Dream
by Barbara O'Connor
A story that shows southern culture and country inspiration. A young girl has a dream to go in a song writing contest, with prizes. The book shows the connections and adventures in a small southern town. The young girl uses her knowledge of song writing, and music to create something special.

Great narration!

A sweet follow up to the book Wish. Many kids will be excited for this book. It can be tread without reading Wish first. The plot is about an aspiring songwriter. Cute simple story that leaves you with a good feeling.

Suzy Jackson does a wonderful job capturing the voice of the main character as well as the many side characters in this companion story to the much beloved, Wish.
This does have some of the characters from Wish but it did not capture my heart in the same way. I also did not like the idea of a mom leaving her daughter to follow her dreams..
Though it was not a favorite, it is an entertaining listen if you need a quick, middle grade read with lots of quirky characters.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for this advanced audio book.

We LOVED Wish so we've been eagerly anticipating this sequel. It was so fun to reunite with old character friends in Colby, NC. The narrator was excellent and the cast of misfits was so fun.

We didn't love this quite as much as the first because the pacing felt a little far fetched and there were just too many characters to keep up with but this was still a super fun read.

I'd recommend for ages 10+ and to read with an adult because there are some sensitive topics addressed.

Trigger warnings: parental abandonment, neglect

3.5⭐️

Dream follows the story of Idalee Lovett. Idalee's mom is an aspiring country singer who rents rooms in a house full of a cast of quirky characters. When her mom goes on tour with her band over the summer, she rents out a room to Jackie (Charlie's older sister) and leaves the house under the care of Mrs. Randall, a teacher at Idalee's school. Idalee also has big dreams of her own and decides she wants to enter and win a song-writing contest from the local radio station. She believes she can become a great songwriter if she gets the shiny blue guitar found in an Asheville music shop, and to do that, she's determined to find the long-lost treasure her late granddad hid in the house. She enlists a group of friends and other quirky characters in the hopes of fulfilling her songwriting dreams.

I adored Wish, and was very excited to read Dream! I thought this book was cute and had great characters, friendship, and funny moments. I loved seeing Charlie and Howard from book one, and following this cast of characters' adventures. But overall, it just wasn't quite as charming as Wish, and fell a bit flat for me. I wasn't as attached to the characters or storyline, and was missing some of the character development and messages I loved from Wish. I found the beginning to be a bit slow, and not grab my attention as much, and parts of the story felt a tad unrealistic. I still thought it was a sweet story, and I loved the audiobook narrated by Suzy Jackson; she brings any story to life.

I think readers who loved Wish will enjoy this story and revisiting some of the characters! I think my expectations were a bit high going into this book, which may be why it fell a bit short for me.

Content to consider: No language, lying, mention of a pet fortune teller, very brief mention of tarot cards

Thank you, Netgalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review; all thoughts are 100% my own.