Dare to Dream Again

Title: Dare to Dream Again
Author: Alana Terry
Series: Sweet Dreams Christian Romance (prequel novella)
Major Themes: Hope, Romance
Synopsis: Gloria tries to serve the Lord and be content with her lot, even after her husband died early in their marriage and she has to care for their two daughters alone.

When I pick up a romance, I often have a hard time knowing what to expect from it. However, I was interested to see what Alana Terry does with her romances, so when she gave out a free copy of the prequel book to her Sweet Dreams Christian Romance series, Dare to Dream Again, I enjoyed having the chance to pick it up and see what I thought. This book was all that I expected, and completely different. It struck a chord I haven’t seen much in romances: Realism, with a happy ending.

Life hasn’t treated Gloria kindly. After losing her husband only four years into their marriage, she’s struggled to understand how God could love her and yet do that to her. However, she is thankful for those four years she did have, and is sure that that was more than enough to carry her through the rest of her life. And after all, she has two daughters to take care of: One who is determined to become a missionary, and very determined to not fall in love with a local Christian boy she’s known her entire life, and one who is a precious special needs gem. Now, Gloria has taken on the responsibility of organizing food for the town’s Vacation Bible School. Will she be able to work gracefully with uncooperative teachers, and be a good encouragement to a bitter father who hates anything to do with the Bible? When things start to go awry, can she keep her calm and continue to be a blessing to those around her?

Dare to Dream Again is a beautiful mixture of hope, learning to trust again, and finding contentedness in the season you’re in. It’s a romance, of course, but I didn’t find that part especially distracting or too improbable, as happens in some romance stories. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting Gloria’s love of her disabled daughter, either. That was truly lovely, a great example of taking what God has blessed you with and seeing it as a blessing, not a curse. Although this story might not be particularly deep or inspiring, there were some really great things in it all the same, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series soon.

WARNING: Very young children swimming naked in a pool is mentioned briefly in chapter four. “Oh my gosh” is said in chapters 12, 25, and 28.