Julie's Review: Dreams of Falling

Author: Karen White
Series: None
Publication Date: June 5, 2018
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 435
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: Family secrets always have a way of coming out
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: On the banks of the North Santee River stands a moss-draped oak that was once entrusted with the dreams of three young girls. Into the tree's trunk, they placed their greatest hopes, written on ribbons, for safekeeping--including the most important one: Friends forever, come what may. But life can waylay the best of intentions.... Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads--and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home. Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly fifty years--whispers of love, sacrifice, and betrayal--that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways. ~amazon.com

Review: Dreams of Falling is a multi-generational novel about how secrets tend to come out even if they’ve been hidden for decades. Each of these women has their own skeletons and issues to deal with but everything is done out of love. We have CeCe, Ivy, Bitty who are all holding something back from Larkin and have been for years. Not only are they holding back from her but they have been keeping things from each other for decades. Now with Ivy's accident, Larkin finds herself back in the place she didn't ever want to return to for a long period of time, home. Larkin was doused with love as a kid but because she wasn’t allowed to fail or to see herself as other did; reality comes crashing down on her and she isn't equipt to handle it.

Larkin also carries around tremendous guilt about an incident that happened which caused her to flee. She's not quite sure when her BFF from childhood, Mabry reenters her life. She sees how easy it would be to fall back into step with her. Not to mention Mabry's twin brother Bennett, who she really is not looking forward to seeing.

What Ms. White does well is tell the story in flashbacks and present day. You start to understand the choices each of them made and why they made the decision she made. You start to see Larkin come out of her shell and fully appreciate the person she is and reconcile herself with the kid who fled home 9 years ago. Of course she realizes that sometimes you can go home again. There were of course a few things I saw coming but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of it at all.

If you enjoy books about family with a southern setting, then you won't want to miss Ms. White's latest novel.


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