BOOK REVIEW: Dreamland

After fleeing an abusive husband with her six-year-old son, Tommie, Beverly is attempting to create a new life for them in a small town off the beaten track. Despite their newfound freedom, Beverly is constantly on guard: she creates a fake backstory, wears a disguise around town, and buries herself in DIY projects to stave off anxiety. But her stress only rises when Tommie insists he’d been hearing someone walking on the roof and calling his name late at night. With money running out and danger seemingly around every corner, she makes a desperate decision that will rewrite everything she knows to be true. . .

Meanwhile, Colby Mills is on a heart-pounding journey of another kind. A failed musician, he now heads a small family farm in North Carolina. Seeking a rare break from his duties at home, he spontaneously takes a gig playing in a bar in St. Pete Beach, Florida, where he meets Morgan Lee—and his whole life is turned upside-down.

The daughter of affluent Chicago doctors, Morgan has graduated from a prestigious college music program with the ambition to move to Nashville and become a star. Romantically and musically, she and Colby complete each other in a way that neither has ever known.

In the course of a single unforgettable week, two young people will navigate the exhilarating heights and heartbreak of first love. Hundreds of miles away, Beverly will put her love for her young son to the test. And fate will draw all three people together in a web of life-altering connections . . . forcing each to wonder whether the dream of a better life can ever survive the weight of the past.

Spoiler Free:

A book split into two POV formats, one follows Colby, a farmer and failed musician, while the other follows Beverly, an abused wife and mother. Colby’s section is written in first person whereas Beverly’s sections are written in third person limited. This format creates a separation between the two seamlessly while still keeping the reader engaged.

Beverly has had enough with her abusive husband, Gary who works for the government but doesn’t disclose much more to Beverly. She’s reached her limit of bruises he leaves not only on her, but her six-year-old son, Tommie. Fleeing their home late at night while Gary is away on business, she knows the lengths she must take to ensure he’ll never find them again. On guard, she settles in a small town, hours away, dressed in a disguise and always pays for cash. But when Tommie insists he’s heard footsteps on the roof and someone calling his name, fear creeps back in and she knows she has to make a desperate decision to keep Gary from finding them.

Meanwhile, Colby Mills pulls himself—well is really pushed by his aunt— away from the farm and down to a gig opportunity at a bar in St. Pete. Something he coins as a “working vacation”. That is where he meets Morgan Lee, the daughter of affluent doctors in Chicago, while on a trip gifted to her from her parents for graduating from a prestigious college's music program. She plans to move to Nashville, working towards a career in music. For Colby, who has given up any hope of a life in music, she creates a spark in him that he hasn’t felt in some time.

Over the course of a week, Colby and Morgan navigate a fast-paced relationship as well as the love and heartbreak it brings. While hundreds of miles away, Beverly puts her love for her son before anything, fighting to stay hidden. In the end everything will collide and leave the three lives wondering whether the dream of a better life can ever survive the weight of the past. If you’re interested in an easy romance read with a twist I’d definitely pick this one up and explore the story.

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn’t my favorite of his, or even the top three, but I enjoyed reading it. It was an easy read with an interesting plot and I didn’t expect anything less coming from Sparks.

Spoiler Full:

Alrighty, now is the time to divulge and give up some spoilers.

This is the section for those who’ve read it.

Seriously, I’ll ruin some things.

Proceed with caution.

You’re being brave.

Spoilers ahead.

You’ve been warned.

I enjoyed this piece the way I enjoy majority of Nicholas Sparks books. If you've read his work before you know the caliber that he writes at and you’re able to hang your expectations accordingly when going into his new work. Lots of readers joke, saying Sparks creates the same stories over and over again, only changing names and occupations, but this piece felt very different from his others. Mainly for the content inside, but I’ll get there in a second.

For starters the chapters in this piece are short, some are very short (ie. a page). At times it did feel a little too fast-paced, especially in Colby’s sections, but I never was boughed down by long drawn-out chapters. It’s something I appreciated and made for a better and easier read. With that, Dreamland is a two POV (I wouldn’t venture to say duel specifically because its not two sides of the story, it more like two stories completely until the very end). Like I explained above, one POV is of Colby’s experiences/life and it is written in first person, whereas the second POV is of Beverly’s experiences/life and is written in third person limited. This is split by seven parts, Colby has four parts, Beverly has three. I actually really enjoyed the reading of this structure. I was a little surprised since they were formatted differently; however, it gave a clear distinction of the two stories and made me question why an artistic decision was made to make Beverly’s in third person. Knowing the ending, it made even more sense, specifically in demonstrating an unreliable narrator aspect.

Now knowing that, I think it’s important to discuss the two stories themselves, because although they do intertwine in the end, for majority of the piece they stand alone. I loved the Beverly POV. Each chapter in her parts couldn’t be read fast enough. I felt like the character was more of a rounded character with flaws and hopes, while always wanting to do her best at the forefront. Her character had many sides and because of that it was easy to relate and root for her and Tommie. Having finished the book and knowing that those parts were her having a psychotic break and hallucinating, I love it even more. Sparks did such a good job in telling and showing the reader how real these breaks and hallucinations seemed to someone with mental illness. It is almost as if Sparks says, "see it’s a real illness". I think it was beautifully crafted.

As for the Colby and Morgan storyline, I do think it took a second seat to Beverly and because of this the relationship seemed forced and didn’t feel as authentic as the relationships that we know Sparks can write. I would definitely say this piece has an instant-love trope instead of one that was a slower progression. It felt like that dynamic of a relationship was more so a cop out to say, “music was the language they spoke to one another”. As if music made them fall in love. I see the point; it just wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t feel a connection to them as characters and their relationship as a whole.

Lastly, I wish we as the reader were able to see Paige/Beverly one last time at the end of the book. Mainly to show the reader the two personalities that Paige suffers from her mental illnesses. Really to show that someone with mental illness can live a normal life and seem like a normal person with the correct treatment. At the end, Paige was spoken for by Colby and I really wanted for her to speak for herself, especially since I as the reader had grown so close to her over the course of the whole book.

Nicholas Sparks

If you don’t know the name Nicholas Sparks, you’ve either never read a book in your life, or you’ve been living under a rock. Nonetheless, Sparks has been a wildly popular author since his first book The Notebook published in 1998. Since then, Sparks has written 22 more novels, all equally pleasing and equally popular. Many of his books have become film adaptations and gained more popularity through the films. Further, The Notebook has become a symbol and statement used in multiple films and television shows today. Dreamland is his 23 novel, published on September 20th,2022.

In addition to his novels, Sparks—living in North Carolina— contributes to a variety of local and national charities as well as is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame. He co-founded the Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. With that, The Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a 501©(3) nonprofit—founded in 2011— provides scholarships and funds educational programs for underprivileged youth. Aside from his contributions to the growing of the new generations of the writing industry, Nicholas Sparks has single-handedly improved and changed the industry throughout the years. It is only right with each book he publishes, the books fly off the shelfs. As a personal fan of Sparks as a writer and the career he has built for himself, I always love to pick up his new pieces once they hit the shelves.