FictionZeal

Cassie Danvers is drowning in depression.  She’s living in an old Victorian, once known as Two Oaks that she inherited from her grandmother, June.  The house is in disarray, but with the small monetary inheritance, it is not enough to repair the house.  Cassie experiences very real-like dreams of her grandmother with her friend, Lindie, from 1955 when they were eighteen and fourteen years old.  The ‘dream people’ she experiences, and there are far more than just two, seem to come to her when she is awake as well as asleep.  As the two girls, June and Lindie, talk to each other in Cassie’s dream, Lindie is concerned about June’s choice for a husband.  Lindie told her, “Artie Danvers is a nothing!  He’s a straight line.  He’s a cold bath.”

They’re also talking, as many young girls do, of actors and actresses.  Jack Montgomery, they heart-throb of the day, was coming to their small town of St. Jude, Ohio, to make a movie.  Extras were needed and both June and Lindie were planning to be there.  Returning to present day, Nick Emmons finally managed to get Cassie to answer the door.  His message is welcome although very confusing.  Jack Montgomery died three days prior.  He left $37 million to Cassie.  This doesn’t sit too well with Jack’s daughters.

The story is two-fold, present (2015) as well as the 1950’s era, with all the pieces meticulously coming together.  Illumination is provided for the past, primarily through Cassie’s dreams.  This was creative and unique, but I found it to be a bit of an odd telling.  I did like the way the story progressed between Cassie and Montgomery’s daughters, Tate and Elda.  The character’s personalities were well-drawn.  Miranda Beverly-Whitemore excels at raising the reader’s curiosity as she carefully lays the details out piece by piece.  Rating: 3.5 out of 5.