5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Old Wounds and Redemption, June 10, 2006
This review is from: Dance in the Key of Love (Paperback)
I'm familiar with Marianne K. Martin's work. In fact, I've read all of her six previous novels, so I know what to expect: good writing, excellent characters, and something extra in plot than what is the standard for the lesbian romance genre. I settled in to enjoy myself thoroughly, and I did.
I've also come to expect and appreciate a deceptively clean, simple style that allows the story to tell itself. There are no wasted words in this author's work. It takes practice, skill and craft to achieve this economy. In Martin's newest novel, everything pulls you in, everything moves you forward.
Paige Flemming has secrets. She makes a first impression of being hard, aloof, and cynical. This is intriguing, to have a main character who is at first unlikeable. Paige is brash and rude. Remembering my mantra regarding Martin's style, that nothing is wasted, I am assured that the reasons will be revealed. What surprises me is that those reasons are not what I would have thought a comfortable issue for a romance novel.
One might think that 256 pages leaves only enough room for bare bones of character development, a mere outline of plot, and no depth or subtlety. One would be wrong. There is plot and subplot and interlocking action and drama, mystery layered on mystery. Why is Paige so secretive? Why does she constantly move on? What is she running from? How did her stepfather die? What is a murder that happened sixteen years ago doing in the middle of a love story?
Why is a police detective dating Paige's mother, a recovering alcoholic? What is his motive? Is he genuinely interested in this woman, or simply priming her for information on a long unsolved case? Why does he ignore a parallel situation unfolding in his own family?
And the questions just keep coming, as Marissa Langford is introduced. A dance instructor and choreographer nearly crippled by a drunk driver, she has her own first impression of Paige to overcome. The two begin to work together, and layers of truth are slowly revealed.
This novel is all about layers of truth, enduring crippling pain, and survival. Paige is a survivor, first on the most basic levels, but then there are other types of desperation, like holding onto the memory of one good thing, letting it be the motive for a lifetime of living on the run, never forming lasting relationships, never trusting anyone. Paige denies herself any chance at those things.
What about Detective Jack Beaman? Can he ignore his intensifying feelings for Paige's mother when he gets a piece of information that may lead him to solve the murder of her husband? Is he really as naive as he seems?
Don't worry. This isn't a murder mystery, though there is one buried in the midst of several characters' search for love and the truth. This is a simple story, simply told, and the complexity is in the nature of love and sacrifice. Dance in the Key of Love is also good writing. Marianne K. Martin never lets the reader down. There is tension and drama and action, and at heart, a story about redemption and the power of love to transform even those once scarred by the ugly permutations that sometimes occur. There's really nothing simple about that.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book, July 12, 2006
This review is from: Dance in the Key of Love (Paperback)
Dance in the Key of Love is the sequel to an earlier novel by Marianne K. Martin called Dawn of the Dance. You don't have to have read the first novel to enjoy this one, but, if it is available, it might be helpful to review it.
Paige Flemming is a woman on the run, from the law and from her past. She has been running for sixteen years to stay out of prison for a crime that she didn't commit, but for which she is willing to take the blame. Sometimes though she needs to stop in a safe place and rest and that means visiting with her friends Moni and Katherine. While she is with them, she feels she'll be safe from the hunters, but she's underestimated the determination of Detective Jack Beamon. He'll do anything to find her, including establishing a relationship with her mother Geri. Marissa Langford was a beautiful and talented professional dancer with a flourishing career until a drunk driver left her broken in many ways. Though she has recovered more than doctors had hoped for, it means nothing because she cannot dance. She is struggling to rebuild her life and determined to prove that she can still choreograph the musical at the local college. Eventually, Marissa faces the fact that she cannot do the job without Paige and that she will have to put aside her feelings about a previous encounter they had. Working together, they will find a relationship that has the potential to solve the emotional and physical injuries both of them have suffered. Even as they help either other though, Jack Beamon is getting closer to his goal of making Paige pay for what he thinks she did.
Marianne K. Martin has written a strong and moving story. Well worth reading.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Survivors One and All, June 23, 2006
This review is from: Dance in the Key of Love (Paperback)
Marianne K. Martin has beautifully answered the question: Whatever happened to Paige Flemming? Paige, a character from Martin's Dawn of the Dance, was full of secrets. Always looking over her shoulder, afraid of hurting and being hurt, she refused to allow herself to experience real love. In Dance in the Key of Love, Paige's resolve softens as she begins to work with, and then to love, dance teacher Marissa Langford. Even as Paige's heart begins to open, we find that the heart of her mother, Geri Panning, is opening to, ironically, the police officer who has been searching for Paige for sixteen years. The plot of this story is full of twists and turns, but resolution and redemption come in the end.
Dance in the Key of Love, like all the previous six novels Martin has written, is more than the usual lesbian romance. Martin weaves real issues into her stories, showing her well-developed characters dealing with the "stuff" of contemporary life. She has a gift of allowing her readers to vicariously experience the feelings of those who deal with devastating accidents that cripple the body and spirit, of those who deal with spousal abuse, of those who deal with terminal illness, of those who deal with drug and alcohol abuse. Never "preachy," she is able to raise the consciousness of the reader as we thoroughly enjoy getting to know the characters about whom she writes. By the end of each book, the characters seem like old friends. This is especially true in Dance in the Key of Love, where the mysteries of Paige Flemming are finally resolved.
Don't start Dance in the Key of Love unless you have time to sit and read it all the way through. You won't want to put it down!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
