Official Review: Joletta’s Dreams

NadineTimes10 · Post by **NadineTimes10** » 02 Mar 2020, 20:46

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Joletta’s Dreams" by Karen Craker Forester.]

2 out of 4 stars

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For thirteen-year-old Joletta Breese and her younger sister Annie, conditions in their home have deteriorated. The sisters’ single mother, Sandi, has a serious problem with alcohol, and she resents going to meetings to see Jim Benning, the family’s social worker. However, Sandi cooperates with Jim to avoid disqualifying herself from receiving state assistance. As Sandi begins to rebuild her life and Joletta gradually matures, the future for their family could be much more positive than their past. Yet, occasional, mysterious dreams that disturb Joletta at night give her doubts about the future in Joletta’s Dreams: The Story of a Young Woman’s Journey Home by author Karen Craker Forester.

This volume by Forester actually contains two novels: Joletta’s Dreams and its sequel, Dream River. The novels are Christian fiction with significant evangelical content. While Joletta’s adolescent experiences are important, the overall story is about several characters’ lives, and it includes their different perspectives.

The story addresses a number of issues, from family dynamics to international missionary work, and the author weaves in themes of danger, loss, faith, friendship, and romance. While these two novels do not depict a momentous journey to match the volume’s subtitle, a note from the author after Dream River indicates that Joletta’s story is not over. Hence, the theme in the subtitle will likely be developed further when the series continues.

Tied to the fact that Joletta’s story is incomplete, this volume does not stand the best on its own. The first novel does not contain a strong narrative arc with a sustained central conflict around which the author builds rising action, a climax, falling action, and a resolution to the central conflict for the protagonist. While the second novel may have a clearer narrative arc, it seems as though the real crux of Joletta’s unfinished story has yet to be developed.

In various places, the novels have an unoriginal feel and rushed emotion, and on the whole, the writing style lacks subtlety and nuance. The narration is stilted at times and includes many clichéd terms and phrases, often emphasizing the clichés with quotation marks. The writing gives an overdramatic impression due to a profusion of exclamation points in both the dialogue and the narration, as if the characters and the narrator are frequently shouting. Several times during the story’s discussion of spiritual matters, the author italicizes the sentences to apparently stress their importance. Readers may find the italics to be heavy-handed communication from the author that takes over for the characters, veering away from natural storytelling. Also, a number of Christian fiction readers may be turned off by the author’s nonliteral use of some words that are commonly considered to be profanity.

Moreover, the books are full of technical errors and inconsistencies. This includes many capitalized common nouns that should be in lower case, and inconsistent capitalization of the pronouns for God. The spellings of a few of the characters’ names change in different parts of the story. The dialogue between characters runs together in the same paragraphs at times when there should be separate paragraphs for each speaker. There are numerous places where the punctuation is either missing or incorrect, including within and around much of the dialogue.

Overall, this volume sets a heartfelt foundation for a story of faith and family, dealing with true-to-life issues along the way. Yet, the stylistic weaknesses and the many technical errors significantly detract from the novels. Therefore, I give Joletta’s Dreams: The Story of a Young Woman’s Journey Home a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. I’d recommend it to fans of contemporary Christian fiction who appreciate explicit evangelical content and who would not mind the moderate use of coarse language. However, the novels should be thoroughly edited to correct the errors.

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Joletta’s Dreams
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sharon titus · Post by **sharon titus** » 28 Feb 2021, 07:53

The review is very informative and interesting to read. I would add this to my bookshelf, thank for your work.

Kristy Khem · Post by **Kristy Khem** » 28 Feb 2021, 11:16

The plot sounds interesting, but I don't think I would enjoy it because of the errors. Thanks for your honest review.

Rayah Raouf · Post by **Rayah Raouf** » 28 Feb 2021, 11:25

Unfortunately, this is not a book I would pick up. However, I did enjoy reading your review. It is quite informative. Although, it is a shame regarding the errors.

Kennedy NC · Post by **Kennedy NC** » 28 Feb 2021, 11:33

I really do not appreciate women on alcohol and hard intake of substances. Anyway, your review was top-notch.

Post by **Damian Keyes** » 28 Feb 2021, 14:51

Too many errors and inconsistencies in a book always turn me off. This storyline doesn't sound like it will keep me invested till the end, so I will pass on this book. Thanks for your review!

NadineTimes10 · Post by **NadineTimes10** » 28 Feb 2021, 17:26

Thanks, folks!

My hope is that this book has been edited since I wrote this review, which was almost a year ago.

I don't know why it took so long to get posted, but maybe it had something to do with the pandemic.

Post by **Ngozi Onyibor** » 01 Mar 2021, 03:38

This has the potential to be a good coming of age story. Unfortunately, it's littered with errors. I hope the author takes your words to heart and does what needs to be done. I appreciate your detailed assessment.