This is a great story with a hint of magic or fantasy. Kiminee, Illinois is a small town where everyone knows what's going on. When Carly Mae Foley is born the town knows she is something special. She could read by two, became a well know artist by 10 and is destined to greatness until a storm devastates the town. Carly is found unconscious under a shed and is in a coma for a long time. Her art sponsor moves her to Chicago with better hospitals and she does recover but her art and music careers are over. She moves back to Kiminee and lives a long life with lots of small town politics. This is a good story of family and friendships. The story is a fun read . I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Okay, okay. I admit it. I went into this book not entirely convinced that I was going to like it. (I know, I know.) I had been wanting something a bit outside of my usual reading comfort zone, and felt drawn to the description of 'The Kiminee Dream.' And yet still, when I finally dove in, I was wary.

And then I fell in love.

I fell in love with the book, the characters, the settings, the circumstances and the stinkin' author herself. What an incredible novel! It truly feels like a modern-day fairytale, which set my Cinderella-loving heart to pattering. But truly, from the amazing characters to the incredible way that the author weaves magic into and throughout her story, I was hooked. An absolute recommend!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. I wanted to like this one and was looking forward to the magical realism aspect of the story. Unfortunately, the many different storylines and overabundance of characters (without a character list or chart) caused me to lose interest about a third of the way into the story. I tried to stick with it, but my to-be-read pile of books was calling and the plot of this one just didn't grab me enough to stay with it. I did not finish.

I was provided an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Kiminee Dream is a whimsical tale about an imaginary town set in Illinois. It is a town where the fact that pigs play kick the can with bobcats to celebrate a new birth is as everyday and occurrence as the fact that the black eyed Susans planted by the founders turn to red every day at 5:05 exactly. Filled with a cast of delightful, quirky characters, Kiminee is also home to many secrets and tragedies. It is the tragedy faced by one family, the Foleys, that is the center of this story. The author does a great job of making the characters interesting.. While delightful, the story was hampered by the numerous storylines and characters. The author does try to bring all of the storylines together in the end, but even then it was hard to know exactly how everything fit together. A satisfactory debut but an author with great potential. The story is good. Just not great.
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