Chasing Down a Dream: A Blessings Novel
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins continues her beloved Blessings series with a heartwarming novel about what really makes a family.
There’s never a dull day in Henry Adams, Kansas.
Tamar July has never had a great relationship with certain members of her family. In fact, she’d characterize it as a “hate/hate relationship.” But when her cousin calls her with the news that she’s dying and wants Tamar to plan the funeral, she’s shocked but is willing to drop everything for her.
After a horrendous storm, Gemma finds a young boy and his little sister walking on the side of the road. She takes them in, and quickly falls in love with the orphaned siblings. But when Gemma contacts Social Services to try to become their foster mother, she’s told a white woman cannot foster African-American children.
In the midst of these trials, Jack and Rocky are trying to plan their wedding. The entire town comes together to lend a helping hand.
Though the residents of Henry Adams face seemingly insurmountable obstacles, each of them will discover that family comes in many forms, especially during the most trying of times.
Beverly Jenkins
Beverly Jenkins is the recipient of the 2018 Michigan Author Award by the Michigan Library Association, the 2017 Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the 2016 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for historical romance. She has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award in Literature, was featured in both the documentary Love Between the Covers and on CBS Sunday Morning. Since the publication of Night Song in 1994, she has been leading the charge for inclusive romance, and has been a constant darling of reviewers, fans, and her peers alike, garnering accolades for her work from the likes of The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, and NPR. To read more about Beverly, visit her at www.BeverlyJenkins.net.
Read more from Beverly Jenkins
The Edge of Dawn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Chasing Down a Dream
Related ebooks
80 Days of Pleasure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSong of Solomon Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Designed By Desire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way You Love Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Love We Built Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best Of All Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRuthless Rianna Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sweet Silver Bells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough the Storm-Rain For Christmas Box Set: Rain Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Careful What You Pray For Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell the Truth The Devil Won't Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLoving Dasia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revelation: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedeeming Holy Rock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSchool Daze Boxed Set Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
African American Fiction For You
Midnight: A Gangster Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life After Death: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black Girls Must Die Exhausted: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When No One Is Watching: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Black Cake: by Charmaine Wilkerson - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Deep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Short Stories of Langston Hughes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mama Day: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pomegranate: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gilda Stories: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are Not Like Them: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blacktop Wasteland: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Black Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Oprah's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heads of the Colored People: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not So Perfect Strangers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queenie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories from the Tenants Downstairs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not Without Laughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moses, Man of the Mountain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition): An Easy Rawlins Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild Women and the Blues: A Fascinating and Innovative Novel of Historical Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another Brooklyn: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Chasing Down a Dream
22 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I received my copy of Beverly Jenkins "Chasing Down a Dream" through the Early Reviewers Program. While this novel is one of many within the "Blessings" series, it is not a hindrance to have read the previous works; the book can stand alone, however once you've visited with the residents of Henry Adams you will surely want to pick up others within the series to journey with the quirky dwellers. Jenkins does a fine job hooking the reader into the story line and undercurrent of black adoption by a white parent and the acceptance/discrimination that exists. The town of Henry Adams is an open, loving tightly knit community that anyone would want to move to. Her development of the town and its people is reminiscent of what Jan Karon has done with Mitford. I had an enjoyable visit in Henry Adams and its residents and plan on looking further into the Blessing series.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A story of a brother and sister that encounter unbelievable bad luck after the death of their parents in a traffic accident. First no relatives wants to have them live with them and when a fraternity brother of their father steps up and is willing to take them to California to live with him and his wife the trio is involved in a tornado in Kansas. The "uncle" is killed and his wife no longer wants the responsibility. A passerby takes them to a small town and is willing to foster them but when the town buyer searches for information about an estate suddenly a great-aunt steps up and agrees to have them live with her. She is quite mean to the children and her apparent motive for the adoption is the estate of more than 3 million.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Try as I might I could not get into this book. I couldn't find a connection with the people in this story. I forced myself to read halfway through and just had to stop. Not my cup of tea but it might be for you. I received this from LibraryThing Early review for an honest review.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I received this book from Early Readers, and to be honest I requested it because it was set in Kansas. I had a vague impression it would be a children's book because of the cover. To my delighted surprise, it's part of a series about a town, with a rich tapestry of characters and situations in which the children are only a part. Even though this is the first Blessings book I've read, I had no trouble jumping into the situation -- it was clear that everyone had history and complicated lives but everything I needed to care about the characters was provided. I'm interested in going back to see how they got here and looking forward to see where they go next; I was cheering as some situations resolved well, groaning as some people made short-sighted but believable poor choices, and eagerly picking up clues for new developments that could be expanded later.It's a great example of having a stand-alone book set as part of a rich fictional ongoing story. I'm going to be looking out for more of Beverly Jenkins and her small Kansas town of Henry Adams.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a feel good story one of those you want to curl up with. You will laugh, get mad and teary a time or two.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While most of the children of Henry Adams, Kansas are away on summer adventures, two others are added to the rolls. Lucas Herman, age 10, and his sister Jasmine, 8, are found wandering along a country road by Gemma Dahl, the cashier at the local grocery story -- who is caring for her late daughter’s son Wyatt. Turns out the two orphaned children are in a precarious situation – just out of foster care and unwanted by family members. Gemma and Wyatt are ready to bring them into their family circle but first there are problems to overcome.Other plots involve a much-anticipated wedding between the local school teacher and the co-owner of the town’s only diner; and a bump in the romantic road for the town’s owner and her beau, who has suddenly skipped town.Beverly Jenkins has created a wonderful setting, a traditionally black town in financial trouble -- bought by a wealthy woman who sets out to create an idyllic place for people who need a second chance in life. Ms. Jenkins has also created a terrific cast of characters. There may be rocky times in Henry Adams, but things generally work out in the end, although not always the way the principals may expect.I really like the way the author takes minor characters – Gemma Dahl in this book – and puts them center stage for one book. These “Blessings Novels” are great escapist fare (and I mean that in the very best sense of the word).Review based on publisher-provided copy of the book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Two children who had lost their parents in a car accident had been separated in the foster system until a fraternity brother (uncle) of the father accepts responsibility and is taking them home to California. But bad things are still in store for the kids because the uncle is killed during a tornado and the kids are stranded in the middle of nowhere. Luck does take a bit of a turn when Gemma, a grandmother raising her grandson after her daughter was killed in Afghanistan, finds the kids on the side of the road and takes them to Henry Adams in Kansas. Henry Adams is a small town that has welcomed children from the foster system all over the country and the citizens take the kids to their hearts. Sadly, luck turns again for the kids when an unknown aunt is found and takes custody of the kids for the sole purpose of spending their inheritance.The story, as usual with all those involving Henry Adams, was heart-warming. However, this wasn't one of my favorites in the series.