M. Jean Pike
Some Dreams Never Die
LONG AND SHORT REVIEWS, June, 2008
I was captivated by this story of lost love, newfound love, and ghosts of the past from the opening pages. Eighteen year old Angel, struggling to escape a life of abuse, finds her savior in widowed Don Hanson, a country doctor who’s twice her age. As they grow to know one another, feelings change from friendship to love – but there’s a whole lot of conflict in this story, beginning with their age difference and extending to the mystery of Don’s former wife.Ms. Pike does an excellent job of drawing out the characters’ feelings and convincing me that a love affair between an 18 year girl and a 35 year old widow is natural and believable. I thought the pacing of the story was well crafted, and the placement of the flashbacks, which gradually tell the story of Mary (Don’s first wife) worked very well.
The cast of secondary characters is strong as well: in the tiny town of Littlebrook, each has his/her own personality which comes to life: Slim, the former football hero whose wife runs around on him; Shelly, the blonde bombshell who finds a life in modeling only to fall prey to Hollywood’s drug habits; Cora and Joel, the kindly farming couple who take Angel in; and Dorie, of course, the most powerful secondary character in this story.
Dorie wants Don – she always has, and she’ll stop at nothing to get him. She’s clearly unbalanced, though, and the one small problem I had is that Angel never picks up on that. She continues to trust and believe in Dorie throughout the story, never listening to the little voice inside that warns her Dorie’s up to no good. Considering Angel has dreams (and sees ghosts) which accurately show the past and predict the future, her intuition disappears at convenient times and allows Dorie too much power in the plot.
However, I still felt engaged by this story from beginning to end. I really enjoyed watching the ups and downs of Don and Angel’s relationship, and I felt fully immersed in the setting of rural New York in the 1950s-1960s. I would definitely pick up another book by this author. Don’t miss The Winds of Autumn!
Book Rating: 4 1/2 Books
Reviewed by Dandelion
True Story Magazine
February, 2006
Nothing ever changes in the sleepy, rural town of Littlebrook, New York. Nothing, that is, until a mysterious young woman in need of serious medical care is found in a barn on Joel Samuels' farm. Soon, Angel's arrival brings out the best--and worst-- in everyone. For motherly Cora Samuels, it's a given that Angel stays with them on the farm until she's well enough to resume her life. Attending physician Don Hanson wants nothing to do with Angel beyond treating her because Angel's the spitting image of his late wife, Mary. Cora's sister, Pandora Baker, resents Angel's sudden presence.
Starved for a mother's love, Angel begins to thrive in her new home and the spirits that seemed to guide Angel to the Samuels' farm continue to watch over her. Her friendship with Don is what helps her put her troubled past behind her, but reaching out to him stirs up old memories, making Don uncomfortable. When he keeps his distance, Angel is left wondering what Don's true intentions are, especially when Littlebrook's own celebrity, supermodel Shelly Wheeler, returns. What Don doesn't realize is that he needs Angel as much as she needs him.
Readers who grew up in a small town can relate to the high school secrets that have bound Don, Shelly, and Pandora together through the years, and to Angel's position as a newcomer. Don and Angel's redemptive, healing love story will strike a very deep and strong chord within the hearts of the True Story family.
Lighthouse Literary Reviews
January, 2006
Five Beacon Review
ANGEL IS AN EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD WITH A TROUBLED PAST. SHE STUMBLES INTO A SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE COUNTRY DOCTOR THERE. SEWN THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK IS THE THREAD OF LOVE -- LOVE CLAIMED, LOVE DESTROYED, LOVE STOLEN, LOVE ACCEPTED AND LOVE DENIED.
HOW COULD I NOT ENJOY THIS BOOK?! ALL THE WAY THROUGH, I WAS CONVINCED THAT I KNEW WHO TO LIKE AND WHO TO DESPISE BUT IT WASN'T UNTIL THE VERY END WHEN THE TRUTH COMES OUT THAT I CAME TO UNDERSTAND THE HUMANITY BEHIND THE BAD GUY. THE WRITING WAS EXCELLENT AND EASILY CREATED THE VISUAL OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL PEOPLE FROM THE CHARACTERS. I ESPECIALY APPRECIATED THE REALISM FOUND WITHIN THOSE CHARACTERS, SUCH AS JEALOUSIES, INSECURITIES AND FEARS. IT MADE THEM ALL VERY HUMAN. THE AUTHOR HAS QUITE A TALENT FOR FLESHING OUT HER CHARACTERS AND EXPRESSING THEM IN SOLID DIALOGUE TO THE VERY END. WELL DONE!
Cindy Williams Newsome,
Author, Hobbstown
PublishedAuthors/net/Lwnewsome
Author Jean Pike has written a tantalizing novel that will hook the reader with the intrigue that begins in chapter one with the main character, Angel. When Angel comes to Littlebrook, the town is never quite the same. Each character is well-developed and the plot thickens with each chapter. Ms. Pike takes the reader back to a time of innocence, small-town secrets, love, hate, redemption, and the ultimate love story. The author's skill in describing events, places, and people will enhance the reader's ability to understand the drama that unfolds. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and if you are looking for a page-turner, you will love The Winds of Autumn.
Set in the late 1960's, this alternately heartwarming and heart-wrenching story is that of a young woman who, while fleeing from the ghosts of her abused past, finds hope, love, and more ghosts in a small New York township. From its opening moments the story took hold of me and wouldn't let go; before I knew it, I was flipping pages like a madman, hoping, dreaming, and despairing with and for the young and endearing Angel, who sees in the haunted eyes of the small-town doctor who's healed the wounds of her body the one man who can heal the deeper wounds of her heart-- if evil does not have its way with them both.
Ms. Pike's masterful use of the English language, her penchant for creating vivid pictures in the reader's imagination, and her ability to plumb the depths of the human heart, have all culminated in a beautiful, powerful, and haunting story that will live with you long after its final moments have passed through your heart and into eternity. A notable work by a notable author, The Winds of Autumn should find its way into every booklover's library.
Reviewed by Stephen A. Balga Jr.
Author, Where Wings Should Be
In THE WINDS OF AUTUMN, the author spins a well-told tale with true-to-life characters. Here haunting pasts evolve; presenting a world where time and malicious rumor blur the truth; where caring individuals endeavor to heal their friends' emotional scarring of love lost by unfortunate circumstance and parental abuse; and where misguided love turns to murderous envy and threatens disaster.
Doctor Don Hanson lives a quiet reclusive life. He is content serving a small town's ill and injured, but consistently represses guilt and haunting memories of his deceased wife, Mary, and their stillborn child. Mementos and memories abound, renewing the doctor's love for Mary. His broken heart refuses to heal and he lives a treadmill existence until Angel, a bedraggled woman half his age, appears at Cora and Joel Samuels' home. Angel's immediate need for medical assistance requires his care, but once he assesses and treats Angel's condition, he notices that she bears a striking resemblance to his departed wife. Unrestrained emotions surface again.
Dorie, a married woman, and Don Hanson's former high school lover, maintains an unnatural and repressed hunger for his affection. Dorie recognizes he sudden attraction between Don and Angel and secretlt plots to remove the threat Angel poses to her future happiness with Don. Ms. Pike's masterful blend of character history, emotion, psychology, passion, and envy, produces a gripping story and the reader yearns for truth and love to triumph over deceit and divisiveness. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Reviewed by David Rosenberg,
Author, No Shortage of Evil
It only takes a few lines of written material for the reader to realize that Jean Pike has a way with words. Her prose is almost poetic as she describes the dawning of a new day... Morning came to Littlebrook gradually, in hushed whispers and hazy shades of gray. It came grudgingly, secretive and brooding, as cloaked in secrets as the town itself.
The Winds of Autumn is a love story between a dedicated, small town doctor and a young runaway named Angel. Don Hanson is a driven man, deeply scarred by his first wife's death and his inability to get over her. For years, he pushes himself doctoring not only the town folks, but also their animals. He has to keep moving, keep going, to stave off the guilt and hurtful memories.
Then one day a young woman who is the image of his dead wife mysteriously appears as if out of nowhere, half dead, and sleeping in a friend's barn. Is it destiny, or a supernatural force that draws them together? Will they overcome the evil that threatens to not only drive them apart, but also destroy Angel as it did Don's first wife? Jean Pike creates flesh and blood characters with powerful emotions. Her novel, The Winds of Autumn, is a winner.
Reviewd by Donna Thompson, author of Plot Twist
More Reviews
...A wonderful story of love and jealousy and living in, or trying to recapture the past. Don "Handsome," the lonely country doctor has closed his heart for many years, tormented by guilt and loss. Then an "Angel" appears and begins to stir emotions he thought were buried with his first love.
The odds are stacked against them from the start. Angel's past is as full of shame as Don's, but as their friendship flourishes, they begin to open their hearts and minds to the possibility of something more.
One person stands in their way, and she is so charming and funny on the surface, it is hard to believe that she will stop at nothing to get Angel out of town, or worse...
The complex characters in "The Winds of Autumn" are extremely likeable (even when they are up to no good) and I found this book hard to put down. It's perfect for a relaxing Autumn weekend by the fire.
Heather Serrano, Author of "Photographs"
...I have tried to think of who would be the new Bette Davis when it comes to really wonderful and serious stories in film,because there is a character in Ms. Pike's "The Winds of Autumn" that cries out for Ms. Davis' wonderful expertise. The character that I fell in love with was Sophie, an elderly, proud, diminished lady with class of her past.
I must say, that the entire book is written with such precision of word and development of character, description of scene, with details that put you in the action and the mind of the character. I have enjoyed myself very much reading "The Winds of Autumn."
Ms. Pike is the new Agatha Christie. She has the gift to tie all the ends together and the talent to spin a story that is unique and riveting.
Betty Fasig, Author of "Wooffer-Stories You Can Read To Your Dog (and other children)
