3.5 stars, rounded up
I was very impressed with Sarah Bird’s Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen. So, I was anxious to see how she would do with her latest, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier. Once again, she has placed us firmly in the time and place of the story. Here, it’s the Depression and the dance marathons that provided a source of entertainment and a means to earn some money. My one memory concerning dance marathons was the movie, “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?” This captures the same helplessness on the written page. Bird does a great job highlighting the issues of the day, including the political situation, contrasting Hoover and FDR.
Evie Grace Devlin had high hopes of escaping her checkered past and becoming a nurse. But it wasn’t meant to be and through a series of events she’s working as a “nurse” for a dance marathon. Then, she ends up actually dancing and becoming a star in one. I quickly became engaged with Evie’s story and anxious to see how it would play out. We are told at the beginning that the Starlight Pier burns. So, as the story got closer to the end, I knew things wouldn’t end well for everyone. Bird does a good job of providing a sense of tension as the story reaches its conclusion.
Bird broadens the story by highlighting some different social issues and delving into the possible “medical treatments” of the day.
This was entertaining, but delved more into soap opera territory than I would have liked.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

I had a difficult time getting through this one. I liked the idea of the story and the main characters, but it was slow moving and often repetitive. Beautiful cover and I like the way the author puts a sentence together. I'll see out more books by the author and see if they flow a little better for me.

I received an ARC of this book for my honest opinion.

Very interesting tale told against back drop of great depression. Gave some depth and personal interest stories along with telling Galveston's history. A sure hit for history buffs.

I received this ARC from NetGalley. I really liked this. Being from Texas and spending timing Galveston, I learned a lot about the history of it and Houston that I didn’t know. This was a fresh look at historical fiction set during the Depression.
It’s a story of hope, love, family and redemption.
Definitely recommend this book

This book provided a unique perspective on the Great Depression by focusing on individuals participating in dance marathons to make a living. The main character Evie falls into the dance marathon circuit after being denied her pin upon completing nursing school. The individuals she meets during these marathon dances are enjoyable characters. This book was an interesting story, but parts were definitely slow and seemed to drag a bit.

We're all not born with the same dreams.

That should give you pause. As personal as our dreams are, they have been dusted with the leaning influence of others. Dreams either catapult you into the next universe of I-can-do-anything or bring you up by the collar of not-gonna-happen. Complicated visions upon complicated realities.

Sarah Bird takes us to a time during the Great Depression where people held onto their nickels or invented new ways to grab a nickel. Dance Marathons did just that. Competition for those nickels was cut-throat. People rooted for the underdogs or cunningly wished failure upon one another. If you simply could move your feet to the music for hours and days and secure the attention of the crowd, you might eat the next day.

Bird introduces us to Evie Grace Devlin who was at the mercy of her leacherous mother Mamie's dreams. Mamie made a child star of Evie back on the vaudeville stage in Detroit. Although her dancing father, Denny, loved her, he was never in her life long enough to take responsibility. Mamie took Evie back to Houston where Evie ended up eventually in Galveston.

Let's just say that Mamie's dreams of constantly re-inventing herself rubbed off on Evie. Evie's dreams of becoming a nurse wasn't on the horizon. So Evie sent a doctored (Oh, pun intended.) application for a scholarship to a nursing school in Galveston. Evie gets her foot in the door and Sarah Bird creates quite the challenge for Evie there. But fate steps in and Evie is out. Time to re-invent herself, once again, as a nurse monitoring the marathon dancers.

This new career takes Evie to Chicago, the Panhandle of Texas, and back to Galveston where she gets involved with the Amadeo crime family. All while two-steppin' as an eventual marathon dancer herself. Save those nickels, Evie.

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier was an enjoyable read. My "however" comes with the notion that marathon dancing can only take you so far in a novel. Bird does add a bundle of characters to keep track of and situations occuring through some mindless decisions. Evie's heart was not entirely made of gold nor were her intentions. I usually love novels set during the Great Depression with the focus on the resilience of the people. Last Dance reveals desperate times with desperate people. Take it out for a spin and see what you think. It's an element of history that's worth a dance step or two.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Sarah Bird for the opportunity.

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a fascinating historical novel set in 1932 Galveston - and involving dance marathons.

I was intrigued by the dance marathon storyline of this book and just had to read it! This was my favorite aspect of the book - a unique glimpse of the 1930's.

Evie was an interesting protagonist and I got engrossed in this novel waiting to see what would happen next! I would recommend it for other fans of historical fiction.

I had high hopes for this story and I gave it my best shot but I had a very hard time coming to care about Evie’s plight. I did appreciate her desire to become a nurse and help when and where she could but it seemed like we were always on a moving path that did not have a clear direction. Also, a couple things were puzzling, could she dance or not?
I did enjoy the representations of how life was during the Depression with the shortages and lack of work. Many scenes and situations were interesting but in the big picture it was a bit dis-jointed. I had assumed a dance marathon was a long dance competition, not a traveling dance troupe. All and all it was not a bad read, just not a great one.
I personally thank the publisher for the privilege to be offered this ARC from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my unbiased review – This one comes in with 4 stars.

From Vaudeville to nursing school and then back again.

Who had the nerve to send information about Evie’s previous life to the nursing administrator who didn’t like her from the beginning and wouldn’t give Evie her well-earned and well-deserved nursing pin.

She wouldn’t be able to be a nurse without that pin proving she was a registered nurse. Now what is she going to do since her mother would gloat if she returned home.

She went to her Uncle’s and finds he now has a dance marathon in the same building where she used to teach children to dance.

What fun to learn about these dance marathons during the 1920s and 1930s. It was a bit dangerous, though, because the owners had to deal with unsavory characters.

We follow Evie as she uses her nursing skills to save people at the dance marathons and to try to get her nursing pin back. It wasn't her dream to take care of dancers instead of patients in hospitals, but at least she was being a nurse.

We also see how people had to live during the depression.

The book was fun with lovable, but sad Evie who always had some problem. She had a hard life. She did show us that you can overcome hardships and that family and friends are the most important part of our lives.

Most of the book was about the dance marathons and prohibition. I loved learning about the silver showers at the marathons and was a bit shocked how the dancers had to dance with only short breaks and no sleep.

LAST DANCE ON THE STARLIGHT PIER was different and well researched, but was a bit long. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

I wish to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read for pure enjoyment and this book is full of it. This historical fiction begins with a young girl in a dysfunctional Vaudeville family who leaves home and goes to Galveston to attend nursing school. Set during the Depression the reader learns about financial struggles, the life of Dancer’s on the marathon circuit, the political climate at the time and so much more. All of the characters have unique personalities and struggles and their stories are woven into the plot, Evie, her friends and, her partner in the Marathon share so much pain, disappointment and struggles. It is a sweet and touching story of love and friendships as each person travels down the path of life.

Galveston is described as it must have actually been during that time frame and I loved imaging being there at that time. Starlight Pier must have been quite a sight in its glory.

The story brilliantly holds the reader’s interest as all of the subplots combine to make a lovely story. Do not miss this one. I look forward to reading more of Sarah Bird’s books.

Partly an elegiac reconstruction of an era, mostly passed, of roadside Burma Shave rhymes and dance marathons, partly romantic comedy, and partly a discourse on politics, sexual and otherwise, the book recreates effectively the tortured ambience remembered from the classic film THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (1969), making for engaging reading but muddled conclusions. Enjoyable but puzzling, with a memorable narrative voice.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I did not really know much about these dance marathons that took place during the depression, so it was interesting to learn about. Evie was a very interesting character with quite the past and it was wonderful to read and watch her learn and grown and come into herself. I really loved Zave's character as well and all the side characters throughout the story. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book but I just had a hard time following it, was kind of all over the place. I had to re-read things in order to understand what I was reading and that was taking 10x longer than normal for me. I ended up not finishing it.

When I first started reading this book I had an idea what it would be about. The first couple of chapters made me second guess my choice to read it. It had a slow start and I had a hard time following the characters initially. I am so glad I stuck it out. Once I truly got past that beginning hump, I devoured this book. The characters got under my skin and I couldn’t put it down. I truly ended up loving this story. It did not end the way I thought it would but I loved the way the loose ends were tied up.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

The first thing that intrigued me when I requested this was "dance marathons". I have seen many movies or TV shows with these marathons, and they have always intrigued me. Also, the time period during The Great Depression drew me right in. I learned so much about marathon dancing. I also loved our main character, Evie. This is one I will be recommending to my historical fiction lover book buddies! Such a different and palate cleansing book for someone who usually reads thrillers.

I enjoyed this time period story. The author described in great detail what was going on and her characters were well written. Evie had dealt with so much trauma and she proved that she is resilient.

Fascinating characters and story. I had no idea that Galveston was such a glamorous destination during the first half of the 20th century. I knew nothing about depression-era Texas and the control of the city of Galveston.
Excellent research and detail, well-drawn characters, well- crafted prose.
You will not forget your journey back in time to place most of us never knew existed. A joy to read.

Dance Marathons, something I remember from movie news reels! What a crazy idea, yet people flocked to them in droves. Sarah Bird's story makes you feel like you are dancing along with Gravy and Zack. This is a well written mystery with a really awesome surprise ending. The characters are very vivid with good guys and bad guys! It's a long read but so well worth it. Thanks Net Galley for sharing this great book.

This is a decent historical novel in which a young woman, desperate to escape the exploitation of her past, tries to reinvent herself in Galveston, Texas, in the early 1930s, only to find that she's embroiled in mob family drama and scheming. The plot is good and the book's pace is quick without sacrificing detail. The characters are mostly well-drawn and interesting, with compelling stories. A major part of the plot revolves around the use of lobotomies for "treating" queerness; this entire plot line made me feel ill but of course it is historical fact, and in the end, no one is violated in this way. Overall, a good read, and readers interested in the time period, location, crime families, or show business will find it entertaining.

This was a really good piece of historical fiction of the Depression and Dust Bowl era, and a specific activity about which I knew nothing, the community of dance marathons. Evie is a poor girl with a dreadful mother who is a child vaudeville dancer turned nurse turned marathon dancer. The book covers abuse, hidden homosexuality, and deep poverty and hunger and yet had a lot of uplifting joyful moments of friendship, dance and camaraderie, It really made me feel the era in a way that other books of this era have not. Just the logistics of getting from place to place made me feel the time period. Very well written and great story. I'll be recommending this one to friends.