Blog Book Tour | “Dreaming of Tomorrow” (Tomorrow series, Book Three) by Michelle de Bruin

Posted Friday, 20 November, 2020 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Book Review banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. This is how I came to love discovering the Harlequin Heartwarming authors & series as much as it has been an honour to regularly request INSPY stories and authors. Whenever I host for Prism, I know I am in for an uplifting read and a journey into the stories which give me a lot of joy to find in my readerly queue of #nextreads. It is an honour to be a part of their team of book bloggers.

I received a complimentary copy of “Dreaming of Tomorrow” direct from the author Michelle de Bruin exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comWhy I was interested in reading this Historical Romance:

I’ve have a penchant for Historical Romances – however, what makes this series a bit different is the fact the whole series (as it is thus far written) centres round two central characters who are involved in a slow brewing romance. At least from what I can stipulate is the case from the author’s page for the Tomorrow series. I wasn’t able to secure copies of the first two novels in the series – as per my usual preference when it comes to serial fiction (even if the installments are adverted as standalones) – which is why I was thankful for the synopsis of the first two stories ahead of Dreaming of Tomorrow.

It felt the timing was off for Logan and Karen; as they each had their own lives to live and to lead; yet what I was slightly confused by were the book covers as they aren’t traditional artwork for Historical Fiction novels. In fact, the cover for ‘Dreaming of Tomorrow’ felt more like 21st Century than the early Nineteen Hundreds. Not that I choose a book by its cover art nor do I let the art on covers dictate how I will approach reading a story – but in this particular case, it just felt more ‘modern’ bride than historical farmer’s wife who wants to co-lead their community in ministry.

I think I’m spoilt off the covers @JennyQinVA creates as she has created most of the historical covers sported on the books I’ve been reading these past seven years.

What was more interesting is how the author approached making this a bit of a saga and a slow brewed romance series – as I am definitely a girl who can either take a romance resolved in one installment or across a series, if the author has convinced me the two belong together and I find myself caught in the throes of their courtship. Now, the only question mark I had is what separated Karen from Logan? And, what turnt their relationship into a long distanced romance!? I am hoping bits of the first two installments are shared within the third in order to feel better rooted in their life’s story.

On a secondary note, I am a book blogger who loves supporting Indie & Self-Published authors – it has been the backbone of my readerly experience as a book blogger and as a chat host via @SatBookChat. These authors across all genres of personal interest fast become my top favourites because of how they approach writing their stories and the fact I have an Indie writerly soul at heart myself.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Blog Book Tour | “Dreaming of Tomorrow” (Tomorrow series, Book Three) by Michelle de BruinDreaming of Tomorrow
Subtitle: Tomorrow Series Book Three
by Michelle De Bruin
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

Love leads them to a lifetime of commitment where the dreams they have held onto for so long start to come true.

Popular and eligible, Logan De Witt must convince the women in town that he is engaged to be married. A quiet, simple ceremony is what he has in mind for his wedding day, but when the date and time of his bride’s arrival is published in the newspaper, the whole town joins in the celebration proving to Logan and his new wife their sincere friendship and support. Added to the excitement of Logan’s marriage is the question of what the congregation should do with the unexpected donation of an orchard.

Karen Millerson is counting the days until her long-distance engagement comes to an end and she may travel to Oswell City to marry Logan. More than anything, she wants to share in his life as a help and support, but keeping a house and finding her place in the community requires much more work than she ever expected.

Learn, laugh, and love with Karen and Logan as they start a new marriage and work together ministering to the citizens of their small town.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1649170828

Published by Scrivenings Press

on 15th October, 2020

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 318

The Tomorrow series:

Hope for Tomorrow by Michelle de BruinPromise for Tomorrow by Michelle de BruinDreaming of Tomorrow by Michelle de Bruin

Hope for Tomorrow (book one)

Promise for Tomorrow (book two)

Dreaming of Tomorrow (book three)

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Published by: Scrivenings Press (@ScriveningsLLC)
co-owned by Shannon Vannatter (@stvauthor)

I was happily surprised to discover this Indie Publisher is co-owned by Ms Vannatter as when I first came across the book blogosphere in (2012) the year before I created and developed Jorie Loves A Story – this author’s blog was one of my mainstays wherein I would read, comment and visit. She is one of the authors’ who has a blog which connects readers to writers and hosts bookaways, too. In the world of INSPY she was one of the authors I enjoyed visiting with due to how she kept her blog and the conversations with authors both approachable but also entertaining to where you learnt something about their stories and their craft for writing. She usually breaks up her blog features into two parts, too which gives you an extra moment to visit with her featured authors.

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #TomorrowSeries, #HistFic or #HistoricalFiction
as well as #HistRom or #HistoricalRomance,
#IndieAuthor, #IndieChristian, #INSPYRomance + #DTPrism

About Michelle De Bruin

Michelle De Bruin

Michelle De Bruin lives in Iowa with her husband and two teenage sons. She has a bachelor’s degree in Religion with a Christian Ministry emphasis, and in Music. Michelle is the spiritual services provider for an organization that offers services for people with mental and physical disabilities. She has been a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) since 2015.

Michelle writes Inspirational Historical Romance about people who live in rural communities. Characters that bring to life the delights of farm and small-town living, whispers of Dutch heritage, and Christian faith make Michelle’s stories distinct. A romantic at heart, Michelle is always on the lookout for glimpses of God’s love through the window of a good story.

Her first book, Hope for Tomorrow, released in 2018. The sequel, Promise for Tomorrow, released November 2019. The third book in the series, Dreaming of Tomorrow, released November 2020.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

my review of dreaming of tomorrow:

There is nothing worse than a woman like Flora Mae who can’t help herself from making a fool of herself in front of a bloke she is smitten to chase even after that bloke tells her she’s off limits! You can immediately tell Logan isn’t used to being the confident pastor who has a soon-to-be bride in this small towne where everyone knows who you are, what you’re doing and everything else about you – to where it might feel as if you’re living in a goldfish bowl: all eyes on you all the time! Logan seems to be the kind of man who takes his faith seriously and yet, he struggles with how to assert himself in his community – as I had a feeling he is a bit afraid of people’s judgement against him. He just sort of gives off this vibe of where his confidence doesn’t extol the best belief that he can handle the pressures of his job nor the advances of those who might seek to sway his love away from Karen.

One thing that struck me a bit odd is how Karen speaks about Logan as if she were a mail-order bride and about to take her vows without having any interaction with Logan ahead of time. De Bruin goes as far as to say Karen is struck with curiosity if they are both preparing for the wedding in similar ways to each other but doesn’t fully knit the couple together or offer a backstory about them either during the sequence in which Karen steps forward in the timeline after Logan’s entrance himself. And, this was becoming a growing issue for me because if you take this story in the context of how it was written, you’d have to bypass the original two novels completely because those stories haven’t even entered into the scope of this third novel. It is either we’ve entered a parallel universe where this Karen and Logan never interacted with each other previously or we’re in a series which has some strong continuity issues where it disconnects an engaged couple from the reader’s understanding of their relationship.

When it is finally revealled he met Karen whilst he was taking care of his family’s farm, I nearly felt it was a little too late to even broach that connection as the story had established itself a bit differently until that short reveal. The one critical issue I have with serial stories is when the stories do not seem to connect well together as you’re reading them and I fear Dreaming of Tomorrow falls into this category because the reader has a lot of work to do in order to sort out the circumstances of what is uniting Karen and Logan together rather than seeing their connect, understanding their engagement and feeling excited for them as a couple as soon as the novel began to tell their story.

As I’m reading a story in a series, I want to feel immediately pulled into it – almost as if I can’t wait to learn as much as I can about the characters as I quickly turn the pages to seek more information about them. Whilst reading this story, I had the opposite issue – it felt like a wholly separate story in the middle of a series and it sought to give you a different impression the characters than I believe were intended. It might have worked better if Karen had been a mail-order bride and one who corresponded with Logan before their nuptials rather than having had a random encounter in the past and then, shifting forward to the present where he’s in small towne Iowa and she’s in the big city of Chicago. Their worlds apart and unfortunately I felt due to how this installment was written, the reader has a greater distance to make up the gaps as the couple does to come together in one city.

I wasn’t able to continue my journey with Karen and Logan for several reasons – one, I couldn’t sort out why Logan lacked the conviction to put Flora Mae straight about his relationship status which didn’t bode well for feeling comfortable and confident he’s the towne’s pastor. Secondly, Karen seemed so dearly removed from Logan’s life – little nudges of how they connected weren’t enough because it felt like she was being wishful about the prospect of being with Logan rather than remembering the times they’d shared together. And, that became a telling issue for me – there wasn’t a sequence of flashbacks or memory interspersed with where we find Logan and Karen in the moment we arrive inside Dreaming of Tomorrow. I wanted more about them from the start – even a Prologue to connect the first two stories in the series with the third might have offered a different spin and response to this story but without the foundation of the series being inclusive to this installment, I felt like it was losing traction before it could win me over to continue reading it.

Fly in the Ointment: Continuity issues

Being this is the third novel in a series, I also had a bit of trouble shifting forward into this installment as there was a lack of a back-story about the previous installments. Usually by the time you enter into the opening bridge of a third novel of a series, you’ve already been giving some telling truths about what preceded the installment, where the characters were last and how they tie together whilst giving you a keen foundation for the series itself if you entered into it out of sequence. As I was reading and trying to gather my bearings I was thinking perhaps this one might be better served read start to finish because of how you don’t feel as anchoured inside it as you should because it allows you to have more unanswered questions than answers. I, for one, wish Logan was given a bit more backstory and depth in the opening chapter in order to give us a measure of a reason to feel compelled to know him further or to even understand how he’s arrived in this moment of his life. Instead the chapter mostly focuses on a woman seeking to undo his commitment to Karen and his issues with vision.

I felt further confused when Karen was speaking about her forthcoming union with Logan as if she’s never heard of his small towne and knows nothing directly about Logan in regards to how to carve out a life together with him- except for the clues he’s given in the letters they’ve exchanged. According to the synopsis for the two books ahead of this one they’ve not only become well acquainted but they’ve lived in each others spaces as she was previously living at his farm. I’m not sure how he transitioned from the farm to the ministry but it felt odd that she’s speaking Logan from a distanced perspective or one that a mail-order bride might feel inclined to share about the marriage she was about to undertake herself without every meeting her groom.

on the historical & romantic styling of michelle de bruin:

When I first started reading this story I was a bit confused about the timescape of the novel because by the appearance of the book (ie. the cover art) and how the story opens – there are enough clues that this novel could just as easily be set in 2011 as it is 1911. There aren’t too many references to trick your mind into believing this is a turn of the century Historical Romance compared to others I have read previously. This confusion continued as I first started reading the story as well – as I think I was hoping for a smooth transition to where I hadn’t any doubts it was the early bits of the 20th Century whereas questioning if this story could be a story of a more modern century as we’re living today.

Despite my concerns about the timescape of the novel and how time is a bit of a confusing arrow within it – I must commend Ms De Bruin on her writing style and voice in regards to how she paints pictures with her choices in words, phrases and the constructs of her narrative. She has a lovely way of giving subtle notations of place within her story and those are cherished because I love seeing the ease in which she has fused them together. She has a very approachable writing style in that regard and it was a bit of a shame I couldn’t fully see her vision for this early 20th Century era as that is the timescape she chose for us to feel immersed inside. Likewise, I wish in many regards this wasn’t part of a series because for me it felt like a stand-alone novel which doesn’t build on the installments it is anchoured to in the Tomorrow series.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

This blog tour was courtesy of: Prism Book Tours

Prism Book Tours

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Dreaming of Tomorrow blog tour banner provided by Prism Book Tours and is used with permission.

End of the Blog Tour badged provided by Prism Book Tours

By clicking this badge you can find the tour route when this blog tour was actively travelling through the book blogosphere – for more insights into this story and reader reactions as well as guest posts by the author. The giveaway of course is no longer active however, all book bloggers love whenever you can visit and comment and share the joy of the content they are writing expressing their readerly journey.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

I look forward to reading your thoughts & commentary!
Especially if you read the book or were thinking you might be inclined to read it.
I appreciate hearing different points of view especially amongst readers who gravitate towards the same stories to read. Bookish conversations are always welcome!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Dreaming of Tomorrow”, “Hope for Tomorrow” and “Promise for Tomorrow”, synopsis of “Dreaming of Tomorrow”, the photo and biography of the author Michelle De Bruin as well as the blog tour banner and The Prism Book Tours badge were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review banner and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.

I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

read more >> | Visit my Story Vault of Book Reviews | Policies & Review Requests | Contact Jorie

Divider

Posted Friday, 20 November, 2020 by jorielov in 20th Century, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Blog Tour Host, Content Note, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA, the Nineteen Hundreds




All posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary!
I try to visit your blog in return as I believe in ‘Bloggers Commenting Back
(which originated as a community via Readers Wonderland).


Comments are moderated. Once your comment is approved for the first time, your comments thereafter will be recognised and automatically approved. All comments are reviewed and continue to be moderated after automated approval. By using the comment form you are consenting with the storage and handling of your personal data by this website.

Once you use the comment form, if your comment receives a reply (this only applies to those who leave comments by email), there is a courtesy notification set to send you a reply ticket. It is at your discretion if you want to return to re-respond and/or to continue the conversation established. This is a courtesy for commenters to know when their comments have been replied by either the blog's owner or a visitor to the blog who wanted to add to the conversation. Your email address is hidden and never shared. Read my Privacy Policy.

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)