What do you think?
River of Dreams
Trudging through a raging snowstorm with a foundling child in his arms, Daniel LeClerc, a man blessed with second sight, finally finds the orphan home run by Elizabeth Spurlin, a woman he soon grows to love. Original.
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 19, 2022
This one was definitely different than the first LeClerc book. Daniel LeClerc is one of Luc and Linsey’s sons. (They have Daniel, Mark, Will, Kaleb and Dara.) Daniel has the power to see into the future, usually for strangers and always something terrible happening. These visions begin as headaches and bits and pieces of nightmares, and as a result he avoids sleep for days on end in an attempt to escape them. He always arrives too late to prevent the tragedy from happening, and fears that he will lose his sanity and turn into a monster. In the beginning, he saves a young girl named Jenny Sue and her cat after he has visions of her family being massacred and she was trapped inside a barrel that had been nailed shut.
Elizabeth is a very mild-mannered, soft-spoken woman who was abandoned by her father at the age of seven for being illegitimate and unwanted by his new bride. Sent off to a boarding school that prepared her to be a mistress, she was able to get a job as a governess, and has since been trying to get and maintain a job as a teacher. She has six adopted children: sisters Belinda and Elaine, who were the daughters of the first family she was a governess for, Benjamin and Wilson, who she met when they were stealing from a store, and John, whose father beat him and pimped him out to random men and eventually sold him to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth struggles to find work. Her first teaching job was given to a man before she arrived. Her second teaching job was for a very judgmental settlement. She and the children were given a dilapidated shack to live. Daniel and Jenny Sue arrive not long after them in the middle of a blizzard. Daniel helps patch up the shack, cut firewood, and cook for them, but his presence leads the leader of the settlement to accuse them of impropriety and kick Elizabeth and the children out.
Daniel offers to take them to his family’s settlement so they will be safe and secure. Along the way, he begins to have another vision of a barn fire that results in the death of two little girls, horses and kittens, while their widowed mother watches helplessly. Some drama happens in the form of a river crossing that almost results in John drowning, but Daniel is able to save him - largely due to his insanity driving him to the point of refusing to give up.
He is unable to take them all the way to the settlement, but they run into Kaleb who offers to take them the rest of the way. The LeClercs know of Daniel’s “affliction” so Kaleb tells him to chase the vision. Daniel ends up being too late again.
Elizabeth meets the LeClercs - and Daniel’s brothers are all smitten with her. She is offered a teaching position, with Kaleb’s new wife Ethel Mae wanting her children to be educated. The LeClercs also give her and the children a one-bedroom cabin with a loft, offering plenty of space for all of them.
Daniel is resistant to the idea of being with Elizabeth due to what he believes is his impending insanity. He believes he will need to be “destroyed” to prevent him from hurting someone, and is suicidal. They eventually do share a night together, which results in the settlement attempting to kick Elizabeth out yet again, but the LeClercs intervene on her behalf. Daniel ends up surprising Elizabeth with a marriage proposal and wedding to save her reputation. He still believes he will only go crazy, and brushes off Elizabeth’s suggestion to chase a vision early to see if he can prevent a tragedy.
After ignoring the nightmares and headaches for too long, Daniel slips into madness. He disappears for days and weeks on end, only to reappear begging his father to shoot him. Luc is going to, but Elizabeth intervenes and is able to calm Daniel down and convince him to chase his vision again. He is gone for over nine months, during which time Elizabeth gives birth to their daughter, Danielle Linsey. When he finally returns, he tells her that she was right - he can control the insanity if he chases a vision early, and has been able to prevent some tragedies.
Definitely different from Autumn Ecstasy. There are a few hints that Linsey also has the “affliction,” if I’m not mistaken. The smut is rather tame, and the actual sex is not explicit. My copy was also full of typos and editing mistakes, but it was still readable. I especially appreciated that there was no attempted rape in this one!
All in all, I thought it was enjoyable, if a little strange.
Elizabeth is a very mild-mannered, soft-spoken woman who was abandoned by her father at the age of seven for being illegitimate and unwanted by his new bride. Sent off to a boarding school that prepared her to be a mistress, she was able to get a job as a governess, and has since been trying to get and maintain a job as a teacher. She has six adopted children: sisters Belinda and Elaine, who were the daughters of the first family she was a governess for, Benjamin and Wilson, who she met when they were stealing from a store, and John, whose father beat him and pimped him out to random men and eventually sold him to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth struggles to find work. Her first teaching job was given to a man before she arrived. Her second teaching job was for a very judgmental settlement. She and the children were given a dilapidated shack to live. Daniel and Jenny Sue arrive not long after them in the middle of a blizzard. Daniel helps patch up the shack, cut firewood, and cook for them, but his presence leads the leader of the settlement to accuse them of impropriety and kick Elizabeth and the children out.
Daniel offers to take them to his family’s settlement so they will be safe and secure. Along the way, he begins to have another vision of a barn fire that results in the death of two little girls, horses and kittens, while their widowed mother watches helplessly. Some drama happens in the form of a river crossing that almost results in John drowning, but Daniel is able to save him - largely due to his insanity driving him to the point of refusing to give up.
He is unable to take them all the way to the settlement, but they run into Kaleb who offers to take them the rest of the way. The LeClercs know of Daniel’s “affliction” so Kaleb tells him to chase the vision. Daniel ends up being too late again.
Elizabeth meets the LeClercs - and Daniel’s brothers are all smitten with her. She is offered a teaching position, with Kaleb’s new wife Ethel Mae wanting her children to be educated. The LeClercs also give her and the children a one-bedroom cabin with a loft, offering plenty of space for all of them.
Daniel is resistant to the idea of being with Elizabeth due to what he believes is his impending insanity. He believes he will need to be “destroyed” to prevent him from hurting someone, and is suicidal. They eventually do share a night together, which results in the settlement attempting to kick Elizabeth out yet again, but the LeClercs intervene on her behalf. Daniel ends up surprising Elizabeth with a marriage proposal and wedding to save her reputation. He still believes he will only go crazy, and brushes off Elizabeth’s suggestion to chase a vision early to see if he can prevent a tragedy.
After ignoring the nightmares and headaches for too long, Daniel slips into madness. He disappears for days and weeks on end, only to reappear begging his father to shoot him. Luc is going to, but Elizabeth intervenes and is able to calm Daniel down and convince him to chase his vision again. He is gone for over nine months, during which time Elizabeth gives birth to their daughter, Danielle Linsey. When he finally returns, he tells her that she was right - he can control the insanity if he chases a vision early, and has been able to prevent some tragedies.
Definitely different from Autumn Ecstasy. There are a few hints that Linsey also has the “affliction,” if I’m not mistaken. The smut is rather tame, and the actual sex is not explicit. My copy was also full of typos and editing mistakes, but it was still readable. I especially appreciated that there was no attempted rape in this one!
All in all, I thought it was enjoyable, if a little strange.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2024
Giant ginger psychic finds love through woman running a mobile orphanage
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews