Review: The Price of His Redemption by Carol Marinelli

I liked this a lot. If someone had described the story to me, I would have said it was a story line I don't like. But the characters are so well-written, and their chemistry seems so natural, and so very hot, that I ended up really enjoying this story.

Libby, trying to help out her dad, meets with very wealthy, powerful, Daniil Zverev, to try to persuade him to attend his parents' anniversary party - a party her father is in charge of planning. Daniil has no interest in attending, but he finds himself very interested in Libby. While Libby may not be able to convince him to attend the party (and honestly, she doesn't try that hard, she hates that her father put her in that position) Daniil is quite successful in convincing her to join him for dinner.

The chemistry between these two is sizzling. I usually roll my eyes at this kind of immediate attraction, but in this story it works.

Libby has recently ended her career as a ballerina and she's grieving the loss of her childhood dreams, while also trying to start her own dance studio. She's surprised when Daniil provides her with detailed business plan for her new business to present to the bank when she asks for her loan.  She thought her night was him was a one night stand, but they keep finding reasons to see each other.

Libby is emotional and bold, and she gets frustrated with Daniil's need to maintain full control of their encounters. After multiple dates, she doesn't even have his phone number.

This guy, Daniil, had the potential to be such a jerk, and I was bracing myself to hate him, but he always seemed to redeem himself, more aware of his flaws than anyone else. He didn't behave like a jerk because he was a jerk, but rather because he didn't know how to act any differently, but he makes great strides to change his behavior and be someone that Libby wants.

There is a scene toward the end of the book, when Libby has decided she's had enough of Daniil and retreats to her studio to get away from him, and he comes to find her and apologize for his earlier behavior - that might be one of my favorite scenes ever in a book like this. He says all the right things and completely redeems himself for any previous bad behavior. Made me sort of love this book and Daniil. I already liked Libby a lot.

I will definitely be looking to read more by this author. I received a copy of this via NetGalley

Review: The Art of Falling by Kathryn Craft

I liked this book a lot. Very well written. I wasn't sure what to expect from it - I put off reading it because I thought it was another "new adult" romance. It isn't at all. It's actually a very thoughtful story about a woman dealing with what might be the end of her dance career, and figuring out what she wants and needs in life. More about forming important bonds with family and friends and not a romance story.

Penny ends up in a hospital bed and she's told that she jumped off the balcony in a suicide attempt.  She's certain she wouldn't do that, but at the same time, she isn't sure what happened.  As she recovers from her fall, and bits of her past are revealed it becomes clear to the reader and to Penny that she was in a very dark place before she fell and landed on the baker's car under her apartment.

She spent her whole life dancing, trying to fit into a world that had no place for someone with her body type.  Despite all her work, she's horrified by reviews which describe her as "huge" - her presence on the stage assumed to be a contrast to the smaller dancers.  Even worse than the reviews was being left behind by her lover who used her to create his show but didn't need her anymore when he was ready to go on tour.

The story isn't simply about her size and her struggles with her weight, or even her struggles within the dance world.  As she is forced to leave dance in order to recover physically, she also begins to repair her inner self.  She sees the damage she's caused herself as well as the emptiness in her life.  She forms a deep friendship with her roommate from the hospital, as well as the baker, on whose car she landed.  She starts to see the world from a different perspective.

The characters are so well written, this is the sort of book that when it was over, I felt an emptiness.  I missed them.  I wondered what they were doing now, because they felt so real I knew their existence wasn't gone simply because the book had ended.

I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a thoughtful story about a woman putting her life back together after thinking all of her dreams have fallen apart.

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

Review: Ballerina by Edward Stewart

I always feel a little guilty writing a bad review of a book, but I didn't like this book very much.  The characters who get the most attention are all bad people, Anna's constant lying and manipulation and the way the director of one of the ballet companies worked to destroy the most talented dancers.  These people are evil.  Anna ruined her life, her husband's life and she'd doing everything she can to destroy her daughter as well.  The director - his name I can't remember right off - was such a gross person, cruel to the dancers, wanting them to fail so he could have his way.

It seemed as if only bad things happened to any of these people.  They get hurt, lied to, beat up.  Nothing good ever happened.  I began to feel depressed reading about all the bad things the characters in this book did or went through.  I kept waiting for the revenge or the comeback, the hope and inspiration that should result from all this ugliness, and it never really happened. 

I never felt any sort of emotional connection to these people.  It was like I was observing what happened from a distance, without every really knowing how anyone felt or what they wanted.

This book was originally published in 1979, and I think the reissue should have included dates or some sort of explanation to explain the time period in which the story is taking place.  Otherwise the story feels very dated.  Someone who bought this ebook, thinking it was new might be very confused. 

I recently read a really great book about ballerinas in New York City - Cranes Dance - and reading this so soon afterwards might have affected my opinion of the book.  While Cranes Dance explored the emotional world of dancing and the intensity and devotion required, Ballerina presented dancing as cold and filled with horrible experiences. 

I'm glad I read the book, because I'm trying to gather as much information on ballet as I can because of one of my own projects, but I can't say I actually enjoyed the experience of reading this book. 

I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley.