Note: I received an advanced copy of this through NetGalley and these are my honest thoughts.

Publication Date: Tuesday, July 5th, 2022

Blurb

What would you do if your dream man turned out to be real?

When law grad Cass Walker wakes up after surviving a car accident, she is flooded with memories of a man named Devin. The only problem? Devin—as confirmed by family, friends, and doctors—doesn’t exist. Everything about him, from his coffee-brown eyes to the slightly crooked angle of his pinkie to his high-wattage charm, is a figment of Cass’s coma-addled imagination. Still, she can’t get him out of her head.

So when she happens upon the real Devin a year later in a Cleveland flower shop, she’s completely shocked. Even more surprising is that Devin actually believes her story, and despite his protective younger brother’s doubts, they soon embark on a real-life romance. With her dream man by her side and a new job at a prestigious law firm, Cass’s future seems perfect. But fate might have other plans…

From the beloved author of Shipped comes a magical and witty romantic comedy that explores what happens when our dreams come true—even when they’re not the ones we expect.

Review

Dream On was a highly anticipated sophomore novel from Angie Hockman and one of my most anticipated novels of 2022. I adored Hockman’s debut novel, Shipped (though I’d pass on the audiobook – the quality of the recording was very disappointing). I tried to jump into Dream On on a couple different occasions, but the first 15 pages were slow and I found myself wondering, WHERE IS THIS BOOK GOING?

I finally sat down and committed to reading this book, and I read it in one evening. I love the way Hockman writes characters and develops plot, background, and character development.

This story reads like a second-chance novel, but the twist is that the main characters haven’t technically met yet. Cass wakes up from a coma thinking she has a boyfriend named Devin, a man she knows many details about and can vividly picture in her mind, but her mom and her best friend have never heard a peep about this man, and they chalk it up to her traumatic brain injury. Cass tries to move on from Devin, but her memories are so vivid she can never fully let go.

Then, the cutest of all meet-cutes occurs one day after Cass’s first day at work, at an adorable, third-generation floral shop on her walk home. Cass meets Perry, who wows her with his charm and ability to make a bouquet just for her, in what is a giant romantic moment……………………………that is ruined by Devin.

From there on, Cass struggles with figuring out how to manage her own dreams for her life, the expectations of her mom, her professional goals, her personal goals, and balancing her head and her heart. In the end, she gets everything she wants, but along the way, we get to experience Cass discovering her true goals in life and how her choices are contradicting her desires.

I adored Cass as a character. She had mature responses and addressed challenges and complications smartly and with the maturity you would expect from someone much older than her. I also adored both Devin and Perry. They made mistakes but were also honest, genuine, and vulnerable.

In general, I loved all of the characters in this story, and the supporting cast was just as likeable as the main characters (aside from the villains of the story, obviously). There were hard conversations between some of the characters, particularly around how we want to identify ourselves to new people (example: Cass doesn’t want her traumatic brain injury to be all that someone sees; Perry doesn’t want to be the flower boy, etc.). This is an incredibly important topic of conversation in today’s world, because what the public sees isn’t always how a person feels. I appreciate getting insight into people having to experience difference and how they respond to it. Reading characters like Cass helps me to be a more empathic person and to approach situations with grace, understanding, and an openness to see, listen, and love others just the way they are.

There was good drama and tension at the end, and I loved how Hockman made each character step out of their comfort zone to get to their happily ever after. I was a bit surprised and disappointed in the epilogue, particularly in reference to two characters who I needed to see more evidence of their relationship before the happily ever after happened (when you read it, you’ll know). But I’m so grateful for how the book ended, how the characters found joy, and ultimately, how Cass found herself.

Overall, once I got past the initial skepticism about where the plot was going, I REALLY enjoyed this book, and I give this a solid 4-star rating. It’s very re-readable and I will definitely be checking it out on audiobook in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advanced copy of this novel!

Rating: 4 Stars