Machel Shull's Blog - Posts Tagged "kate-kerrigan"

Land of Dreams by Kate Kerrigan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


CAN'T wait to read trilogy book three. ELLIS Island started Ellie's journey & this will be so exciting to read!! Kate Kerrigan also writes under (or did in the past) Morag Prunty.
~Well, well, well. Here I am with a red nose, swollen eyes from crying from happiness at the ending. So many great quotes in this book about life, the passage of time and how we lose and love and there is much loss through the chapters of this life. We cannot own anyone. We raise our sons and they will leave us and become adults...
LAND OF DREAMS is the third book in a trilogy set written by the great writer, Irish writer, Kate Kerrigan. ELLIS ISLAND topped the NY Times Bestseller's list this year and it is well deserved by a tremendous writer that speaks candidly about the hopes, love and loss in all of her books that I have read.
The star character in this trilogy set is Ellie Hogan. She falls in love when she is young, marries the love of her life and so the story begins...
I love Ellie. I loved this book about Ellie as a mother with her two sons and her oldest running off to Hollywood to be an actor during the 1940's (Think the golden era period.)
~This story had much heartbreak to it, but real heartbreak that felt real and real to life, so when I read a story that rings so real, so true, well, if you love a character you will go through their suffering, too. Ellie experiences great joys in her time in Los Angeles, too. But I don't want to give it away. This book is too good. You must discover on your own.
First you must read ELLIS ISLAND, then CITY OF HOPE, followed by LAND OF DREAMS.
I had a deep fascination with old Hollywood when I first moved there. I would read everything about the studios, watched all of the old movies I could get my hands on...and reading LAND OF DREAMS captured that era, captured Los Angeles. The descriptions were so real and so vivid, I was right there with Ellie reaching out to touch the sun. I was with her at the Manzanar camp, I was with her when she ran down the Hollywood Hills to catch a cab after finding out the man she had been seeing was seeing somewhere else.
I must say at the end of the book, I began to worry about the conclusion. What would happen to Ellie? Gees, I wanted something grand to happen...AND IT DID.
When you open your heart, the world flies open and great things happen.
Here is a wonderful quote in the book:

"When you love something or someone, you want to hold onto them tight and never let them go, but life doesn't work like that. You had to take the things you loved and scatter them about you like petals, throw them to the wind as if they meant nothing to you. Then God might send you something else to love; someone new to care for. Then again, He might not. Life was, with or without God, a chancy business. The only hope was to let go. Of everything."

Kate Kerrigan is in my top five favorite contemporary female authors. I don't want to compare her to anyone else because she has a style of her own that always touches me deeply in my heart.

I would love to read about Ellie again!

Here are some of her books that I have read that you need to discover:

Miracles of Grace
Perfect Recipes for a Marriage
Ellis Island
City of Hope
Land of Dreams