In THE GOOD DREAM by Donna VanLiere we meet Ivorie Walker who is considered an old maid in her town. She is really only in her early 30's but back then if you were unmarried at that age, they called you an old maid. She doesnt really care what others think, but after her mother dies leaving her all alone, she is lost and lonely. This story takes place in 1950's Tennessee country side where things aren't always what they seem. Everyone has secrets as Ivorie is about to learn.

Ivorie finds herself staring at what has been stealing and eating out of her vegetable garden one day. A small boy who doesn't want to talk and is very dirty and unkempt. Where did he come from? Where are his parents and how did he get here? After thinking about it for a bit, she decides she is going to help this little boy even after everyone in town is telling her it is wrong and not to get involved. How can she turn her back on this poor little boy? She starts to help him right then and there by feeding him.

While all of this is going on, Ivorie finds herself falling in love with George. She hasn't had much experience with the men she has met over the years and George is awakening feelings inside of her that she has never felt before. But all of that changes when she tries to help the little boy. George is dead set against it and is afraid of what will happen to her. The boy must come from the hills where the mountain people live and they can be dangerous. George pulls away from her. With or without George in her life. she is determined to find out where the boy came from and where his Momma is.

THE GOOD DREAM was my very first Donna VanLiere book, but I can tell you, it won't be my last. She has a way of pulling you into the story right from the get go. I was so wrapped up in Ivorie's life and had to keep turning the pages to find out what was going to happen. I read this book in one day and now I'm wondering if Donna will be writing a sequel on these characters. Ivorie was quite the character and she had me laughing one minute and crying the next. She was so brave to go out of her way to help the little boy and wouldnt let anyone bully her out of it.

Book Summary

From The New York Times bestselling author comes a poignant, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel about an unlikely path to motherhood, and of two lost souls healing each other.

1950 Tennessee, a time and place that straddles the past and present. Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid by the town (though she's only in her early thirties) and she takes that label with good humor and a grain of salt. Ever since her parents passed away, she has hidden her loneliness behind a fierce independence and a claim of not needing anyone. But her mother's death hit her harder than anyone suspects and Ivorie wonders if she will be alone forever.

When she realizes that someone has been stealing vegetables from her garden—a feral, dirty–faced boy who disappears into the hills—something about him haunts Ivorie. She can't imagine what would make him desperate enough to steal and eat from her garden. But what she truly can't imagine is what the boy faces, each day and night, in the filthy lean–to hut miles up in the hills. Who is he? How did he come to live in the hills? Where did he come from? And, more importantly, can she save him? As Ivorie steps out of her comfort zone to uncover the answers, she unleashes a firestorm in the town—a community that would rather let secrets stay secret. The Good Dream is Donna VanLiere is at her absolute best.

Read an Excerpt