Book Review: A Life of Dreams

Reviewed by Elizabeth Zender

Beyond bets and dreams, the road to redemption awaits.

Percy Hope has a tremendous gift: he knows the outcome of a gamble with uncanny certainty. He is known to walk away from a casino having won upwards of twenty thousand dollars in a single weekend. The House can’t catch him because he’s not cheating; he just knows. 

With this ability, he catches the eye of his future ex-wife, Beth Harrison. Beautiful, bold, and a little bad-tempered, she captivates Percy right up until he decides to stop gambling. Percy’s parents do not approve of gambling, nor do they truly approve of Beth, though they do their best to accommodate where they can.

Percy’s world comes crashing down when he catches her with her boss, a man he despises, in his favorite room, in his favorite chair, in the house he built for Beth. After a divorce, a suicide attempt, and the death of his parents, Percy is alone in the house he grew up in, trying to piece himself back together with the help of an adorable stray dog named Sam. 

Around this time, Percy finds himself plagued by dreams of Beth, dreams of him having conversations with her, dreams that feel unbelievably real. And at the same time, Beth is having similar dreams of Percy. While Percy is plagued with loss, Beth is forced to look her past in the eye, even the parts she has kept buried away for years. Both of them played a role in the demise of their relationship, but the people they are determined to become find it difficult to stay away from each other.

Despite their tumultuous past, Percy and Beth embark on a road trip to meet with Beth’s birth father, a man she hasn’t spoken to in decades, a man Percy didn’t even know was alive, even though he’d been married to Beth for twelve years. The intimacy of the truck, the unspoken truths, and the great distance to travel set them up for a myriad of possibilities. 

A Life of Dreams is a book about fate and second chances, starring characters battling internal demons and doubts while trying to find the right path to walk.

These characters echo people we all know. They struggle with accepting themselves and with coming to terms with what life has dealt them. They don’t know what it means to look inward for change. Dunnevant’s writing is immersive and is hard to put down. The softhearted romance within the search for forgiveness is sweet in a way that feels genuine. Maybe love doesn’t conquer all, but it is worth fighting for.

This is a compelling narrative about the transformative nature of love, loss, and forgiveness. Naturally given gifts can take us far, but without the drive toward betterment, complacency digs our graves. Percy and Beth journey together in alternating perspectives, showing how low they’ve fallen and how high they can rise. 

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