Luanne Rice Review

For my Cache Magazine readers, here is the review I promised you. Unfortunately, it has taken a while--Taxes, April 15th--you get the idea!!!

For those who are familiar with Ms. Rice's writing, you know she is a NYT best selling author, a mature writer who provides outstanding story lines, believeable charactors, interesting conflicts, and clean--yes, clean--prose and language. For those who aren't familiar with her writing, you have some catching up to do. I belong in the last group.

While Ms. Rice does not fall into the regional author catagory, the theme and setting of her book definitely falls nicely into the Regional Read slot. Set in Wyoming, she lives in Connecticut, I'm not sure what her connection is to Wyoming, but she has nailed all of it spot on.

Dream Country, the novel in question, tells the story of a fairy tale romance that ends in happily ever after--or at least it seems that way--four years after Daisy and James Tucker tie the knot. They live in a glorious setting, have wealth, beauty, and started a family--twins Jake and Sage. These folks seem to have a charmed life until the day three-year-old Jake disappears into thin air. Daisy reacts by running back to safety and former home, Connecticut, with her daughter Sage to protect her from the dangers she nows see lurking behind every rock, sagebrush plant, and pine tree. James, on the other had, refuses to leave the ranch--he wants to be there if Jake by some miracle returns. He has spent the past 12 years combing the mountains and vallies looking for the boy and all other relationships have been put on hold--even the one with Sage.

Comes the day of reckoning when Sage too disappears--the very thing both parents have dreaded all these years. As the story unfolds, both parents are frantic and the search is on. Finally convinced that Sage is headed for Wyoming and the dad she barely remembers, Daisy too returns to Wyoming to face the ghosts she has left behind.

This book will be enjoyed by most readers--male, female, young and old. It would make a good family-read-together story for those age 12 and up, as it provides lots of opportunities for family discussion. And as I said, no problem with inappropriate language for all age levels. Let me know what you think of it.