Customer Reviews

Dancing on Air (Harper Monogram)

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

 

 

Susan Wiggs is one of my favorite authors. I have read all of her books, and will continue to do so. This was the third in the story of the De Lacy family. I'm sorry to all of you who loved it, but I found it not nearly as good as her first two novels. I like the two main characters, but there was nothing extra special about them. They almost seemed like second class characters. It took forever to get to the plot of this story. There was no electricity between these two. Oliver and Lark had a magnetic pull to one another from the first time they met. Aiden and Pippa just didn't seem to have that. It was hard to believe they were really in love. I wonder if Susan got a little bored with this story herself. When Pippa ran to Aiden as he was being led to the gallows, I didn't feel that same all consuming love that I did when Lark went to see Oliver in his cell as he was waiting execution. This story had it's ups, but more so, it had it's downs.

After reading many books by authors such as Elizabeth Chadwick, Diana Gabaldon, Judith McNaught, Virginia Henley and the list just goes on I thought I would try one of Susan Wiggs.

After reading the first few pages I didn't think I would like it. Pippa seemed such a brazen character & a liar to boot. Not really my favourite type of people, however I pressed on regardless & I am really glad I did. She is certainly not your usual hairbrained heroine that you find in a lot of books. I loved the characters of Aiden & Pippa. Not forgetting the memorable characters of Iago & Donal Og.

I like the way Susan Wiggs helps us to understand the characters. The story line I felt was good & she tries to show us how people lived back then when times were tough & unpredictable. A very enjoyable read. There is not much on Tv these days I guess I am not the only one who loves to curl up with a book at night. Now I will try to hunt down the first two books in the de Lacey series.

I do agree with one of the other reviewers a glossary of the Gaelic terms used in the book would have been helpful. It is a problem with many books using other languages throughout. You wonder what you are missing.

If you're a fan of Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsey, Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux... and love these authors because of the poignancy of their tales... then you'll LOVE this book as much I did.

There was not a moment while reading this that I felt bored. I am truly suprised this book hasnt been considered one of the best of all time ( like WHITNEY, MY LOVE by Judith Mcnaught ) that I just recently came across this novel, and this coming from someone who's been reading romance novels, avidly, for 15 years.... So, get ready to spend all night, losing sleep... smiling, laughing out loud, and tearing up at times while reading this book!...

Pippa, one of the most lovable fairie-like heroine you'll come across in any romance novels, is a homeless waif in England. She's fiesty, witty, loud, courageous and underneath all the dirt on her face, one of the most beautiful woman of the land.

Aidan, gentle Irish Chieftan travels to London to seek peace and mercy from the Queen and encounters Pippa, entrancing witty homeless waif.. just in time to save her... and so starts their magical and majestic love story....


You wont regret picking up this book!

A good read. This is my third Susan Wiggs book. Pippa, Aidan, Iago and Donal Og, what a delightful bunch they were in the telling of their adventures through England to Ireland and beyond. It was so easy to visualize their experiences. This book made me both laugh and cry. Because of the storm of emotions among the key players in Aidan and Pippa's final fate, I expected a different ending. I was surprised. One suggestion. A glossary of the Gaelic terms would have been nice.

Thanks so much for bringing such a delightful end to this series, I thought I may not have the bond with Pippa like I did Oliver, but was I ever wrong! I so thoroughly enjoyed this story and Pippa what a little spit fire! Aidan... what a man! As I sat crying at the end, when Aidan is saying good bye... I was so heartbroken I thought I could never read another S.W. book, but then the wonderful surprise! Thank you for not letting us down!

This is my third novel by the authoress, Susan Wiggs. I chose Dancing on Air, in hopes that, just maybe, I was wrong about her writing, that, just maybe, this would alter my initial opinion of her. Unfortunately, I still despair with each sentence, still grimace at the suffocatingly slow plot development.

One typically reads romance novels for the tension, and, as most know, sexual tension is the most frought with emotion and peril. I feel no tension between Pippa and Aidain (at least no "believable" tension). Furthermore, I feel unmoved by Pippa's "Poor Girl with a Cockney Accent" plight and am also annoyed with Aidan's national pride. The problem with these two elements is in their presentation: it's blunt, forcing the reader to say, "yeah, i guess he really DOES love Ireland", and that Pippa IS a poor girl with a cockney accent. There is no subtlety with Wiggs, no assurance that her audience will understand clever inferences. Instead, she takes a battering ram with tautological thoroughness to her readers heads.

I've never enjoyed having great fat arrows point to a character's motivation unecessarily, never liked having their depth "explained" to me. The story too, feels formulated. It treads heavily trodden ground with nothing stark or startling to make it poignant. Try a different Wiggs novel, this one isn't on the level.

You will fall in love with Pippa and Aidan. You will laugh and cry with the powerful Irish chieftan who falls for the lost, haunted English street player. You will feel the immediate attraction that they experience and wait anxiously as against the odds they work out a way to be together. The plot will take you to England and then to Ireland as the Irish people are fighting to retain their lands and some semblance of self rule. This story is wonderfully told . You will never forget Pippa and Aidan