To Dance in the Desert

I’m a little late to the party for last week’s blog tour, but better late than never.

It is funny how you can “meet” people on the internet. It is an informal gathering of words and pictures, without the natural setting of relationships, yet people can still come across in their personality.

I used to hang out at the forum for Faith in Fiction. Unfortunately blogging has taken priority, so I don’t go there much any more. However, there are some really cool people there with hearts of gold. There always seemed to be people who took it upon themselves to keep the community spirit up over there.

So I “met” Kathleen Popa there. We heard with excitement when her book, To Dance in the Desert, was picked up by a publisher and rejoiced with her. It is pretty awesome to see the journey people make to publication.

I am looking forward to reading this book. I admit, I don’t usually read the romance or women’s fiction books offered through CFBA. There’s enough books to go around that I keep busy enough. This is one that I’m going to sit down and enjoy though. I wish I could’ve read it for this tour, but I was swamped with other commitments reading wise. However, I do have an original review for you, as my darling wife just finished it up and offers her thoughts below. She’s not used to reviewing, but she gave me a good impression of what she liked in the book.

By the way, doesn’t this book have the best cover? Wow.

Beccy’s impressions:

The main character, Dara, has been hurt all of her life. To Dance in the Desert takes you through the emotional path of healing in her life. Though she’s survived horrible tragedy, she wants to hide in the desert and stay where no one will find her. It is only when Jane Cameron is dancing in the desert, free from her burdens, that Dara starts to see a way out.

Beccy said that the book is very gripping at the start, drawing the reader in an emotional way by setting up your understanding of the character’s hurts. The characters are very true to life, and you feel what they are going through, and you care and invest in who they are. This is a great strength of this book. She kept going back to this point, so I could tell she was impressed by this aspect of the book.

She said the ending was a little crammed with so much happening at once. It worked, but it was a little thick in her opinion, pulling her out of the story a little bit in wondering what was going on. This wasn’t a major criticism, and overall she really enjoyed the book – she was up late one night reading, so I know she did.

For another glowing review (not to only highlight the good, but to explain how well Kathleen did on her debut), please check out Becky Miller’s review as well. Kathleen has more reviews listed on her blog also. Way to go Kathleen!