Pretending to Dance, by Diane Chamberlain.

Pretending to Dance, by Diane Chamberlain.

Release Date: 10/6/15.

"Molly Arnette is very good at keeping secrets. She lives in San Diego with a husband she adores, and they are trying to adopt a baby because they can't have a child on their own. But the process of adoption brings to light many questions about Molly's past and her family--the family she left behind in North Carolina twenty years before. The mother she says is dead but who is very much alive. The father she adored and whose death sent her running from the small community of Morrison's Ridge. Her own birth mother whose mysterious presence in her family raised so many issues that came to a head. The summer of twenty years ago changed everything for Molly and as the past weaves together with the present story, Molly discovers that she learned to lie in the very family that taught her about pretending. If she learns the truth about her beloved father's death, can she find peace in the present to claim the life she really wants?"

Pretending to Dance is a book I usually wouldn't pick up or reach for. Its true, I am starting to read more and more adult novels, but I honestly haven't really found myself or my genre of interest in the "adult reading world".

Why wouldn't I pick up this book in specific? Because I'm twenty years old, I don't have any children, and I just always feel like I won't be able to relate. So then why did I end up accepting this review request? I picked it up based purely on the last three quarters of the synopsis. Which proves true throughout reading Pretending to Dance, I enjoyed chapters that revolved around Molly's childhood more than the current chapters of adopting a child.

I'm not going to summarize Pretending to Dance, because the synopsis actually does a really good job at it. Anything else that isn't in the synopsis, I don't want to give away, because those elements are what makes this book what it is.

Overall I enjoyed the book. Towards the beginning I felt myself not really interested, it was slow and wasn't as intense as the synopsis made me feel it would be. But as I pasted the way half mark, I couldn't get myself to put it down. I saw a rebellious side of Molly's younger self, instead of the childish side, that the fourteen year old displayed towards the beginning of the book. As the reader, I was able to witness Molly's first boy encounter, and her breaking the rules to see him.

This rebellious phase, her relationship with her father, and the dynamic family aspect, in Pretending to Dance are ultimately what caught my interest. My biggest worry, that the chapters taking place in the now wouldn't peak my interest, faltered pretty quickly. I was excited for each chapter whether in the past or the current time.

I would recommend this to anyone who themselves went through a rebellious phase, who can now look back and admit, that maybe...just maybe their parents were right about the situation. And I would recommend this book to anyone who may be holding a grudge towards a loved one.

Have you read Pretending to Dance? Or any of Diane Chamberlain's other books?