Customer Reviews

Step-Ball-Change

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If this were a movie, it would be one of those wacky screwball comedies from the 30's. Some of the scenes are so funny, you find yourself laughing out loud - particularly when food is involved.

The cast of characters includes:

The husband and wife who just want to make it to retirement and a well earned quiet existence by a lake who find their lives turned upside down by ...

The sister whose husband has left her for a woman younger than their daughter who arrives for a visit (of undetermined length) with her little dog who loves to bite ankles.

The daughter who becomes engaged to a man whose mother is planning a reception for 900 ("And how many do you have on YOUR list, dear?") but who gets distracted when her ex-boyfriend (who always seems to be around - especially at meals) becomes attracted to her exotic cousin.

The contractor who is adding a Florida room on their house. Major foundation problems have come up and he also always is around - eating and giving advice.

Read it, enjoy it and share it. This book is a keeper.

I read this book because Ray's first book, Julie and Romeo, had been so good I decided to follow up on her progress. She is just as good in Step-Ball-Change. The story starts off very unassuming with our two main characters having supper when the phone rings. From there on it is one family catastrophe after another. The story is funny and the main characters are interesting and true to life. The secondary characters are also realistic. Actually, one of the best characters in the book is a white terrier who is nervous and energetic and never bites anyone until...well, you'll see.

Step-Ball-Change is a very funny story of family life. The story encompasses the lives of both young and old characters and their happiness, trials, and tribulations and how each member of the family relates to one another in the context of those trying times.

Step-Ball-Change is a funny and entertaining story and I recommend it highly.

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. I loved it, I could not put it down.I knew that I wanted to read it because I enjoyed her first one so much. By the way, if you havn't read that one, Julie and Romeo, you will enjoy that one as well. I was supposed to be packing for a trip, but I found myself just sitting and reading, and reading. I loved this family, warts and all, I wanted to introduce George to one of my nieces, and I wanted to take tap dancing lessons, even though I cannot dance at all, and I mean any kind of dancing! I just wanted to feel the joy the author was describing. I love watching old Gene Kelly movies, well all the old dance and song movies, and I was envious I could not ever really feel the joy you get from the actual dancing, not just the watching. This was a funny book, warm and sentimental book, and a hopeful book. This is a book I would buy as a gift for a friend, what better compliment is there,than that!

This is my first time to read this author and I thoroughly enjoyed Step Ball Change. Her characters are believable and recognizable. Take the time to read this one...you'll recognize your own family members in this story. I couldn't keep myself from reading parts out loud to my husband as I raced through this book. I'll definitely read her other books.

The plot of this novel is detailed in so many other reviews that I will try not repeat it all again. Suffice to say, this is a delightful story that can be read easily in an evening. By page thirty we have met most of the main characters and they are truly likeable people. Enter 'sixty-something' Tom and Caroline McSwain. Both have fulfilling careers; he's a public defender approaching retirement and she's a dancer running a small dancing school.

The four McSwain four children are grown now, but the story of their parent's own wedding has become something of a family legend and early on we are entertained with an amusing account of their elopement. Ironically, a large portion of the book deals with their daughter's impending marriage to a member of Raleigh's blue blood society...and what a financial disaster it could turn out to be for Tom and Caroline.

The McSwain's are a family with a great sense of humor. The dialogue is fast paced and dotted with snappy one-liners. (Why can't my family be as witty?) The description is apt without being excessive, and many times Ray's subtle, yet insightful, phrases touch the heart deeply. As we read along and watch members of the McSwain family agonize over the age old question of: What love is and if it's real? One thing we know for certain is that the size of the wedding has absolutely no bearing on the ultimate question - will love last? Excellent!

If you're ever down, buy this book and keep it on hand. It's sure to lift your spirits!!! You may even start tap dancing!
Likable and believable characters, good story line told with great charm and humor (not the cynical brand of humor that is so often found in today's writing)--just charmingly funny. When this book came to the end, I thought how much I'd love to see it made into a movie!!!

I really liked Julie and Romeo and couldn't wait for Ray's latest Step-Ball-Change. This is truly a delightful read. We meet Caroline and her husband Tom who are trying to save the foundation of their house which has developed a few cracks in it.
All of a sudden their personal lives seem to take on the same aspect. Caroline's sister Taffy calls to say she is coming for a visit as her husband has left her for a woman younger than their daughter. At the same time Caroline's daughter calls to tell her parents she is engaged to the wealthiest boy in town. From there on the story starts to roll. Caroline and Tom begin to see their retirement fly right out the window as they invision having to pay half of a million dollar wedding. The quiet contractor Woodrow, training Taffy's viscious tiny leg biting dog into being a calm house pet and trying to fix their house before it totally gives way. I love the way dance is brought into this book. Caroline has been a dancer all her life and this book tells the story of how one family learns to dance together. That time goes by too fast and that you have to speak up and say what you feel and always dance.

It was charming from beginning to end, never dull, never over-the-top and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read it. Having recently read two very lackluster "chick-lit" type books this story was a refreshing change of pace. There was no bitterness, no over the top shenanagins, no ridiculous situations and no 20 or 30-something nitwit heroine.

Instead the story is told from a happily married 60-ish heroine (Caroline) whose life is turned upside down when she receives two phone calls simultaneously from hysterical woman. One is her daughter, Kay, who is crying tears of joy because she's become engaged to the catch of the century and the other is from her sister Taffy whose husband just ran off with a very younger woman. Taffy & her nasty little dog Stamp temporarily move in with Caroline and Tom while she decides what to do with the rest of her life. Caroline is less than thrilled with the fact that her daughter is marrying into such a wealthy family especially when she learns that they intend to invite 900 guest. Poor Caroline sees her retirement plans flying out the window. This story is about life's little (and bigger) bumps and all of the interwining relationships.

I also really enjoyed the way the author incorporated dance into the story ~ it read like it was her true passion and added a lot of depth to Caroline, Taffy & George. There are many touching moments and wise observations about love, romance and marriage. The characters were all terrific and came alive for me and I hated to let them go when the book ended (something I rarely say about a book these days!). At times I wanted to shake some sense into Kay and felt like she was totally insensitive and selfish but it turns out she's only human (and really not so bad in the end) just the rest of the folks in this book . I smiled and my eyes teared up quite a bit while reading this and I'm adding this author's other books to my wishlist when I find a few spare minutes. My only complaint? This book could've been longer as I felt it all ended too quickly but maybe that's just because I enjoyed it so much.

No one can make domestic chaos as much fun as Jeanne Ray. In her second novel, Ray creates two delightful characters in Caroline McSwain and her long-time husband, Tom. Just as they congratulate themselves on having a quiet night with a dinner for two, the McSwains are interrupted by two phone calls. One of them is from their emotional daughter Kay, who has just become engaged to one of the wealthiest men in town, and the other is from Caroline's sister Taffy whose husband is leaving her for another woman. Thus starts the delightful chaos which envelopes the McSwains and their friends. One especially enjoyable character is Woodrow, a contractor who is making the McSwain's home improvement project into his life's work. In his spare time, he trains Taffy's wayward dog and begins to restore her self-esteem. By the time things are worked out and the proper people have become couples, the reader has had some good laughs and has grown very fond of Ray's loveable characters. Ms. Ray, please keep these delightful books coming!

Like Julie and Romeo (Jeanne Ray's first bestselling novel) Step-Ball-Change is a comic novel full of light moments and romance. It is a domestic novel in the most literal sense of the phrase: most of the scenes take place around the McSwain's kitchen table. Caroline McSwain, age 62, is happily married to her husband Tom and enjoys her job as a dance studio owner and instructor and her role as a mother of four grown children.

Though there is a constant low level of chaos in her life due to the renovation work being down on their home, the chaos level jumps at the beginning of the book when two tearful phone calls come at the same time. The first is from her daughter Kay, who has just become engaged to Trey Bennett (of The Bennets, who own the local hospital and bank). The second is from her sister Taffy, who is in need of comfort and a place to flee her philandering husband. Though Caroline and Taffy have never gotten along well, Caroline invites Taffy to come stay for an indefinite period of time.

How Caroline dances the ever thought-provoking exchanges with her sister while keeping the home fires burning for her adult children makes for an entertaining tap dance of a read. Jeanne Ray makes the sixth decade of live seem vital and full of humor and possibility, while also capturing the depth of the sister relationship. This was a wonderful book to read, and I look forward to Eat Cake, which will be published in May of 2003.