Cocktails and Dreams
By Autumn Markus
ISBN# 9781623429010
Author’s Website:  http://autumnmarkus.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Autumn

Synopsis:

Jena Baker’s life was a Type-A personality’s dream: job she loved, degree almost finished, great friends… all firmly in her control until one night of insanity when her past collides with her present.

After a New Year’s Eve party in San Francisco, Jena wakes up in a strange hotel room beside her college crush, Nicholas Cooper. Funny thing, but showing her wild side to a man she knows makes the prospect of facing him the next morning infinitely worse, so she slips away before he wakes. Back home in Davis, she decides to let old flames die…but that doesn’t stop dreams of her night with him from coming back to haunt her.

Nicholas wasn’t looking for change, other than a change of scenery. His life was perfectly pleasant, even, and rational…until Jägermeister led to a madly out-of-character night. Now he’s dreaming of an angel his mind can’t quite remember but his body won’t let him forget. (Goodreads)

Review:

Jenna has had a crush on Nick ever since her college days.  They almost get together but Nick has to return home to Boston unexpectedly and never returns.  She goes on with her life and fills her time with fabulous friends and a personally fulfilling job, but she is never able to shake her memories of him.

She can’t believe her eyes when she looks across a crowded bar on New Year’s Eve and sees him standing there.  She decides that this time he is not going to get away.  After a passionate night together, she fears that it was just lust fueled by copious amounts of alcohol and slips out without saying goodbye.

All Nick remembers of that New Year’s Eve is spending the night with a dark haired angel that looks very much like the girl he loved in college.  He wakes up to find her gone and can’t seem to find any clues to track her down.  He decides that moving back to California to finish medical school is the best way to move on with his life.  Little does he know that this will put him back in touch with the girl that haunts his dreams and holds his future.

I so loved the banter between the characters in this book!  It made me laugh out loud and made me remember my own college days.  I could actually see the conversations going on in my head.  It’s such a refreshing experience to get carried away by such a give and take.  I love it when that happens!  The tender love story between Jena and Nick was always paramount in the story but the supporting characters added just the right amount of comic relief.  The plot was a bit predictable and that was the only draw back to a very solid story.

I honestly enjoyed Cocktails and Dreams and would recommend it to all fans of contemporary romance.  The fabulous banter alone is so worth the read…