I'm going to be honest. I WANTED to love this book. Like, a lot. The cover sucked me in from the get go. It looked like the kind of historical fiction novel I would love. But it just didn't do it for me. At times it was hard to follow. There was a lot going on and often times I felt like things were kind of vague. I can see how some people may really enjoy this story. This one just wasn't for me.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is set during the great depression. In it, you will meet interesting characters that will take you on an even more interesting adventure. At times, I was very confused with what was going on but I think that was the whole point. We get to see things through Evie's eyes and at times she does go squirrely. Her words - not mine.

Other than that, I felt like I was missing little pieces of information. Like I wasn't seeing the entire puzzle until the end of the book. I'll admit that the beginning completely sucked me in and I was very intrigued with Evie's character and what might have gone down. Unfortunately, once things started to confuse me, I started to like her less and less.

Then again, I probably would act like her or even worse than that if I went through what she did. Which is why we had to go back and forth to see what actually happened. Lies, truths, and secrets all come out to play and it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat too.

In the end, I'm happy that I got the chance to jump into this. It was interesting to see what life was like for these character during this era and how they viewed what was happening politically too.

This story takes place in Galveston, Texas and in Chicago during the Great Depression. Evie, the main character, decides to leave behind Vinegar Hill and an abusive mother to attend nursing school in Galveston, Texas. She attends the nursing program there for three years. After finding out about Evie’s dark past as a vaudeville dancer, the director refuses to give Evie her well earned nursing pin. Evie leaves town and ends up meeting some marathon dancers who change her life. Now she finally feels like she has family and people who care about her. Evie ends up dancing in one of the shows with Zave, the show’s main star. This book focuses on Evie and her relationships with the dancers and also the current struggle of the Great Depression. I enjoyed this book but felt very disappointed with the events leading to the end of the story. It left me feeling very disheartened. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced preview of this book.

I really enjoyed the dance marathons the author shed light on. I wish Bird expanded on the marathons much more as opposed to weaving numerous plot threads . Bird certainly possesses ambition - in my opinion too much so. I felt the plot took on deep topics somewhat head-on, and I was disappointed when the writing didn’t reflect their intensity. The tone of the book was just too simplistic not matching the serious subject matters. I must add I didn’t buy the plot totally - a little too far fetched for my reading taste. I did feel the harshness of the era along with the struggles people endured.

The characters were definitely eclectic and just enough was revealed to give you a feel of their past and their present.

I suggest thorough editing - a few historical instances were way off the mark, a pet peeve I detest when reading historical fiction. Fact checks a must!

Great effort but lacking something I can’t quite put my finger on, call it a vibe, a feel, whatever, it missed something of an IT factor for this reader. Perhaps if there wasn’t so much going on in the narrative it could have worked but as is it’s just too busy with a lack of strength it should have owned.

The years of and following the great depression caused a great deal of hardship for most people. Dance marathons were a way to survive, though they took a toll on the dancers. This is an interesting story about the times.

Watching and reading about the huge dance marathons during the 20 & 30's, is fascinating. A time period right after the roaring 20's that was full of happiness and liveliness, comes a bleak time of unsurety, the Crash of '29. Some people stood in long lines for food and others became creative and desperate to dance their days away at dance marathons for food and cash. Some towns banned them considering it disrespectful and disruptive behavior, but the endurance of these dancers gave hope to others. You were at least guaranteed 3 healthy meals a day and were able to sleep 15 min of every hour......No thanks...

This was a story set in the depression in the United States. Story begins in Texas with Evie watching the Starllite Palace burn into the sea. Then the story goes back to Evie's life and how she came to be at that place at that time. Reading the story taught me about dance marathons and prohibition during this time. I was swept up into Evie's story and rooting for a happy ending for her. Along the way you will meet a zany cast of characters that are there for Evie. Give this book a chance and I think you will be swept up.

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I would definitely be recommending this book to readers on my Instagram bookstagram account.

This was not an easy review to write; I wanted to love this and really thought I would - a story of marathon dancers, student nurses, friendship, potential romance, historical fiction? Yes! But, not really… The writing was gorgeous, the plot is such an interesting one, but the characters were so flat and insipid. The romance part isn’t and is just frustrating; I couldn’t really see making Evie so incredibly naive given the mother she grew up with, but, regardless, it held my attention.

Again, the writing is terrific but I hoped for more character development and less repetition.


Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an eARC of this title. Opinions shared are influenced by nothing other than my reading experience.

I accidentally started review for this book that I was writing for another book.. I will update soon when I'm done reading! I'm sorry

I kept starting this book, walking away to read something else then coming back and starting over. I just could not get engaged with the characters and the pace of the beginning just could not keep my attention. I did finally finish it and I think the writing is very good and the story does build and drag you in. I received an ARC from the publisher St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley and I appreciate the opportunity to access this book.

You know how you think you're reading a story you've read 100 times but somehow, at some point it's not at all? That was The Last Dance on the Starlight Pier. My only exposure to a dance marathon was the one in Stars Hollow when Dean and Rory broke up; but I do want to read more about them if even 3% of this was true. For those who read The Four Winds, this is the anecdote to that, hope during the Great Depression with the hunger and desperation at the edges the threat of it being more plot device to explain motivation. The cast of characters was great, and I really liked Evie as the narrator. If you want your historical fiction heavy on the descriptions and colorful cast with only glimpses of the harsh reality of the crash,, this is a book for you.

I enjoyed this book but also thought it a bit sad too. Evie seems to be doing all she can to escape her circumstances and yet life continues to throw curve balls at her.
Evie is kinda feisty and determined. It was a good story.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

It's the early 1930's, the eve of the FDR era, and in a country with more similarities to present day than one would think, desperate hopefuls are participating in punishing dance marathons just to get by. Elvie Devlin, a victim of circumstance on many levels who only wants to gain status as a registered nurse, finds herself caught up in this world, and tells her story against the background of Galveston Texas. I've loved Sarah Bird's writing for years, and here she shows her hand in writing about a part of her beloved state unexplored before, bringing to life the era, the people. Loved it.

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier
Sarah Bird
Release date: 11 Apr 2022

Synopsis:
"Set during the Great Depression, Sarah Bird's Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a novel about one woman—and a nation—struggling to be reborn from the ashes.

July 3, 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She’d come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied—a family, a purpose, even love—waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight.

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a sweeping novel that brings to spectacular life the enthralling worlds of both dance marathons and the family-run empire of vice that was Galveston in the Thirties. Unforgettable characters tell a story that is still deeply resonant today as America learns what Evie learns, that there truly isn’t anything this country can’t do when we do it together. That indomitable spirit powers a story that is a testament to the deep well of resilience in us all that allows us to not only survive the hardest of hard times, but to find joy, friends, and even family, in them."

Review:
I LOVED this book!! Highly recommend - definitely 5 stars!! Great characters, fantastic storyline, beautifully written tale! Please put on your TBR list. I'll be buying a copy of this book when it is released next April.

Galveston - vaudeville - The Depression - nursing school - Houston - dance marathons - West Texas - Dust Bowl - Chicago - Prohibition - Capones - mother/daughter issues - "reversing sexual inversion" - Hoover & FDR - nuns - "silver showers" - resilience

My only quibble would be: how & when did these dance marathons end? It would have been nice to read how long an actual marathon went - how many days were these poor souls holding each other up? Did the "regulars" always win the marathons?

I was gifted this advance copy by NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

This was too much of a slow build for me unfortunately, and covered almost all of the same ground (albeit more slowly!) as "They Shoot Horses Don't They?" – which I highly recommend watching/reading if you are interested in dance marathons. Depression-era dance marathons are a vivid setting for a story, a fascinating cultural practice that does not exist now, but reminds me of the theatricality and faux-melodrama of professional wrestling. So while I was primed for the premise, the execution of "Last Dance" left much to be desired. I think the flash-forward in the opening fails to give enough information about anyone or anything to really hook the reader, it's really not much of a cliffhanger, then we jump back in time and track the main character Evie's painstaking life at nursing school, etc. To me, the pacing felt pretty tedious until Evie joined the dance marathons (which, for me, was the reason I picked up this book), but even then, the author makes very odd creative choices (introducing a grandmother, abandoning her), making the love interest completely unavail., etc. – I just couldn't get on-board with this story.

An interesting historical fiction about the dance marathons during the Great Depression. The author brings to life a unique event in a time of economic downturn and poverty. I enjoyed following the character through her journey.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Sarah Bird for the advanced copy of Last Dance On The Starlight Pier. #NetGalley #LastDanceOnTheStarlightPier

This was an engaging book that kept me turning the pages. The main character, Evie Grace, endears herself to readers early on and has us rooting for her. This is useful later when she unwittingly makes some hurtful and (by modern standards) cringe-worthy mistakes. We get to watch her character grow and come to terms with not only the wounds others have caused her, but the harm she has done as well.

I appreciated how the author used friendships in this book. Evie befriends people very different from herself, and this expands her mind. Friends, especially more privileged ones, learn from her as well. I think that could've been taken even further.

Likewise, sometimes things felt a little too easy for Evie. People forgave her the first time she sincerely apologized, or a painful door stayed closed the first time she shut it. I enjoyed the story but could've seen Evie actively work harder to repair relationships and evolve her thinking about certain things. More human back and forth.

Overall, though, I loved the world the author created with this book and the story was heartfelt and charming.

I received an ARC from NetGalley. Spoiler alert I could not finish this book. It was too much of a stretch. We are told that the main character, that her mentally unstable mother made her dance in a “male audience” show at the age of 9, and that the girl always needed to please the crowd and give them want they want so she was revealing parts of her body to grown men. That was weird and the author used weirdly descriptive terms for it.
The story was interesting but not my thing. I don’t usually stop a book, but this premise seemed to out there to keep reading.

Watching and reading about the huge dance marathons during the 20 & 30's, is fascinating. A time period right after the roaring 20's that was full of happiness and liveliness, comes a bleak time of unsurety, the Crash of '29. Some people stood in long lines for food and others became creative and desperate to dance their days away at dance marathons for food and cash. Some towns banned them considering it disrespectful and disruptive behavior, but the endurance of these dancers gave hope to others. You were at least guaranteed 3 healthy meals a day and were able to sleep 15 min of every hour......No thanks...

First chapter begins with 1932, a tragic fire at the Starlite Palace. Revealing a loss of one of the characters, you feel a drive to learn about their struggles and the truth of what happened. Traveling back to 3 years before the fire, reveals the spark Evie had to rid of her dark past with her vaudeville parents. She wants to be a nurse, find love and have a real family. She applies to nursing school which ends abruptly and in order to survive she fakes her career and becomes a nurse for a dance marathon, family-run empire.

Evie meets and falls in love with Zave, the heart throb of the dance floor. Coincidently, he knew her father that saved him from his abusive dad and hired him for the road shows. These were troubled times and hearts with the country at its lowest and disparagement among the people. This book shows the care and compassion of America as people struggled. There were those that gave purpose to others and lend a helping hand.

If you are looking for a love story, this is not a choice to consider. It is more about the time period. If you have seen the 1969 movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't they?", starring Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin, it will give you an advantage over the book. It details the competition of how dancers survived hundreds, even thousands of hours with only a few to finish with the prize money. Eventually, these contests faded in the late 30's due to World War II which dancers and their audiences found themselves going to war.

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARc in exchange for my honest review.