Setting: Present Day, America

For about six years, twenty-four year old, Tolliver Bennigan has been the sole guardian of his now fifteen year-old sister, Sarah. He has dedicated his life - and more - to raising his young charge alone, while working full-time running the family bookstore. He has gone without much of a personal life and even essential necessities (such as adequate food) so that his sister will be well provided for and "in need" of very little. Of course, this makes for a rather dull life, but Tolliver is fine with it as long as Sarah, his first priority, is okay. So when handsome and uniquely strange, Noble Ryan, steps into his bookstore one day and proceeds to wreak havoc on Tolliver's psyche, leaving him disheveled and conflicted, life takes a turn for not just him, but for Sarah as well.
Tolliver is suddenly confronted with feelings and thoughts he had never held for another individual, but before he can fully come to terms with any of it, he must also figure out how to deal with his sister's newfound feelings of jealousy, as Sarah begins to feel neglected and replaced due to Noble.

‘Lovers, Dreamers, & Me’ focuses on the relationships between Tolliver and Sarah, and Toliver and Noble, via Tolliver's point of view.
**

The characters here are quite unique. There is no 'skim on the surface' with them, and nothing plain about their design. However, this doesn't mean that I liked them all.

Tolliver for me, was absolutely frustrating.
His devotion to his little sister, Sarah, is very understandable, and one can only commend him for pretty much sacrificing his life for her. But I refuse to commend him too much, as at times he does not come across as very humble about the deed.
But that is not even one of the major peeves I have with him.
For someone who just cannot seem to shut up about what he has had to do for the past six years, Tolliver can hardly say he has always been there for his sister. Yes, he looks after all her physical needs, but he never provides any real emotional support for her, and when he realizes that this is so....he still fails to really rectify it.

Tolliver also likes to play the victim a lot.
When it's not about Sarah, it's all about him, even as he and Noble begin to form a bond.
While Noble seems very content with making Tolliver his priority, and goes out of his way to ensure Tolliver's comfort, Tolliver hardly takes a moment to really get to “know” Noble. Then, when Noble does reveal something about himself, a revelation that should have Tolliver offering as much support as possible, Mr. Victim goes ahead and lives up to the nickname. He lashes out at Noble, and focuses only on what the news could possibly mean for him, even though one would really have to dig deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep in order to see the negative impact it would have on him vs. the effect it has had and will forever have on Noble.
So yeah, I hated Tolliver. I think he's nothing short of a selfish asshole, who does not deserve Noble in any shape or form.

Noble is pretty much the opposite of Tolliver.
He is somewhat narcissistic, yet very sensitive, understanding, and patient.
In addition, Noble has a gift that allows him to see into people; this allows him to read their emotions, thoughts, and even see glimpses of their future. This gift has really brought him a great deal of pain, but Noble does not let that stop him from trying to help others. It is this gift that has also brought him to Tolliver (which in my view really does make it a curse more than anything).
At first, I was not quite sure about him. He was a bit annoying with all the psychobabble and vague statements, which immediately identified him as different, a mystic, and a philosopher, but as the story went along I warmed up to him. It didn't help that he was paired with Tolliver - which made me pity the poor sop.
**

'Lovers, Dreamers & Me' has quite an interesting storyline. The addition of the paranormal aspect - Noble's abilities - made what would have been a rather simple story, more intriguing.
Despite all of that, I had moments when reading it was a chore.
The story is far from complicated, yet it is written in a way that shows it hoped to be so. There was so much over-emphasis, over analyzing, and over use of unnecessary wording and descriptions, that it was often hard to read a single page without pausing for a break - this took away a great deal from the story. In short, I will say the words outweighed the story itself.

Also, while the paranormal aspect did add to the story, it was not always handled very well. It is all good for one character to be able to see what the other is thinking and will say even before the words are uttered, but as someone who isn't either of them, I got quite lost during some of the conversations between Tolliver and Noble:

1. Tolliver would be on the brink of saying something, when Noble would intercept his words with vague responses (that is vague for me the outsider, who had no idea what Tolliver was even about to say, so I could hardly be expected to understand Noble's closed answers).

2. Tolliver would be on the verge of thinking something, when Noble would intercept his thoughts before they can even come across well in story itself...and so I was left hanging and wondering what the heck was going on.

HEADACHE!!!!

Noble’s big reveal was a let down, especially since there seemed to be a need for it to pull feelings of betrayal from Tolliver. Instead, his confession made Tolliver’s reactions seem highly unjustified and over the top. This pretty much made the storyline unsalvageable.
Also, of important note, even with said reveal, Noble’s life was still a mystery. In fact, it became even more of one. Since Tolliver never really took the time to get to know Noble, and the story is told from his perspective, readers also get to know next to nothing about the man.

Now let's skip to the sex scenes, for which there is only one word: boring.
Since Tolliver was at first a virgin in every sense of the word, I expected there to be to a mixture of uncertainty and intensity when things became physical, but this was hardly the case. Instead, it was plain ole’ uneventful. It also did not help any that Psychic man – Noble, insisted on continuously telling Tolliver how he could “see” the other man enjoying various acts, before they both even got there. This just took away any possible anticipation or suspense with regards to that area.
**

This is my first Willa Okati story. So I am really hoping this is not the norm for all her published books. Although I must say, my experience with ‘Lovers, Dreamers, & Me’ has left me afraid to even try to read another. ( )

In a small town USA Tolliver is the manager of an antique curiosity and bookshop. The real owner is his ward, his little sister Sarah, the one he became responsible for when he was only 18 years old; six years later, Sarah is a troubled teenager who had to give in adoption her daughter. Tolliver tried to do his best, but still he was only a teenager himself, and he was not ready to be a parent. He is now scared to let Sarah go, he is like a mother hen and when he is not worried for his sister, he has only in mind the shop he needs to maintain for her.

Then in their life enters Noble, tall and mysterious. He is searching for some old tarot cards, but what he finds is Tolliver, a man who has never lived, where instead Noble has lived, and seen, too much. Tolliver is a surly type and blind to the world outside, but he is not a bad guy: he faces the world in the only way he knows. But when he sees Noble, for the first time in his life something stirs inside him, a desire he never knew: at 24 years old, Tolliver is a virgin, not only to sex but only to life.

It was Sarah who set his brother up with Noble, but now she is jealous, for the first time she fears to have to share the unconditionally love of Tolliver for her with someone else. I like that Tolliver doesn't react to her fears in the usual way, letting Noble go to satisfy the selfish behavior of his sister (don't get me wrong, Sarah is not a bad girl, she is only very young and scared). It's not Sarah's fears that come between Tolliver and Noble, but Noble's past.

Noble is a strange character; he is a seer, he sees things, but this is not at all a paranormal romance. What Noble sees are like flash of possible future, something he can change if he wants. So when he sees Tolliver, he knows that they can have something good together, and he is willing and ready to catch it. As another character in the story said, Noble didn't ask to Tolliver, he forced him to accept him in his life: if he had to wait for Tolliver to realize that he was there, he would wait forever. Tolliver has around him a thick shell, a protective shield from the world that too many time wounded him, and now to reach him, a man has to break through that shell, since from inside Tolliver is no more able to see outside.

I think this is one of the best book I read by Willa Okati, since it maintain the fairy atmosphere that I always like in her books, but it's also enough long to make me feel for the characters, and enough real to let the reader identifies with them. It's also a good mix between story and sex, and when it arrives to sex, it's good and tender and naughty, all at the same time; I noticed that, in the main sex scenes, Tolliver always ends on his back on the bed, waiting for Noble to come to him... it's very right for the story, since, as I said, Noble takes what he wants from Tolliver, almost forcing Tolliver to admit that he wants that and he wants Noble.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002361K6W/?tag=elimyrevandra-20