As soon as I saw the tattooed six-pack on the cover I thought, "Oh great, another tacky paranormal sex novel. I wonder how many otherworldly orgasms it will take for the poor thing  to give in to her passion this time?"

Boy-howdy! Did I get that wrong!

First of all, Dawn, who is the daughter of Morpheus (the god of dreams) and a mortal woman, gave in to her passions in the previous book, Before I Wake (also reviewed on MyShelf). As a demi-god she's a bit of a loose cannon that doesn't quite fit in her father's world, terrifying the Council that governs the Dreaming. Instead of fighting the Powers-That-Be she acclimates as best she can in the mortal world, using her special talent of dreamwalking to give her a leg up as a nightmare therapist. She literally pokes her head into your dream, grins and says, "Don't worry, we'll get it", and then helps you through the horror. When you wake up the dream wasn't so scary after all.

Mr. Dreamy of the Otherworldly Orgasms, Noah, also has unique and undiscovered talents that end up saving the day and Dawn's life. Somebody is out to get her and things only get worse when she turns to her friends and family for help. Each attack and betrayal points her into the Dreaming where she is not welcome and not sure of her abilities or allies. The exception is her mother, who can stay with Morpheus because she keeps her body in a coma, resisting all medical efforts to awaken her. But there are powers stronger than medicine, and as we know, the flesh is weak even where the will is strong.

This book is so well-written I forgot these were fantasy-based characters in a mythological world. They were just people trying to figure out how to get their lives back on track and take care of one another in the midst of disaster. I always hope to have the honor and joy of reading at least one book every year with a spark of originality. The Dark Side of Dawn blazes!