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srivalli's review against another edition
dark
informative
slow-paced
2.5
2.5 Stars
One Liner: Umm… I don’t know. Kinda scattered
1932, Galveston
Evie wants to become a nurse. She is eager to shut off her dark past and move into a brighter future. However, this is easier dreamt than achieved. She goes through a series of hardships, trains to become a nurse but is denied her PIN, and finally joins a marathon dance group.
Evie’s life changes as she meets different people and gets swept into their worlds. Depression is making everyone desperate, and her struggle to find love can ruin everything for her and others. Can Evie find what she cherishes the most and have a family to call her own?
The story comes from Evie’s first-person POV.
My Thoughts:
The writing is beautiful but slow. I started to speed-read and found it much more to my liking.
The book gives a glimpse into the lives of marathon dancers. This was a new topic for me, so it was informative and enjoyable.
The story comes from Evie’s POV, and there’s some character growth to support it. However, the plot deals with too many issues, making the book a bit scattered. Also, I couldn’t connect with Evie or root for her.
I’m still unclear about the core theme in this one. Is it Evie’s nursing? Is it about the Great Depression? Is it about falling in love with someone unavailable? Is it capitalism vs. communism? It is Catholic vs. Protestant? Is it about an abusive and selfish parent? Is it about homophobia? No idea. There’s a little of everything and nothing to anchor the reader.
We had a solid plotline with Evie and her mafia friends. Then we jump to marathon dancers. We have a potential love track and some homophobia. The mafia family enters again. More drama and Evie is being the opposite of smart. Finally, there’s regret and reveal. Some happy news too. And then we have another sort of HEA that seems out of place in a book set in the early 1930s.
There are quite a few characters to keep track of. I went with the flow as they seemed to pop in and out of the story whenever necessary.
Not a fan of political commentary either, especially when some of it sounded more contemporary than historical. But I could be wrong as I don’t belong to the region.
To summarize, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a novel with many themes and has a few good elements. But it is underwhelming as a package. Maybe removing extra elements and limiting the story to 350 pages or less would have made it compact.
Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
parental neglectmicasreads's review against another edition
3.0
Thanks to Sarah Bird, St. Martin's Press, and Sarah Bird for the chance to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was published on April 12, 2022.
Evie Devlin was raised by a narcissistic mother who spoke badly of her father for joining the military and then having the nerve to die. In order to escape, Evie lies to get into nursing school as her way out. When the Director of the school receives information about a shady part of Evie's past, she denies her the chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse. After returning to the area she grew up in and ensuring her Grandma is taken care of when she is diagnosed with pneumonia, Evie travels to Houston and becomes a nurse for a dance marathon.
In 1932, dance marathons were an important way for young people suffering during the Depression to ensure that they had food in their stomachs and a roof over their heads. Evie becomes the official nurse for a dance group and eventually part of the act when she falls for the main dancer, Zane. Evie learns to handle the days as they come and attempts to figure out how to receive the registered nurse pin she worked so hard for. Evie learns the hard way that you have to make do with the cards you're dealt until the chance to change them pops up.
This is a bit of a different story for me and I felt it took me far longer than it really should have. It seemed that there were times when whole passages could have been edited out to help the flow of the story. All in all, it was a sweet story that helped pass the time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt
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