DREAMQUEST

Author: Janet Welllington ISBN: 0821776010 5/2004 TIME-TRAVEL Publisher: Love Spell
Time Period: Present - Time travel to late 1800's

Dreams and his shaman grandfather urged Coyote to seek his fate. Had the white bird led him to it? The woman was a beauty with hair the color of corn silk, skin as pale as the desert lily. Naked and feverish, she floated in the cavern pool, seeming to await him. All his life, Coyote teetered between resentment of the white man and dreams that he should learn more. Now, one thing seemed clear: This woman was his destiny. She found him in the cave where she'd taken shelter, the man whom Suzanne Lucas sought. Since she was five years old, she'd returned here to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park --- here where she'd nearly been killed in an earthquake; here where the dreams began. She'd seen herself in the desert, surviving and thriving, and a boy. In her dreams, she'd watched that boy grow. He'd become a man, a virile warrior --- just as she'd become a college professor. But he always vanished when she awoke. This time, she would find a way to make him stay.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

What can I say? I am a sucker for time-travel books to the past. Especially when they involve the Native American culture, in this case, the Kumeyaay. I find it fascinating to learn about ways to live off the land and the spiritual quests so essential to their heritage. DREAMQUEST, by Janet Wellington, is wonderfully good at fulfilling my desire to learn about those things, and more.

As much as I enjoy reading about the plants, foodstuffs and utensils Wellington describes, I want more of a love story. Suzanne Lucas, the heroine, is really on her own mission in life. So when Coyote, the hero, makes his appearance, it's almost an interruption. The two have been dreaming of one another but do not realize that they are destined to be together, or know one lives in the past while the other is in the future. I don't want to say more than that regarding their entwined lives, because that would truly give away the entire plot. Suffice it to say that the chemistry between the two is not as bright as it should be in order to orchestrate the events that follow.

If you like history, then this book is a great descriptive guide to all things in the desert. Its imaginative and weaves quite a story between the dream world and our subconscious. It is beautifully written, though it borders on a history text to some degree. Of course, there is a love story and some time-travel thrown in to break up the lesson.

Shannon Johnson