Reverie

Daydreams & Disasters, Book 1

De: Drew Taylor

Narrado por: Lisa Lynn Sandlin

What if you could experience the love of a lifetime twice?

Esme Jenkins has a story to tell. After being left at the altar, she sets off for her honeymoon in Bora Bora alone, on a mission to find a certain spark to hoist her from the dregs of her insipid life. That spark blazes into her world in the form of a shirtless, giant of a man rescuing her from an attempted kidnapping. When the offender escapes, Esme’s savior vows to stay by her side until the creep is caught. As the days tick by, the pair fall into a whirlwind romance Esme never expected to experience. But that’s just fiction.

Because when Esme Jenkins was in Bora Bora, she lost three years of her memory in a freak accident, including ones made during that week on the island. One year later, she’s seeking to publish the story that won’t vacate her brain. The serendipity? The agent seeking to represent her looks identical to her male main character.

Reverie is a chick-lit romance novel teeming with heart, hope, healing, and humor with a hard-fought happily-ever-after that will occupy your daydreams for weeks to come.

©2025 Drew Taylor Smith (P)2025 Drew Taylor Smith

I loved this romance twist

This cute book is all about finding love again and the twists where so fun to figure out. I absolutely loved them! The characters are so easy to love. The story is compelling and the narrator did a good job of adding to the story. I highly recommend this book. The surprises in this book are amazing!
Thank you for this audiobook gift.

Christian amnesia romance

This book is sooo good! I was immediately hooked by the mystery of the amnesia trope. I needed to know when Esme would finally remember and what she would do about it. Insta-love tends to get a bad rap because there doesn't seem to be anywhere else for the story to go, but it was perfectly executed in this story. Yes, they declare their love fairly quickly, but there are other obstacles keeping them apart that just had me turning pages. I really enjoyed seeing a lot of family in this book. I appreciate that the author went to the trouble of creating extra characters to make the story feel nice and full. We get to see a lot of Esme's family throughout the story and some of Noah's family as well, and they each have their own distinct personality. My favorite part of this book is that the characters are very up-front about their sexual desires, yet they set biblical boundaries for their relationship. This whole thread in the story was such a great example for any Christian couple that is currently dating. *I want to see more of this in Christian fiction!* I definitely recommend this story, and I can't wait to see what Drew writes next!

As for the audio of this story, it didn't quite live up to the writing. The main issue I had with the narration was that there was a distinct northern accent and this is supposed to be a southern story. Also, there wasn't much distinction between different characters. I could barely tell when the dialog switched between people. One part I did enjoy was that the narrator did a great job adding feeling to her voice. Whether it was squealing in happiness or crying, or whatever is in between, it made the book come alive.

Thanks to the author & narrator for providing me with this ALC. All opinions are my own.

Absolutely obsessed with this book!!

Reverie is the book that just keeps on giving! This was my third time reading it, and I was immediately hooked just like the first two times. Experiencing Esme’s story in audiobook form brought a newness to the reread experience, and I attribute so much of that not only to Drew Taylor’s beautiful writing but also to the incredible narration by Lisa Lynn Sandlin!

Sandlin brings such vibrancy to Esme. The inflection and intonation in Sandlin’s performance created a rich, emotional experience and I was totally immersed in the story.

To quote my original review:

“Buckle up, Readers, because Reverie delivers a wild ride of adventure, suspense, bold & flirty romance, and twists I didn’t see coming, from the first chapter all the way to the very last word. This is the easiest five stars I’ve ever given a book.”

And now this is the easiest five stars I’ve ever give an audiobook! Listen to it today!

Intimacy: Kisses only
Language: None
Content Considerations: Some violence, panic attacks, innuendo, lust/attraction dealt with from a biblical perspective

unbelievably good!

I loved all aspects of this story! The Plot, the amnesia, the mystery, the forgivness, the natural infusion of the characters' faith and the underlying suspense arc. There are no swears, moderate mentions of alcohol consumption and some slight drunkenness, and level 2.5 kisses only.

Fun book

This book is cute, although a little hard to follow. Maybe because of it being the audiobook versions and not seeing the clean breaks in chapters. Overall I did like it.

Loved the Strong Christian Views

Strong Christian Views and I loved it!

I also wouldn’t say no to a bouquet of books ;)

I haven’t read this book so I went into the audio listen blind.

Esme our MFC was left at the altar and went on her honeymoon to Bora Bora alone. We meet her after this trip, a freak accident has caused her to lose her memory of 3 years of her past. We join her a year later where she is attempting to move on with her life and is at the end of writing her book. Will Esme be able to unravel fiction and reality? Join Esme as she works on moving on with her life just for that road to lead back to her past, the past she has forgotten.

This book is a chick-lit romance with a bit of a mystery mixed in. It is also interesting as our MFC is an inspiring author and we get excerpts from the novel she is writing. The author Drew Taylor did an amazing job creating an intriguing story with some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. Just about when I think Esme has figured her missing years out a twist comes out of nowhere. I was wondering how there was still 5 hours left to listen when there seemed to be a conclusion coming. This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions (All good ones). I’m a reader who loves to try to figure out a twist in a book before it happens and this one had me so twisted up that I missed some things.

The Narration by Lisa Lynn was sensational. I’ve lost track of how many audios I have listened to by Lisa and each time I listen she has been able to give the book its own unique sound and feel. Her reading of Reverie pulled me into the book and I felt like I was listening to a friend tell a story to me alone. She has a way of putting just the right emotions into the story, her tones changing just enough with the story to keep me at the edge of my seat.

I listened at 1.1x

A book within a book!

I enjoyed all the layers to this story. This story has mystery, amnesia, romance, reality vs fiction, a book within a book. I didn’t want to put it down. The narrator was great, loved the story.

Love this story!

I loved listening to Lisa Lynn Sandlin bring Esme Jenkins story full of heartache, love, hope, uncertain moments, swoony kisses and a happily ever after to life!!

Reverie

Audiobook review followed by book review:

Narrator: Lisa Lynn Sandlin

My Reading Speed: 1.5x / 2x

Have I Read The Book Before Listening to the Audio? Yes

Overall Audio Impression:

*I upped the reading speed about halfway through as I’ve read the book before so I knew what was going to happen, but I surprisingly could actually understand it at that speed as well 😅 (normally I stick to 1.5 for the speed)*

I loved getting to reread this book via audiobook! I haven’t listened to this particular narrator until this audiobook but I really enjoyed her narration! I loved that she had some distinct tones for each character (even with my upped listening speed) and I could overall tell when the speaker changed without the verbal tag.

The only issue I found was the difference between Esme & her internal Noah’s voice at times. Though I’m thinking it was more of a mix of accidentally tuning out for a moment and my listening speed being faster than it was read by the narrator.

I can’t wait for the next book in the series and I hope it’ll get an audiobook too! 😍

Favorite Scenes:

Excerpts from Esme’s novel

Publisher surprise

Flirty Noah

Meeting the family

Alaska

Book Review:

Reader’s Notes:

-this is the first book of a series and must be read in order

*there is a story thread that continues into the other books of the series (though the other books will follow other couples & this book’s couple gets their happily ever after in this book)

-this is told mainly from Esme’s point of view (along with excerpts from her book)

-the characters in this book are Christians and talk about God, their beliefs, prayer, and other things related to their Christian lifestyle (including their struggles and battling with God or their own thoughts/desires at times)

-there is attempted kidnapping (with violent efforts used – threats with a weapon, life threatening injuries, physical force)

-there are some on page panic attacks

-it is mentioned that a character struggled with depression

-it is mentioned that Esme was in an accident that took her memories of the last 3 years

Review:

WOW, just WOW! I’ve read all of Drew’s other books and was amazed by not only her growth as an author, but also how much she put into this book to take me on a wild ride with the storyline!

From the beginning of the book, I never really knew where Esme was going to end up (I hoped a happily ever after, but wasn’t sure who it might be with). But I was sitting at the edge of my seat trying to figure it out and what may have happened in Esme’s missing years. I also loved reading the excerpts of the book Esme is writing during this time and watching that romance unfold!

I’m very excited to find out what happens in the next book of the series when it releases!

Summary:

Esme went to Bora Bora a year ago and lost her memories of the last 3 years in an accident there. Now she has a story ready to burst onto the pages of what she wished her trip had been like, if she could remember it.

In the story, Esme would have been a more confident version of herself and willing to find a love after having been left at the altar with no groom. She would have fallen for a man she just met when he saved her from an attempted kidnapping. She would have fallen in love with her savior over the week she’d been in Bora Bora as he continued to be by her side until the perpetrator was caught.

If only it were real.

Now that her story is almost done being written, Esme is surprised to find that the agent willing to publish her book looks just like the man she pictured for her male main character…

Christian romance with mystery

Wow! This story was phenomenal! From beginning to end, it held me captive.

The narrator does a wonderful job expressing the FMC’s emotional journey. And she makes the MMC’s voice so swoony and calming.

Expect:
- Insta-love
- Amnesia
- Second chance love
- Mystery
- Southern culture
- book within a book

I love that these characters inhabited a whole world of family, friend, and community relationships. The book was brimming with characters that felt so very real and human in their flaws. Each character made the book so much richer.

I also loved that characters took their struggles to God and really conversed with him - even when they were mad at Him or didn’t understand His will. It was refreshing to see the real struggles that can happen in our journeys with our faith.

My favorite parts:
- The sweetest bookish date EVER
- the MMC’s prayer over dinner
- country dancing
- choosing to love someone every day
- forgiveness
- talking through conflict with compassion
- openly talking about boundaries for physical intimacy

No-spice intimacy level 3:
- detailed kissing and making out,
- male shirtless in swimsuit,
- characters talking about the decision to wait until marriage and trying to keep thoughts from becoming lustful

Content:
- amnesia
- medical coma
- attempted kidnapping
- mention of characters drinking alcohol
- mention of jet ski accident
- grief from death of loved one
- working through trauma
- knife attack (some blood described but not gory)
- bonus epilogue: gunshot (no details)
- post epilogue evidence: cyanide pill (no details)

While this book is no-spice for sure, I would recommend it for more mature audiences. :)