Blog Tour: The Anniversary Waltz

 

Title: The Anniversary Waltz
Author: Darrel Nelson
Publisher: Realms
My Rating: 4 Stars
Buy the Book: -HERE-


"At their sixtieth anniversary party, Adam Carlson asks his wife, Elizabeth, for their customary waltz.  After the dance they gather the family and share their story -- a story of love and courage overcoming adversity and thriving in the face of overwhelming odds.

It's the summer of 1946, and Adam has just returned from the war to his home in Reunion, Montana.  At a town festival he meets Elizabeth Baxter, a young woman going steady with his former high school rival and now influential banker, Nathan Roberts.

When Adam and Elizabeth share a waltz in a deserted pavilion one evening, their feelings begin to grow, and they embark on a journey, and a dance, that will last a lifetime."

 

When I first received an email from Glass Road Publishers asking if I would care to join in on this blog tour, I wasn't sure I would be able to commit fully with my busy schedule.  Yet, as soon as I had read the title and description of the book, I found myself responding back with a hearty 'yes'.  The first thing to catch my attention was the fact that this is Mr. Darrel Nelson's first published book.  As an aspiring writer myself, I love taking opportunities to encourage and cheer on new authors.  The second thing to catch my attention was the title itself.  With a growing passion for dance, my curiosity was piqued.  

The moment The Anniversary Waltz was taken out of its package, I began to devour it.  A lovely romance began to unfold in front of my eyes.  As the official description of the book suggests, there are many adversities and odds Adam and Elizabeth must overcome to develop their relationship.  I particularly loved the scene in which they partook in their first waltz, away from everyone's prying eyes.  It is a simple but elegant dance and paralleled nicely with the two characters new-found affection for each other. 

The writing in this book was not overly flowery or too simple for enjoyment.  While I found the pacing in a few sections to either be too long or too short, I do feel that it was planned out well for the most part.  The characters were also developed and grew throughout the course of the novel.  It can be difficult to make a romance story not seem overly focused on just the romance, but Mr. Nelson was able to build a strong case for both the couple together and the couple as individual people.  We not only were able to enjoy Adam and Elizabeth together, but as individual characters as well.  Kudos on a great book!  I will be eagerly awaiting next Spring when his new book, The Return of Cassandra Todd, hits bookshelves.

I recommend this book to women aged fifteen and up who are looking for a nice romantic love story.

I received this book for free from Glass Road  Publishers in exchange for posting a review about it. I am not required to post a positive review. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Booking Through Thursday: Skipping

This week, Booking Through Thursday asked, "I saw this article the other day that asked, “Are you ashamed of skipping parts of books?” Which, naturally, made me want to ask all of YOU: Do you skip ahead in a book? Do you feel badly about it when you do?"

Would you believe I used to almost ALWAYS skip to the last part in a book and read the ending? Very counter-productive I know, and I have definitely stopped those ridiculous ways.

But what about now? It would seem natural that if you were re-reading a book, you might decide to skip over certain sections you don't want to read, but not for me! I don't skip parts in books. Ever. Now, if a book contains foul language that isn't too frequent, I'll skip over those words, but that's as close as it comes to skipping parts in books.

As a fun side note, sometimes I will go back through books I've already read and just read a certain section that I liked the best. That's as close as it comes to skipping parts of books, though!

Happy reading!