Sunday, February 14, 2016

Review for Dancing Up A Storm

Dancing Up A Storm: 9 Christian Short StoriesDancing Up A Storm: 9 Christian Short Stories by Angela K. Couch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for my honest review. Dancing Up a Storm is a sweet anthology of short stories. Each of the stories contained dancing as a major or minor part of the plot. It was interesting to see how the different authors included this theme in their stories. There is a lot of variety in the stories, which I appreciated. In addition to the varied genres, it contains stories with characters you don't normally see. Dancing Hands is about a couple getting to know each other through sign language. Fred and Ginger features a widower in his 70's learning to make friends again.

However, my favorites, the ones that made me wish there were more to the story, were two of the speculative fictions: The Confession by Kathrese McKee, and Night Dance by Gretchen E.K. Engel.

In The Confession, a reporter on a mission to Earth writes to her husband on Mars colony. Christine has been captured by members of "The Holy Religion" who try to get her to renounce her Christianity. This was a futuristic sci-fi story, which normally is not my cup of tea. However, the setting, where Mars is the new world and Earth is the old world and both are inhabited by humans, intrigued me. I liked the way the author illustrated the spiritual parallels between clinging to an old world and clinging to an old life. The character development was believable, and beautifully unfolded, which is difficult to do in a short story.

The Night Dance is about a gnomish nurse who helps an adopted son of elves find out about his true heritage. The setting is an industrial fantasy world, which I found intriguing. I enjoyed the two main characters, though I would have liked to get to know them better, as well as some of the supporting characters. I would love to see this turned into a full-length novel.

Overall, this is an enjoyable anthology of very creative short stories that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a fun read.

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