Happy Friday!
The book I’m featuring this week is:
A Season to Dance
By: Patricia Beal
Amazon | Goodreads
November 12, 2011
This is for them. This is for the magic. This is for every little dreamer in the room.
I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of this book through the Singing Librarian’s Summer Reading Safari last month. I currently have a very large TBR pile but I’m hoping to get to this one very soon. I love the cover art on this one, and the story-line has me intrigued. Plus, those beginning lines make it difficult to put it down without continuing!
About the Book:
Ballerina Ana Brassfield has her path to the stage of the Met in New York and her future with fiancé Peter Engberg all figured out—until her first love, renowned German dancer Claus Gert, shows up in Georgia to dance with her and win her back. Claus kisses her after a rehearsal, a kiss Peter witnesses from the darkened audience. Convinced a kiss between Claus and Ana is more than a one-time mistake, Peter breaks off his engagement with Ana. Rejected by Peter, and knowing Claus is dancing at the Met soon, Ana decides to repave her path to her dream. With her 2002 Thunderbird and Baryshnikov, an old dog crippled by arthritis, she moves to Germany to be with Claus. But the ghost of his late wife, Ana’s own memories of Peter, and the pressure of earning a spot in a large ballet company prove to be a high price for a shot at success.
About the Author:
Patricia Beal is from Brazil and immigrated to America in 1992. She fell in love with the English language while washing dishes at McDonald’s, and she learned enough to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). She put herself through college working at a BP gas station, and she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1998 with a B.A. in English Literature. She was the news editor of the university newspaper for two years.
After an internship at the Pentagon, she worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army for seven years. She was a spokesperson for five general officers, providing statements for television, radio and print.
Patricia was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when the first Operation Enduring Freedom detainees arrived, and the stories she filed during the early days of the detention operation there gained national attention. Writing from Iraq in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom, she focused on feature stories for Army newspapers, and a feature on a day in the life of “Bad Luck Squad” won her a Keith L. Ware award in print journalism.
She fell in love with a handsome airborne infantryman during a stint at Fort Bragg, married him, and quit her special operations speechwriting job to have his babies.
Soon came the desire to have book babies, too. Gloria Kempton and Writer’s Digest author Jeff Gerke have been great coaches and mentors. Patricia is an American Christian Fiction Writers member, a 2015 Genesis semi-finalist, and a 2015 First Impressions finalist. She became a Christian as an adult and writes about searching for God with compassion, humor, and understanding.
She has danced ballet since her childhood and has performed with pre-professional companies in South America, Europe and the United States. Her dance experience brings great flavor and authenticity to her first novel, A Season to Dance. She’s been stationed in Germany twice, and that experience, too, brings great flavor and authenticity to that story.
Patricia is also an advocate for Autism awareness. She and her son have Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.
Now it’s your turn!
Grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. To see what First Lines others are sharing this week head over to Hoarding Books.
Happy Friday!
Today I shared the first line of one of my next reads In Another Time by Caroline Leech. It’s a YA historical romance set during WWII in the Scottish Highlands. Here, though, I’ll share something from the book I am currently reading, See All the Stars by Kit Frick. I’m on chapter 31 now so I’m going to share the first line of that chapter.
MARCH, JUNIOR YEAR
(THEN)
I grabbed Jenni before fourth, on our way into the sky dome.
Enjoy your weekend. May it be filled with great books 📚📚
Thanks for stopping by! Happy reading!
This book looks really good. Thanks for sharing. My first line is from Darkwater Secrets by Robin Caroll — “Surely that wasn’t . . . it couldn’t be . . .” Happy Friday!
I have a copy of this to read that is on my #TBR also! It sounds like such a great story. I hope that I’ll get caught up enough to read it soon! Have a great weekend!
The never-ending TBR… #thestruggleisreal 😂
I think the cover of this is so pretty and I think reading about a ballerina would be interesting.
My First line is from Death At Thorburn Hall by Julianna Deering
Madeline Farthering gripped her husband’s arm a little more tightly as they made their way through the mass of people crowding Waverley Station, certain that if they were separated in the chaos she’d never be able to find him again.
Haha walking through crowds together is tough stuff! Guys are like kids..You gotta hold their hand or they wander off! 😂😂
I love this cover–that is such a beautiful dress! Happy Friday!
Happy Friday! 😎
My first lines come from a book I will be reading soon, Through the Autumn Air by Kelly Irvin…….
At what point did a person realize that the special moments in life streak by in a flash, distilled into memories before they could be truly lived? Mary Katherine Ropp stood motionless in the middle of her kitchen, a platter holding a two-layer German chocolate cake covered in whipped cream cheese frosting nestled in her hands.
Have an awesome weekend and happy reading!😊📚💖
Your blog layout is beautiful, Becca! Those first lines are just beautiful, and I love the cover. I look forward to your thoughts on this one!
Over on my blog, I’m sharing Not Her Daughter, which you saw, but I’ll share from another book I’m reading here, Sadie,
“DANNY GILCHRIST: It’s a beautiful day in the city. The sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky. I had a great lunch in Central Park, a chicken shawarma from the Shawarma Stop, which was overwhelmingly recommended to us by our listeners after last week’s episode on NYC’s best kept secrets. Thanks for that, you guys. It was so good, it just might be my dinner too. From WNRK New York, I’m Danny Gilchrist and you are listening to Always Out There.”
Happy Friday and happy weekend, too! ♥️
Thanks! I went through a few different looks in the beginning until I found what I liked best 🙂 thanks for stopping by!
I was fascinated by Patricia Beal’s bio. What an interesting life she’s led! I was also born in Brazil and immigrated to the US in 1969 when I was seven years old. The book I’m sharing on my blog is “The Covenant” by Hilda Stahl. Here, I will share the first line in Chapter 9 of the same novel. “In September, Jennet stood beside the open front door, held the satchel of clothes out to Free, and said dutifully, “Take care of yourself.”” Have a wonderful weekend!
Interesting connection! I was surprised to see that she has Asperger’s syndrome and so does one of her kids. I have a brother diagnosed with it as well. Thanks for stopping by and sharing! Happy reading!
Yes, that surprised me also. I admire people who fight through to success in spite of the trials and difficulties they have to face.
Great book! Happy Friday! My first line (actually first 2 and the little poem before) is from “A Little Ray of Sunshine” by Kimberly Rae Jordan.
“(Shadows around me, shadows above me
Never conceal my Savior and Guide:
He is the light, in Him is no darkness,
Ever I’m walking close to His side.)
Ryan McFadden looked at each of the men gathered around the large boardroom table. He searched the familiar faces for any sign of the unease that sat so heavy in his gut.”
Happy Friday, Becca! I enjoyed A Season to Dance. 🙂
My first line comes from Long Way Gone by Charles Martin.
I’d seen him before.
Such a gorgeous cover!
I’m featuring lines from Julia Wolf’s Cut Free on my blog today.
Here, I’m sharing lines from Susan Stoker’s Defending Allye.
“So I’ll see you back at the rendezvous point, right?” Black asked.
“Absolutely,” Gray told his friend and partner as he readied himself to slip over the side of the fiberglass boat into the Pacific Ocean.
I won this book from the CFSRS last year and it’s good! Hope you can get to it soon.
I’m about to start Hiding in Plain Sight by Mary Ellis, so I’ll share that first line here:
It wouldn’t have taken much to turn a lousy day into something left of atrocious.
Have a fantastic weekend!
I’ve been wanting to get to that one, too. I’m sharing from True Grit by Charles Portis today, here is a line from the ebook at 7%:
“If Papa had a failing it was his kindly disposition. People would use him. I did not get my mean streak from him.”
Happy Friday!
I’ve heard of the movie but never seen it or read the book. Hope you enjoy it! I finished my book earlier this evening… HIGHLY recommend it!!
I loved this book!!!
On my blog, I’m shared the first line from Kim Vogel Sawyer’s upcoming novel Ours For a Season. Right now, I’m just finishing up As the Tide Comes In by Cindy and Erin Woodsmall. I’m going to share the first line from chapter 36 here:
“Luella drove toward church as Tara fidgeted with notes to her speech.”
Hope you have a great weekend filled with relaxing reading time! 😃📚
I wouldn’t exactly call the book I just read “relaxing” but it was awesome! LOL
I read this after winning a signed copy as well 🙂 It’s a beautiful story of redemption. With ballet. How could I not love it?
I’m sharing from Know You More by Jan Thompson on my blog – it’s the latest addition to my never-ending to-read pile. And it’s currently free on Kindle (for around another 24 hours).