Only In His Dreams (Only Forever #1) by Shawn Lane

Only In His Dreams (Only Forever #1) Reviews

• 
  Drew

  This book was terrific! It was refreshing to see nice guy Darrell win the prom king! I loved watching Darrell overcome some of his insecurities and take a chance with the handsome and successful Travis.
  I loved this book and I can't wait for Barnaby's story.
  
• 
  Erotic Horizon

  I have been awaiting Shawn Lane’s next production for the past couple of months and once again she has delivered with ONLY IN HIS DREAMS.
  
  ONLY IN HIS DREAMS is the first of what will be a series of four books revolving around a team of solicitors, other professional people and their eventual partners. This first book is Darrell’s and Travis’s story and the blurb more or less sums up a big chunk of the book.
  
  Darrell and Travis works in the same Law offices and while Travis is a partner in the business, Darrell is the billings manager and the two never socialize or even talk to each other in the office. Darrell is secretly in lust with Travis but never thinks that Travis would be interested in him.
  
  When the office busy body sets the wheel in motion for them to meet – they hit it off even in spite of the fact that they are a little reluctant to believe that they are making the first tentative moves toward something special.
  
  As expected things does not go as the guys expected because as much as work is going well and they find time to spend together and they are finding their own little groove – Darrell’s family is not happy about the relationship.
  
  I have been following Ms. Lanes blog like a fiend for the release of this book, not only am I a fan of her work but when I found out ONLY IN HIS DREAMS was an interracial as well as set in a solicitors office I was doubly pleased, as these are two areas that I think this author does really well with.
  
  Darrell is a black guy and the only one in his family to have reach his level of education and I will admit I did not warm up to him until later in the book. Not because I didn’t like him, but because I have a hard time handling guys with low self esteem in books. As the book progresses I find myself seeing how perfect he was for Travis however. Travis is the guy who has been through the emotional wringer and is leery of too many things and because of that he stands on the sidelines pondering about his attraction for Darrell.
  
  ONLY IN HIS DREAMS is an easy read with Lanes classic trademark characters and little enough angst to give it a bit of clout. As always the striking thing about Ms. Lane’s work is the wealth of information that she packs into a relatively short book. I could not have asked for more information about any of the protags, just enough was given to catch up on their life’s up to that point. The supports cast filtered in enough scenes to make an impact without being overly intrusive and some timely sarcastic humour was well placed to ensure that I fell in love with at least one of the cast member.
  
  Don’t expect to put this one down as it’s short enough to read in one go and has a nice little pace to it to make sure you enjoy Travis’ and Darrell’s romance. Fans of Lane’s work you will love this and have you chomping at the bit for the second book – new readers ONLY IN HIS DREAMS was most certainly worth my time.
  
  
• 
  Elisa Rolle

  This is a really nice office romance, simple, light and easy, but really enjoyable. Darrell is a shy and a bit geeky guy working as accountant for a law firm; while he has a good relationship with all four lawyers working for the firm, with on of them in particular his shyness seems to stop him to further their acknowledge, Travis is simply too handsome and successful to being interested in someone like Darrell; then there is also the interracial nature of their relationship, even if Darrell has a degree in Finance, he is always the African American guy from downtown, while Travis is the classical wasp from the wealthy suburbs.
  
  With the help of an unexpected fairy mother (very fairy and little mother), Darrell has the chance to see a different Travis, someone who is lonely as much as Darrell is, and maybe shy as well. Probably if Darrell had not taken matters in hand, I don’t know if Travis would have done it; even if older and richer, Travis has a well deep rooter failure syndrome, like a little voice that tells him that is useless to try, there is no way to have an happy end for him. Maybe the double tragedy of losing first his parents and then his partner in different accidents rooted that feeling in him, something like a curse that prevents him to be really happy. Or maybe, in both cases, being him the one who survived, gave him the double idea that he was not worthy and that he didn’t do enough to prevent those accidents, and so depriving himself of happiness is a right punishment.
  
  In a case or the other, even if younger, poorer and shier, Darrell is the stronger of the two, he has probably fought more, and everything he gained, he knows to deserve it. And know he knows to deserve someone like Travis, and Darrell will find the strength to reach for him. And he will also prove to have a domineering core that will make all the sex scenes good.
  
  This is only a novella, but it’s a concentrated of events. To give you an idea, from the first time they go out dinner, Travis and Darrell have the following three meals together, alone or with company, and then spend the night together in the same house, even if not in the same bed… from barely speaking to each other to an almost cohabitation in 2 days, it’s a long stretch. But probably packing all these events in so little time space was the right solution to give credibility and deepness to the novella.
  
  
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/1602727805/?...
• 
  ElaineY

  I was so glad I decided to try another Shawn Lane. I did not like Perfect Man nor At Long Last (though I preferred it to PM) and though I'd bought a few more S's, they were languishing at the bottom of my TBR.
  
  The Only Forever series is very much lighter than the other titles (not sure if those are 'singles') and I took to the characters easily. These gay lawyers may be too good to be true but heck, I knew that when I started reading.
  
  I liked Travis and was glad to see the shy Darrell capturing Travis' heart. Enjoyed this novella enough to get ready to read the next installment, Only For Him, immediately following Darrel and Travis' HEA.
• 
  Kendra T

  This was an OK story for me. I liked the premise mostly, but Darrell seemed very shy until all of a sudden he wasn't shy at all. It seemed weird that he avoided Travis for ages but then all of a sudden made the first move. That wasn't a big deal though, just felt weird to me. What I didn't love was that the story just ended. There was a huge bombshell dropped regarding Darrell's family, but we don't know how (or if) he resolved it) and then another with his job (did he quit or didn't he?). Also, what was the promotion? Too many questions left unanswered for me.
• 
  Janna

  This was an okay read but my least favorite of the Only Forever series. It’s Travis and Darrell’s book which is a romance-at-work story that I found a bit vanilla in the smexing department. Theirs is an interracial relationship with no angst, it’s nice and light, but without a proper HEA or HFN ending because there’s no exchange of the ‘I love you’s if I remember correctly. It’s a good set-up for the rest of the series in which we see the other characters again – getting their own romantic love story.
• 
  Serena Yates

  I really liked this story of the shy number cruncher Darell who has a crush on his boss, Travis.
  
  When Darell finally notices that the interest may be mutual, the relationship can start. There are other obstacles to overcome, and I thought the balance between the challenges they face and the description of their growing emotions was just right. I look forward to reading the next in the series.
• 
  Alina

  Lovely and sweet story :)
  I really liked both guys and although I was pissed at first at why Travis would back down right away, just when Darrel's mother said so, but later on it was explained and resolved really fast, so I'm okay with it :)
• 
  Tam

  Darrel, an accountant, has been crushing on his boss Travis, a partner at the law firm since he started but figures he’d have no chance. Finally, one fateful night due to a broken down car they spend some time together and with the help of the machinations of Trevor’s flamingly gay secretary they start a relationship. Everything is going great for a few weeks when they go for dinner with Darrel’s Mom. She is not thrilled her son is gay but is really put off that Travis is white. Travis is then worried about coming between Darrel and his family. It was a cute story about two guys who both thought the other wouldn’t be interested and the only thing that annoyed me was Travis’ reaction to Darrel’s Mom. He was a high powered lawyer, in his 30′s, and yet he acted like a teenager who’d been warned off by a vengeful Dad with a shot gun. He didn’t even try to talk to Darrel about it until he forced the issue, but until that I thought it was a sweet story about the guys. I’d be curious if Travis’ secretary Barnaby and his law partner Nathan get a story as they were dancing around that one.
• 
  Cindi

  While I didn't exactly DISLIKE this, I didn't love it either. Darrell was a little much for me. Supposedly very shy but when I really expected him to be, he was anything but. It was too much of a personality change too quickly in my opinion. I liked Travis a lot until toward the end of the book. He's the confident attorney but yet he doesn't communicate at a time (with Darrell) when he really REALLY should have. Of course it was all resolved and it ended okay but still.
  
  Not a bad read. Just not a fave. I look forward to reading Barnaby's story. I liked him a lot in this one.
• 
  Lily

  This is a sweet easy read and a nice start to a four part series. Travis and Darrell work in the same office, one as a lawyer and the other in the billing department. They have outwardly different personalities and the added complication of one being white and the other black. There's a bit of angst with Travis having suffered painful losses in his life but they're able to work towards a nice happy ending. Likable characters and an interesting storyline combined to make this a nice, quick read.
• 
  Ami

  The story is sweet and cute enough. I liked it. The only thing that bothers me a bit is Darrell's character, who said to be shy and usually have problems in social-dating scene suddenly becomes the aggresive with Travis. True he says that he only does that at home, but I feel like a change in character too fast. Still, I'd like to read book #2
• 
  Deeze

  A pretty sweet little story. Felt a little rushed at the end. I don't expect a lot from short reads but I do get disapointed when a plot point is raised and solved in a few sentences, in this case the Mother issue, not sure why it was mentioned other than to pad the word count out a little. But apart from that it was a nice gentle read.
• 
  Shelby P

  For a short novella I really enjoyed this story. I have to look into more Shawn Lane books, I like the diversity in them. I like that Darrell was sorta nerdy and unsure that he could get a hottie like Travis. I could relate to Travis' lonely life. The only thing I didn't like was Darrell's interfering mother but it was resolved well.
• 
  Missjoanie

  Across the divide
  
  Guy likes one of hi bosses, boss likes him. Are they as different as they perceive themselves to be?
  Liked the main protagonists but story needed to be longer, some underdeveloped ideas.
• 
  Denise Koopman

  This was my first book by Shawn Lane and I found it so sweet and wonderful. All the books in this series are short but with just enough sex to heat things up without taking over the story. I will definitely buy more Shawn Lane books!
• 
  Clerah

  I liked this book. Quick contemporary read of an interracial relationship (b/w) between lawyers.
  
  
• 
  Alyosha

  2.75 stars
• 
  Gaa-chan

  3.5 stars
• 
  Tailtiu

  3,5*
• 
  Elspeth

  Not a bad story about 2.5 stars, curious if the later books get better.
• 
  melek

  Darryl fallen for his boss Travis feels the same and one night of dinner turns into more.
• 
  Karen

  A cute story, but the writing was very straight forward, very dry. There was sex but little steam.
• 
  EmeArsh

  just like two pages of actual story
• 
  cmbookdiva

  Short and sweet.loved it.
• 
  Gale

  MxM, Read in 2011
• 
  Kimberly

  Darrell Lincoln loves his job as the financial manager for the law firm of Anderson, Llewellyn, and Stevens. There’s just one problem: Darrell has a crush on Travis Anderson, a man he’s never even had the courage to speak to. There’s no way a hot-shot attorney like Travis would be interested in a shy guy like Darrell. But when chance gives Darrell the opportunity to really get to know the man of his dreams, it turns out the two fit better than Darrell ever could have hoped. Yet not everyone is accepting of Travis and Darrell’s burgeoning relationship. Can Darrell’s dream hold up in the face of reality?
  
  Only In His Dreams is simply a sweet story of two men who are perfect for one another – they just have to take a chance and grab what life offers them. I liked that Darrell and Travis are really just your average, every-day man; it gave Only In His Dreams a more realistic feel. The issue I had with Only In His Dreams was the obstacle Travis and Darrell face. I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I’ll just say it was an issue that comes up in real life, so having it resolved so quickly gave the feeling that Shawn Lane just slapped the problem in there. Aside from that, Only In His Dreams is a genuinely charming read and given the teasers for the second Only book in there, readers are sure to want to jump right in to book two in the series, Only For Him.
  
  Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed.