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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I just love Diane Chamberlain and each new book she writes just confirms that ! Pretending To Dance is a beautiful story that dances back and forth from Molly's past she's left behind to the life she now leads. Molly and her husband Aiden are trying hard to adopt a child through open adoption but Molly is holding back on the truth of her childhood and this may be what's keeping her from opening herself up totally to their chance of adoption. As she weaves the story of a wonderful childhood in the mountains of NC to a doting and loving father who suffers from MS, the mother who raised her and the woman who birthed her to the tragic ending that shut down her life causing her to turn her back on everyone. A heart wrenching story about the complexities of families, the pain of debilitating illness and the love that can suffer and flourish at the same time. Chamberlain as always writes with such humananity and lifelike characters that you miss them when you put the book down. A great story !
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Told in alternating narrations by the same character; one storyline is in the present day as Molly is trying to come to the terms that adoption will be the only way her and her husband can create a family, the second storyline is the summer Molly is 14 years old and it will be the summer that changes her life.
I adore books told this way where we learn about the character's past while still moving the current story forward. The storyline from the past was the main focus of the book and I loved it. I loved her age at 14 and how the author showed that as a teenager we miss clues and hints that are going on around us as people at that age are very self centered.
Told in alternating narrations by the same character; one storyline is in the present day as Molly is trying to come to the terms that adoption will be the only way her and her husband can create a family, the second storyline is the summer Molly is 14 years old and it will be the summer that changes her life.
I adore books told this way where we learn about the character's past while still moving the current story forward. The storyline from the past was the main focus of the book and I loved it. I loved her age at 14 and how the author showed that as a teenager we miss clues and hints that are going on around us as people at that age are very self centered.
I received a copy of Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. It took me a while to really get into the story and I am glad I persevered and finished it. At the beginning of the book, I was not really enjoying the teenager struggles and I was not sure why the author was telling the story of Molly's teenage years. But by the middle of the book, I saw where the author was taking us and how important that part was to the story. In the end, it all came together beautifully and emotionally.
Pretending to Dance is a wonderful read.
Pretending to Dance is a wonderful read.
If you are already pro-assisted suicide and support right to die laws going in to this novel, skip this. You will get nothing from this book at all, except a deep and profound annoyance towards the main character.
I supported the death of the main character's father from the second he was introduced.
I supported the death of the main character's father from the second he was introduced.
This isn't typically my sort of book, but I had an opportunity to read an ARC through Netgalley.
Molly and Aidan are preparing to adopt, but Molly has kept secrets from Aidan about her family. You find out about the truth through flashbacks. It's quite well done, the characters well fleshed out, and though it was lighter than my normal fare, I enjoyed it.
Molly and Aidan are preparing to adopt, but Molly has kept secrets from Aidan about her family. You find out about the truth through flashbacks. It's quite well done, the characters well fleshed out, and though it was lighter than my normal fare, I enjoyed it.
while i was completely committed to the story, wanting to see it through to the end and while i loved the considerations of adoption - open and closed, and everything in between - in the present and the past, parts of this story were not my thing. i felt that portions were very YA-ish... all of molly's teenage rebellion and "love." sad, but also predictable and a little dull. so that was a bit of a disappointment, but all in all a good read. what a dysfunctional family! but also, what a redemptive ending. loved the ending!!
This one felt long to me..but the story and the characters were so clear to me..I could see this one easily as a movie in my head..I love Diane Chamberlain books! She just has this wonderful way with words 💕
This was not my favorite Diane Chamberlain book. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. I think that having a good portion of the book told from teenage Molly's perspective brought this book down for me. It was a realistic voice for a 14 year old girl, but that was the problem. She was really annoying and her story was too predictable. Of course she didn't see what was happening with her family because she was obsessed with New Kids on the Block and boy crazy for a jerk. However, as an adult reader I knew exactly what was happening and found it tedious to read the story from a teenybopper perspective. Adult Molly could have been decent, but there wasn't much meat to her story. She got a fraction of the book compared to her younger counterpart and her character overall wasn't very well developed. Again, not my favorite Chamberlain book.
I’d actually give this one 3.5 stars if I could. This book didn’t grab me and pull me in as much as I hoped that it would. The twist also wasn’t much of a twist. In fact, when it was revealed (which wasn’t shocking at all), it made me really dislike the histrionics of the main character Molly. I can understand her upset as a 14 year old, but as a grown adult who has a better understanding of the world? Not so much.