Dalton Hunter is smart, astute and is living a life that most children would never expect. A father who is tough on him and refuses to understand that a boy can have a sensitive side and has difficulty making friends when his life is comprised of one big moving van to just about anywhere his father lands a job. At seven years old Dalton finds it hard to adjust at times but something miraculous is about the change all that. What would you do if someone appeared out of nowhere in your dreams and became your new best friend? Of course you can’t tell anyone about this person it’s your secret pal who from now on will help you through the rough patches in life? But, what if this person is only in your dreams and although you have some amazing and magical times together you soon realize that this might just be pure fantasy and it’s time to cultivate romances and relationships in the real world. Sienna Snow is her name and although she is there to guide Dalton, help him experience his first relationships with girls, the challenges faced in school and dealing with his father who often seems distant and not connected to his son, things take on many different turns as Dalton becomes conflicted with his feelings for the girls in his present world like Caitlin and Laurie as opposed to his deeper ones for Sienna. How can he struggle with these emotions? When he becomes aware of his talent in photography his father encourages him and buys him the equipment needed. Laurie focuses on that and uses it to gain favor with him and much more she hopes. Dalton is rare and too bad more guys today do not have the same moral compass and fiber like Dalton and treats a girl like a lady. But, Laurie wants to be treated as anything but as if she has to prove something not only to her friends who goad her on but herself. It’s like if she does not get what she wants or give too much of herself to a boy she feels rejected when her advances are declined.
Things change and relationships come and go as Caitlin moves on and Laurie realizes her mistakes but Dalton is about to move ahead to college and live in a separate apartment as his father breaks the news about something else. No matter how close he gets to these other girls the draw and pull to Sienna is undeniable. What does he do? He even goes to visit his mother’s grave to ask her advice while Sienna explains she can see her too. A touch of paranormal within this novel and even more as a young boy develops to a find young adult and has to decide whether to focus on what is reality or not. Wanting to go into the fashion photography is his goal but will Sienna be apart of his new life? It’s a story about evolution and change within the heart, mind and soul of Dalton Hunter.
Within this novel we hear the father’s voice, Sienna’s voice and that of a third person narrator who relates the other events that happen. When his father gets married and then he goes off to college things change. Many women vie for his attention but Dalton is conflicted with his emotions and relationship with Sienna and a professor who has her sites set on him too. But, where will this go and what happens when the real world and fantasy come together in the present? Time intervals pass quickly and we don’t often get to see how Dalton deals with this father’s relationship in total or do we learn about his years in college as they pass rather quickly in the story winding up with Amanda his professor wanting to get him a job in fashion photography even though he wants some type of art. Her motives might appear to be good but her intentions might surprise the reader.
The time frames move quite quickly at points and readers have to remember that Dalton is moving on with his life quite rapidly as he is now in Paris and Sienna although still in his dreams might turn out to be more than just his midnight fantasy as we hear the voice of her mother and her concerns hoping that she would move on with someone other than Dalton. But, she stands her ground and her mother finally stands down. Everywhere he goes including his big moment when his photographs are on display and he meets one of may favorite people in the fashion industry Tim Gunn, Dalton remains humble, above reproach but someone is watching him carefully and things just might be about to change as Samantha Choice comes into his life. There are many women who find him attractive and although he seems enthralled with Samantha from the start and she with him appearances can be deceiving and sometimes the best-laid plans are anything but.
Samantha Choice had her eye on Dalton when she saw his photographs and decided to make sure that her father, Tony Choice would give her free reign, benefits and salary too in order to make sure she snagged him for Choice Enterprises. Editor of Fashion Expose Magazine she manages to ambush him in his favorite deli pretending that she just works in an office. She is smart, cunning and manipulative and her father allows her to handle him on her own as long as she and he reap the benefits later on. Although they are having an innocent lunch, Sienna spies it all. Things take on a different turn when Dalton works for Samantha’s father and decides to take a risk and leave his other job. Things seem to be going their way but Samantha has her eyes on a new designer named Anna and the way she gets hold of her and the designs is not exactly what she wants Dalton to overhear. A confrontation and an accusation and things take a downward spiral as Dalton finds himself back to almost square one without Sienna in his life, without a job and deciding where to go. Will he take the train ride and find himself somewhere else? What happens when he realizes that the truth is right in front of him he just had to see it more clearly? This is a story about connection, creating your own way in life and finding the ability to trust your instinct when deciding where your life should go? When he learns the truth behind Samantha/s interest in him and just who her partner in crime really is what will he do? Turn a blind ear or eye? Take a hike and go back to Marcel? Escape all together and find a new niche? The ending lets you know that it’s another beginning for Dalton? Where? With Who? Why? Hurry Moon is what is says every night when he wants Sienna to appear and the moon is coming out? Hurry Moon or goodbye moon? Find out when you read the second in the trilogy: Traces of Echoes by author Paul Steinberg.
Do you believe in telepathy? Do you think two minds can connect and eventually become one? Hear the voices of Dalton, his father, Samantha, Sienna and the narrator as they guide you along with Dalton from age seven until adulthood and learn: the definition of a perfect match.
Fran Lewis; Just reviews/MJ Magazine
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