Brief

A young nurse who can control her dreams encounters a man while in a dream state that turns out to be her coma patient in spirit form. As they fall in love, he has to work against nefarious forces to get his soul back into his body.

What We Liked

- Strong female character;
- Supernatural elements;
- The idea of being able to communicate with someone who is in a coma is intriguing;
- The evolving romance and happy ending would dovetail nicely into a film;
- A series could be built upon Serenity helping shifters get reunited with their bodies;
- Romance with a happy ending.

Synopsis

Impedes and his young wife, Sara, are forced to give up their newborn baby daughter, Tranquility. It is clear that they are giving her to the orphanage to keep her safe from something that frightens them. Serenity - her new name - has the unusual ability of being able to control and interpret her dreams. She has a recurring dream of a charming young man and she often wishes to encounter him again in her dreams before falling asleep. One day, she is startled to see an intruder in her apartment who fades away like a dream. She wonders if he is the manifestation of the man from her dreams.

When Serenity reports to work at the hospital where she works as a nurse, she takes great care with her patient, Trance, who has been in a coma for five years. She is drawn to him. Meanwhile, Trance has no idea that he is in a coma. His reality is that he is working for Impedes as a dream shifter who can guide the dreams of humans to keep them from going too deep into their subconscious. He works with another drifter called Delusion. They are best friends and Trance confides in him that he is falling in love with Serenity.

Wanting to learn more about Trance’s situation, Serenity visits the library and is mysteriously drawn to a book about Drifting Gliders. It tells the story of the dream shifting leader, Impedes, who is heartbroken over the death of his wife after being forced to give up her child. After her death, Impedes turned stone cold and is no longer a good leader of the dream shifters. He now just captures the souls of his shifters and will not let the unsuspecting shifters return to their human bodies. When Serenity has questions, her adoptive mother decides to give her information about her origin.

Trance and Delusion are forced to confront Impedes in a confrontation. With the help of some fallen angels, Impedes is defeated. Trance is able to return his soul back to his human body. When he awakes from the coma, the doctors are amazed. He is unscathed from his ordeal, he doesn’t recognize Serenity. All of their time building their relationship is gone from his memory. Heartbroken, Serenity leaves the hospital alone.

In the epilogue, Delusion, who is still a shifter, gets a new roommate called, Reverie. After experiencing Trance’s reunification with his human body, he hopes for the same. He starts to come into Serenity’s dreams hoping she will help him find his comatose body. When Serenity awakes, she wonders if she should tell Trance everything. Likewise, when Delusion awakes from the dream, he is horrified to realize that Impedes is still alive.

About The Author

Charletta Barksdale’s passions include taking care of her family, reading, and writing ideas that come to mind in her journal. A few years ago, she decided that she wanted to take those ideas and turn them into a story. This is how Desire Of Whimsy was born. She currently lives in Roanoke, Texas.