Lakota Dreaming

Lakota #1

by Constance Gillam

Fired from her job as Editor-in- chief of a New York fashion magazine, Zora Hughes travels to a South Dakota Indian Reservation. She hopes to find answers to lifelong dreams her psychiatrist calls genetic memories. Zora dreams of a female ancestor who fled life as a slave and was aided in her journey to freedom by a Sioux warrior who would become her husband.

On the reservation, Zora meets Captain John Iron Hawk who aids and sometimes hinders her in her quest to finds answers to the murder of her forebearer.

Zora sees the parallel between her life and that of her long dead ancestor's. Try as she might, she can't resist the lure of loving John Iron Hawk, a contemporary Sioux warrior.

But someone will do anything, including murder, to stop Zora from digging up the past.

Genres: Romance, Mystery, Contemporary Romance, Suspense, History, Contemporary, Interracial Romance

354 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2014

About the author

I'm an avid writer, preferring a book over television. I'm also introverted and have to make myself engage people in conversation at parties.

I hate to shop but admire anyone with a sense of fashion.

When I want to get something done, I'm a bulldog in my determination to accomplish it, even if it takes forever. I'm not very tech saavy so sometimes those task do seem to take forever.

Reviews

[Deloris · Rating 5 out of 5]

APB Perspective Review :

I enjoyed this book , the history , the drama , the romance .

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was a good story -- more suspense, than (very little) romance. I couldn't buy-in to their supposed love for one another after knowing each other for two weeks. Still, the story line intrigued me and I was invested in finding out what happened to the heroine's ancestor long ago.

Romantic Pairing: Native American Male / Black Woman

[TinaNoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book was a very nice surprise. It was well written, had engaging characters and a romance that felt naturally occurring. It also had a great sense of place and atmosphere.

Zora is a NYC editor at a big fashion magazine who is on an enforced "break" from her job because she has been acting erratically. Turns out, Zora is suffering from rather vivid dreams involving an ancestor, a former slave named Julia who lived among and married into the Lakota Sioux 150 years ago. At the behest of her therapist, Zora travels to South Dakota to the Oglala nation to see if she can find out any information with the hopes of stopping the dreams.

There Zora meets John Iron Hawk the Chief of Police on the Reservation. He is immediately suspicious of her and her motives having seen too many times a slick rich looking people like her come to the People to do silly articles. But Zora earns an ally in an elder who feels something in her story and is determined to help her seek the truth.

This is a romance, but it is more appropriately a romantic suspense because there is a real mystery surrounding the fate of Julia and Zora is placed in jeopardy as she unearths those secrets. Also present is a light dose of the mystical woo-woo.

While this story has some of the rather recognizable romance elements (Zora and John's animosity hides attraction) and romantic suspense elements (the bad guy manages to orchestrate things just so in order to silence Zora) the thing that I liked best were the pieces that were not necessarily plot related.

There was a nice bit of setting in that the book takes place on a Reservation that that is struggling with poverty and services not being properly funded despite being the site of a thriving Casino that is raking in millions weekly. The frustration of the people is shown in little and big ways. And the results of being at the mercy of leaders who aren't looking out for their best interest is also shown in little and big ways. In the midst of this comes Zora with her poking about and raising hackles.

The biggest con for me is the suspense element of the romantic suspense. I don't think the author connected the dots in a believable way. I thought the villain was too immediately concerned with Zora. Her excuse of wanting to track down info about an ancestor from 150 years ago should not have caused the consternation it did as early as it did. We later find out why her poking about was of concern and how a 150 y.o mystery could be dangerous to someone in the present time, but I don't think the road to that realization was as carefully plotted as it could have been.

Overall though this was a good story that had nicely crafted characters, an evocative mood and a believable romance.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as part of Good Reads First Reads giveaway.

I wasn't expecting a romance novel, in retrospect maybe I should have but I didn't. That may explain some of my rancor so I'll try to remain objective.

The premise of the book is that Zora Hughes has been having dreams/genetic memories (as diagnosed by her therapist) of her ancestor who lived with the Sioux in the Dakotas and is heading west to get her life back in order. When she gets to the reservation she meets John Iron Hawk and the team up to investigate her ancestor's untimely demise, be belligerent and do the romance thing.

First, the book could've used another proofreader. Grammar, formatting and spelling errors abounded and it detracts from the reading process when I need to stop and decipher what the author is getting at.

Worse than that is the continuity errors. About half way through the book a side characters name changes from Valerie to Violet (or something, they were both V names). Important? No, but it's distracting to have to back track a hundred pages to try and figure out who this new person is. Also, the female lead has apparently met the male lead's daughter at some point but we never get to see it. The first time we see them together they just know each other but it doesn't matter because the daughter disappears part way through the book to get a job (perhaps working at the Boys and Girls Club requires some really long hours).

Third, the characterization. Zora, the heroine, is pretentious and snobby. And it's not that she's afraid that she'll get dust on her $500 boots; it's that she shows up, insults everyone and then whines that nobody likes her (except for all the guys who immediately go whole hog to help her out). And everyone who disagrees with her is apparently evil based on that.

And the villain is just so pointlessly evil. He could've gone the rest of his life being a slime ball, harassing women and kicking puppies but for some reason as soon as Zora shows up he decides it's time to start murdering folks (maybe it's a genetic memory thing). Seriously, if anyone understands why things escalated like that, I'm confused.

I feel bad for disliking this book since I received it as a gift but the errors were too distracting and the book too intent on forcing me to love the leads and hate anyone who opposes them for me to enjoy this book at all.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters keep the reader held firmly in place as they dance the slow dance of life with a dawning realisation of wanting to belong both in that place and time and also with each other. The depth of feeling shown in the writing gives us the ability to live among the people and in the world of the people which gives us a real feel for the land they belong to. The characters interact with each other so vividly that you can feel the anger, the angst, the jealousy, despair and regret shown between each of them and at times makes you want to reach out and shake them for being so darn dense and not seeing what is blatantly obvious to all everyone around them aside from a crazy, smelly old man!

If you like a good easy read which takes you beyond the borders of your own culture and ways then this is definitely well worth a read

[Piper Huguley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the descriptions of the reservation. The relationship between Zora and John is smoldering hot, and I liked the addition of some tension as well with the jealous women--they all want John and for good reason! A great read!

[Becky Darnell]

Loved it

I really
enjoyed
reading it! I would love to see sequel of it ! I would recommend highly. a great read
.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway a fair while back now, I'm going to be honest. I'd tried to read it a few times but I only managed to get to the end today. I guess I needed an easy read while writing my research proposal and Lakota Dreaming is that, if nothing else. However, I found it largely unsatisfying.

This is actually one of the worst reviews I've written (I usually don't bother with low rated books) but feel obliged to review as I received a copy for that purpose. I actually feel really bad about it!

Before moving onto plot and the like, I think I have to say that I didn't really like the style of writing. I felt like information was spoon fed and, if you were told something once, you were told it a thousand times. There were also some errors in spelling/grammar and the like that stood out and disrupted the reading experience.

As for the plot itself, well, it felt a little confused. There were lots of little side plots that felt as though they'd been chucked in there without being sewn together properly. I'm still not sure if this was supposed to be a romance or a mystery or what really. I mean, there's no reason why it can't be both but it felt to me as though Zora turns up to find out about her dreams, lurks around for a bit, develops some kind of obsession/desire for a man she also doesn't really like, some other characters do some things without clear understandable motivation, and then the mystery - which wasn't developed in a way to really engage anyway - is solved really easily.

It wasn't awful. I read it and it helped me take my mind off work. It was a light read which is exactly what I had wanted. I just feel that it could have been so much more.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original review can be found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...

I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

Lakota Dreaming is a very simply written book that is easy to follow along with. It tells the story of Zora as she makes a trip to a South Dakota Indian Reservation in order to make sense of the dreams she has about her ancestor. She knows she was murdered through her dreams and wants to figure out what happened so that she can stop having the dreams and return to her normal life in NYC.

There is mystery, suspense and romance within the pages of this book. Not only is Zora trying to find out what happened in the past but strange things are happening in the present and she finds she can't get the Sheriff out of her mind or way.

I liked this book but there were just a couple of things that stop me from giving it a higher rating. First of all, I wanted to know more about Julia's story. Zora's dreams were always just little teasers and I was really wanting to read more from the past. I think if there were more of a story from Julia I would have been more invested in the outcome. Secondly, the mystery of both past and present was a little too predictable and easy to figure out. I did enjoy the budding romance between Zora and John Iron Hawk as well as the descriptions of the Reservation.

Over all it was a good read that I am glad to have had the opportunity to enjoy. It is the type of book that I would pick up based on the synopsis because I love stories that go between past and present. I only wish that the past lived up to my expectations.

[Cherryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was destined to happen

All Zora Hughes wanted was to find solace from her dreams. What she ended up doing was finding justice for her ancestor. Those dreams haunted her to the point where she thought she was going crazy and did not want anyone know for the fear of being seen as someone strange. She did not count on falling for the hunky Little River Reservation Police officer John Iron Hawk. But she had competition for his affection through Emma Bear Killer, Joseph Bear Killer's grand daughter. John did not think he had anything to offer the strange and secretive sophisticated New Yorker, and John did not fit into the mold of man Zora was normally attracted to. Neither of them acted on those feelings until one night, as a result neither knew how to handle it. Besides, Zora had a mystery to solve and she would be going back to New York.

With the help of the old shaman Joseph Bear Killer and his best friend Chet Tyler, Zora was able to solve the mystery behind her dreams. She was not having dreams but was experience genetic memory from her ancestor of what happened in the past. But someone on the reservation did not want that information to come out and fought desperately to suppress it.

Constance Gillam wrote a truly entrancing murder mystery. It was a page turner I could not put down until it was finished. This story was about a woman trying desperately to hold on to her sanity by trying to understand her recurring dreams and what they meant. Her instincts lead her discoveries about her ancestor Julia and her children, along with recovering a family antique.

[Heather Fortman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lakota Dreaming Due ASAP

Different but good!
I was given this ARC to review, and while it’s not my normal book to read I’m glad I did. There were a few dry spells in the book at the start as the character base was built and the events started to unfold but gradually it built up into an avalanche of activity. Yes, some parts were a bit stilted but they made up for it in the twists and turns of the story.

If you’re looking for something new and different I would highly suggest this one! It’s got a bit of everything in it that makes you sit back after reading and contemplate the story and the events that took place. I’m definitely going to be rereading this one again!

[Emma B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by the subject matter, and the setting on an Indian Reservation, and even though the author classifies it as a Romance/Love Story, I didn't get that. There were elements of mystery and suspense. Well written. A good quick read.

[Tea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads as if written by a pro without an editor

It's painful to see a book that could have been a quality product suffer due to sloppy mistakes. But that's a major problem with this book. (Unlikeable characters that are criminally stupid, selfish, entitled, immature or some combination of at least two of those things make for another issue. But that's for later.) Despite the fact that Gillam's voice was clearly defined and the mystery well-developed (or, developed well enough), consistency and (major) continuity errors, grammar slip-ups, and other little things greatly detract from the story. I was amazed that Gillam was able to maintain the literary suspense when the more glaring errors (such as a police vehicle from a cash-strapped department exploding one night, but only requiring a tow and a quick look-see from the local mechanic the next day) suspended my own suspension of disbelief time and time again. In fact, the author's ability not to ruin the mystery has a lot to do with why this is a 2.5-star book instead of a zero- or 1-star book; that, among other things, shows she's super talented.

The characters are another story altogether. But I'll have to save my issues with for an edit. There will be spoilers that need better hiding than I can manage from a tablet.

I really disliked the main characters. I thought that Zora was selfish, entitled, and, as I mentioned before the edit, she behaved in criminally stupid ways. While I understood that her particular issues with the visions drove some of her bad behaviour, a lot of it was just down to her being what I would deem a not-good person. When her selfishness for the second nearly resulted in the death of a sympathetic character, I started hoping that she'd be dead by the end of the book. She was careless, rude and entirely self-centred until after she went back to her old life at the end of the book.

I found John to be nearly as distasteful – for many of the same reasons. Although his selfishness and criminal stupidity manifested itself in ways that were lightyears away from Zora's, the results were equally disastrous. Okay, so the one character to die as an indirect result of his actions had actually tried to kill him (John), and was killed, in part, to keep secreats about the attempted murder, but still. He blithely endangered his own sister with reckless police work fueled, in part, by his personal dislike of a corrupt tribal council president. He left his young daughter too much to her own devices, allowing her to get herself into a few dangerous situations. And he didn't have the cojones to tell the woman he'd banged and left that she was wasting her time mooning over him.

I am not sure how the romance supposedly moved beyond sexual attraction, as neither of the two a) seemed have a grasp on romantic love and b) both were such unpleasant people.

Finally, the continuity issues grated. There was the police vehicle that I mentioned above. But there was also John's mother-in-law, who started out as Grace but later became Gladys. There was the scene where John stood in his daughter's bedroom but opened the refrigerator door. There are other, minor, things that I remembered really vividly when I was writing the draft of this review, but which had slipped my mind by now. But it's worth restating that the fact that the Gillam could make sloppy mistakes like that without ruining the mystery is what convinced me that she's an exceptionally good writer; she's just in dire need of an editor.

[Karen M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another “I hate to put it down” book. Fifty pages in and I was so caught up in the story I didn’t want to stop reading.

Zora travels to a South Dakota Indian reservation in the hopes of freeing herself from the dreams she keeps having about her ancestor, a runaway slave, who was murdered on the reservation 150 years ago. Her plan was to do her research over a few days and quickly be back on her way to New York. Her plan did not include being attracted to the local sheriff, John Iron Hawk, or getting so involved with her ancestor’s murder. She comes across a young girl who reminds her of her ancestor. Could this be a relative? Zora becomes preoccupied trying to find the girl who no one seems to know. And then there’s the mysterious pull of a turquoise bracelet that seems to draw Zora to it.

What does the past have to do with what is happening on the reservation now? And can there be more than just a strong attraction between Zora and John?
This is a nicely written romantic mystery with a bit of something more thrown in. The two main characters both have their history and personal demons complicating their attraction to each other but the mystical note and the mystery make it hard to put this book down.

I won this book in a First Reads giveaway.

[Peta Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 3 in the Lakota series, it is really a must to read Lakota Moon Rising and Lakota Blood Moon first as this is an in depth novel and you will certainly want to know the background of the characters in this book.

If you love historical, native American and slavery novels, then this series will definitely be up your ally. This is a family saga and one you will want to be invested in as it does go back and forth but that in no way takes away from the wonderful story of Zora and her quest to find out the truth of her ancestors. I can honestly say I did not want this book to end.

This was a well written book and if there were any more to come then I would definitely be up for reading them.


Thanks to NetGalley and Constance Gillam for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[The Book Junkie Reads . . . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this one was something of an experience for me. I love the meddling of cultures and circumstance. I loved seeing things from a new direction and a different angle.

Zora Hughes finds herself with no job and on a reservation in South Dakota Indian Reservation. She's chasing answers to dreams/memories. This all takes her in the path of John Iron Hawk. This was more than a romance. The were secrets someone wanted to keep hidden. Uncovering the truth was an adventure in itself. Zora was more then she could have imagined being and she had more to share with the world.

I loved the story telling. I loved many things about this romance. I wanted more depth. I took my time reading this one and savored it all as it came.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basis of this story is a young african-american woman having recurring dreams (genetic memories) of a young slave living among a native-american tribe, and who may be an ancestor. Zora travels to Dakota to investigate the murder of the young slave woman.

The story is quite well-written, touching slightly on some of the social issues surrounding the native-americans today, but is predominantly a mystery story (what happened to Julia) and a love story (between Zora and John). It was an easy-to-read novel, though I felt the characters lacked a bit of depth, or perhaps realism.

Overall, however, it was an enjoyable read and I am grateful to have won a copy. Many thanks.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful romantic suspense story! I love Zora and John together, although I have to admit that Zora did get on my nerves at times lol. I love books about history, ancestry, spirits, and the slave era so everything about this was perfect to me. Once you're about half way through it, it's easy to figure out who did what and how the story is going to end so I would only recommend it if you're less into the MYSTERY part of a story and more into the romance and the high stakes. There were some grammatical errors here and there, but not so many of them it took me out of the story. This is my first book from this author and I'm going to check out her others :)

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took some time to get into it but I found it to be an ok read. I really like the concept of genetic memories, the psych major in me was super excited and had me looking more into it, how memories can be passed down through generations. The supernatural aspect is woven perfectly into the story, I feel it add to the believability of Zora actions. I could just as easily see myself behaving the same way if I thought I was going crazy.

I don't really like it enough to read Lakota Blood Moon, but I do want to read Lakota Moon Rising. TBH, Julia interested me a bit more than Zora did and would love to read her story.

[Sharon Heaverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an electronic copy of this book from the author for an honest review.
This was a great story which interested me because of the Indian tales and customs. (I have always loved to read stories with an Indian influence.)
The story itself was unique and that kept me wanting to read more. However, there were many grammatical errors within the book which often frustrate me. There were also a couple of parts of the book in which there seemed to be no relevance to the story. Some parts dragged on but for the most part, the book was an enjoyable read.

[Fal · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book...oh my god.
so many things that just didn't make sense. horrible characters, with horrible characterization. a villain that just wasn't flushed out. a backstory that wasn't present enough (at least not for my tastes). and just pettiness. there was a point in this book that i honestly hoped the main character died. truly.

don't read this book.

[Clara M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lakota Dreaming

A great read! A modern day mystery linked to an old story, brought forth by genetic memories if a woman in today's world, trying to clear her mind of drama and memories of hundred years ago!

[Teinevi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt kind of robbed or cheated when I finished this story, it's just me, if you read the first book you might know what I'm talking about in regards to Julia.

I still enjoyed it, the other parts that dealt with Julia's ancestor Zola Hughes and Captain John Iron Hawk

[Felicia Littlejohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I read the book in a day! Well written, beautiful imagery, the characters came to life. With just enough suspense to keep me reading and reading and not working. I look forward to more.

[Sara Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I love this book. It is a different take on some very distinct personally's. It keeps you interested, and I would love to have a hero. Thank you for this wonderful story

[Delena constant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dream on

I truelly enjoyed this book, was a good read.Held my interest. I felt a connection to the story line, hense five Stars
Well written

[Sada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read

Zora was a strong independent woman. John is definitely my hero. Ms Gillam you have blessed us with a great love story. Thank you.

[Raymona Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the setting, the characters and the plot. Gillam did a great job of putting me in the setting, and letting me live the story.

[L.D. Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very well written story!

[Susan Clair Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lakota Dreaming

Like this story line and the authors style. Love come in mysterious ways. Dreams can be genetic memories of premonition s.