Dream Country by Luanne Rice
Have loved the authors other works
Jeweler maker Daisy Tucker flies to the west to find her daughter, Sage at her husbands ranch. Her 3yr old son Jake had walked away one year and left them all devastated.
Her creations after the American Indian society have brought others love. Love what each piece represents to the one receiving the jewelry.
The detectives come and ask questions about Sage to try to figure out where she could've gone to...then find the positive pregnancy test strip...
Chapters from James side of the story in Wyoming and his father and the ranch, he tries to keep busy because he still hears his 3 yr old crying, 13 years later...
Chapters from Sage and her boyfriend Ben's story along the way as they travel to her fathers ranch. She still thinks of her twin brother Jake who had just wandered away.
We find out how Daisy and James met and their early life along with Sage's journey across the country to the ranch....interesting to find out what they symbols represent.
As Daisy travels to Wyoming to be there when Sage gets there she reunites with the family... Hot steamy sex scenes.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )

Many years ago, having just gotten out of college, jewelry maker Daisy Tucker had traveled to the wilderness of the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming in search of inspiration to fuel her art. What she had found was rancher James Tucker, a man with the wilderness inside him. Their life together was as close to paradise as a family could get - until the day their three-year-old son Jake disappeared without a trace. Her heart broken, her marriage in tatters, Daisy returned to Connecticut with Jake's twin sister, Sage.

It was just a typical argument, one of hundreds that Daisy had had with her teenage daughter, Sage, over the years. However, this particular argument had ended differently, with Sage gone from their Connecticut home in the morning, leaving behind only a brief note: "I have to go." Daisy tried to stay calm; she tried not to overreact; tried to remind herself that this situation was completely different from what had happened thirteen years earlier to Jake. Yes, this was an entirely different situation from a little boy disappearing into the canyons of Wyoming, never to be found. Sage was sixteen years old and resourceful. She would be found.

As Daisy returns to the Tucker ranch to wait and pray for Sage's safe arrival, what she can't know is that Sage has undertaken a dangerous cross-country pilgrimage to find her father. Desperate to find her daughter, Daisy will return to Wyoming, to the place that once took everything she had. She will also learn that you can never close the door on the past, but sometimes, if you step through it, it can lead you home...

I found this book to be quite engrossing - filled with lots of intertwined story lines and endearing characters. At 504 pages, I would classify this book as a modern-day family saga; definite summer reading for anyone who likes to read books about families. I give Dream Country by Luanne Rice an A! and look forward to reading more from this author in the future. ( )

I’m not a fan of westerns. And this story is a family drama (contemporary fiction) that just happens to be set on a Wyoming ranch. But that setting was beautifully painted; it was all just enough to let my inner cowgirl enjoy it, without getting all-western-y on me.

The three things around which this story revolves (all revealed in the first chapter, so I don’t think this will be considered spoiler-ish), are the loss of a young child on the ranch, the subsequent divorce of the parents with mother and daughter moving back East, then the teenager running away.

The story was told in a lyrical, rather dream-like, way, with much mingling of the requisite first people spirituality. I didn’t find that over the top, but it was mighty close to the edge for my taste, with many passages like these: “This reminded her of her mother: the studio filled with feathers, bones, rocks, and gold wire. Dream-catchers – netted hoops she had once hung over her infants’ cribs to catch the good dreams floating by – hung from the ceiling. Her mother was the most spiritual person Sage knew, believing in seeking spirits for their dreams, visions, and help. . . .” “…talking to the spirit world through bones and gold.”

Daisy is a jewelry artist from Connecticut, having found her husband-to-be whilst in the west looking for inspiration for her jewelry designs. She weaves Indian myths and family stories into her art; and her heart and fingers are so full of magic, that her customers tell her that love found them while wearing her jewelry. Having found love, herself, she married and stayed in Wyoming, where their twins were born. If you’re still reading, be warned, I’m veering toward spoiler-ness now. Out on the ranch one day with his father, James, and the other cowboys, three year old Jake is lost. The crew scours the area for him for days on end. Daisy is devastated and finally takes their daughter, Sage, to raise her back East. Daisy cannot make herself return to the ranch. James cannot let himself leave the ranch; he is ever searching for evidence of what happened to Jake. Thirteen years later, Sage runs away, heading back to see the father that she hasn’t set eyes on since they moved. Too much would be revealed to say any more about the plot.

The characterization was nicely done: Tucker, James’ father, who is beginning to suffer Alzheimer symptoms. Louisa, his life partner since the death of his wife, enduring dislike from James. James, with his broken heart, and guilt over losing Jake. Daisy, with her shattered dreams, and hope-filled art. Sage, a normal teenager, dreadfully missing her father. The ranch hands, the people encountered during Sage’s trip west, the locals in Wyoming, Daisy’s sister in Connecticut – these were all very believable, not cardboard cutouts.

Even taking into account all the spirit-this and spirit-that, the story, itself, drew me in. It was a satisfying read from beginning to end. Nothing fancy, but well written. ( )