Missing Dixie, the third book in Caisey Quinn’s Neon Dreams series, hit shelves and e-readers yesterday, and readers learned whether the band, and Gavin and Dixie, can get their act together.

The Neon Dreams trilogy is the story of siblings Dixie and Dallas Lark, their drummer, Gavin Garrison, and their band, Leaving Amarillo.

The first book introduces you to the difficult history at play with these three. You learn about Gavin’s miserable childhood with his drug addicted mother. You learn about the tragedy that Dixie and Dallas were forced to face at a very young age. You can’t help but feel for the three of them and the difficulties that life threw their way long before they could ever begin to understand.

You also see how those experiences have bonded them. They do more than just make beautiful music together. They live it, they breathe it, and they heal in it. Leaving Amarillo was a story about fueling passion and learning about loss in the face of love. Missing Dixie is about loving despite those losses and embracing passion before it burns too hot to control.

Gavin and Dixie have some things to figure out. They had a wild night (or two) and now their ‘friendship’ has devolved into a dance of avoidance. When Dallas calls them both to see about giving the band one last shot now that his solo career is put out to pasture, they are forced to figure out what they want.

Can Leaving Amarillo pursue success as a band, or should they hang up their proverbial hats and call it a day? The decision is in Dixie and Gavin’s hands. If they can get their heads straight and figure out what they need to get back on equal footing, there may still be hope for Leaving Amarillo yet.

‘Missing Dixie’ book review

When you read romance, there’s a blessing in knowing that no matter what mistakes characters make or how many times they make them, something happy always comes of it. Not many genres in the book world can guarantee you anything, let alone an ending you’ll like. When you start Missing Dixie, it’s hard to imagine that guarantee is in play. Gavin has made mistake after mistake after mistake in misguided attempts to repay debts he doesn’t owe. He tries to make amends for sins he didn’t commit by allowing his mother to rip his life out of his grip just when it looks like he might finally be able to hold on to the things he wants the most.

While, yes, this book is all about Gavin and Dixie and the long road they take to get to each other, rather than show them repeatedly breaking up and getting back together, Missing Dixie shows how they each must grow separately before they can be together.

Gavin’s atrocious decisions in the first two-thirds of this book make you wonder how we could ever find his way back. Dixie’s frustration forbids you from believing that these two will ever be able to scale the mountain of history looming between them. It just makes it even sweeter when they find something bigger and more important than their own troubles to worry about.

In order to see just how important they were to each other, they had to be reminded of where they started. The way Caisey Quinn masterfully reminds them of the horrors of their pasts is where the heart of this book truly lies: in the fate of a child.

This book is touching and incredibly frustrating and will have you weeping in the final chapters. You truly get to see the beauty of these characters and the power of exactly what love can bring to their lives. Leaving Amarillo hooked us, and Loving Dallas charmed us, but Missing Dixie drove the message home. Love can conquer all, even when your personal demons are all there is to fight.

Missing Dixie is available online and in stores now. Get your copy today at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Indiebound.