Dakota: A Novel

Review\n"Meet Dakota. She's in love... or thinks she is... or hopes to be. Will she find it? That's the big question in Sarah Patt's lively new novel of young love and old manners in the twenty-first century. You will stay up late to find the answer, and you'll leave Dakota and her friends only reluctantly, because they are a very lively group to spend time with. Enjoy!"
William Martin, New York Times Bestselling Author of "Cape Cod" and "Bound For Gold"\n"Sophisticated, sweet, and full of energy, this is a romance with real intrigue."
JoeAnn Hart, author of 'Stamford '76, A True Story of Murder, Corruption, Race, and Feminism in the 1970s', 'Float', and 'Addled'\n"This splendid book by Sarah Patt is a captivating story of love, loss, and friendships. Her characters are vividly brought to life through tumultuous relationships and ultimate redemption. Readers will be thrilled to see another book by this accomplished writer."
Ruth Klein, author of Surviving the Survivors: A Memoir\nEighteen-year-old Dakota Buchannan is determined not to be the messed-up, orphaned teenager with an over the top imagination the media describes her as. After her father’s accidental death at Jennings oil refinery, she finds out that she has a much older half-brother and moves to Houston, Texas, to live with him and his young daughter, Savannah. It doesn’t take long for Dakota to settle in and capture the heart of a young man. Life seems to be going quasi-normal until CEO Jake Jennings breaks into Dakota’s home to confront her. In his narcotized state, he assaults her while incoherently apologizing for something his late father did to her, of which she has no recollection.\nShe eventually escapes, and Jake is charged. Released on bail, he returns to his penthouse, and Dakota’s boyfriend takes her away for the weekend to clear her mind, but on their return, the front page of the local newspaper confirms ‘Jake Jennings plummets to his death.’ Dakota’s half relieved the man is dead, but the other half replays in her mind what he was trying to tell her that terrifying night and whether or not he actually killed himself or did someone push him off his balcony.\nFeisty and determined, Dakota never loses sight of hope or the importance of family and friendships. She navigates her new life with her moral compass –– reconciling the past and seeking answers while discovering secrets and lies.\nSarah Patt graduated from Wheelock College in 1991 and taught for five years before becoming a mother in 1996. It wasn’t until 2008 when she returned to the classroom. While maintaining a full-time teaching position at The Landmark School, Sarah earned a master’s degree in Special Education from Simmons College in 2012. She is enormously grateful for her devoted and loving husband and their three children, who support her writing endeavor wholeheartedly with words of encouragement and expressions of pride. Dakota is her second published novel.