Dance Away with Me audiobook

5 STARSI finished this book late last night, so my thoughts are still a little jumbled. What I will say is that this author never fails to impress me. And I must also add that this book was not at all what I expected from her. In fact, throughout the first half of the book, I was sorely disappointed. It was heart wrenching and painful to read, but worst of all, the characters were doing nothing for me. Hardly a redeeming quality among the lot of them. But as the book evolved, so did the characters. And by some miracle, the story started to get to me. It was sort of like staring at one of those 3-D paintings call autostereograms, that you have to stare at a while to see the hidden picture beneath. And once it pops out at you, you can't unsee it. One of the things that struck me about this book, was the author's complete departure from her earlier writing style. In particular, the lack of humor. There were a few minor attempts at throwing it in, but there wasn't enough to quash the unsettling vibe that permeated throughout the book. Now towards the end, that started to change. Which was where I feel the book was brought back into focus. Had she not accomplished this with pure SEP sparkle, I might not have felt the same about it all in the end. Was it possible if, instead of feeling too little, he felt too much? If you've not read any of SEP's other books, this review is going to sound confusing and vague. But for those of you who know her books well, I think it will make more sense. I wasn't entirely sure how to rate the book at first, considering how I'd felt in the beginning. But then, like I said, once it all made sense to me, I couldn't un-love it. Would I read it again... absolutely. And the more time I spend thinking about it, the more I love it. I know this book is going to inspire mixed reviews from faithful SEP fans, simply because of it's departure from the grid... but what I say to that is look deeper, it's all there, you just have to let the picture come to you.

It’s complicated. SEP usually writes light warm hearted stories and this book was not that. This book was complex, emotional and beautiful. Tess has escaped her busy life and settled in a small town where she spends her days working in a coffee shop and her nights dancing in the rain. When her path first crosses with Ian an unfriendly arrogant Artis Tess has no idea how much he will change her life. This story is a romance but more than that it is a story of these 2 characters finding their way out of grief. Tess was a smart strong female Who stood up for what she believed. Ian was a good guy, with a big heart, wrapped up in a lot of emotional armor. I loved watching the relationship between these two develop. There’s so much more to the story that I am not going to mention because I don’t want to spoil it for you. This was a compelling emotional read that hit me right in the heart. Nicole Poole narrates the audio and does a remarkable job of bringing the perfect voice to this stunning story.This book in emojis 🌿 ⛈ 🤰🏻 ☕️ 🎨 *** Big thank you to William Morrow and Harper Audio for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Dance Away With Me by Susan Elizabeth PhillipsThere’s a reason this author is continually on The NY Times bestseller lists. It includes phenomenal writing, multi-dimensional characters and a story to invest your emotions and time in reading. This story includes a street artist learning to let go of his anger, a widow learning to live with her grief and learning to live and love again. And a small town learning to encompass change.Overly dramatic? I will admit to shedding some tears in a couple of the emotional scenes. A story of family, renewal, and accepting change. I loved it. It is darker than the usual by this author. I won an early copy of this book from the publisher through a reader conference. 4.5 rounded up.

YA SÉ POR QUÉ AÚN NO HE ENCONTRADO A MI MEDIA NARANJA!Te va a sorprender esto que te digo, pero ahí va: tengo 10 kilos de más. Vamos, que según los expertos me sobran; como a quién le sobran garbanzos en el cocido y no sabe si la receta quedará mejor si se los quita o no. (Aquí es cuando tía Conchi defiende a grito pelao la receta original y tío Pepe se esconde tras el periódico, no vaya a ser que le toque opinar)Osea, que drama, lo que se dice drama, lo hay. No por los kilos, sino por quien tiene la razón.Al igual que en BAILA CONMIGO. Me refiero al drama. Vamos, que en Runaway Mountain, el pueblecito donde Tess Hartsong decide ir a vivir para tratar de superar su dolor, no es un pueblo muy dado a dar una calurosa bienvenida a los forasteros, más bien al contrario, pues desconfían de estos. Y si a la ecuación le sumamos unos adolescentes con las hormonas en plena efervescencia, un bebe  indefenso y a un artista con más aristas que un diamante, pues tenemos montado el drama del siglo. Y si además te digo que a nuestra protagonista le sobran unos diez kilos, quizá, si lo lees, sepas porque aún no he encontrado a mi media naranja.

I'm a huge SEP fan and it has been a while since she last released a book. And the publisher does a great job indicating that this one is different from her norm. So I had trepidation in starting it (not least because I've been unable to follow Nora Roberts in her latest tone shift to romantic-thrillers). I'm relieved to see that, while different, I still enjoyed the story a lot.Tess is struggling with grief and has fled to the small town in Tennessee to try to build something new. She's still wrapped in her grief, but she's trying to move on. Kind of. I don't understand that kind of grief, but found Tess interesting and her struggle felt very present and multi-layered and I was engaged in her finding her way to something new. I liked her, or at least, I had reasonable hope that she'd become someone to like if she could process her anger and hurt.Ian was much less of a win. He's grumpy and a bit mean and entirely self-focused. He has enough humanity to not be a complete monster so at least there's that. But the whole self-involved artist "finding himself" or, worse, "finding his muse" and not wanting to establish emotional connections with others is a negative motivation* that was worn thin the first time he expressed it in so many words.And then SEP ramps the emotional devastation to another level and that left me a little breathless. It was heartrending and my heart just went out to both Ian and Tess. And the miracle is that I stayed interested even at the depths this had gone into because SEP handles both the events and the fallout very well and seeing them both grow through the challenge was fascinating.Still, the community irked me more than a little along the way. There were some interesting personalities, sure. But the whole bible-thumpin' ignant idgits theme got beat hard and SEP leans into having all the biggest idiots opposed to Tess and everybody reasonable agreeing with her. Because of course they would, nobody ever disagrees with the good people unless they're evil or stupid (or both). That's how the world works, right? Sigh.Anyway, there were a few times I wanted to shake Tess out of her own stupidity, too. Her unreasoning jaunts into maudlin self-protection frustrated me, but at least that's where we start seeing Mr. Emotional Isolation start to crack a bit. Which is to say that the character moments that establish their emotional arc were sometimes frustrating, sometimes rewarding, but always engaging and kept me interested to the end.I know it sounds like I had a hard time and didn't like the story. But that's not really the case. There was always enough movement towards healthy growth to keep my hopes up and I never felt alienated from the main characters. And I very much wanted them to become a team and to acknowledge the bonds that held them together. I even didn't hate the eventual art epiphany with Ian at the end and that was always going to be a hard sell.So this is a solid-ish four stars. And I hope SEP can continue writing and releasing, even if this becomes her new norm.A note about Steamy: There was some explicit sex, but I frankly lost track. Not that it was so much or anything. It wasn't. It was barely the middle of my steam tolerance, but it also played a huge role in Tess's fragility and it's where Ian shone in his very best light. So I liked seeing them work out their intimacy issues together as it was the first time they started behaving like they could be good for each other.* Negative Motivations: I kind of hate that the term "negative motivation" isn't widespread, yet. Since it isn't, I'm going to save off this little jag to append to my reviews that feature the term. Jennifer Crusie blogged about it a bit back (or, if that link doesn't work, here's a cache of the original) and it changed how I understand story. The problem with the term is that if you've never heard it before, you'd assume it meant motivations that are harmful or immoral. Not so. What it refers to is motivations not to do something. The thing is that many of us are motivated to not do things for a lot of different, perfectly valid and reasonable, reasons. The problem is that in a story motivations to not do things are a huge drag on the plot—particularly considering the fact that most negative motivations are overcome by the character simply deciding they don't care any more (or, rather, that they do care and are now motivated to do the thing). So not only do you have a counter to action but you also have a situation where to overcome it, all a character has to do is change their mind. Which means eventually, the reader is rooting for the character to get over him/herself already and do the thing we want them to do. Conflict drives story. Conflict between a reader and a main character drives readers away from story.

This was one of those rare evenings when I read a book in one sitting (okay lounging, since I was in my comfy bed). Generally I avoid (like Covid-19) romances with kids/babies. Why you say? Because as a Mom of two boys, reading was a big way to unplug from the Mom job. As an empty nester, kids remind me that I’m over the hill, or I’ve been there-done that. But SEP sucked me in, twisted the heart strings ever so gently and I fell in love with the storyline (which was a big departure from her other books). It was complicated, realistic (for the most part), and filled with a cavalcade of small town characters. It was also an entertaining, charming and slightly infuriating (men— that’s all I’ll say) read. Ladies and gentlemen - Ms Susan Elizabeth Phillips has done it again!!

I loved this story and I cannot believe I am now discovering this author. Tess is starting over after suffering a tragic loss. She wants to settle in and plant roots in the small town. She becomes friendly with the residents who are kooky and eccentric. Her solitary life becomes disrupted upon meeting a neighbor who is expecting, and her life will never be the same. I'm so tempted to share more but the development of the characters and the plot is so worth the read and I don't want to spoil the story. Experience this gem which will suck you in quickly and then you'll find yourself at the 85% mark of your e-reader and feel a sense of disappointment as the story is almost over. Enjoy!!

Susan Elizabeth Phillips's new release came at just the right time. Her books are a sure thing when it comes to adult romance lovers, and this one was no exception. Dance Away with Me features Phillips' classic leading lady, strong and resilient, and adds complex backstories and the rural, medical backdrop reminiscent of Robyn Carr's Virgin River. Bonus: My favorite pretend relationship trope is included ... well kinda. You'll just have to read it. Overall, it's a bit heavier than her usual, but it still satisfies. Check it out.My favorite quote:"I hate hearing that word used against women. If she's a slut that means he is too."

Sicuramente non sarà tra i miei preferiti di quest'autrice ma comunque molto bello da leggere. Tess mi ha conquistato con la sua irriverenza, il suo sarcasmo e il suo cuore d'oro.

This is really woman's fiction with romantic elements thrown in. It's a slow-moving, small-town tale of two strangers (to each other and the town) who are thrown together because of traumatic experience (view spoiler)[ mother dies in childbirth the midwife heroine is attending (hide spoiler)] and they end up caring for a premature infant together. Other things you should know: heroine is an obstetrics nurse and a widow. Her husband died of a virulent pneumonia after ten days of illness. She is grieving and her worldview is grim. The hero is a street artist and trust fund baby who thinks art should be angry and political. Why he's in this Tennessee small town is never really clear. There are other plot threads about the general store, a local politician and his unhappy wife, and the effects of abstinence-only sex ed on the teenagers in town. Triggers: death depicted on the page. Traumatic pregnancies. Custody issues. Grandparent's rights. It's a heavy story with an HEA that really didn't offset all the trauma before it. But I love this author's writing, so four stars even those this will not be a re-read for me.

4 Estrellitas. ¡Qué libro más bonito nos ha escrito SEP! Es a la vez tan tierno y tan distinto a sus otras obras, que me ha encantado descubrir esta nueva faceta. Aquí no tenemos machirulos o protagonistas femeninas que caen en el mas absoluto ridículo para darle comicidad al libro. Simplemente es distinto."Baila conmigo" ocurre en el pueblecito de montaña en Tennessee, que acaba convirtiendose en el refugio o segunda oportunidad de nuestros protagonistas, cada uno y a su manera, intentando huir de los demonios de su pasado.Ian North es un rebelde. Desde joven se rebeló contra su poderoso y brutal padre simplemente con sus pintadas y graffitis. Ahora es un artista rico y de renombre, con un importante bloqueo artístico. Quizás una temporada con la embarazadísima Bianca pueda ayudar a recuperar parte de su arte.Tess Hartsong es una comadrona viuda (cómo me ha recordado a "Virgin River"). Hace poco que su marido murió, y necesita una segunda oportunidad en otro sitio, donde nadie la conozca y pueda vivir de nuevo. Al poco de llegar a ése pueblo lleno de paletos, Tess conocerá a Bianca y su pareja, un artista famoso, a quien no parece haberle caído en gracia.En seguida, el guión dará un vuelco cuando Tess se vea obligada a cuidar de un indefenso bebé y contra las lenguas malhabladas de la población, su hostilidad, su cerrazón mental... y el acercamiento que está sintiendo sin querer, hacia Ian North.Aunque Ian no lo esperaba, Tess en seguida se convierte en ésa persona que necesita para sacar lo mejor de él. Y él es un hombre hosco y solitario que no está preparado para una vida familiar o simplemente para amar. En cuanto a Tess, quiso mucho a su marido, y es cierto que no querría volver a enamorarse, pero ése bebé pone su mundo patas arriba y en seguida se da cuenta de que ama a ésa pequeña criatura y es lo que necesita para salir de ése pozo de negrura.En realidad, me ha encantado éste libro, pero no quiero contar mucho más porque SEP me ha dejado ojiplática según iba descubriendo nuevas cosas. Es diferente a otros libros que ha escrito anteriormente. En ellos normalmente tenías una protagonista femenina a la que la faltaba cierta madurez o independecia para florecer y dar lo mejor de sí mismas, pero aquí Tess Hartsong ya es una mujer madura e independiente, sólo está herida, y necesita algo que sane su vida.Si acaso, el personaje de Ian ha sido más complicado. Los primeros capitulos es un auténtico capullo y te preguntas cómo SEP va a crear un romance de estos dos. Pero lo ha hecho. No es de los más bonitos ni memorables y puede que hasta no entiendas muy bien cuando se enamoran, pero los capítulos finales han merecido la pena.Me alegro muchísimo de haber leído éste libro y de que SEP nos haya traído algo distinto. Siempre puedes temer que por la edad chochee algo, pero no, sigue siendo tan increíble y moderna como siempre, y como lectora me alegro de haber leído este libro tan bonito. Espero que siga escribiendo tan bien como siempre y traiga muchos mas libros maravillosos.