The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg | Rating: ★★★☆☆ (2.5)

As a note, this novel was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

The thing about The Dream Lover is that it starts off incredibly slow; it was one of those books that took me days to get past the first half of it, in spite of the delicious plot and the promise of wonderful writing through the author Elizabeth Berg. The Dream Lover had a great deal of potential that seemed to never be fulfilled in the first quarter of it, which made it difficult to focus on it and just disappointed me in many ways. There are, unfortunately, a lot of books that have this flaw: the slow lead-in, but the good news is that it does pick up a little by the time we wrap up the story.

It just wasn't enough for me and the reason I've given it a 2.5 is because Elizabeth does have a gift with words.

Elizabeth captures the essence of The Dream Lovers timeline perfectly; making the language historically accurate and painting a vivid picture once the story picked up. Lovers of period dramas will flock to and appreciate this tale that rings true to the past and the story of George Sand. It's heartbreaking and at times thoughtful, but if you set the right tone it can be quite the delightful read.


There are a lot of questions throughout the story and it makes you wonder in more detail what was really going on. There were a lot of moments when the story was genuinely intriguing and captivates your attention, but for the most part it's really slow and a whole lot of "meh" moments. The Dream Lover is certainly decent enough but because it didn't strike all the right notes with me, I will probably never pick it up again.

Which is disappointing.

You find yourself sighing in annoyance at some of George's choices and the way she seems to follow a similar path as her mother. That sense of abandonment that is tragic and follows her is something that is frequently apparent in her decisions. There isn't anything striking about any of the lovers she takes and the only saving grace is that Elizabeth's writing is an easy, pretty flow of words that may catch others attention. It's a different path that many hadn't expected when compared to Elizabeth's work, and that's always a difficult thing for writers to accomplish: the changes of genres.

The Dream Lover left me feeling cool and bored. I guess it's one of those books, lovely readers -- one that leaves you behind in a bubble of disappointment.