Title: On Robin Lane
Author: Brenda Dodson
Publisher: Toplink Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-5245-3145-4
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 346
Reviewed by: CC Thomas
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
With a title like On Robin Lane, you’re probably expecting to walk into a story full of sunshine and happiness. After all, don’t robins usually symbolize new beginnings? In this story, the beginning starts off more like a horror story than a happily-ever-after. The book isn’t scary, but the main character is a nightmare. Loretta is a young mother with a happy, healthy baby and an adoring husband. She shouldn’t have anything to complain about. But, she does…endlessly. Loretta is unhappy and depressed and feels stuck in her life. She’s cruel to her husband, a man devoted to her every need. She feels as if “her life had been laid out like a funeral home lays out a dead corpse.” It’s truly maddening to see her so scornfully waste such blessings.
Much of Loretta’s pain comes from a lost love from her past. She can’t let her longing go and this obsession soon comes intruding on her picture-perfect family. After a disastrous attempt at reconnection with him at his wedding to another woman, Loretta is hospitalized for a breakdown. When Loretta becomes pregnant with yet another baby, she is sure that the list of growing responsibilities will drown her.
However, it’s hard to stay angry with Loretta for long. Soon, details are revealed that show her cruelty is a reaction from an emotionally and physically abusive childhood. Because of this, it’s clear that Loretta’s bad attitude is really a form of mental illness caused by her heartbreaking family situation. Loretta pushes love away from her child and husband because she doesn’t understand what love is. Instead, she relies on her pain and bitterness as a substitute. Her one mainstay is her friendship with Crystal, who tries to help Loretta deal with her pain through kindness and faith. However, even Crystal can’t stop Loretta from her own self-destruction and a secret threatens to destroy the little happiness she owns.
For readers who like happy endings and inspirational reads, don’t despair. This book has both of those in bounds. Loretta contains a deep well of strength which she didn’t know she had and soon shows the faith placed in her by her friends and adoring husband were well founded. It’s a feel-good read which will have you pulling for the main character and satisfied that her symbolic life on Robin Lane contains a promise of peace and love.
Dodson’s On Robin Lane has a bit of something to interest every reader. There is mystery and thrills, as well as scenes which will tug at your heart. Overall, it’s an excellent reminder that hope can be found in even the darkest of dilemmas.
