"A Season to Dance" brings being in ballet to life. We are taken into Ana Brassfield's life journey. Ana dreams of dancing at the Metropolitan Opera House. Everything seems to be going the way she hoped would happen in her life. She is achieving her dancing dream and is engaged to Peter until her first love Claus, a famous dancer returns to Georgia to dance. Peter caught wind of Claus deciding to walk away with the relationship. Ana finds herself in love with two different men. There is a lot of bad decisions when it comes to their relationships. Patrica Beal did a wonderful job writing Ana, Peter, and Claus. She made each of these characters have unique personalities that are deeply flawed but also relatable. This is a heartwarming emotional debut. It is told from Ana's first-person perspective. This is a clean book, meaning, it doesn't have bed romance scenes just lots of kissing and caressing. Beal created many twists and turns throughout the book. She paints each scene with beautifully descriptive words. I was able to visually see every scene and the characters in the book. "A Season to Dance" is all about redemption, wrong choices consequences of those wrong choices and understanding life never goes as planned. It's a heartwarming story with a Happy Ever After type story even though it didn't go as Ana planned. I would highly recommend this beautifully told inspirational romance fiction. ( )

Perhaps my daughter taking ballet when she was younger pulled me into this story. Or maybe my love of reading about The Nutcracker ballet pulled me into this story. But whatever, the reason, as I started reading this story, I feel in love with the characters and storyline.

The relationship between Ana and Claus and Peter moves at a pace that keeps the reader interested and wondering what will happen next. Starting in the present and jumping back to the past adds an element of suspense to this book. I found it difficult to put this book down.

I wanted to see Ana get a happy ending rather than the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet – another ballet mentioned in the book. This book does an excellent job of showing someone seeking for God and for answers from Him even while questioning her own faith. So check out this book for yourself.

I received a copy of this book for my fair and honest review. ( )

I have never been so frustrated with a character like Ana. She is a strong willed woman who doesn't really know what she wants. I did enjoy learning about the ballet and how hard it was to be a ballerina. Ana was capable of being great but she was her own worst enemy. Her lack of confidence drove me crazy at times. The author does a good job of letting us see Ana's struggle with faith. I felt as if she was being torn between the secular world and the Christian world.

I was surprised at the numerous mention of alcohol and premarital sex in the book. Her dream has always been to dance at the Metropolitan, but she quickly put those aside when her heart gets broken. There are two men in her life that are as different as night and day. Claus is a dancer like Ana and they have history together. Right away I didn't like him and didn't trust him. He seemed to be shady and along the way we discover lies that unravel a relationship. Deceit, secrets and jealousy run rampant in the story.

Peter was a good match for Ana but something happens to shatter their dream of being together. I did like that he wanted to learn more about God but at times he didn't want to give himself to someone or something he didn't believe in. His story for me was very emotional and his unconditional love for Ana is worth mentioning. There is a lot happening in the story and one of the main points is for Ana to give her heart to God. Will she surrender her life to Him ? The story does have a few emotional scenes that made me cry. I did like parts of the story, but couldn't overlook the harsh language at times and the lack of morals Ana displayed. I would like to have seen the author tell the story in a more compassionate way without actually going into detail about using alcohol and having a relationship before marriage with several people. I also didn't care for the reference to abortion in the story at all. Did I like the story enough to recommend it? Perhaps I could if I give a warning about the story that is not a clean read and some mature subjects are discussed throughout the book.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion. ( )

I have to admit I had mixed emotions while reading A Season to Dance by Patricia Beal. While I loved every scene in which ballet and music played a part, main character Ana really annoyed me. 😉 This debut novel is told in Ana’s first person voice, so the reader really gets into her head and experiences all the doubts, struggles, and, oftentimes, self-imposed problems she goes through. But something changed for me about half way through the book. I realized that just like in real life, I cannot expect non-believing characters to act like believers. In fact, my judge-y self was convicted to not only allow Ana some grace, but those I encounter in real life as well. A Season to Dance is a very emotional read filled with heartbreak and joy. It is a love story for sure, but it is much more a journey of the heart towards God as Ana comes to understand and accept an unchanging, loving, and mercy-filled Savior who has been waiting for her all along. If you have friends or loved ones who struggle with trusting God, A Season to Dance could be the perfect book for them. I loved the truths that Beal explores in non-preachy ways, and how even the most flawed among us is cherished by Jesus. By the end of the book, I was cheering Ana on and glad I accompanied her on her journey.

Recommended.

Audience: adults.

(I received a complimentary copy from Celebrate Lit. All opinions expressed are mine alone.) ( )

Sometimes broken dreams pave the way to our true calling.

Patricia Beal’s “A Season to Dance” is one of those books that I signed up to review on a whim. It’s not one that I would pick up for leisure reading; being a ballerina never appealed to me personally, and just the thought of such a highly-competitive career makes me cringe. Romances aren’t really my thing, either. Nevertheless, I want to broaden my literary horizons as much as possible within the Christian genre, and that means stepping outside of my comfort zone at times to explore books that I might then be able to recommend to others who would benefit from these stories and draw closer to God through them.

Setting chapter one almost four years later than the progression of the rest of the novel (save for the last couple of chapters and the epilogue), Beal immediately kicks off her debut with an adrenaline rush. This drew me in quickly, especially when I realized that the name of Ana’s husband is cleverly left out of the first chapter. However, after that, I had a difficult time getting into the story, even though it is narrated in the first person by Ana. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and felt rather disappointed in them and in their foolhardy decisions. Then, when a beloved dog dies, I cried because that is one of my deal-breakers in books—namely, I do not read books where dogs die, especially not in emotional scenes like this one. But at slightly past the halfway point, there is a shift that begins to occur. Circumstances begin to develop Ana’s nascent faith, leading her to start truly seeking the God she is so unsure about and wary of, and I was reminded that as Christians we need to plant seeds of faith and trust God to water and grow them, even when we may not perceive any discernible effects.

What at first seems to be a narrative wrought with discontent and unfulfilled hopes gradually transforms into a salvation story that demonstrates the unconditional, never-ending love of God, who is always with us in all seasons. As Ana remarks, “Spotting worked for life too. My husband was my spot. But while in ballet it’s ok to pick a spot that moves, like another dancer, it’s not okay to pick a spot that’s completely unpredictable. As my spot became more and more unpredictable, I could only hope that religion would work. I’d run out of other options.” God will use every situation to draw us to Him if we are willing to open our hearts to Him even a fraction of an inch; all we have to do is respond to Him!

While I recommend this book to readers of contemporary romance, to those who enjoy ballet, and to anyone searching for that missing piece of their lives, I do want to give a few trigger warnings. This is a clean novel, but there are: mentions of and allusions to sex, deaths, Huntington ’s disease, and unmarried people living together. “A Season to Dance” includes thoughtful discussion questions to ponder after reading the story, either individually or in a group.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through CelebrateLit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own. ( )