The Extraordinary Dreams of Cynthia Peabody by Lynne Marshall
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: LGBTQ, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by AstilbeMysterious portals, inexplicable abilities, intergenerational friendship, and a reluctant hero who just might be off her trolley!
Cynthia Peabody can’t sleep. Recently widowed, her future seems a dreary blur. While practicing meditation techniques to fight insomnia, she discovers a mysterious portal in her backyard through which her dreams are shockingly realistic.
She runs to her neighbor for help after a dream about a dog leads to a real dog in her yard. The next-door teen offers to be the dog walker, and a surprising friendship develops. Juniper’s natural sincerity influences Cynthia to reevaluate her grumpiness.
While dealing with complicated grief along with her life turning toward the supernatural, Cynthia’s doctor’s report brings lousy news. What else can go wrong? She’s desperate for answers.
Pouring out her heart to her husband’s memory, she fears the only logical explanation is that she’s gone mad. But people in her hometown need help, especially a certain next-door teenager. Wishing she’d had someone looking out for her when she was young, Cynthia will do whatever it takes to protect the vulnerable, even if it means risking her life.
Perfection isn’t necessary so long as there’s genuine effort.
Cynthia’s complex personality and character development made me wish we could be neighbors. She was sweet and kind, but she also had a stubborn streak and a tendency to project her traumatic past onto others that kept me interested in how she might work on these flaws in the future. Knowing more about her past helped to explain the person she had become, metaphorical warts and all.
The magical realism was subtle enough to make this tale a little tricky to classify as far as genres go. This is something I always enjoy discovering in new author’s work due to how many different types of readers it can attract. I shared Cynthia’s opinion on why her dreams seemed to repeatedly come true in her waking life, but there was also plenty of space for other interpretations as well given how much nuance was included in the clues about what was happening to her.
I adored the found family and cross-generational aspects of the storyline as well. The protagonist built some incredible friendships as she mourned her husband, including some with people who were young enough to be her children or even grandchildren. Some of the funniest scenes were the ones exploring the social, technological, and pop culture differences between various generations as what is familiar and comforting to a 75-year-old woman will not always resonate with someone in their 40s, much less a teenager (and vice versa). These scenes were gentle and gave the characters so many opportunities to bond.
The Extraordinary Dreams of Cynthia Peabody was a beautiful and memorable story that I didn’t want to end. While I don’t know for sure if there’s a sequel in the works, I’d sure like to read it if one is ever published.
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