A Midnight Dance – Joanna Davidson Politano

A Midnight Dance by Joanna Davidson Politano
Also by this author: The Love Note
Published by Revell on September 7, 2021
Genres: Fiction, Christian, Historical
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

All theater romances are tragedies. Ella Blythe knows this. Still, she cannot help but hope her own story may turn out different than most--and certainly different than the tragic story of the Ghost of Craven Street Theater. Yet as she struggles to maintain her tenuous place in the ever-shrinking ballet company, win the attentions of principal dancer Philippe, and avoid company flirt Jack, Ella cannot deny the uncanny feeling that her life is mirroring that of the dead ballerina.
Is she dancing ever closer to the edge of her own tragic end? Or will the secrets that are about to come to light offer release from the past?
Mystery and romance make the perfect dance partners in this evocative story from fan-favorite Joanna Davidson Politano.

A Midnight Dance is a beautiful ballet theatre story with hints of mystery woven in, just one more stunning masterpiece by the talented writer Joanna Davidson Politano. I loved reading about Ella and her life as a ballerina in the mid 1800s, in London. Because of her lowly circumstances in life, Ella is only able to be trained in ballet due to a scholarship. But is in her very blood, and she dances ballet as though she was born doing it. A Midnight Dance is her story. Politano begins in what feels like the middle of everything, revealing to the reader what we don’t know at a tantalizing pace – one teeny, tiny, intricate little piece at a time.

The story begins in an exciting manner with Ella finding some very old, but famously well-known crimson ballet slippers. She is determined to keep these safe.  We are left wondering…why? Ella’s life is a big puzzle. Life in the ballet company is no walk in the park. Rivals in that ballet company are not known to be kind to each other. There is danger. Mystery. And much more.

In addition to Ella’s story, there is the story of a certain famous ballerina, from an early time period, with lots of mystery surrounding her life. Ella is determined to unravel the mystery and discover the truth of what happened all those years earlier. This is a story of searching for one’s identity, belonging, and more. Each chapter is woven together with beautifully crafted word pictures, and we are left with an exquisite masterpiece. If you enjoy historical novels with hints of mystery tangled throughout, you won’t want to miss this one!

five-stars