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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.
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My Thoughts
There is something extra special about this story yet I’m pretty sure I can’t fully capture it with words. #swoof The artistry of dance and nature saturates every moment of this beauty from ashes tale while heartache, betrayal, and turmoil beg for redemption, restoration, and grace.
Ana has regrets. Lots of regrets. She has so many regrets that I envision her toting around a big bag full of her disappointments and heartbreak, weighed down by the past and her high expectations. Ana has a lot going for her but her focus is continually drawn to what she doesn’t (and perhaps can’t) have. Her journey is long, winding, and complicated but the destination makes it a road worth taking.
A Season to Dance perfectly conveys the hopelessness, emptiness, and inner turmoil many have endured as a young man or woman in need of a Savior. This is a story which readers can invest their hearts in and experience a fresh wash of thankfulness for God’s redeeming grace. Bravo!
I requested the opportunity to read this book through the author. The opinions expressed are my own.
About the Author
Patricia has danced ballet since her childhood and has performed with pre-professional companies in South America, Europe, and the United States.
She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in English Literature and worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army for seven years. Her feature story on a day in the life of “Bad Luck Squad” in Iraq won a Keith L. Ware award in print journalism. She’s now an editor for the Sergeants Major Academy in El Paso, Texas, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Patricia writes contemporary Christian fiction and is represented by Les Stobbe. She’s a 2015 Genesis semi-finalist and First Impressions finalist. Her debut novel, A Season to Dance, just came out yesterday.
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Giveaway
Leave a comment for bonus entries then hop over to Patricia Beal’s author spotlight for a chance to win an autographed copy of A Season to Dance!
What are your favorite flowers to plant or enjoy?
Do they have a special meaning or reminder for you?
Faithfully Bookish 
I am looking forward to reading this book!
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I can’t pick one favorite flower because God made them all so beautiful in there own way! I love mixed flowers of all kinds and colors!! They just remind me of God’s marvelous creation that he made for us to enjoy!
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So true! 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
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I also love watching ballet. My daughter does ballet and it’s so beautiful!
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Yay! Ballerinas unite! 🙂
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I love old fashioned perennial gardens. My favorite right now is perennial garden phlox. I have some gorgeous colors–magenta, different pinks, purple, white. The blooms stay for quite a while. I also have several different colors of Asiatic lilies that I love.
I’m looking forward to reading this story.
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Hi Winnie! I hope you fall in love with A Season to Dance. You won a copy from the launch party! Be sure to send me your address, so I can get it to you soonest – patricia at patriciabeal dot com 🙂
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I love Johnny-Jump-Ups for how adorable they are, I love freesias for their scent, and hydrangeas for their appearance.
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Heidi had me Googling Johnny-Jump-Ups 😉 They are pretty. And yes! The scent of freesias 🙂 Hydrangeas are childhood favorites for me. I used to go to a mountain town called Gramado in Brazil when I was little. The town’s nickname is City of Hydrangeas–they’re everywhere. Super pretty.
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I love the smell of gardenias but the flower with the most memory for me are zinnias. They come in an abundance of colors and styles. After Mom came to live with us recovering from cancer and onset of Alzheimer, we planted long rows along the border of our vegetable garden. Then all summer long I could keep Mom with beautiful bouquets of cut flowers of every color and shape that even to the end made her smile. To this day I smile when I think of Mom and her daily bouquets. My second favorite flower for memories they invoke are hydrangeas. As a little girl my Granny grew them. In fact I was an adult before I knew their name and even now I refer to them as Granny’s flower.
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What beautiful memories, Kay 🙂
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I am not a gardener. I think hydrangeas are pretty, though. My favorite color is purple, so a flower bed of mixed shades of purple would be beautiful.
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I like that 🙂
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I love lilacs the most but enjoy many other flowers also. My friend was dividing some of her perennials last week so I just planted a bunch of new to me flowers and am excited to see what they will look like once they are established.
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How fun! I love people who give seeds. Bluebonnets are not common in El Paso, where I live. But a lady gave me a bag of bluebonnet seeds once, and I managed to get them to grow. I was so excited. Nothing happened in the first year. It was in the second year that this funny-leaved “weed” started growing everywhere. I did some research before pulling it up, and sure enough, they were those old bluebonnet seeds finally doing something 🙂
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Thank you for sharing your review of A SEASON TO DANCE. I’m looking at the book right now, sitting on the table next to my laptop. It’s hard to describe the end-of-school-year chaos and how depleted a teacher’s brain cells are at this time of year, so I’m saving this book for my first day of summer vacation when I can read and absorb it. I’ve heard so many good things!
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Thank you, Karen! I hope you love it 🙂
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I love bleeding hearts for their appearance and lilacs for their fragrance. I have many special memories of sitting by my lilacs in summer and having wonderful talks with my family.
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Lots of votes for lilacs. I didn’t realize they were so loved 🙂
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My favorite flowers in my garden are the lilacs and peonies. The peonies were plants from a friend’s garden and I remember her when they bloom in the Spring.
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I love peonies too. They are fairly new to me. You see them in A Season to Dance 🙂
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I don’t have a favorite flower but my mother-in-law loves orchids so we have quite a few in the house.
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Orchids are so interesting 🙂
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I love wildflowers such as the Indian Paint Brush.
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I enjoy amaryllis because they were a gift from my cousin, and iris because they used to belong to my great grandmother. I always enjoy roses and impatients. 🙂
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Oh goodness, I love flowers. I think calla lilies are my favorites. They are so beautiful, and I like that they represent faith, holiness, and rebirth.
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I have 2 beautiful peonies and today I planted marigolds and petunias. I also love sunflowers!
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