Dance

I had been putting off reading this book for awhile--saving it as a special, rare treat since it was the last Judy Cuevas/Judith Ivory book that I had not yet read. And, oh my!, it is a *WONDERFUL* treat, well worth savoring! "Dance" is the sequel to Judy Cuevas's exceptional novel "Bliss", a delightful and touching romance set in France in the early 20th century, and it is every bit as good a book in its own way. Only a masterful writer of Judith Ivory's caliber would have been able to transform the stuffy, pompous older brother (Sebastien de Saint Vallier) and the chubby, gauche wallflower of an unwanted fiance (Marie Du Gard) from "Bliss" into an engaging, realistic romantic couple. The story is set three years after the end of "Bliss" and Marie has spent the intervening years in America, learning the craft of film-making. She returns to France in an effort to gain financial support from her rich but estranged father and encounters her past crush, Sebastien, who has become her father's right-hand man. Marie has become just the kind of modern, bohemian woman that straight-laced Sebastien cannot abide; however, he finds himself unaccountably mesmerized by her. Sebastien represents everything that Marie has worked so hard to put behind her, and yet she is still attracted to him. As usual for a Judith Ivory/Judy Cuevas book, the writing is far superior to anything else in the historical romance genre, the characters are beautifully and fully drawn and the story is memorable. The book is outrageously expensive in the used-book market, I presume because the lucky few who own it do not want to give it up. Of course, I'm keeping my copy! Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys intelligent, well-written historical romance!

Judy Cuevas' sequel lives up to the expectations engendered by her outstanding novel Bliss.After reading Bliss I feared I would have a hard time changing my opinion of straight-laced, overbearing Sebastien but Cuevas' superior talent brought me 'round within the first three pages. She deftly reveals a different side to characters we have already met expanding on them in such a way that we can't help but empathize and come to love them.Sebastien has lived his entire steady, proper life doing the right and responsible thing never questioning his values or his lifestyle until he finds himself suddenly adrift at a time in his life when he would have expected to be settled. A recent widower whose children have all left home Sebastian has become something of a surrogate son to Mssr. Du Guard.Enter Marie Du Guard who has been away for three years after fleeing her own wedding to Sebastien's brother Nardi. She escaped to America where she discovered a passion for the infant industry of filmmaking. She has come home to pursue her filmmaking and to attempt a reconciliation with her father, but she is not the same girl who left. Fiercely independent she is determined to live her life according to her own wishes.Once again Cuevas gives us an outstanding cast of secondary characters as well. Marie's father, the aging "enfante terrible" American artist and a house and cast-full of other players all of whom reveal different aspects of our hero and heroine.Unlike many sequels Dance is more than strong enough to stand alone on its own merits, but truly you're cheating yourself if you miss anything that Cuevas writes!

To give a brief, bare-bones summary, Marie Du Gard was engaged to Sebastien de Saint Vallier's ether-inhaling brother, Nardi. She left Nardi at the altar in her single act of disobediance, and also her autocratic father in a sense, had a brief coupling with Sebastien, and went to America. Three years later, she returned with a trunk full of film and cameras, intended to be (in the manner of the Lumiere brothers) a filmmaker. In the turn-of-century Paris, this is unheard of, and the rest of the story develops the lingering attraction and budding romance between Sebastien and Marie (despite their differences.)"Sebastien knew Marie Du Gard slightly better than her father realized... It had been a fleeting, feverish encounter on a rainy August afternoon that had made no sense then and made even less now. He remembered that afternoon three years ago as a kind of a blurred, hysterical dot on the continuum of his otherwise orderly life, a little moment hat was easier to pretend had never happened than to explain in the context of his normally sound, exemplary conduct."I am not giving anything away, as this is the very first paragraph. To risk sounding like my English teacher, do you see how Ms. Cuevas use certain syntax and diction to describe the breathless haziness of the moment, and also establish Sebastien's staid and formal character? It could have been written as, "Sebastien slept with Marie once and it was a bad, bad disruption in his life." But it wasn't, and that's what makes Dance such a wonderful experience. It's not a light, fluffy beach read as I had thought; the words are beautiful and flowing, and while I slowly roasted on my beach blanket I devoured half of it in two hours. Ms. Cuevas has been compared to Jane Austen and to Henry James; indeed, she has the old-fashioned, highbrow fluid style that is sometimes alternately teasing and erotic. Escape with Dance into 1900 Paris and you'll discover a hauntingly beautiful experience.

Ms. Cuevas has a unique, descriptive, and very sensual writing style. I thoroughly enjoy all her books. I "stumbled" upon Dance about a year ago, and just finished the "prequel", Bliss. Reading Dance was like watching the movie "Age of Innocence": a feast for the mind!She has a way of drawing the reader into "seeing" the characters, landscapes, etc. Her ability to move us into the turn of the century France is unique and a refreshing pause from the usual romance novel. A great read!!!

An excellently written romance novel with fully realized characters and plot. If you are looking for something more than a formula romance, this is the book for you. The story involves pioneering film-making techniques during the birth of cinema - a fascinating subject in and of itself. Blessed with a realistic heroine and hero, with great secondary characters, this novel is in a class (and in my opinion, category) by itself