Friday, November 18, 2011

Valley of Dreams by Lauraine Snelling

How much do you know about the era of the Wild West?  I am a northern, midwest girl and cowboys are not really my thing.  So, it was interesting for me to read this historical fiction book by Lauraine Snelling called Valley of Dreams.  This book is the first in her series called Wild West Wind.  Lauraine Snelling was a new author to me.  She has also written over 60 other books for young adults and adults.  You can find out about her and her books on her website.

The Lockwood family--Cassie, her dad and her mother--were owners of a Wild West Show that traveled to many different cities.  Cassie has real talent when it comes to riding her horse and performing all kinds of tricks before large crowds.  Everything she knew she had learned from her father.  Unfortunately, both of Cassie's parents have passed away leaving her with only the road show as her "family."  Cassie's "Uncle" Jason has taken over running the show since her father died, but has driven the show into debt.  When "Uncle" Jason makes a shocking announcement that the show is closing, Cassie's world turns upside down.  Cassie decides to find a place called the Black Hills of South Dakota since her father always talked about settling down there after he was done with the show.  This book takes you through the journey of Cassie trying to find this piece of land her father always talked about which in turn unlocks a few mysteries of her parent's past.

I thought that the book was slow at the beginning and the time spent traveling to Black Hills the seemed to drag a little.  But it did keep my interest in that I wanted to know how the story would end.  There was a good amount of twists and turns in the plot to keep me guessing.  The book definitely leaves the ending wide open for the next book to continue.  It was hard reaching the end and not being able to pick up the next book in the series to see what happens next.  I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series when it comes out.  I would recommend this book.

***I received this free book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

No comments: