Well, I decided, after all, to give another Katie Flynn book a chance, this time reading 'Forgotten Dreams'. I found the style very similar to the other book of hers that I read ('In Time for Christmas'). The stories are interesting, and one feels that one wants to carry on, but they are not exactly gripping, not 'can't put downable books'. I suspect, now, that this is Katie Flynn's general writing style.
This story is about a mother (Louella) and her daughter (Lottie Lacey) , who are theatre performers, singing and dancing at the Gaiety Theatre. Louella also acts as Max Magic's assistant. Max is also her boyfriend and has a son, Baz. Yet, Lottie is not very happy, and her mother does not seem to be treating her very well in many ways. For one thing, she keeps making Lottie dye her hair blonde, because she thinks it is good for their stage performances, but this is not good for Lottie's hair, and Lottie just isn't too keen on it all. Then, Merle joins the act, and the women perform as a trio, but Lottie feels rather left out in some ways, and Merle does not always treat Lottie very well. She complains, for example, about having to share a room with Lottie. To complicate matters further, Merle then gets pregnant.
Meanwhile, Lottie keeps having these recurring dreams, which she cannot make sense of. Then, she meets a boy with golden-eyes who calls her Sassy and he accuses her of running away from them. Lottie is confused; she asks her mother some questions, but does not get very satisfactory responses. She is told though, that she had an accident when she was 6 years old, and lost her memory. The dreams continue, and become more powerful. Then, gradually, Lottie/Sassy realises/remembers that she was bought up by someone she called 'Gran' for the first 6 years of her life, and she lived with both Gran and Troy (Gran's grandson) during this period. She is upset about her mother lying to her and is determined to find out the truth. It then materialises that her mother wanted/needed to go back and work on the stage after giving birth to Sassy/Lottie, so she gave her over to 'Gran' to bring her up (who was not her real grandmother). Louella found herself another young girl to sing and dance with, but this girl then left her. She then decided to go and get Sassy/Lottie and to train her for the stage, to sing and dance with her. And so she took her away from Gran. Sassy/Lottie felt that her mother had used and exploited her, and did not really love her.
Finally, Lottie decides to go back and live with Gran and Troy and to work on the barge with them, and to forget all about the theatre work. She loves working on the barge, as opposed to appearing on the stage. She feels bad that she left Gran, who missed her so much (even though it was not Sassy's fault). One is left with the impression that Sassy and Troy will eventually marry. Meanwhile, Louella marries Jack Russell (not Max, who goes off with someone else). Jack is another stage performer, and Jack and Louella then perform together, so all ends up well and everyone seems pleased about the decisions they have made.
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