Review: When All My Dreams Come True

An Adventurous Tale of Faith, Hope, and Love in the Wild West

“Bobbie McIntyre dreams of running a ranch of her own. Raised without a mother and having spent most of her time around men, she knows more about wrangling than acting like a lady. Still, the friendship of her new employer awakens a desire to learn more about presenting her feminine side…but ranch life keeps getting in the way.

Ranch owner Jace Kincaid figures the Lord is testing his faith when a female wrangler shows up looking for work. Bobbie has an uncanny way of getting under his skin, though, and he’s surprised when she finds a home next to his heart. But when his cattle begin to go missing and his wranglers are in danger from some low-down cattle thief, will Jace trust God, even if it means giving up his dreams?”

The above is the back copy blurb of Janelle Mowery’s first book in the Colorado Runaway series, When All My Dreams Come True. (By the way, don’t you love the cover?)

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about ramping up the tension by making characters climb a pyramid of problem after problem. When All My Dreams Come True is a good example of making life tough for a character…and then making it tougher.  The action in this novel never stops. It starts on the first page with the opening lines, “I’ll be dead in a minute. Maybe less.” How can you close the cover on words like that? From the very beginning, Bobbie fights for her future—her life , while Jace fights to keep the ranch he inherited from his father and protect Bobbie. This is a western mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the near end. It’s an easy and quick read that has no sagging middle and a satisfactory ending.

If I had one druther, I would have liked the characters emotions to go a bit deeper. Even so, that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story or my recommendation to read it.  

At the back of the book is the first chapter of the next in the series, When Love Gets In The Way, due to be released in the fall. I was happy to see that a minor character in this first book, Cade Ramsey, would be the main character in the second one. I love learning what happens in the lives of certain characters who interest me as Cade did. I’ll be one of those waiting for Book Two.

 In the meantime, when you get the opportunity to read When All My Dreams Come True…go for it!

 Janelle Mowery lives in Texas with her husband and two sons, though a portion of her heart still resides in her birth state of Minnesota. Janelle began writing inspirational stories in 2001 and has since written several historical novels as well as a mystery series. Her first published novel, Where the Truth Lies, released in 2008. This was followed in 2010 by The Christmas Chain, part of a Christmas anthology titled, A Woodland Christmas. Her second novel, Love Finds You in Silver City, Idaho, released October 2010 and received four stars from the Romantic Times review. Janelle’s Colorado trilogy will release in 2011. The first of this series, When All My Dreams Come True, also received four stars from the Romantic Times review. When she isn’t writing, her interests include reading, enjoying nature, and visiting historical sites. To learn more, visit her Web site at www.janellemowery.com.