Meh. I was really, really into the story at the beginning. About a quarter of the way through, though, I lost much of my interest. There just wasn't enough substance to hold my attention. I ended up just skim reading the final three-fourths.

The Dream Keepers Daughter is a book about moral dilemmas and not seeing what's right in front of you. Max has to decide whether or not to change history, including his own, in order to save lives and Isabel doesn't see the forest for the trees about who she really loves...Max or Ryan.

Colin created a great story where Max disappears to another time. A phenomenal story until 70%. The story took a turn that I didn't personally care for and the ending left me felling bereft.

This was quite an interesting story and I liked it a lot. Isabel's mother has been missing for six year and then the day after she tells her boyfriend Max that she is pregnant, he disappears as well. Eight years later, on an archaeological dig in Barbados, Isabel receives a call from Max and then starts having dreams about him and then she finds her mother's necklace in the dig. But how could her mother have been in Barbados and especially in the 1800s. When she returns to South Carolina, her daughter also starts having strange dreams of her father. This is just the opening. I don't want to give away spoilers. The story is compelling and the historical detail was very interesting. I found it compelling. If you can get your mind around the time travel aspect, or if that appeals to you anyway, I definitely recommend this book.

Review will be posted on 8/29/17

It's present day South Carolina and Isabel Griffin is an archeologist as well as as a single mom to her daughter, Finn. Without her best friend, Ryan, and her father's support, she would truly be lost. She can't even rely on her mother as she vanished many years ago. Her former-fiance, Max, is also the father of Finn and very similarly to her mother, he went missing many years ago; at this point, she assumes he is dead. That is until strange things start happening. Finn starts talking about seeing her dad and even Isabel is having strange dreams about him. The dreams are realistic and they are setting her back as she has really built herself a new life as a professor at the College of Charleston and is hoping to move forward. While on a dig in Barbados, she discovers something that simply shouldn't be there and to top it off, there's a strange phone call. This all leads Isabel to wondering if Max is really dead? Could he still be alive? The narrative switches from Max's point of view back to Isabel's, so readers get a full story. The Dream Keeper's Daughter by Emily Colin is an entertaining "historical beach read" that fans of time travel, mysteries, and romance will enjoy.

I really enjoyed the unconventional character of Isabel in The Dream Keeper's Daughter. She's tough, she's an archeologist, she's good-looking; in fact, she's seems to be a female version of Indiana Jones. I enjoyed her relationship with her daughter, Finn, as well as her best friend, Ryan. Although I felt like Ryan was a little to good to be true sometimes, I still appreciated their friendship, which seemed to be turning into something more as the story progressed.

Enter Max. I really liked his back story in The Dream Keeper's Daughter and readers find out he is trapped at his ancestral plantation in the early 1800s on the island of Barbados. The problem is that it's the time right before a really horrific slave revolt. He just wants to get back to Isabel and start their future, but how much time has passed by since he somehow slipped back to the 1800s?

The setting of Barbados was very memorable in The Dream Keeper's Daughter. I thought Colin did a great job bringing it to life and what life must have been like on a plantation with slaves. Colin also did a good job keeping us on the edge of our seats, especially with the events surrounding the slave revolt. Then she would bring us right back to present day with Isabel, so it was a nice juxtaposition.

While I had to suspend my disbelief a few times while reading The Dream Keeper's Daughter, that didn't stop my overall enjoyment of the novel. It was a fun summertime read that had a little bit of everything: time travel, historical details, romance, action as well as a mystery.

The Dream Keeper’s Daughter by Emily Colin is out now! This romantic mystery has landed high on our TBR, and you’ll want to check it out, too!

If you've read my review before you will know I love time travel. I have read most of the books out there and so when I came across this one for review I was immediately attracted to it.
As a premise I think the writer has hit on a twist that I haven't come across in time travel novels before, but it took too long to get to it. Once I did get to the part that contained the time travel I read it with relish. I loved every moment of it, the writer transported me back in time and I was fearful for what would become of Max Adair. How would someone from the present day fit in and act in a strange land.
Meanwhile the "Dreamkeeper's daughter" aspect came into play. Was Finn really communicating with her Grandmother and Father or are they just dreams? This aspect of the book and the character of Finn was tauntingly enticing but it never really got fully explored to its full potential.
Once the time travel aspect of the novel came to an end I was surprised that the book carried on for about another 100 pages. Again this was a different take on a storyline - what happens after people who have time travelled come back to the present day? How are things going to pan out for them?
Although I loved the time travel aspect of this book there were too many words to get to it and too many after it when I just wanted to know how it ended. I feel the story could have been told a little more concisely for my liking.
I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks go to Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

I wasn’t going to request The Dream Keeper’s Daughter when I saw it on NetGalley. I read the blurb and thought “I’ll wait on this“. But, it kept showing up on my Titles In Your Category section. Then it appeared as a book in one of NetGalley’s emails. I saw a few fellow bloggers that either had it in their TBR pile or had reviewed it. That was when I thought to myself “The universe is telling me to request it.” So I did. I am glad that I did because this book blew my socks off.

The plot of The Dream Keeper’s Daughter is pretty straightforward. Isabel is still reeling from Max’s disappearance 8 years earlier. She has never believed that he would up and leave her. Especially since she had told him that she was pregnant with their daughter, Finn. With no leads and her hope disappearing over the years, she has, for the most part, moved on. She is a successful archeologist professor. She is raising Finn with her father and Ryan. But a phone call, from Max’s cell phone, sends her into a tailspin.

I could see why Isabel was so torn for most of the book. She had all these unresolved feelings for Max. was almost frantic for people to believe her when she said that she had seen him. I know I would have acted the same if I were in her shoes.

The plot with Max was very intriguing. Going back in time to a very turbulent era for Barbados was interesting. It was interesting because he did the ultimate no-no and tried to change history. He told the leaders of the slave rebellion. He told Lily what was going to happen to her if she didn’t believe him and he got thrown out. The way it was written, though, was what reeled me in. I had to keep reading. I had to know if Max and Julia (Isabel’s mother) were able to survive the uprising and make it back home.

I did like Isabel but she drove me up a wall during the book. Her reactions to certain situations came across as almost teenagerish. Like her dealings with Max’s mother. She didn’t like her based on appearance and didn’t bother to talk to her or get to know her. Or her relationship with Ryan. She was using Max’s memory like a security blanket and kept Ryan at arm’s length. I felt bad for the poor guy and if I were him, I would have said “See ya” a long time ago. But, I did like her because she was written as a flawed person.

Max kind of got on my nerves in the beginning. I don’t know exactly what it was about him that made me go “eh” at first.It was that he was so set on trying to change history. But he did grow on me and I did feel bad for him towards the end of the book.

There were two romances in the book and a triangle. The two romances were Max/Isabel and Ryan/Isabel. While the Max/Isabel romance was pretty much out there from the beginning of the book, the Ryan/Isabel romance wasn’t. There was one point, before the dollhouse scene, where I was wondering if it was all in my head. But then the dollhouse scene happened and I was like “Yeah baby“.

The love triangle, which happened after Julia and Max came home, was between Max/Isabel/Ryan. I won’t say who she chooses but let’s say that it was a very hard decision. The author did a wonderful job keeping me on my toes about who Isabel would end up with.

There were two different types of sex in this book. There was the slow, feeling infused sex and there was the hard, fast sex. I loved seeing both because it showed the different partners in a different light.

I didn’t have a complaint about this book. All the plotlines were wrapped up in a very satisfactory way. There were no plotlines left hanging or characters unaccounted for.

The end of the book was very bittersweet. While happy in a way, it didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. I am not complaining because sometimes happy endings aren’t always what you think.

My Summary of The Dream Keeper’s Daughter: 4 stars

The Dream Keeper’s Daughter is a fast paced, romance that definitely kept me turning the pages. The plot was fantastic and the characters were memorable. A great read.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence, sex, and language. There is a very brutal scene where a slave is tied from a tree and whipped.

I would like to thank Ballantine Books, Random House, NetGalley and Emily Colin for allowing me to read/review The Dream Keeper’s Daughter

All opinions expressed in this review of The Dream Keeper’s Daughter are mine and mine alone.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

The Dream Keeper's Daughter is a captivating story that crosses so many different genres types. There is something for everyone here: time travel, historical fiction, women's fiction, and a bit of romance. I have to admit that I felt a little daunted by this book after seeing the number of pages. It is usually more than I tackle but once I read the first few pages, I was totally hooked.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of time travel and this author does a wonderful job making it work. I was kept guessing as to how it would all come together. Would Max be able to get back to his loved ones? And how would what he did in the past, affect those in the future.

Max lands in an extremely tough time, when men and women are being slaved and beaten. It was so hard for him to witness the pain and suffering that humans caused other humans. It really is hard for me to comprehend too.

I am always amazed at the amount of research that an author does when writing their books. For one, they have to get the history part right. And then, especially in the case of time traveling, they have to make sure all the pieces end up fitting together.

The Dream Keeper's Daughter really is an amazing story. I was totally engrossed in both the past and the present storylines. It was wonderful to see how the stories came together in the end.

This book has a lovely cover which is what caught my eye enough to read the description as well.

I am a huge fan of authors like Menna van Praag and this one is marketed to fans of her work so I instantly felt like this one was worth a read…….eye catching cover and the promise of a time slip romance, easy yes for me.

Eight years after the unsolved disappearance of her boyfriend Max Adair, archaeologist Isabel Griffin has managed to move on and rebuild her life with her young daughter, Finn, her last tie to Max. But after a series of strange incidents, Isabel begins to wonder if Max might still be alive somewhere, trying to communicate with her.

She has no idea that the where isn’t the problem—it’s the when. Max has slipped through time and place, landing on his ancestral family plantation in 1816 Barbados, on the eve of a historic slave uprising.

As Isabel searches for answers, Max must figure out not only how to survive the violence to come, but how to get back to his own century, the woman he loves, and the daughter he has only ever met in his dreams (summary from Goodreads).

There were things that I really liked about this one, but there were things that were problematic for me as well.


First, let’s start with things that I liked. I liked the setting and time travel theme. This book was set in Colonial Barbados and I LOVED that I stumbled upon a book set in this exotic location and unique time period. Sometimes an unfamiliar location or time period don’t work well in novels….people like a reference point or a place that they are somewhat familiar with and I’ve noticed that obscure islands don’t always work in some stories. But in this case I thought it worked nicely. I have never been to Barbados and I know next to nothing about the Colonial era particularity in that part of the world, but with the author’s hand I could get a basic feel for the island and I liked how it played a part in the story.

The main characters were engaging and I liked them just fine. It was clear that the author went to great extent to make them appealing to readers. I liked how the story was told from two perspectives (Isabel and Max), I thought it gave the audience a well rounded perspective about what was happening not to mention they were a little quirky which I found fun. I also liked that Isabel was an archaeologist, that’s just not a common profession in some books so I thought that was interesting and I liked it and thought it was fitting for the story.

Though there were things I liked, there were other things that I just didn’t. I think what got me was the over done sex. Before you roll your eyes and call me a prude, I want to go on record and say that I have zero problem with graphic sex in novels….when it serves a purpose. Or if the book is marketed as purely an adult romance novel. Sure this book is labeled as a ‘romance’ genre on Goodreads, but there is a difference between romance, and ROMANCE. This is the latter.

It would have been fine if it had suited a purpose but I didn’t think in this case it served a purpose to the overall story. I also saw a lot of other reviews that felt the same way. The first half of the book pretty good and had it continued the same way for the second half of the book, I think it would have been better but the second half just went in a completely different direction that the first part of the book.

Basically I liked this book but I didn’t love it. I think there were some things that the author missed the mark on a little (one being the overuse of sex for no greater purpose in the novel) and I just think overall it could have been better. But that said, I liked her writing style and I was intrigued by elements of the story and mostly entertained so I would recommend it and read other books by her.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: The Dream Keeper’s Daughter by Emily Colin

Kindle Edition, 480 pages
Expected publication: July 25th 2017 by Ballantine Books
ASIN B01M6AQK7I
Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review
This book counts toward: NA

Hosted by: NA
Books for Challenge Completed: NA
Recommendation: 3 out of 5

Genre: romance, time travel, mystery

Memorable lines/quotes:

My Thoughts

‘He let me tell him about the tombs and the dust, the exhilaration I’d felt when I touched a shard of pottery no one had seen for thousands of years, brushed the dirt from it, and lifted it from the earth.’

Reading the blurb for this book, I considered it right up my alley - all the elements I enjoy in a book. There was time travel, bringing in a historical aspect; the mystery of people going missing and family secrets, with the plight of a young woman trying to raise her child. Sounds promising.

Sadly, it did not live up to expectation. There are aspects of the book that are okay, the historical scenes obviously being the most compelling - fascinating to learn more about the slave rebellion in Barbados in the 1800s. The discovery of a broken piece of jewellry at an archaeological dig site in Barbados was clever. But it was about this stage that it all went downhill for me, which was sad, as the research was there:

‘This farce of a bill—put forth by that abolitionist arse Wilberforce in Parliament—requires West Indian planters to register all of our slaves by name to prevent illegal trading in the wake of the Abolition Act.’

It’s hard to really put my finger on it, being there are so many different aspects that I had trouble with, starting with, who exactly is ‘the dream keeper’? Overall it would appear that this book has an identity crisis: the whole supernatural aspect of time travel was never really explained (the dates of Julia and Max never really added up), neither were Finn’s abilities. I don’t wish to be derogatory, so let’s leave it as there were just too many aspects, none of which were resolved in a satisfactory manner, and some in fact, took focus away from the story. For example, the dialogue was at times juvenile and immature, not fitting the character eg. whether they had ‘concealer’ (really!) and a male lead worried about ‘snobbish human beings’. Me thinks not.

I really wanted to like this book but it just seemed all over the place. Big issues never addressed and never really making sense, combined with some amateurish dialogue attempt at humour.

“please listen to me. Don’t do to your daughter what I did to mine. Don’t let the obsession devour you—because believe me, honey, it will if you let it.”



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

The time period was interesting. Time travel added to the storyline with all the family secrets. The characters were quite unusual. The sexual parts were too much my opinion and did a disservice to the story.

Kickass lady academic main character? Check. Past-present storylines? Check. Time travel a la Outlander? Check. Lost love? Check. Swoon-worthy bad boy best friend? Check. Character with inexplicably accurate intuition? Check.

This novel had my name alllll over it.

I raced through the pages, wanting to know more at every turn. The writing was evocative and crackled with energy. I could practically taste what the characters were eating and smell the various environments they inhabited. We primarily get Isabel's perspective in the present, as well as her memories of her relationship with Max leading up to when he disappeared.

We also get Max's perspective in 1816 Barbados. I did not know a slave uprising had occurred there and the depiction of the events leading up to it was done well. The uprising was ultimately unsuccessful and many slaves were killed as a result so Max wants to prevent it from happening, even as he is horrified by the way the slaves are treated. He walks a thin line on both sides as a strange white man, not wanting to arouse suspicion of the white slave owners while understandably not being trusted by the slaves. This leads to so many potentially interesting discussion questions.

My feelings were all over the map with this novel. From the opening pages, I was sure it would be a 5 star book. I inhaled the story. I was fascinated by the mechanics of time travel, in which Max has been gone for 8 years in the present day but he believes he's only been gone 2 weeks. I wanted to know more about their daughter Finn's ability, as either a highly sensitive and intuitive person or someone with ESP. Most of all, I wanted Isabel and Max to be reunited. Of course, I did.

But then I started to see where Colin was taking the story and I did not like this. Not because it was a bad plot choice but my own personal preference. I don't like love triangles and I wanted her best friend Ryan to stay her best friend, not her potential interest. Although let's be clear, I loved Ryan's character. His backstory was heartbreaking and I loved the way he supported Isabel and Finn. His scenes with Finn were incredibly touching. I decided to trust Colin but the novel was hovering at 3 stars in my mind.

I was right to trust the author. Her choices made for an ultimately more interesting story. There was no predictability to be found. Yes, you hope Max and Isabel's mom Julia (who went missing years ago) will make it back to the present but beyond that, Colin is making up her own rules. I wasn't sure I agreed with her choices but they were fresh and unexpected so the novel moved up to 4 stars. I grudgingly accepted the ending. It was not my preference but it made perfect sense for the characters and the story.

In the weeks that have followed, I kept turning the story over in my mind. The way the novel alternated seamlessly between past and present, the history of Barbados, the rich character growth. The bold moves with the plot. It all made for a better book and I couldn't help but respect Colin more for it. Because of all this, the book returned to 5 stars.

This was an interesting ride, to say the least, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

The atmosphere of the book felt seriously spooky and forbidding through most of the book.

I loved Isabel's daughter Finn. She was really smart and sweet and a little unnerving at times. She seemed to know things there was no way to know including what people were thinking sometimes.

Isabel and Finn's relationship. It felt really real and Isabel's frustration with Finn being ostracized by her peers for her strangeness really rang true. She's a parent who desperately wants to protect her daughter.

Isabel's father. He suffered a trauma very similar to Isabel when his wife disappeared. He's determined to learn from his mistakes as a father to Isabel and be the best grandfather he can be. As well he really tries to give advice to Isabel based on his own mistakes.

The history. I love history and enjoyed the present day research whether it was looking into genealogy or Isabel's job as an archaeologist.

The Bad:
The book felt a bit overwrought. Isabel's emotions were on high from beginning to end as were most of the other characters. It got a bit exhausting.

I never quite bought how Max managed to slip through time in the first place. I mean I know you have to suspend belief a little bit anyway and I'm fine with that but his motivations for the whole thing - especially at that exact moment just didn't ring true.

The ending. I actually liked the way it worked out but it didn't fit the book at all. I just didn't feel that the characters would have done that. Obviously I can't say too much without giving it away but I just struggled with it.

Overall: I loved the history elements and the setting but felt like there were some significant plot holes.

The Dream Keeper’s Daughter by Emily Colin is a book about two people who wish to find each other. Dr. Isabel Griffin lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her seven-year-old daughter, Finn. Finn’s father, Max Adair disappeared eight years ago, and Isabel has not heard from him since. This is the second time this has happened to Isabel. Her mother, Julia disappeared in a similar manner six year prior to Max’s disappearance. While on a dig in Barbados, Isabel receives a call from Max telling her to keep Finn safe. Hope surges within Isabel that Max is still alive. Where is he? Later, one of the students uncovers part of her mother’s custom-made necklace. How did her necklace end up here? Isabel heads home to Finn, her dad, and her best friend, Ryan Baxter. Strange events occur that convince Isabel that Max is alive and trying to reach her. Will they ever be together again?

The Dream Keeper’s Daughter was a missed opportunity. I liked the core idea, but I was not a fan of the completed novel (I finished it and said “meh”). The story alternates chapters between Isabel in the present and Max in the past. I would just settle into Max’s story when we were back to Isabel. While in the present with Isabel, she would then reminisce about her past with Max (it could get confusing at times). In the past with Max, he would remember his time with Isabel. I was not enamored with Isabel (did not like her at all). Isabel came across as obsessed (in finding Max) and unable to move forward with her life emotionally. The time difference is never really explained. Max disappears and is gone eight years, but it is only two weeks for him. I wish the author had played up Finn’s special abilities. The supernatural elements were not emphasized or brought to life. My rating for The Dream Keeper’s Daughter is 2 out of 5 stars. I thought the story was lackluster and flat (this is one of those books I did not want to finish). The ending was disappointing and expected. Readers are left with many unanswered questions (I would be more detailed, but then I would give away key details). The descriptive relations between Max and Isabel unnecessary (though predictable). I do want to mention that the book does contain foul language and violence. The Dream Keeper’s Daughter comes across as a first draft instead of a published novel.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Daniele

The Dream Keeper’s Daughter should have been a lush, evocative novel full of mystery, history, a love story, and time travel. Unfortunately, it comes across as a tale suffering from an identity crisis.

I was drawn in from the very beginning. A woman claims to have gotten over the loss of her first love only to hear from him eight years later. Is Isabel going crazy? If not, what was Max trying to tell her in his garbled phone call? Sounds like women’s lit, right? There is mystery surrounding both the disappearance of Isabel’s mother fourteen years ago and then Max’s disappearance, too. Did he run away at the prospect of real adult responsibility? Did he meet with foul play? Did he slip through a “thin place” that connects the past with the present? Why, yes, it appears that he did slip through time and finds himself in Barbados on the eve of the 1816 slave rebellion. Great – historical fiction with some fantasy time travel thrown in. I’m game. But wait, we cannot forget about Isabel’s long suffering best friend Ryan who decides that now, years into their friendship, to express his true feelings. Romance and a bad one at that.

Truthfully, about two thirds of the book is fine. I think the historical scenes are the most compelling. Some of the passages are downright beautifully written. Unraveling all of the bits of past and present, not knowing what might happen next, is the best part of the book. Max’s struggle to figure out his place in the past and the possible ramifications of his actions to the present are thought provoking. But, then, there is the remainder of the book. I felt a little like I was looking at a car crash, wanting to look away but unable to. I kept thinking that everything was going to work out in the end…but it did not. I do not understand why Colin chose to take the characters down a certain path. This ending left me asking myself “what is the point of what I just read? Why did I bother?”

I never found myself invested in any of the characters. I really did not like Isabel much. I understand that she had to overcome great loss, and her experiences do make her an independent woman, but there is an aura of “oh, poor me” about her. At times the characters read like a case study in dysfunction. Max is palatable. The shining morsel of the tale is Isabel and Max’s seven year old daughter Finn, but even she has some strange things going on with her.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend The Dream Keeper’s Daughter.

This book has everything that I would like in a novel: a star-crossed love story, supsense, and history. However, the story moved at a slow paced. This would not have mattered if the novel was character driven.

However, the main protagonist was very frustrating. She was weak and self-centered. She made poor decisions. There was no development for her. She needed more improvement.

The ending was very disappointing and left more to be desired. The other characters were stereotypical. The romance needed more development. However, I thought the writing
was beautiful and the backdrop of the setting was gorgeous. Still, I recommend this for fans of The Fortune Teller, A Murder in Time, and Overseas.

Truths of the heart revealed through bizarre cosmic conjunctions seem to be a leitmotif in Emily Colin’s books (read my review of The Memory Thief here). Her second foray into the paranormal romance field, The Dream Keeper’s Daughter, echoes themes and plot devices she successfully employed in her debut novel– love and loss, coping with grief, emotional healing, the complex workings of the human heart, the delicate interplay of love and time put to the test by a supernatural phenomenon. What her fans will be delighted to know is that, in her new release, Colin ups her game: the paranormal treatment takes a new exciting direction with the introduction of a brilliant time-travel paradox (a time slip, to be precise), a poignant historical backdrop, and elements derived from the Celtic folklore. The result is an imaginative and highly absorbing read.



South Carolina archeologist Isabel Griffin thought she would never hear the voice of her long-lost boyfriend again after he mysteriously disappeared in a clearing on his parents’ Charleston estate. Until one day, seven years later, while she is supervising a dig in Barbados, she receives an unexpected phone call from him imploring her to keep their daughter Finn safe. Only seventeen years old, Max Adair’s vanished without leaving a trace, and what is even stranger, he couldn’t have possibly known he had a daughter because Isabel found out about her pregnancy just before he inexplicably fell off the face of the earth. To complicate the matter even more, six years before Max’s disappearance, Isabel’s mother ‘dematerialized’ in the same obscure circumstances, in the same geographic area, during a cocktail party hosted by Max’s parents. The thing is, Max involuntarily, and for reasons to him unknown, traveled one hundred years back in time and winded up in the middle of a Barbados sugar cane plantation owned by his ancestors during the slave rebellion of 1816. He stepped in a so-called ‘Thin Place’. According to the Celtic mythology, thin places are spots where the great beyond and the physical world meet and mingle, where the boundary separating the living and the dead is as thin as a veil. Legend has it that the Adair estate is home to one of those mythological places.



And this is where the author delivers a masterstroke of narrative finesse: in these wondrous gateways, usually heavy with the weight of historical grievances, our relationship with time is altered. Time speed in Max’s dimension is slowed down: days in eighteenth-century Barbados correspond to years in Isabel’s life. And that’s not all...travel to thin places holds a transformative power, leads to a spiritual breakthroughs, to revelations and new awareness. Torn between his burning desire to see his Isabel again and the overwhelming feeling he landed in that point in time to uncover a mysterious historical link, Max finds his way back to the twenty-first century, but what sums up to about a week on his ancestor’s plantation (and what an eventful week) equals eight years in his family’s life, eight years through which Isabel faced the loss of the love of her life without any closure, went through a rocky pregnancy, raised her daughter by herself, and put herself through graduate school–the only fixed star in her chaotic existence is her good, reliable, and ever-present friend, Ryan. Ultimately, the conundrum at the heart of the story is not so much about the existence of a portal to a different space-time dimension as it is about the resilience of a young love and its ability to hold a fragile bond against the filters of time. As The Time Traveler’s Wife aptly claimed in Audrey Niffenegger’s popular time-travel novel: “It’s hard to be the one who stays.”


The strongest asset of The Dream Keeper’s Daughter is the fascinating and well-conceived time slip motif with the heart-pounding turn of events unfolding on the Caribbean island during the dramatic escalation of violence and bloodshed known as the Bussa’s Revolt. Emily Colin recreates that historical scenario in highly enjoyable bite-sized chapters, with tantalizing shifts of scene, timeline, and voices (the narration alternates between Max’s and Isabel’s POV). The resolution seems to sink in comparison to the soaring pace and intensity of its premises; the author overindulges in her treatment of the love triangle trope and use of love scenes. All in all, an intriguing page-turner. 4.5 stars out of 5.

Stumbled on this author and decided to give it a try. I'm not sorry. It was so very good. I'll definitely read more by Emily Colin

When I first heard about The Dream-Keeper’s Daughter, I was intrigued: a time-travel novel involving Barbados’s slave rebellion of 1816? Count me in! For the majority of the novel I was right there along for the ride, thoroughly enjoying myself…then disaster struck and the book took a turn for the worse at the end, leaving me to wonder what the entire point was.

When Isabel’s family makes the move to Charleston, she’s in way over her head. Between the big, sweeping mansions and Southern belles, Isabel’s a classic fish out of water – until she meets Max, a boy from an old money family. A family who would much rather see him settle down with a debutante than a girl who runs around in jeans. Over time, the two become closer, finally admitting their feelings for each other their senior year of high school, determined to make a long distance relationship work when Isabel moves away for college. What they didn’t plan on, however, was a baby and just after Isabel breaks the news, Max disappears. Literally vanishes before her eyes, leaving her to wonder not only where he went, but also if he ever really loved her in the first place.

Eight years later, Isabel is a lead archaeologist on a dig in Barbados when she receives a strange call. It’s Max – or so her phone claims. Though the line is more static than anything, she knows it’s his voice and he warns her to keep their daughter safe, the daughter he never met. As more and more strange incidents begin to occur, Isabel starts to wonder if Max really is alive – and if so, how can she bring him home?

Like I said, I was fully on board with this book right from the start. Sixteen years prior, Isabel’s mother mysteriously vanished, practically in the same spot Max did. It was this moment that brought the two together – he comforted her and helped her through a painful and difficult time – so when Max seemingly abandoned her eight years after, Isabel nearly broke. Since then she’s never stopped loving Max, never stopped believing that one day he’d return.

And just where did Max go? The Adairs’ mansion rests on a Thin Place, a place where time blurs. After following a man (a man he believed to be Robert Adair, his great-grandfather multiple times over) through the Thin Place, he found himself back in the past. Back in Barbados in 1816 on the eve of a famous slave revolt. Max’s chapters were fascinating and I would have happily read a book set entirely in the past! I don’t think I’ve ever come across a historical novel set in Barbados, much less one featuring Bussa’s rebellion! I was definitely one giddy history nerd.

Max believes he was sent to the past to change the course of history. He knows the outcome of the revolt, who will die, who will be hanged and executed. He also knows that the mistress of the house, Mrs. Lily Adair, will go into labor far too early, ultimately dying along with the baby. Robert was in the States at this time and when he hears the news he’s so distraught and overcome with grief that he leaves Barbados, moving to Charleston where he erects a new house specifically because of the Thin Place. Even after he remarries, Lily still has his heart and he never stopped trying to find a way to bring her back. Again, I absolutely loved this part of the book.

In the present, Finn, Isabel and Max’s daughter, seems to know things, claiming she sees her Daddy and Grandma Julia (neither of whom she’s ever met), and that she knows how the bring them back. Naturally Isabel is concerned and not quite sure what to make of this, thought once she begins having her own dreams and visions, it becomes harder to write the events off as tricks of the mind.

I want to point out an issue with the time-travel element. It didn’t bother me too much, though it was definitely something I noticed. Julia, Isabel’s mother, disappeared sixteen years ago. In the past, however, Max learns only a year has passed for her. Eight years later Max himself goes back in time and since he’s gone eight years, it would make sense that six months has passed for him, right? Instead, he’s only there a few weeks. Like I said, it didn’t take away from the story, but I’m not sure how the logistics added up. Another thing I was curious about was when they find their way back to the present. Would Max still be 22 (to Isabel’s near-30)? Would her mother have only aged a year?

Despite the confusing way time seems to work, I was seriously enjoying The Dream-Keeper’s Daughter…then the end came. Shortly after Max left, Isabel struggled to earn her Master’s and then Doctorate, all while raising an infant. One day she was in a coffee shop, nearly pulling her hair out over math problems. A young man came up to her and offered to help in order to fulfill a Pay it Forward promise he once made. Eight years later Isabel is still best friends with Ryan, though it’s painfully obvious he wants more. He’s taken on the role of father in Finn’s life and absolutely adores her. When he receives a job offer with Marvel, he knows the move to New York could seriously change his life, but he’s willing to pass on it if Isabel doesn’t want to move with him – and why would she? They’re just friends after all and she’s still in love with Max, fully convinced he’ll return. Here’s where I felt robbed: when Max does finally come back, Isabel isn’t sure why she’s not happier. She’s waited eight years for this. It turns out she’s actually really in love with Ryan and it took Max’s return for her to realize that. In the end she moves with him to New York while she and Max have worked out a custody arrangement. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The Dream-Keeper’s Daughter had so much going for it and I was fully prepared to see it through to the end. I love a star-crossed romance that spans centuries, but in the end I simply felt robbed. The one shining moment of the novel was that I learned about Bussa’s Rebellion, a part of history previously unknown to me and now I’m interested in learning more. As for the novel itself, I’m left wondering what the point of it was.