Dreams of Stardust

Lynn Kurland's Dreams of Stardust is another of her medieval/modern romances between a woman of the Middle Ages and a time traveling 21st century man. I'm seeing now that her stories are intertwined, as the same or related characters keep popping up in several of her books. Not a bad idea, it saves her from having to research a number of eras instead of just one.

I liked this story. Jake, a modern day gem collector and designer, is sent spinning into the past and falls in love with the beautiful Amanda. Amanda is similarly taken by him but spends much of her time feeling that he is unsuitable because he is a mere merchant and not one of the nobility. However, she has strong feelings for him all the same.

Jake is so smitten that he determines to win Amanda one way or another. He learns that he might be able to buy himself a title and impress the king with his swordplay or some other talent, and thereby make himself an appropriate suitor for Amanda's fair hand. So he undertakes the journey back to the future (our present) and finds himself in a dangerous situation and unable to access his considerable fortune.

Without giving away the ending, this is a romance novel and like 99% of romance novels has a happy ending. This story was a pleasure to read because of Jake's willingness to sacrifice everything in his modern day life to be with Amanda.

Years and years ago I had a boyfriend who loved me but would not commit because he was "too young." In retrospect, he was surely right. But at the time I was upset that he wouldn't take a chance. We watched "The Graduate" together and I was touched by the last scene, where Benjamin locks the wedding celebrants into the church with a huge cross and then runs off with Eleanor, still in her bridal gown to be married to someone else. He was so willing to make an absolute fool of himself to win her over.

Afterwards I had an argument with my boyfriend and angrily challenged him to "do something stupid for me." Well, he wouldn't, and it's just as well as his maturity hadn't kicked in yet.

But in Dreams of Stardust, Jake does "something stupid" in order to marry Amanda. I guess that's what appealed to me most, vicariously enjoying the love of a man who pulls out all the stops and takes impossible chances in order to get his woman.

Recently a man told me he read a book that told him that women marry for security while men marry to have steady sex. I don't think I went looking for security or mainly for security in a man. But I did go looking for a man who would love me enough to jump in feet first and not dally on the shoreline debating the issue forever. It's that quality that pleases me about Jake.

Amanda is the woman who is not sure of her own attractiveness. Her sharp tongue isn't valued by men in the Middle Ages though her brothers clearly adore her. But Jake appreciates her wit even when she sends her barbs his way. That's another thing I like about this book. If you get a chance, read it.