Review of Remember Your Dreams in Life

[AntonelaMaria]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Remember Your Dreams in Life" by Sheila Askins.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Remember Your Dreams in Life by Sheila Askins is a fiction novel inspired by real-life events. Askins set the story in a small town in Louisiana. The author incorporated romantic, religious, virtuous, and mystery elements. We follow different periods from various characters’ points of view. The main character is 19-year-old, Luanne. Besides her parents’ story, we get the point of view from the man she is seeing. She finds herself in a downward spiral after finding out her family secret. This book also deals with infidelity in marriage. Luanne is seeing a married man Landon. Besides the backstory of that relationship, we learn all about events that lead up to Luanne’s turnaround. In the world of vice, she will try to find her way back. Will she succeed? What was the turning point?

This is a short book, just a little over a hundred pages. I tried not to spoil anything in the synopsis. However, I can tell you that this is a page-turner of a book. The premise is the eternal debate of nature versus nurture. Is your personality shaped by inherited traits, or are life experiences what count the most? What is more important? That is something that each reader can ponder over. The author thoroughly conveyed the emotional aspect of the story. I could feel all the emotions these characters felt. Desperation, selfishness, fear, guilt, shame, betrayal, and love, to name a few. That is the strongest element of this book. Furthermore, the story and everything the characters went through absorbed me and kept my interest in the book.

I wish this was a longer book and that the author expanded on the side characters’ storylines. Some of them felt only used as a plot device. Maybe I’m just a greedy reader, but this story reads like a novella. The storyline consumed me, but I think some characters need more showing instead of telling. Particularly the character of Luanne’s mother, Mandy, stands out as overtly one layered moral character.

I expected for such a short book that the editing would be spotless. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. So, I would advise another round of proofreading. I encountered enough errors, and I had to lower my rating to three out of four stars. Nonetheless, I can’t rate it lower because of the emotional reaction this book invoked. I would love to read more books by this author.

While this book has religious elements, all readers can relate to this storyline. Nonetheless, readers of faith and spirituality will experience this story differently and are better suited for it. An essential part of this story is prayer, church, decency, and evil. I recommend this book to all readers interested in stories inspired by real-life events and people. The book contains no explicit scenes and only a few profanities. The author incorporates mature topics of adultery, promiscuity, and abandonment, so keep that in mind too.

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Remember Your Dreams in Life
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Amy Luman]

Luanne sounds like a confused individual. I am not really thrilled with romance in the books that I read, especially when it involves infidelity. Thanks for the review!

[Ntokozo Joy Ndlovu]

The title of the book is super misleading. I assumed this was another self-help book about how I can do it all, lol. Thanks for the excellent review.

[Amenrodion]

I really like the title of this book. It sounds like great advice

[Mbenma Esther 080]

I will likely go for the title for the love of it if I see this book in a bookshop. Thanks for the review.