Susan Sizemore – In my dreams

A standalone novel, published October 1994.
Genre: historical romance / timetravel.



Into the mists of Irish legend.
California biker Sammy Bergen was a cool dude. He thought he’d seen everything. Then he was summoned back in time to medieval Ireland by a druidic song spell – and he met the singer, the bewitchingly lovely Brianna.
The stranger she’d called to her was a prince of a man, strong and handsome and kind. Brianna had her own plans for this knight from a faraway land across the sea. Could she dare dream that she and Sammy could cross space and time to find perfect happiness – together?


Every so often, I want to read an old book by one of my favourite authors. And Susan Sizemore is one of them. I am still trying to find all the books on her backlist though. And with this book, In my Dreams, I was certainly in for a surprise. I have been known to complain that it is always the woman who travels back in time, and never the man. Well, in this story, the hero gets sucked back into time, but not alone! No, he is on his beloved Harley and ends up in ancient Ireland, rescuing the fair maiden from some Viking pirates.

Sammy really wants to go home soon, as he is needed to testify on behalf of his friend in a trial in a few weeks. But Brianna doesn’t know how to do that, she needs her uncle Sean to help her. He is a druid, teaching her the old singing magics. No one can understand Sammy, but Brianna, so she needs to interpret for him. Her family thinks he is a fairy lord, and his Harley is a great big black beast. They are afraid of it. But Brianna’s twin brother wants Sammy to teach him to be a warrior, so he can defend the village against the pilfering Vikings, as they are sure to come back again.
Brianna’s father is a bishop though, and he wants Brianna to marry their local king Rory MacMurdo, who wants her as his second wife. Both Brianna and his first wife really don’t want that, but Rory is lusting after the fair Brianna, and wants her magic gifts, her visions, for his own blood line. So whenever he tries again to capture her, both Brianna and Deirdre stop his plans.

And so Sammy has to get used to living in a medieval village. Teaching Donnal to fight (Samma has his own Dojo back in Los Angeles) and he teaches their adopted little brother Ailill, who is deaf, sign language. (Which is a strange thing to do, as he will also have to teach others enough to communicate with Ailill!). He is very much attracted to Brianna, but he knows he can never be part of her life, he needs to go back home. And her life is here, as the healer of the village. She keeps house for her father and her brother, and her uncle when he is at home. But Sammy and Brianna share their dreams, and when she is practicing her singing magic, he can hear her, no matter how far away she is. And Sammy is the only one who notices how much it tires her.

Still, Brianna keeps having visions of the “smoking city” and herself in that strange place. She is convinced she will go there one day.

The ending was a real surprise, I would have loved to be there for real to witness it all. No, I am not going to tell you what happened. Even though most of the book is a bit predictable, I liked the characters, and I was smiling a lot.

Yes, this book is 18 years old, but I enjoyed it, and Susan Sizemore will stay on my autobuy author list . If you want to read something light and funny, but with a nice surprise in the end, you could try to find a copy of this book.

8 stars.

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian