Customer Reviews

The Belly Dancer

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Let me first say that I don't read romance. As a genre, the stuff I tried to read in my youth (200 years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) was melodramatic, sordid, over-the-top, blech. Now that I've read The Belly Dancer, I may have to dabble in romance again. DeAnna's story of this young New Orleans girl who thinks she wants one thing, when in reality, she needs another, kept me so captivated that I read it in one day. The juxtaposition of the straight-laced Victorian society with the exotic world of not just belly dancers, but "Fair folk" made each one of Dora's jaunts to the theater so intriguing - I couldn't wait to find out what would happen.

Bottom line: If you like romance, you'll love The Belly Dancer, and if you don't like romance, you'll still love The Belly Dancer.

This book is simply a great read! After reading the first page I was hooked and I
didn't put it down until the last. An insightful look into the world of orientale dance and a woman coming into her own. As a dancer this art form changed my life. I could relate to the woman in this book and how orientale dance changed her life in more ways than one. Read it..you'll love it!

"The Belly Dancer" is enjoyable reading with as many twists and turns as the belly dance itself! The character (Dora) is like a flower unfolding, through the book,and the suspense and spice of her experiences is wonderful to read. We (women) can all relate to Dora!Diane

I have just finished reading my signed copy of "The Belly Dancer" and I must say, the stellar reviews received by Cameron for this work didn't do it justice! What a phenomenal read! Her characters are so rich, so vivid and so real they feel like they will walk off the page into your world at any moment. There are no dull moments... full of imagery, strife, humor and realism. Cameron captures the beauty of the dance, along with the misunderstood notions that still surround it in some aspects today. Beautifully written. My only regret is the tale had to come to an end.

I'm not especially into romance (anymore- was my fav genre in my younger days) but I AM into belly dance so this story line intrigued me with its Victorian spin. I would read this author again and in fact finished this book fairly quickly. Hope you enjoy!

Leaving New Orleans with her new husband, Dora Chambers vows to be a good wife. To obtain her spouse's approving regard, she joins Chicago's Fair's Board of Lady Managers. However, her efforts do not register with him as he remains distant and colder than the city's weather in winter.

The Fair's Board of Lady Managers assigns Dora to the seemingly nasty task of monitoring the belly dancing exhibition at the World's Fair. While the prim and proper female elite laugh at Dora, she finds the assignment fun, likes and admirers the dancers and is attracted to their manager, Hossam Farouk. He is an enigma to her as his voice says he distrusts her, but his eyes say he wants her. Inside the pavilion, Dora feels free unlike outside where she lives in a gilded cage.

The setting of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago provides more than just a wonderful backdrop as people from around the globe show off the best of their respective societies. In that venue, the innocent heroine, while trying to please her husband's family and friends, becomes Dora the "Explorer". However what she mostly scrutinizes is herself as she wants to break out of the chains society places on women, but also fears the consequences. THE BELLY DANCER is a terrific historical tale that proudly salutes the nineteenth century suffragette movement leaders and their everyday troops while also affirming society is so much stronger when barriers of specifically group aimed restraints are limited.

Harriet Klausner

Dora Chambers has just arrived to the White City, Chicago in 1893 at the time of the great World's Fair. Newly wed to an up and coming banker, Charles Chambers, Dora finds life in the big city a bit different than that of her homeland back in New Orleans. With a mysterious past that even she was raised unaware of, Dora is accompanied into her new married life by her childhood nanny and servant Bonmarie, who is now their cook and maid, and holder of Dora's secret heritage.

Setting them up in a fine townhouse and with hopes of a better life, Charles requests that Dora join the society of Lady Managers, a group of wives taking up the task to keep the events and entertainments at the World's Fair safe and in proper order. Charles feels her participation and approval from the other ladies will boost him up the business ladder of success. Wishing to please her new husband and gain respect from society, her first assignment is to get the Egyptian Belly Dancers at the Cairo exhibit to make changes in their costumes and method of dancing that is reeking havoc with the gentleman of Chicago. The naked bellies and undulating dances, provocative eyes and alluring exotic women, are causing a ruckus all too improper. The Lady Managers insist on taming the show to a dull roar and to bring it within propriety's guidelines. Fully taking the task in hand Dora makes a deal with Amina Mahomet, the lead dancer, and swaps services to make the necessary changes that will gain the wanted approval from her peers. Amina needs a doctor for another dancer and agrees to alter the performance if Dora finds her medical help. Thus begins a newfound friendship, albeit in secret, of Dora and Amina, two women raised in worlds as different as day and night.

Charles it seems has a wandering eye and soon begins an affair with another man's wife, leaving Dora alone and feeling rejected. Determined to win her man and attract his eye towards her alone, Dora visits her Egyptian friend daily to learn how to be more of the woman Charles will want. Dora and Amina invent a hilarious scheme when Dora asks Amina's assistance in learning the ways of love. Teaching her to walk, talk, bat her eyes and dance seductively, Amina proudly takes Dora on as her student of all things sensual.

As each night Charles arrives late or doesn't come home at all, Dora becomes more determined to show him she can be all he wants her to be. With every charm and seductive glance, Charles continually turns away from Dora leaving her in tears and frustration, and eventually into another man's arms. This story revolves around two scandalous and licentious secret liaisons set in a time when this would have been an outrage to society. The Belly Dancer, sweet and innocent Dora Chambers, transforms herself from decadent graceful swan to an alluring seductive siren with the help of her new friends from Egypt. Light and easy, silly and entertaining, I loved this debut book and look forward to what the author is writing next.

While reading the first half of this novel, I almost chucked it. The heroine, Dora is so dumb and naive at first, it is frustrating. She acts like a child, is treated like a child, and struggles most fruitlessly to please her new husband and every high society matron she crosses paths with. Not understanding the ways of the bedroom, she shies away from her husband when it comes to her wifely duties, sending him into the arms of a former paramour. Upon witnessing his indiscretion with her own eyes, she decides to gain the knowledge to win him back. WHY?? Why would anyone want him back?

BUT, I am glad I stuck with this. Dora's desire to attract her husband back to her leads her to the Chicago World's Fair (where she is already working as a Lady Manager) to the Egyptian Theater and its belly dancers. It is here that Dora makes friends, learns the ways of love, and begins to dance. Dora, having been shunned by society all her life, finally finds solace with a group of people that have been shunned themselves.

Will Dora use her newfound sexual charms on her husband, Charles? Or will she choose to use them on the myterious Arab man she is secretly attracted to?

Meanwhile, Dora has made an enemy of one of society's richest matrons. There may be some stuff hitting the fan.

Had Dora been just a bit less naive and blind in the first half, this would have hit the five star mark. It certainly redeemed itself with a great ending.

I like historical novels because they transport me to other places and other times. That's exactly what author, DeAnna Cameron, does and she does it very well!

After finishing this thoroughly entertaining novel: all about young, naive Dora, the Victorian Lady Managers she tries to emulate, and the exotic Egyptian belly dancers at the Chicago World's Fair who shock the populace but captivate Dora, I wanted nothing more than to revisit this or another world again soon.

When I don't want to finish reading a novel I know it's SPECIAL! So, I hope you're planning a sequel, DeAnna Cameron, or at least another fantastic journey to another place and time. I've decided I'm definitely a fan!

Cameron's writing really draws you in. I felt as if I was Dora, being enthralled by the exotic smells, brilliant costumes, and drum beats of the Middle East for the first time. I was sharing her passion and enduring her pain, while experiencing life in 1893 Chicago. The historical context seemed pretty accurate, and I enjoyed the description of the dance. I don't think you have to be a fan of romance or belly dance to find this book engaging. It is extremely well written and hard to put down.

Loved It! Can't wait for her next book!