Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Book Review: The Dreaming Road by Elizabeth Moore (no spoilers)

Book: The Dreaming Road
Author: Elizabeth Moore
Publication: January 15, 2018
Source: Recieved for Review
Read: March 9-16, 2018
Summary (from Goodreads):
On a spring morning in early May, Diane wakes up to find her beautiful 16-year old daughter, Callie, lying dead on the floor of her bedroom. The police find a suicide note in Callie’s jewelry chest and Diane’s whole world, as she had previously known it, falls apart.

 In the afterlife, Callie meets her great grandma, Ellie, who tells her that she’s in a part of heaven called Summer Wind and can never return home again. She wrestles with her abrupt and impulsive decision to take her own life and witnesses the impact that this event has on all who love her. Diane begins a desperate search for answers by tearing apart Callie’s bedroom looking for anything that might tell her what drove her daughter to suicide. She visits Joy, a spiritual healer, who tells her that she must learn to seek the gift in her experiences rather than remaining addicted to her guilt and pain. Diane struggles with letting-go of the daughter she once knew and all her hopes and dreams for the future.

 Desperate to reassure her mother that she’s okay, Callie attempts to communicate with her from beyond the veil. They both begin a heart-wrenching journey to find one another once again.

* I recieved The Dreaming Road free in exchange for an honest review. This no way effects my opinion all thoughts or feelings are my own.*

My Thoughts:

I have to say after I recieved the email to review The Dreaming Road I was instantly intrigued and automatically told the publisher that I would love to read this book. Then I read a series of sad books and I kept putting off reading The Dreaming Road because I wasn't ready for yet another sad book. Going into this book knowing it was about a mother grieving over her daughter's suicide made me think that I was going to be crying throughout the whole book. That didn't happen. I grew deeply attached to Diane and her journey, but I didn't cry at all while reading this book. I think the author did a great job writing about grief and life in heaven.

When I first started this book I was immediately interested in the story. Even though on the day I started this book I had a busy day  I took this book with me and I would find any spare moment I had to read The Dreaming Road. I was so interested in Callie's life in heaven and I was connected to Diane's story here on Earth.

I like the way the story moved slower the first year that Callie passed away because that was when Diane was feeling the most emotions, but years 3-5 she skipped parts because she wasn't feeling the intense grief she felt in the beginning. As with any suicide I was always searching for Callie's reason that she commited suicide. Like Diane it gave me peace just hearing her talk in the book through mediums.

I think Elizabeth Moore painted such a vivid picture of heaven and I thought of my experience reading Heaven Changes Everything by Todd Burpo many years ago where they said that they ancipate the day that they get to see heaven. I think about that myself again that I'm excited to go to heaven after I have lived my life here on Earth. I think Diane was incredibly brave to reach out and ask for help from professionals and other people experiencing grief. I think this was a very important part of her journey to find joy in her life.

I really enjoyed the ending of this book. It brought a lot of peace and it was nice to see that life does move forward after loss. Although I have not personally experienced suicide of a close family member I have had people in my life that have died unexpectatly and some chose to take their own life. Elizabeth Moore wrote this as an inspirational novel and I think that is exactly what it turned out to be. I will also mention that I do not believe in everything that happened in this novel, but I don't doubt anything she said completely. I will just have to wait until I go to heaven to really know if some of these things are true. Overall I highly recommend The Dreaming Road and I enjoyed my exprience reading this book.

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