Title: Dance Away with Me
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Series: n/a
A return to form
I was kinda nervous to crack this book open, not gonna lie. I was so disappointed in First Star and didn’t want to see more of the same. (Oh my god, was that really four years ago already? Holy shit.) But fear not! This felt like classic Phillips, and I adored it.
There wasn’t a whole lot I didn’t like. Only a couple things come to mind—the beginning was a bit slow and there wasn’t much of a hook to pull you in. Also, the whole dancing thing should have been nixed. It served no purpose except to illustrate that at the beginning, Tess danced because she was sad, then at the end, she danced because she was happy. There was zero dancing in between and dancing didn’t matter to any of the characters via career or hobby or fond memory or anything, it was just a useless and irrelevant plot device to tie in the title.
I not only liked the characters, I respected them and sympathized with their complicated, well-realized emotional struggles; I bawled hard and ugly when Tess had to give Wren up. I loved all the secondaries, too: the Winchesters, the teenagers—Psycho had two seconds of screen time, yet he oozed charisma and I still want to know more about him—the Phishes, the Dennings, and Eli’s family. Somehow, Eli was my favorite. He wasn’t around much, but I found myself very concerned for him, and I just wanted to wrap him in my arms, give him some bacon, and tell him he’s a good kid, doing a good job, and he’s loved.
I respected Phillips tackling a sticky, uncomfortable subject like teenage sex. I suppose some might feel it was too much like an agenda, too PSA-y, but that possibility didn’t occur to me until just now, because I was so wrapped up in the well-developed, three-dimensional characters that it didn’t feel like there was an ulterior motive, it just felt real.
I appreciated the setting, which was very familiar and relatable to me. I live on a rural acreage fifty miles from the nearest hospital, just like the characters, and while I’m lucky that the nearest town has an emergency response crew, if it didn’t exist, the nearest would be at least 15 miles away, just like in the story. I understand the small-town, traditionalist mindset, the intimacy, the ignorance, and the survivalists. If my dad, bless his heart, were fitter and liked his creature comforts less, he might have become a survivalist, holed up in a bunker with his guns and conspiracies.
I also appreciated all the research Phillips must have done to get all of the medical information correct. Well, I don’t actually know if it’s all correct, but I’d place a huge bet on it being as accurate as it could be. She gave enough detail for it to feel authentic; in no way was there so much that it felt like she was showing off how much work she put into her research. It just felt knowledgeable, realistic, intelligent, and responsible.
If I had to dig real deep for flaws, I would mention—what was her name? Heather Cooper or something like that. The wannabe Instagram queen. I don’t think she was fleshed out well; I still don’t understand why she was so cruel to Tess. Was it really just that her ex-boyfriend asked Tess out after he and Heather broke up? What was the point of that? She either should have been given a stronger and more relevant motivation or been cut.
But overall, I liked this book a lot. I’m not sure it’ll become a favorite that I regularly reread, like Breathing Room, Ain’t She Sweet, and Heroes Are My Weakness, but it’s not far behind.
I don’t know much about what’s next for Phillips, but I did read somewhere a little while back, probably on her Facebook page, that she started working on the next book right away, so we shouldn’t have to wait four years again. I would guess the normal two, or if we’re super lucky, perhaps one. *crosses fingers* Here’s to hoping that book is equally good, if not better.
