Review: This will be a keeper
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2012
Well written, interesting, and a slice of Mid-West Americana are included in this mystery and love story.  A lot of things in one book, and it was all pulled together well."American Dreamer" was originally published in 1997 according to the Product Description.  It was also labeled as "Vintage Romantic suspense". 1997 - vintage??  Oh, do I feel old now!  But maybe it helps to have lived in a time where cell phones and laptops weren't attached to everyone.  Calls were made from a public phone at the gas station, and notes about Lark's studies were taken with pen and paper.  The town was so small that everyone knew what was going on - or thought they did.  And the only motel-like accommodations were found at a  Bed & Breakfast which really was just a room in someone's house.  And not a very hospitable one at that.Lark is trying to overcome a traumatic rape, followed by years of well intentioned, but over-protective care from her parents, and now it is time for her to reach outside her shell and live her life.  Nathan has also been deeply hurt, but in a different way, and he is struggling to make his life turn right side up again.  A simple summary of the skeleton of the story will be familiar to anyone who reads, but the value of the book is how that storyline is told, and this one is very well done. The mystery of the body in the pond adds another dimension, and while it is critical to the development of the relationships, it is not the core of the story.This is a story you will want to read again, and the timelessness will hold up for another 15 years, and beyond.