A Time to Dance Knows True Love

Recently I was introduced to BookSneeze, an online book platform allowing bloggers access to free books in exchange for a book review. I figured it was worth a shot, so I signed up and ordered my first book. I selected A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury. The book arrived in my mailbox a few days later, and I started reading the book one chapter at a time. From the first chapter I started highlighting key elements and started taking notes on every chapter I read. About seven or eight chapters in I figured I would ditch this effort and just focus on the story within these pages. I didn’t want to turn this into a book report, as some of my thought process would get lost here on these pages.

The book is just over 300 pages long and was a quick read. Let’s get more into the progression from the first chapter through the conclusion.

A Time To Dance

The book starts out by introducing a handful of the main characters. This novel introduces Abby and John Reynolds, a married couple with a few kids of their own. Before too long you are head over heels in love with these characters as the book does a great job showcasing their personalities.

John is a high school football coach, coaching his oldest son Kade through his senior year as quarterback. He would later go on to play college ball, and not play a big roll in this book. Nicole, however, another one of their children, would get married and be a central focus point for this read. She was to be married on her parent’s anniversary.

You are quickly introduced to Charlene as well. Charlene works at the same school as John, and is getting a little too close to him. Too close for comfort. The kids even begin to take notice. You are not even a few chapters in before you realize that Abby also has taken notice of this supposed affair.

The book spends a lot of time going back and forth from John and Abby, sharing their personal thoughts and emotions as they work through this obvious divorce.

One of my favorite chapters in the book tells the story of how these two met. Abby was younger than John, he a superstar football player. It is only a few pages long, but there is so much vivid conceptions of the football field all the way to the way they felt when they first kissed. The book does do a good job at telling a story.

Besides all of that, the book is also about love. The love that John and Abby share, and shared, as well as the love that Nicole (or Nick as her father would say) shares with Matt, her soon to be husband. They are actually married in the last chapter, which does not come as any sort of a surprise The second half of the book covers all of the wedding plans to picking out the perfect white dress for the wedding.

There are several other characters that come into play as well. Jo and Denny are introduced and they add a sense of humor to the read. But they really don’t affect the overall theme of this book. The book literally is a progression through the downfall of Abby and John and the marriage they have so perfectly built over the last two decades.

This book is nothing short of heartwarming and makes me want to just curl up on the couch with the one closest to me. There is a second book in this series, but you wouldn’t know that by reading it. It sets up the relationship that John built with Charlene, talks about the demise of his marriage, and then circles back for a fantastic conclusion.

The book did just what I wanted it to. It was exciting to read, and even made me shed a few tears here and there. This was the first book that I had read by Karen Kingsbury, and I can’t wait to read another. Her writing style just fits so perfectly with the way I like to read.

If you have ever loved someone, then you will totally relate to this read. Cheers to Karen Kingsbury for producing such a great novel. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.