Dancing at the Chance by DeAnna Cameron Review

Dancing at The Chance

Release Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0425245590
Berkley Books
Trade paperback

A chance for love...
     A chance for fame...

New York City in 1907 is a kingdom of endless possibilities for anyone who dares to dream. The Gilded Age has ended, and immigrants fill the bustling streets. The glamour of Broadway lures those who desire the limelight—but only a few are fortunate enough to thrive in the lights of a city that casts long, dark, and merciless shadows…

Pepper MacClair and her mother arrived penniless in New York thirteen years ago, and their fortune has not changed. A dancer of fluid grace and motion, Pepper is still only one chorus girl among dozens, struggling for an opportunity to prove herself worthy of something bigger.

For now, Pepper dances at The Chance, a rundown venue long past its prime. It is not only Pepper’s workplace, where she has pushed her physical endurance to its limit, but also her home. And as the larger world changes around her and she is pulled into the intrigues of New York’s elite, it is her last hope, not only to fulfill her dream, but to fulfill her heart.

  

READ AN EXCERPT

Order the Book

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell's

My Thoughts:

Dancing at the Chance is a wonderful old fashioned type of novel with engaging characters that you just want to love or hate...vaudeville, a very difficult occupation to have, especially if your theater is not doing the best as is the case with The Chance. Poor management and poor acts can mean the death of a theater. Hard work and little pay is what a person who wants to be in the limelight gets. Pepper MacClair desperately wants to pay back all the hard work that her mother put into the success of the Chance Theater. Pepper's mother is gone but Pepper is still part of the theater's "family". She is is in love with the owners son and hopes to marry and still be on stage. But things are not what they seem and Pepper find this out the hard way. When the owners son decides to sell The Chance after the death of his father, Pepper and the troupe of actors refuse to leave and go on to put on a show to beat all shows. This story is such a treat to read and I loved every minute of it. A very well researched historical novel set in the turn of the century (20th) New York focusing on vaudeville but also touching on the dawn of moving pictures (flickers). I highly recommend it.
Thanks to DeAnna Cameron for giving me an ecopy of this book. I was not monetarily compensated for my review.