Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen

Larkin lives in New York City, which is where she fled nine years ago from Georgetown, South Carolina. She is happy here and does not even think about the life she left behind, nor does she plan to go back. But that all changes when she learns that her mother is missing. When she learns this, she goes back to Georgetown to find her mother and figure out what is going on. She will be confronted with her past, the people she left behind. She will have to confront family secrets and relationships that she thought were lost forever. Larkin will have to figure out why her mother was found where she was and what significance, if any, does it hold.

The characters are well rounded and well developed. The three best friends, Margaret, CeeCee and Bitty, have a long history that spans decades. They all have their flaws and their good points, and it was interesting to learn more about them. The story is set in two different times, the 1950’s and present time. Although it gave us an insight into their past lives and all they went through, this is not my favorite writing style. That is only my opinion and others may not agree with me. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and these descriptions pulled me into the story from the very beginning.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted family saga. It has mystery, romance and relationships that last for decades.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

Larkin fled South Carolina as soon as she graduated high school. Her friends and family never thought she would stay away for 9 years. She returns because her mother is missing. Her aunts and friends rally around her and she's found at the old family property that is burned and in terrible condition. Ivy is found unconscious having fallen through the rotting floors and Larkin is obsessed with finding why her mother went to the old plantation. Family secrets from previous generations have some in her family dreading what she will uncover and her friends work on healing their friendship from high school. There are multiple time lines which I like and the chapters are well labeled so you can follow each of the story lines easily. A nice read with a mystery and love intermixed along with friendship and maturity. I like Karen White and enjoy many of her books. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was my first book by Karen White and it definitely won't be my last. This book was riveting and I NEEDED to know how it ended. I loved the evolution of the characters, the growth and change of Larkin and CeeCee and Bitty and I really enjoyed the hopping between time periods. Thank you for my very first 5 star rating of the year (and a ginormous book hangover!). Now off to go read her backlist....

I love Karen White's books. She write so dang well about the lowcountry of SC. Her characters are just like people I know. This is a true lowcountry book..with secrets and coming home

A tale of friendship of three girls and promises they make in 1951. This book goes back and forth between 1951 and 2010. Larkin comes home from New York because her mother is missing and as each day passes she learns more about secrets that were kept for. Over fifty years, the setting is the Lowcountry of South Carolina with the characters being memorable and strong women. This story started slowly,but the plot and all came to reality in the second half. It was well written with the past and present cloaked in mystery of the women involved. You will not be disappointed in this novel.

Stevie‘s review of Dreams of Falling by Karen White
Women’s Psychological Fiction published by Berkley 05 Jun 18

I love stories told through the eyes of different generations, as well as those where the action takes place in different time periods. So this mystery, while not quite the narrative I’d been expecting, had all the potential to be just my kind of thing.

Larkin Lanier left her home in South Carolina after a falling out with her best friends, combined with her father’s apparent betrayal of her mother, which caused her to rethink her choice of both college and future career. Nine years later, she’s a copywriter for a successful New York ad agency and avoids contact with her family and former friends as much as possible, returning home for the Christmas holidays, if at all. Everything changes, however, when she receives news that her mother has been reported missing.


Larkin rushes to join her family, the two women who raised her mother after their friend – Larkin’s grandmother – died in the fire that destroyed the house she had grown up in. Larkin has also been parented by both women, as well as by her mother, and feels closer to them, especially to CeeCee – her mother’s stepmother – than she does to Ivy, her own mother. The search for Ivy leads to the ruined house where her mother died, and where Ivy is now lying badly injured after falling through the rotted floorboards. As Ivy lies in the hospital, Larkin and CeeCee wonder separately what drew Ivy to the house, and what she had found out, but not told either of them, about the events leading to the fire from which Ivy was rescued at the expense of her mother’s life.

The story switches easily between 2010 and the 1950s as Larkin investigates and CeeCee remembers a trip she took with her two best friends immediately after they graduated from high school. On that trip, CeeCee, and Ivy’s mother, fell in love, one of them each with one of two brothers. Neither was to get a true happy ending, although both seemed to get what they had wished for when, immediately before leaving, they placed ribbons on an old oak tree, following a long-standing local tradition.

Larkin also has a complicated romantic life, as we learn through her revisiting of old memories connected with why she left town as an eighteen year old. All those involved in her downfall then still live in the town now, and she attempts to rekindle friendships with some while avoiding the outreachings of others, even though it seems likely to readers that she’s got things the wrong way around.

The eventual reveal of what happened on the night of the fire was both more, and less, complex than we had been led to fear, with all the characters involved in the incident acting as was to be expected from what we were told of their personalities beforehand. I was a little disappointed that a few details of subplots were held back in an attempt to ramp up suspense only for the truth to be less dire than it was made out to be, but overall this was an enjoyable read with a mostly uplifting ending.

Grade: B

Karen White has never let me down. From her beautifully worded stories to the rich lush settings and well thought out characters, everything about her stories draws me in and refuses to let me go even long after the story is over.

Her latest wasn't an exception. It was wholly entertaining, hard to put down and just enough of the supernatural to keep all lovers of the genre, both historic and fantasy enthralled and eagerly turning the pages.

I loved the family dynamic, the flashes from past to present and the intriguing mystery of it all as it slowly unfolded over the years. The friendship between these three girls and their live after that friendship, was just so believable and amazing. I loved every heart pounding moment as it all came together, was revealed, and put to rest.

Another wonderfully told, wonderfully narrated story by a master story teller.

I loved everything about “Dreams of Falling” by Karen White. Karen White has an amazing way of telling a story and describing her characters and landscape. I especially appreciate the colorful cast of characters and their relationships. “Dreams of Falling” is a novel about friendship, sisterhood, and family. The Genres for this story are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The timeline of the story is the author’s present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. The story mostly takes place in the low country of South Carolina.

The author describes her characters as complex and complicated. Larkin returns to South Carolina after an absence of nine years, when her mother Ivy has a devastating fall. Larkin has strong feelings about her return to South Carolina. When she returns home she realizes that there are betrayals, dark secrets going back fifty years.

Fifty years earlier there were three close friends, who would write what their dreams and wishes would be and put them in an oak tree. One of those young girls is Larkin’s grandmother. They had promised each other “Friends forever come what may”, not realizing what the future would hold.

Larkin seems to be in touch with the meaning of dreams at times. The author discusses family, friendship, betrayals, loyalty, hope , love and forgiveness. This is a wonderful, engaging novel that I would highly recommend to readers that like Historical Fiction. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.