Until this year, Christmas was always Clara McCallum's favorite holiday. Until this year, she's always loved strolling down the gaily decorated New York City streets, joyously shopping for the perfect gifts for her family and friends. But this year, Clara will be all alone for Christmas. Her dad is off with his new family, her mom has gone to Florida and her fiancé left her months ago. And Clara has just been diagnosed with breast cancer,, the one thing that terrifies her most. Breast cancer killed her grandmother and turned her own mother into a woman who was scared and unreliable, who devoted her time and effort to avoiding cancer and neglecting her daughter.

Clara is counting on her new job to keep her mind off her troubles. She just landed the lead roll in a period film, her first major movie! The film, which takes place in the 1940s, is a slightly embellished biography about 12 young enlisted men from a small New York town who never return from war. Clara plays the fictional love interest of the main character, Jed Landry.

One year after the death of his father, Jed Landry is finding it impossible to get into the holiday sprit. The sacrifices he's made for his family are weighing heavily on his mind. As the oldest, Jed knows it's his duty to come home to look after his mother and sisters and make sure his brother continues his education, but he can't wait until he can get on with his own life. Jed is wondering how much longer he can take it when the most beautiful woman he's ever seen walks into his store.

Clara is sure she must be dreaming. She must have hit her head harder than she thought when she fell in the train. She remembers setting up for the scene where she rides into town on the train, she remembers being thrown forward and cracking her head, she thinks she remembers departing the train, but she must be unconscious because it sure seems as though she's really in 1941. There are no cameras, no sets, nobody waiting in the wings to fix her hair or makeup. And where are the condos that were on the hill over there? As she wanders through town, she's confident she'll wake up any minute. But when she walks into Jed Landry's five-and- dime, and meets him face-to-face, Clara begins to wonder. Surely her imagination isn't accomplished enough to make this up. Frightened, Clara boards the train heading back to the city praying it will take her home.

Trying desperately to convince herself it's all just a dream, Clara moves through the next few days trying to push thoughts of Jed Landry out of her head. But what if it was real, and what if Clara could go back and save Jed's life?

On the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, FDR said that Dec. 7, 1941, was a day that would live in infamy, but for Clara it's the week before that will live on in her heart. The week that she learned about time travel, the week she learned about family and the week she found true love. And it's in the time after when she learns that miracles do happen. IF ONLY IN MY DREAMS captures the spirit of the holidays and will make you believe in miracles, too. A must- read.