Spotlight Sunday is a weekly meme created by Balie @ Nerd in New York & Closet Readers for their Goodreads book club, Nerdy Reads. Each Sunday share a book that you think is underrated and needs to be read ASAP – put it in the spotlight! *wink-wink, nudge-nudge*
Rules:
- Make sure to link back to the original creators in your post.
- Share your post on the Goodreads page so that others can read your post.
Dove by M.H. Salter
Japhy would sacrifice his freedom for people he will never meet. Ray would sacrifice all those unknown people just to protect him.
In 1970, when Japhy receives his draft notice for the Vietnam War, he and girlfriend, Ray, become Dharma Bums. They pack their lives into a duffel bag, and hitch their way to the Canadian border – a safety zone that, once a draft dodger enters, he can never leave. Ever. Not to see family. Not to help injured friends. Not even to attend a loved-one’s funeral.
On the road, Japhy and Ray are joined by flower children, Leaf and Lauren, and all four decide to find a hippie commune in Toronto where they will be free of their demons, and safe with their secrets. Or will they?
Amidst a colorful whirl of psychedelics, love-ins, original music, and political protests, Japhy and his friends discover everything has a price, freedom is not free, and true peace comes at a cost whether you are fighting for it in a war or simply within the depths of your own soul.
How far would you go for freedom?
Dove is the first book in The Freedom Series and was shortlisted for the Impress Prize For New Writers.
So I was able to snag an ARC of this book through Netgalley and Daytime Moon Publishing back at the start of the year, and boy, I am so glad I did. The premise really intrigued me as I haven’t read many books (or any actually) set during the Vietnam War. Which is weird actually because I love the late 60’s-70’s era. There’s a reason why Dazed and Confused is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I digress! Anyways, this book was definitely an adventure into experiencing the real hippie culture of that time. Japhy and Ray’s story will make you laugh, cry, cringe, and probably make you think, YIKES, at least once or twice (it did for me at least). I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning a bit more about that time period, especially the counter-culture that its known for. Seriously, go fall in love with this book like I did! You can read my full review of it HERE.
This book is an adult general fiction novel. There is sex, drug use, violence, and language aplenty throughout, so please do be aware of this if you are considering picking this book up. Just leaving this disclaimer for y’all so you aren’t surprised that it’s not a young adult book after buying it, and then blaming me for it haha!
Have you read this book? Are there any books that you would recommend that are based during the Vietnam War? What book would you choose for Spotlight Sunday? Leave a link to your post in the comments!
Wonderfilled Reads 