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estherfilbrun's review against another edition
4.0
Some books you read are delightful ones that whisk you away to a place you’ve never experienced before. Others touch on subjects that are really difficult but encouraging at the same time. This book was both of those. Even though it was just a novella, I instantly fell in love with the characters, and could really empathize with the trouble they were facing in trying to be content.
Gloria’s heart of service was beautiful to see, as she served her disabled daughter and tried to help out with VBS when that time came around. I admit, when I come in contact with people that are especially difficult or just plain different from me, I don’t always react with love and compassion. Although I’d like to, I’m usually more concerned about myself than them. And I hate that. I’m praying that will change.
In this book, though, Gloria embraced it—not perfectly, but instead of running when she saw trouble, she tried to have the right attitude and then pushed ahead as well as she could. That was a challenge to me. I need to learn to embrace the uncomfortableness of life more, the disruptions to my perfectly-planned schedule.
Although this book was not necessarily in my normal reading genres, I really enjoyed it. It was a sweet story, but also a challenging one with a good balance of entertainment and depth.
I was given a free copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.
Gloria’s heart of service was beautiful to see, as she served her disabled daughter and tried to help out with VBS when that time came around. I admit, when I come in contact with people that are especially difficult or just plain different from me, I don’t always react with love and compassion. Although I’d like to, I’m usually more concerned about myself than them. And I hate that. I’m praying that will change.
In this book, though, Gloria embraced it—not perfectly, but instead of running when she saw trouble, she tried to have the right attitude and then pushed ahead as well as she could. That was a challenge to me. I need to learn to embrace the uncomfortableness of life more, the disruptions to my perfectly-planned schedule.
Although this book was not necessarily in my normal reading genres, I really enjoyed it. It was a sweet story, but also a challenging one with a good balance of entertainment and depth.
I was given a free copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.
bellesmoma2021's review
5.0
I love LOVE. It’s one of my most favorite things in all the world. If I’m not sitting on my couch reading a fabulous Christian Romance, then I am probably watching the latest film premiere on the Hallmark Channel. Love is wonderful, and I love that God made us to fall in love. What a wonderful Creator we have!
BUT love can be misleading. We can love incorrectly and this gets us into a lot of trouble. Real love is all about correct priorities and appropriateness. God needs to come first in our hearts ALWAYS. How we feel about God should trump our love for anyone or anything. When we place God first in our lives, priorities seem to naturally flow in proper, appropriate order. Unfortunately, many times without our even recognizing it, we place our love in people first, God second. Our entire day can pass by filled with thoughts and actions towards our husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, etc. We can go the entire day and not consider God even once.
In Dare to Dream Again by Alana Terry, the main character, Gloria, is a young widow. She explains in the novel that she and her husband fell deeply in love, married really young, had babies young, and then she lost her husband young. She has been a widow longer than she was ever with her dear husband, Stan. Over the many years of Stan’s absence, Gloria has taken to having internal “conversations” with him. I’ll be honest, I started to worry about Gloria. Gloria has an active faith in God and works really hard for her church, but she appears to have completely closed herself off to the idea of moving forward. She had the greatest love with Stan, so she is content now. She doesn’t need anyone else. But this line of thinking closes her off from God’s will. Maybe God’s plan for her is to have a new companion, or maybe it is to be alone. But not consulting God on the matter closes God off from the conversation.
We have to stay so focused on God or we might turn our loved ones into idols. God is the God of LOVE. He loves love, and totally condones His kids falling in love and making families. But we must remember daily that it is God who gives us true joy, a sense of belonging, and the acceptance we deeply crave, not our husbands, wives, friends, or children. We must look to Him first for these needs of ours. Then, and only then, will we be able to love our spouses/significant others and children appropriately as God desires. Of the many themes brought up in Dare to Dream Again, this topic resonated with me the most. This is definitely a reminder that I needed as my extremely busy day can pass by in seconds (it seems). If I am not careful I could let the entire day go by and never think about God, which would put my love priorities out of whack!
Dare to Dream Again is a wonderful story. It’s highly engaging and fast paced. It’s filled with wonderfully written and realistic characters. And the topics discussed in this story are timely and good reminders for readers today. I highly recommend this sweet romance!
I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via NetGalley and Celebrate Lit. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
BUT love can be misleading. We can love incorrectly and this gets us into a lot of trouble. Real love is all about correct priorities and appropriateness. God needs to come first in our hearts ALWAYS. How we feel about God should trump our love for anyone or anything. When we place God first in our lives, priorities seem to naturally flow in proper, appropriate order. Unfortunately, many times without our even recognizing it, we place our love in people first, God second. Our entire day can pass by filled with thoughts and actions towards our husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, etc. We can go the entire day and not consider God even once.
In Dare to Dream Again by Alana Terry, the main character, Gloria, is a young widow. She explains in the novel that she and her husband fell deeply in love, married really young, had babies young, and then she lost her husband young. She has been a widow longer than she was ever with her dear husband, Stan. Over the many years of Stan’s absence, Gloria has taken to having internal “conversations” with him. I’ll be honest, I started to worry about Gloria. Gloria has an active faith in God and works really hard for her church, but she appears to have completely closed herself off to the idea of moving forward. She had the greatest love with Stan, so she is content now. She doesn’t need anyone else. But this line of thinking closes her off from God’s will. Maybe God’s plan for her is to have a new companion, or maybe it is to be alone. But not consulting God on the matter closes God off from the conversation.
We have to stay so focused on God or we might turn our loved ones into idols. God is the God of LOVE. He loves love, and totally condones His kids falling in love and making families. But we must remember daily that it is God who gives us true joy, a sense of belonging, and the acceptance we deeply crave, not our husbands, wives, friends, or children. We must look to Him first for these needs of ours. Then, and only then, will we be able to love our spouses/significant others and children appropriately as God desires. Of the many themes brought up in Dare to Dream Again, this topic resonated with me the most. This is definitely a reminder that I needed as my extremely busy day can pass by in seconds (it seems). If I am not careful I could let the entire day go by and never think about God, which would put my love priorities out of whack!
Dare to Dream Again is a wonderful story. It’s highly engaging and fast paced. It’s filled with wonderfully written and realistic characters. And the topics discussed in this story are timely and good reminders for readers today. I highly recommend this sweet romance!
I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via NetGalley and Celebrate Lit. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
rebekahmorris's review
3.0
3.5 stars
This is the first book I've read by this author, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm always a little uneasy when it's a romance because I don't know how the author will handle it. I must say that this author impressed me. The focus in the relationship was not on how someone looked (though it was mentioned a couple times in a casual manner), how their hair smelled, or the electric shocks that happened when their fingers happened to touch each other! The interest came from character, and prayer. With a little nudge from a daughter. It was a shorter story, but I enjoyed it.
My one complaint was a euphemism that was used a few times by the daughter. The mom told her not to use it as it was a euphemism, but it was used again.
This is the first book I've read by this author, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm always a little uneasy when it's a romance because I don't know how the author will handle it. I must say that this author impressed me. The focus in the relationship was not on how someone looked (though it was mentioned a couple times in a casual manner), how their hair smelled, or the electric shocks that happened when their fingers happened to touch each other! The interest came from character, and prayer. With a little nudge from a daughter. It was a shorter story, but I enjoyed it.
My one complaint was a euphemism that was used a few times by the daughter. The mom told her not to use it as it was a euphemism, but it was used again.
chautona's review
4.0
Why You Need to Dare to Dream Again
I’ve been telling people all year that Alana Terry writes a really interesting book. She takes things we’re not used to reading and makes them happen. Her Out of North Korea made my top 10 for the year so far because she not only told a compelling story, she did it in first-person, present-tense without me even noticing for the first three-quarters of the book.
Dare to Dream Again does something similar… and opposite. This time, Alana Terry takes familiar things that usually annoy readers and makes them work. We have instant attraction working out in a reasonable, rational way for that character. We have an abusive father…and a little pipsqueak of a kid who isn’t the horrible nightmare you’d expect–even while he is.
Every time something happened that would have annoyed me in any other book, I had to admit that it worked. Not only that, but I liked how it worked. The main character, Gloria, had a personality and a history to make every decision that would have been rather overly-convenient in any other book fit perfectly in this one. She’s even annoying at first!
And Derek? The guy would have moved way too fast and been much too invested far too soon—except his history set him up to be exactly where he was and act precisely the way he did.
A subtle lesson flows through the book, too.
When we’ve had our dreams fulfilled in beautiful ways, we often feel like we don’t have the right to keep dreaming, but the Lord loves to give “good gifts” to His children just like any father. Gloria learned that in the book… and I got a nice reminder of it.
Look, I keep wanting to complain about things in Dare to Dream Again.
In any other book, I’d be telling you how implausible this or that is and how it just didn’t work for me. But the characters are realistic. They behave in realistic ways. None of them are obnoxiously perfect. And all of them have something to teach us without being preachy. I'm really glad that I requested a review copy.
And the next book? What Dreams May Come? Yeah. Already shelved that sucker in my Kindle Unlimited. I fell in love with Susannah (Gloria’s oldest daughter) in this book. I want to see where she goes in life.
My only quibble is that it’s a novella, and like many novellas, it ends much too soon for my taste. Part of that is my personal objection to the shortness of novellas. Most of it is just that I wanted more of Derek and Gloria.
I’ve been telling people all year that Alana Terry writes a really interesting book. She takes things we’re not used to reading and makes them happen. Her Out of North Korea made my top 10 for the year so far because she not only told a compelling story, she did it in first-person, present-tense without me even noticing for the first three-quarters of the book.
Dare to Dream Again does something similar… and opposite. This time, Alana Terry takes familiar things that usually annoy readers and makes them work. We have instant attraction working out in a reasonable, rational way for that character. We have an abusive father…and a little pipsqueak of a kid who isn’t the horrible nightmare you’d expect–even while he is.
Every time something happened that would have annoyed me in any other book, I had to admit that it worked. Not only that, but I liked how it worked. The main character, Gloria, had a personality and a history to make every decision that would have been rather overly-convenient in any other book fit perfectly in this one. She’s even annoying at first!
And Derek? The guy would have moved way too fast and been much too invested far too soon—except his history set him up to be exactly where he was and act precisely the way he did.
A subtle lesson flows through the book, too.
When we’ve had our dreams fulfilled in beautiful ways, we often feel like we don’t have the right to keep dreaming, but the Lord loves to give “good gifts” to His children just like any father. Gloria learned that in the book… and I got a nice reminder of it.
Look, I keep wanting to complain about things in Dare to Dream Again.
In any other book, I’d be telling you how implausible this or that is and how it just didn’t work for me. But the characters are realistic. They behave in realistic ways. None of them are obnoxiously perfect. And all of them have something to teach us without being preachy. I'm really glad that I requested a review copy.
And the next book? What Dreams May Come? Yeah. Already shelved that sucker in my Kindle Unlimited. I fell in love with Susannah (Gloria’s oldest daughter) in this book. I want to see where she goes in life.
My only quibble is that it’s a novella, and like many novellas, it ends much too soon for my taste. Part of that is my personal objection to the shortness of novellas. Most of it is just that I wanted more of Derek and Gloria.
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