New York Times bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a thrilling, mind-bending novel about one mother’s journey to save her child. When Carly Sears, a young woman widowed by the Vietnam war, receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and she is told that nothing can be done to help her child. But her brother-in-law, a physicist with a … brother-in-law, a physicist with a mysterious past, tells her that perhaps there is a way to save her baby. What he suggests is something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Carly has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage she never knew existed. Something that will mean an unimaginable leap of faith on Carly’s part.
And all for the love of her unborn child.
The Dream Daughter is a rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother’s quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget.
Praise for The Dream Daughter:
“Chamberlain writes with supernatural gifts…fate, destiny, chance and hope combine for a heady and breathless wonder of a read.” –Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan’s Tale
“Can a story be both mind-bending and heartfelt? In Diane Chamberlain’s hands, it can. The Dream Daughter will hold readers in anxious suspense until the last satisfying page.” –Therese Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Z
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A wonderful well written book. So many tragedies in this woman’s life. What a mother does to protect her child even if it means she has to travel into the future. Didn’t think this was my kind of book but I would read it again.
There are so many things I really enjoyed about this book. Hunter meeting Carly and becoming part of her life. The time travel aspect and how and why it’s introduced. Patti’s reaction when she finds out what happened. The desperation and determination of a mother. Well, I can’t possibly ignore Myra, focused on the science of it all. This author does well with filling in the times and the differences. how she stood out no matter how quiet. The problems and challenges. The sacrifice. This author makes sure we feel it all especially the loneliness yet the hopefulness Carly experienced. It’s a great story which is well written and a standalone, from an author that is new to me and one I will enjoy again. The imagery and points of references was brilliantly done and kept the story interesting and engaging.
This is the first book I’ve read by Diane Chamberlain, and certainly won’t be my last. I loved how this story was told from different points of view. This story is about Caroline (Carly) Grant, who is a physical therapist in North Carolina. At the facility, where she works, there is a man, Hunter Poole, that has kept to himself and uncooperative, until he see Carly. Reluctantly, she agrees to help him.
She ends up introducing Hunter to her sister, Patti, and they get married. Carly’s husband, Joe, goes off to war and Carly is given news of Joe’s death. The bad news keeps on coming, until Hunter feels a need to help Carly, but first he’s got to share a secret that he hadn’t even told his wife. Then, he’ll have to convince Carly to put her trust in him. After that, he’ll have to open up to Patti about his secret, which might destroy his marriage.
Amazing story, where I felt I was right there alongside Carly and could feel her emotions. As the story unfolds, Carly becomes strong and will have to make the biggest decision between two choices where a piece of her heart will be left behind no matter which choice she picks. Will it be the right choice?
I would like to thank NetGalley via St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
How far would you, as a first time mother-to-be, travel to save the life of your unborn child? Would you risk it all and trust that time travel was real? Well, that’s exactly the choice Caroline/Carly must make after learning that her daughter, Joanna, needs heart surgery that can only be performed in utero, in the future.
“The love of a mother could make a hero out of an everyday woman.”
If you’d told me I’d love a time travel book as much I loved this one, I wouldn’t have believed you! This story made me happy and kept me guessing all the way until the very end. Don’t miss this heartbreaking, heartwarming page turner. I seriously couldn’t put it down. I teared up a couple of times but did not cry so I’m giving this one a solid, 4-star rating.
I won an advance copy of this book in a BookishFirst giveaway. All opinions are my own.
Locations: North Carolina (Chapel Hill, Nags Head/Outer Banks), Maryland (Bethesda), New Jersey (Princeton and Summit), New York City, Virginia (Alexandria)
I am such a fan of Diane Chamberlain. I really was worried when I saw that this book involved time travel. Science fiction is not “my cup of tea.” However, my gut said to trust Diane! I am so glad I did. Time travel works as the vehicle to tell the story of Carly whose husband was killed in Vietnam, and she is pregnant with a baby who has a life-threatening heart problem.
The Dream Daughter is full of twists and turns in the story that brings out all the emotions for this reader. Hope…Disappointment….Mother Love….Sacrifice…brought smiles, tears..
Just when I thought I had everything figured out…I found I didn’t! This is the perfect read for a rainy weekend when I could sit and devour the book. Thanks Bookishfirst for an ARC.
This book has it all! A mother’s devoted love for her daughter and a loving supportive family all wrapped into a can not put down book! It’s 1970 and Carly finds out her daughter has a heart condition and will not survive after birth. Her brother in law Hunter tells her there is a chance her daughter can be saved. Carly just has to time travel to 2001! At first, Carly thinks Hunter has lost his mind but then she realizes she will do anything to save her daughter. This is an amazing story of a mother’s ultimate love for her child. Carly is so incredibly brave and much stronger than she ever thought she could be. I was very sorry to see this book end as I didn’t want to leave the characters. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. All opinions are my own.
I just finished this one and it became one of my favorites of this year. It will be available on Octuber 2nd, so get ready for it.
I have never been happier to read a first impression, because of my curiosity about that and the cover I got to read one of the best books of this year for me.
The Dream Daughter is truly an amazing the story; the characters and the tension that gives you reading about Carly and her journey to give her unborn daughter a chance to live.
After Carly loses her husband, she finds out she is pregnant, and this baby is the only link she will have with her love. Until one day, she finds out something might be wrong with her pregnancy and she is devastated, Hunter, that weird guy she met a few years ago, will propose her something that will give her hope to have her daughter.
When Hunter tells Carly the truth about how he got into their lives and proposes a plan to save her unborn baby, Carly is mad and confused, but at this point she would do anything for her baby and this last link she has with Joe.
I loved the story, the characters and the writing, you get to live and feels Carly’s desperation to have her baby with her. It won’t be easy, but her daughter is the most important person for her, until she gets a news that will shake her world.
This is a completely different read than I normally read, I like romance and this one has cero of that but I have cero regret of reading this one.
I can’t believe that I have never read a Diane Chamberlain book. That will be changing now that I have read The Dream Daughter. I am not a real fan of time travel but Ms. Chamberlain makes anything possible. This book was fantastic it was about a mother willing to do anything for her unborn child. If you are like me and had never read a Diane Chamberlain book this one is a great one to start with. I will definitely be reading more of her books. Thank you to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press and Diane Chamberlain for my ARC of this book.
I’m not a usual fan of time travel with a few exceptions but this was so much more! I’ve never read a book by Ms. Chamberlain but I certainly will be adding her books to my TBR list. This book is really about a mother and the choices she will make to ensure that her baby will survive first of all and also to have a healthy and happy life.
The book’s prologue starts in 1965 when Caroline Grant, a PT, meets Hunter Poole in a hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (a place I have visited and loved! ). None of the other physical therapists in the department want to work with him, he has been uncooperative and pretty much non-verbal. Caroline is shocked when the patient actually pointed to her and stated “You! I want to work with you”, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’ll do whatever you say, he added, I promise”. “You remind me of someone I knew briefly . . . .it feels good to see you”. With this start we are launched into the story.
As you know from the blurb Hunter is a time traveler and has landed in 1965 from the future. He and Caroline along with her husband Joe and Caroline’s sister Patti, form a close bond and the next we read of them is in 1970. Caroline is pregnant and has just learned that her husband has died in Vietnam. Hunter is now married to Caroline’s sister Patti and they have a one year old child.
When Caroline’s baby is found by the “new” science of ultrasound to have a seriously defective heart condition that will prove fatal either in utero or after she is born, Hunter has the idea to send her into the future to have the baby’s heart repaired while she is still in the wound. Not only is this fact difficult for Caroline to grasp but Hunter has to prove that he is actually from the future, not an easy feat. He also has to assure her that she and her baby will be able to come back to 1970.
The novel moves through the present and future and back seamlessly. I was very captivated by the story and finished it in two sittings. What I loved about this book is that the characters were well developed and I really grew to care about Caroline. As the mother of four daughters I know that I would have done exactly what Caroline did, anything that would help my baby survive. The other characters are also well described. The atmosphere in New York City in 2001 compared to 1970 is described in such a way that I could visualize the crowded streets and commuters with ear buds in their ears and seeming to be talking to themselves when of course they were talking into their cell phones, something completely alien to Christine.
There are some warm hearted and funny parts of the story also. When Caroline is on bed rest in New York City and has to find a way to eat and rest, the doorman, housekeeper and owner of a deli down the street do all that they can to help this first time mother with no friends or family to care for her.
Her decisions throughout the story are for the welfare of her daughter and I felt a lot of compassion for her as a mother, great character development here.
You have to be willing to suspend some belief when reading about the time travel but it has a sort of “Back to the Future” feel to it where you really get to know these characters well.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.
When I read the blurb for Dream Daughter, I immediately wanted to get my hands on a copy! Not only was I intrigued by the time travel mystery, but a large portion of it is set in my home state of North Carolina, which only made me want to read it more. This book was excellently paced and pieced together perfectly. Not only did the story jump around in time, but it was told from multiple points of view. I can only imagine how difficult it was for Diane Chamberlain to piece together a story with these complexities, but she did so perfectly and created a cohesive, well-paced story that I recommend to anyone who enjoys time travel stories.
I voluntarily received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Release date: 10/2….
I am a longtime Diane Chamberlain fan, so I dug into this book without even reading the copy. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a time travel book. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. Written with the same layered characters and insight that Chamberlain mastered dozens of books ago, this compelling/unique story line stole my heart. Kudos to her for taking readers on a completely unexpected adventure.
When I read the blurb for this book and saw that it was about time travel, I was a bit reluctant to read it but since it was an author that I love, I decided to give it a chance. Once I started reading it I quickly realized that it was as fantastic as other Diane Chamberlain books, I was hooked. This is one of Diane’s best books ever.
When Caroline finds out that her unborn daughter has a heart defect that will be fatal in 1970, she is devastated. Her husband has just died in Vietnam and this baby is all she has left of him. Her brother in law admits to her that he is a time traveler from 2001 and that there is surgery that can save the baby that can be done in the future. After initial disbelief, Caroline decides that she will do anything to save her baby and travels back to 2001. This is all I am going to say about the plot because I don’t want to ruin anything. What I will say is that the plot is exquisitely done and doesn’t have a false note in it. This book kept me reading late into the night because I had to find out what would happen to everyone.
The characters in THE DREAM DAUGHTER are so well written that the reader feels the fear and determination that Caroline has about saving her baby. Also, the research that was done about the music and the clothes during both time periods made this novel intriguing.
Every time I read a new book by Diane Chamberlain, it becomes my favorite book by her. I think this one is going to keep my favorite book title for a long long time.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
I so love this author. I will buy any book with her name on it. This book is so beautifully written and thought out. The story was an unexpected surprise. Ms. Chamberlain seemlessly takes us on a journey back and forth from 1965 to more current times. The love of spouse, family and a child is perfectly described, so have tissues. As always, she delves into some of the issues of the times..Vietnam. Unforgettable characters and situations. I loved the time travel aspect, so much more than I expected. A must read for sure.
Thanks to St Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Diane Chamberlain is a new author to me and while I understand this is not her normal type of book, I loved it! The plot had all these delicious twists and turns and you never knew where you were going to come out! I can’t imagine how she came up with this plot, but it only shows how deep her writing talent runs. I was kept interested from the first sentence to the last, and It was a hard book to put down.
Her characters are so awesome!!! They are strong yet scared, determined yet unsure, strongly bonded by family ties yet ready to break those ties if need be. I loved all the characters in this book! I guarantee you will find yourself asking, “what would I do in that situation?”
I am honored to give The Dream Daughter a firm 5 stars and a you just have to get this one!! Look for it October 2018
I love time travel and this book is superb!
I read with one eye open each time Carly took the “jump”! She was so trusting that this was the right thing to do, as I waited with my heart in my throat for a fall!
What a Mother does for her child -including traveling to a different time, for a life saving intervention, is only the beginning of this unique and well written novel.
Diane Chamberlain pulled each thread together to create a heart stopping plot.
I believe a Mom’s love will go to any length to make sure her child’s life holds all the hope and joy in the world,
This book shows that love.