ground and two hooded forms fleeing
the scene, rounding the corner and disappearing from view. Rushing outside, Ms.
Adams threw her jacket over Emma’s shoulders as Emma clutched her mother.
Momentarily, Ms. Adams turned her attention to Emma’s father lying stone-cold
still while blood poured from his head and mingled with the water on the
sidewalk. Grabbing his wrist, she checked for a pulse, but felt nothing.
Emma
looked on terrified, hanging on to her mother. Rolling her over, Emma watched
as her mother gasped for air, fear marring her face. “Mommy, get up!” Emma
tugged frantically on her mother’s limp arm.
“Emma
… I … love … you.” Each word was a staccato as it grew harder to breathe. “Go …
inside.”
“No,
Mommy. Not without you.” Tears welled up in Emma’s eyes as she pulled harder on
her mother’s hand.
“I’m
… always … with … you,” she sputtered. “Go.” With those words, her mother could
hold on no longer. Her eyes rolled back in her head and closed as she breathed
her last breath.
Ms.
Adams pulled Emma forcefully while she clung to her mother’s motionless body.
Emma’s hands ripped free from her mother as Ms. Adams carried her quivering
small body inside to wait for the police, Emma softly crying, “Mommy,” all the
way.
Teaser 1:
“Hi there,” a balding man, much older than
most of the bar patrons, said. “Can I buy you a drink?”
The miniscule bit of confidence I’d felt from
a single smile was quickly sapped from my shoulders as my head fell in
annoyance. “No thanks,” I groaned, starting to inch away from the bar.
The man grabbed my arm, arguing, “Come on.
Just one drink.” The alcohol heavy on his breath caught me off guard as I tried
to pull away.
“No. Thank. You,” I answered through clenched
teeth.
He had a pretty solid grip on me for someone
who seemed so inebriated. “Come on, baby. I’m buying.”
I was staring the man in his eyes, trying to
make my point clear when his stare went from determined to confused. The moment
his head turned, I followed his gaze to a large hand steadily gripping the
man’s bicep, the knuckles growing whiter by the second.
“I believe the lady said no.” It was the man
with the gorgeous smile coming to my rescue, but his handsome smile had been
ripped from his face, replaced with a menacing glare.
The bald man shucked his bicep from my white
knight’s grasp and mumbled, “Whatever,” as he vacated his barstool and walked
away.
My mouth hung open as I stared, completely in
awe.
Teaser 2:
I spun on my stool, staring Aiden right in
the face. My heart did somersaults as everything else inside of me went into
panic mode. After our meeting this afternoon, I thought I had mixed emotions
about seeing him again, but there was no denying what I was feeling now. As he
hovered over me, offering to pay for my drinks, I felt my body instinctively
lean into him. “What are you doing here?”
“Didn’t feel like being alone tonight,” he
answered, nodding at Jake as he slipped away with Aiden’s card.
With looks like Aiden’s, I couldn’t even
fathom the amount of women he picked up in bars. “Looking for women to fill
your dance card?” I asked, trying to hide the bitter jealousy I felt imagining
him with other women.
“Just one,” he replied, searing his piercing
blue eyes into my emerald ones.
My thighs rubbed together as Aiden moved in
infinitesimally closer. Gulping down my nerves, I breathily replied, “Well,
good luck finding her.” Turning to take a sip of my beer, I struggled to get my
hormones in check. This guy was my client. My blood shouldn’t be humming in my
veins just from his nearness. I should be putting distance between us.
In a Dream
Playlist:
The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert
Kingdom Come – The Civil Wars
First Time – Lifehouse
Halo – Oleander
Wanted – Hunter Hayes
Beautiful Heart – Chelsea Lankes
Wonderwall (Acoustic) – Ryan Adams
Close Our Eyes – Chelsea Lankes
Keeps Getting Better – Christina Aguilera
Fix You – Coldplay
Between the Raindrops – Lifehouse feat.
Natasha Bedingfield
Sail – AWOLNATION
Until You – Dave Barnes
Next to Me – Emeli Sande
Demons – Imagine Dragons
Stay – Rihanna
Come Home – One Republic feat. Sara Bareilles
Come Clean – Hilary Duff
Let Go – Boys Like Girls
Be Your Everything – Boys Like Girls
My Wish – Rascal Flatts
Ava Lynn Wood’s other work:
Lies in Love:
Irreplaceable:
Short Story
A Midsummer
Night’s Sidhe:
