Step-Ball-Change

If you're ever down, buy this book and keep it on hand. It's sure to lift your spirits!!! You may even start tap dancing! Likable and believable characters, good story line told with great charm and humor (not the cynical brand of humor that is so often found in today's writing)--just charmingly funny. When this book came to the end, I thought how much I'd love to see it made into a movie!!!

I read this book because Ray's first book, Julie and Romeo, had been so good I decided to follow up on her progress. She is just as good in Step-Ball-Change. The story starts off very unassuming with our two main characters having supper when the phone rings. From there on it is one family catastrophe after another. The story is funny and the main characters are interesting and true to life. The secondary characters are also realistic. Actually, one of the best characters in the book is a white terrier who is nervous and energetic and never bites anyone until...well, you'll see. Step-Ball-Change is a very funny story of family life. The story encompasses the lives of both young and old characters and their happiness, trials, and tribulations and how each member of the family relates to one another in the context of those trying times. Step-Ball-Change is a funny and entertaining story and I recommend it highly.

The plot of this novel is detailed in so many other reviews that I will try not repeat it all again. Suffice to say, this is a delightful story that can be read easily in an evening. By page thirty we have met most of the main characters and they are truly likeable people. Enter 'sixty-something' Tom and Caroline McSwain. Both have fulfilling careers; he's a public defender approaching retirement and she's a dancer running a small dancing school.The four McSwain four children are grown now, but the story of their parent's own wedding has become something of a family legend and early on we are entertained with an amusing account of their elopement. Ironically, a large portion of the book deals with their daughter's impending marriage to a member of Raleigh's blue blood society...and what a financial disaster it could turn out to be for Tom and Caroline. The McSwain's are a family with a great sense of humor. The dialogue is fast paced and dotted with snappy one-liners. (Why can't my family be as witty?) The description is apt without being excessive, and many times Ray's subtle, yet insightful, phrases touch the heart deeply. As we read along and watch members of the McSwain family agonize over the age old question of: What love is and if it's real? One thing we know for certain is that the size of the wedding has absolutely no bearing on the ultimate question - will love last? Excellent!

If this were a movie, it would be one of those wacky screwball comedies from the 30's. Some of the scenes are so funny, you find yourself laughing out loud - particularly when food is involved.The cast of characters includes:The husband and wife who just want to make it to retirement and a well earned quiet existence by a lake who find their lives turned upside down by ...The sister whose husband has left her for a woman younger than their daughter who arrives for a visit (of undetermined length) with her little dog who loves to bite ankles.The daughter who becomes engaged to a man whose mother is planning a reception for 900 ("And how many do you have on YOUR list, dear?") but who gets distracted when her ex-boyfriend (who always seems to be around - especially at meals) becomes attracted to her exotic cousin.The contractor who is adding a Florida room on their house. Major foundation problems have come up and he also always is around - eating and giving advice.Read it, enjoy it and share it. This book is a keeper.

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. I loved it, I could not put it down.I knew that I wanted to read it because I enjoyed her first one so much. By the way, if you havn't read that one, Julie and Romeo, you will enjoy that one as well. I was supposed to be packing for a trip, but I found myself just sitting and reading, and reading. I loved this family, warts and all, I wanted to introduce George to one of my nieces, and I wanted to take tap dancing lessons, even though I cannot dance at all, and I mean any kind of dancing! I just wanted to feel the joy the author was describing. I love watching old Gene Kelly movies, well all the old dance and song movies, and I was envious I could not ever really feel the joy you get from the actual dancing, not just the watching. This was a funny book, warm and sentimental book, and a hopeful book. This is a book I would buy as a gift for a friend, what better compliment is there,than that!