Sweet Dreams – William W. Johnstone

I have to say for not having read this story in at least 20 years, it took less than 2 pages into it that I remembered the story, the main characters, and numerous other things I should have long ago forgotten.

Sweet Dreams

I either read this book more times than I could even guess when I was a teenager, or I have a place in my brain where I lock things away that are safe from my forgetfulness.

Heather and Mark are young teenagers who are both new to the same small town. The same small town where very strange things are happening with some of the residents. There is no rhyme or reason. Young or old, boy or girl, random members of the town are behaving in ways that are very disturbing to a couple of the adults who see what is happening.

Sweet Dreams Autograph.png
Almost 30 years ago when I received this in the mail!

 

Jerry is the town doctor, and Maryruth is a psychiatrist. And the numerous side characters are easy to follow, and you quickly get a vested interest in them.

It is all about Satan, and pure evil, and I will tell you right now, this book is very graphic in the horror department, so consider yourself warned. And my Mom bought this for me when I was 11… 🙂

It is a good read, and you will not be sorry you picked it up. I highly recommend it, and I would have recommended it 30 years ago before I reached out to the author and began a snail-mail communication.

Mr. William W. Johnstone are you done turning in your grave?

I was so excited to see that my favorite author, who I had written to and had much communication, was having his family re-release all of his books.

I have all of these books, somewhere, but have rebought many on my Nook.

And whomever edited for ebook release needs to be shot.

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William W. Johnstone

I started reading Sweet Dreams, a book he wrote in the 80’s, and sent me an autographed copy of, and the spelling errors are horrible. I fear that the family is so intent on making money, that they are not paying attention to the quality of his work.

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I was a 13 year old girl who read his books, and literally wrote him a letter. I received many letters back, and autographed books. But the fact that they would re-publish his work, so fast and haphazardly, is really sad.

He stopped writing the horror books I loved as a teen, and started writing westerns. But he always replied to my letters, and encouraged me to write, and never give up.

Good gracious, I would edit these ebooks for free rather than see the crap they are putting out.

Mr. Johnstone, thank you for being kind to a teenager, and encouraging me.

Meet the Author – Frank Westworth!

FrankW Porlock posterV2 (1)

For further information, you can also visit:

Murder, Mayhem and More: Thrilling Crime and Sci-Fi Fiction

www.murdermayhemandmore.net

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If you are able to make this event, I would love to hear how much you enjoyed it!

Bittersweet Dreams – VC Andrews

Okay, I have to say I got sucked into this book just like I would get sucked into any VC Andrews’ book when I started reading them 30+ years ago.

Mayfair Cummings is a 16 year old with an IQ that would make Albert Einstein jealous. She had the perfect family life, until her mother died from an aneurysm. Her father got remarried, and she suddenly had a step-mother and a step-sister.

Bittersweet Dreams Cover Image

I like to avoid spoilers, but this is the standard fare that you expect from VC Andrew novels. It is full of suspense, and I definitely had it read in record time.

Now; about the grammatical errors. There were a few, and they were too ridiculous to even ignore. Nothing frustrates me more than spelling and grammatical errors in a book I spent good money on.

I’m just going to give you one example, and it is a single sentence. Although I am not including the sentences before or after it, this sentence is not going to be misunderstood because you don’t have those sentences with it. This is a sentence that was meant to stand alone, and make sense.

Chapter 5, Page 81

I have this tendency to compare Julie to animals often.

That’s it. That one sentence. Maybe I am being too picky, but there are so many other correct ways that sentence could have been constructed. There are a few of these poorly written sentences throughout the story.

With all of that said, I will definitely be reading some more VC Andrew books that I have not read before.

What I’m Reading

Okay, I know VC Andrews has been dead for about 3 decades now, and others write these books under her name. I have been looking for some old-school reads; i.e. The books I couldn’t get enough of as a teenager.


Yes, the storyline is the same as all the other storylines in all of her other books. It’s an okay read, but the grammatical errors are killing me. I’ll share some tomorrow.

I am going to be getting a bunch of the horror stories I read as a teenager as well. Meaning, everything William W. Johnstone wrote before he started writing westerns. His estate is releasing them in  ebook form now, and I do not know at the moment where all of my original paperbacks are.