This is a picture of the night we opened the box to pass out our bound manuscripts of Karen White’s new book, “Dreams of Falling”! My book club was excited to be able to read a new book before it was introduced to the public and we were going to Skype with the author, Karen White, during one of our future book club meetings! It just don’t get any better than that! I have loved Karen White’s writing since being introduced to her by the lovely ladies at Pelican’s Bookstore in Ocean Isle Beach. One weekend I found myself in there trolling for new books and they recommended Karen White’s “On Folly Beach.” That was it, I was hooked and have been reading her books since.
My book club read the book and we discussed how we loved the strong women characters in “Dreams of Falling” over a glass of water or wine. The book opens with Ivy falling through the old, rotten floorboards at Carrowmore plantation. But why was she there and what was she looking for? Ivy is trapped between her earthly body and what and who is waiting for her is she crosses over to the hereafter. Thus we go back to the beginning and meet the three friends, Margaret, CeeCee, & Bitty. They have set their paths together with wishes written on ribbons and placed in the old oak tree on Carrowmore’s property. Their lives change drastically after a graduation trip to Myrtle Beach, and we go along for the ride as their futures unfold in different ways than each one had planned or imagined. Their choices effect the daughters who come after. This book had wonderful themes of friendship, love, believing in yourself, and forgiveness. The friends were carrying around a secret that no one wanted to share as they were afraid it would hurt the others.
Ivy is Margaret’s daughter, who CeeCee raises as her own after Margaret dies tragically in a fire at Carrowmore. Their mother-daughter relationship is complex, just like in real life and Karen captures it well. The effect of the events of that night push forward into the future of the friends, with Ivy and even effects Larkin, Ivy’s daughter. Larkin ran away to New York City to work after college and has avoided coming home to Georgetown, South Carolina and face her old friends and neighbors. Working through some of the reasons she ate too much has made her healthier but she has not faced all of the reasons. I loved her free spirit and self-confidence during her high school years. The fearlessness she showed is what helped her find two life-long friends in Bennett and Mabry. She came home to see her Mom, Ivy, but during her visit works through some of her own issues that she had hidden away from herself in New York.
As the story travels between the past and the present, secrets are revealed. The past and present intertwine to bring our story to an end. I cried, I laughed, and I wished that I could have met them all, but I did in this book. Karen White has a special way of making the characters come alive for me as I read. Enjoy this new book to be published June 5th. And if you get a chance to meet Karen White, you will love her. No one is nicer or writes a better book! A solid 4.5 Star!!
