Lauraine Snelling launches her Home to Green Creek series with Land of Dreams. She also gets some help from Kiersti Giron. This story is historical fiction taking place in the late 1800s and mostly in Iowa. I was leery picking up this book, because other stories I have read by the same author were super slow-paced, or I didn’t care for the leading male character and so forth. This book renewed my interest in future stories by Snelling.
The tale of Amalia Gunderson is one of strength, fortitude, and determination. Amalia finds herself in a most desperate and challenging situation, but she finds help along the way. The characters that come and stay at her boardinghouse add life to the book and garner interest in learning about their pasts. As one might expect with so many secondary stories, quite a few questions are brought up without answers. Fortunately, this is the first book in the series so there is a lot of time to learn more. The biggest question is who the next book will focus upon.
As the story progresses, readers learn more about the true qualities of each person. Some of these folks have less than admirable desires and others are truly selfless. The book keeps moving forward and as it does, readers are introduced to many aspects of life in the late 1880s. From emotional struggles to physical challenges, personal heartaches, romance, and betrayal, the novel takes the reader on an emotional journey.
Review of an Advanced Reader Copy Provided by the Publisher
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: None
Violence/Gore: Man grabs a child who took something from him.
Sex/Nudity: Non-married characters kiss and embrace.
Mature Subject Matter:
Racial prejudice, death of parents.
Drug/Alcohol Use:
None
