Don’t you absolutely despise romances with heroines who are models? River of Dreams has just such a heroine, but thank goodness Ms. Lykins manages to swoop her out of the present and into the past, where she is not a model. Fortunately as well, River of Dreams is a well crafted, interesting read.

Brianne Davis is bamboozled into attending a séance by David Marks, her dear friend from childhood. During the séance, a spirit by the name of Griffin appears and possesses David, and then focuses on Brianne, asking her to come to him. For the next several days, Brianne and David attend the séance, to be greeted again and again by Griffin, who gives Brianne the same message. David is losing patience with Brianne and Griffin, but Brianne convinces him to come to her apartment to contact Griffin one last time. During Griffin’s possession of David, Brianne is hit by lightning and zapped to Baton Rouge, in the year 1832. She finds herself in the body of one of her past lives – a young woman named Amily.

Amily, Brianne soon discovers, is living in the house of her cousin Florence. Florence is married to none other than Griffin, the man who has called her through time, and who seems to not feel anything for her other than cousinly affection. Brianne/Amily is quickly torn by her affection for her cousin and her abiding passion for Griffin.

Whoa – a book with a coveting theme. Coveting, which is of course hinting at adultery, is not a theme many romance readers enjoy reading about, myself included. This is a difficult theme for a romance author to pull of without the reader losing respect for the hero, heroine, or both. Ms. Lykins manages to make Griffin, Brianne, and Florence sympathetic. She very realistically portrays intense attraction, deep affection, pain, and guilt, and yet doesn’t dwell on them ad nauseum. There is much more to this book, including the difficulties of living in the 1800’s, and how a modern women would cope with being thrust into such a time.

There were a few unnecessary additions to River of Dreams, including a tiny sub-plot involving past life regression and a fumbling villain or two. And, it seemed unnecessary for Brianne to have been a model – for once I’d like to read about a waitress or a dental hygienist who is whisked back through time. All in all, though, River of Dreams is a tender, touching, and emotional read involving two likable people (or is it three? four?) in an interesting time period.