Books for Christian Girls: "A Midnight Dance" by Joanna Davidson Politano

About this book:

“The best moments in dance are the unscripted ones.

At their core, 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 Theatre.

After a chance encounter with one of the ballet company’s handsome dancers late one night, Ella is swept off her elegantly pointed toes. The dance they share and the promise he makes to her feels like a new beginning. Yet as she faces the mounting challenges in the ever-shrinking ballet company, Ella cannot deny the uncanny feeling that her life is mirroring that of the ghostly ballerina.

Is she dancing ever closer to the edge of her own disastrous end? Or will the secrets that are about to come to light offer release from the unyielding grip of the past?”

Series: As of now, no.

Spiritual Content- Many Scriptures (Psalms) are remembered, quoted, & mentioned; Prayers; Talks about God & your dreams; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; A hymn; Because of comments from others, Ella wonders if God and dance really are separate and not able to both be in her (she struggles with this a lot (as well as dance becoming more important to her than God) but, about midway, she realizes that she can worship God through dance); Ella is called a nun by other dancers (because she is not interested in men) & mentions of it; Jack says she doesn’t put much stock in religion & was disappointed to learn about “Ella’s obsession with religion” (towards the end, he asks God what He wants from him, but not much else is said); Mentions of God; Mentions of the Psalms & David; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, denominations, & stained glass; A few mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of being blessed; A couple mentions of sins; A mention of a Christian’s duty;

*Note: Mentions of a haunted place in a theater & a rumored ghost; Mentions of a pair of ballet slippers being called ‘enchanted’; A mention of a devilish smile; A mention of Greek mythology.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’ and a ‘for all that is holy’; Some eye rolling; A fire (up to semi-detailed); Falling down the stairs, a body, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of a death, fire, & possible murderer; Mentions of pain, injuries, & burns (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of an attempted robbery & assault; Mentions of stealing & stolen items; Mentions of drinking, drunks, an addiction, alcohol, & pubs/bars; Mentions of cigars & smoking; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of threats; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of animal manure; A mention of a thief; A mention of hatred.

Sexual Content- A couple hand kisses, two forehead kisses, barely-above-not-detailed kisses, a semi-detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Dances & Touches (including a thought by Ella after a man touches her waist, now understanding what the finer set of London declared dancing as immoral, barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing, Nearness, Smelling, & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); A man touches Ella’s hair when it’s down (an intimate thing in this time period, barely-above-not-detailed); An older man touches Ella (a boss, not in a creepy way) and she wonders what other decent profession allowed a man to put his hands on a woman whenever he wished; Ella’s father hasn’t been in the picture (her parents were married, *Spoiler* but it’s revealed near the end that her father wanted her mother to see a surgeon to take care of “the leech/problem” because of their careers were starting to be successful; her mother decided to fake her death and raise Ella herself as she said he had no right to force her to end a life God created out of their love; Ella does meet her biological father *End of Spoiler*; *Spoiler* Ella’s close friend (like a sister) falls in love easily and prior to the story was pregnant, Ella delivers the baby on the doorstep to a family and tells her mother and her sister that the baby passed away. While this decision haunts Ella, she stands by her decision as the sister would have never properly loved the child (we see Ella’s confirmation of doing the right thing, as Lily, the sister, says she doesn’t care about being respectable and only wants to be loved (by a man who happens to be married) *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of a boss not wanting his dancers “to be inflicted with immorality” (with child); Mentions of prostitutes & a comment about them not working during the day; Mentions of married man having affairs & mistresses (a man makes an offer to Ella and she quickly says she’s not for sale); Mentions of romances and marriage never working for dancers & that no man will marry a female dancer, but will make them a mistress; Mentions of comments about dancers’ reputation & virtue; Mentions of kisses, hand kisses, & expecting a kiss; Mentions of a bet about kissing a girl; Mentions of a flirt & flirting; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of blushes/blushing; Mentions of impropriety; A few mentions of a female dancer not having a speck of sensuality or allure; A few mentions of the possibility of a women having two husbands; A couple mentions of illegitimate children; A mention of wondering if a couple was in love when they produced a child; A mention of secret kisses; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

*Note: A mention of imagining a man in his knickers (to look bashful/blushing in front of him).

-Elodie “Ella” Blythe, age 18/21 (unsure based on the timeline and comments)

1^st person P.O.V. of Ella & 3^rd of Jack (x5), Josefina (x1), & Maymie Dobbs (x1)

Set in 1833 (first two chapters), then 1838-1839

373 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Oh, where do I begin?

While I’ll easily admit, when first learning about this book, the plot-line didn’t interest as much as past books by this author (such as “A Rumored Fortune” which quickly got my attention). Once I started reading, though, this book quickly grabbed me into story. There was many events and secrets I wasn’t expecting that shocked me again and again. That would probably that number one reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did. It takes good book to pull in me to not try to figure out what will happen and try to predict the next events.

While the characters were interesting (more on that in a minute), I can’t say they’re the ones that hook me into the story. It was the plot with the mysteries and all the secrets.

I liked Ella, her dedication to ballet and her mother. I can’t say I always agreed with her thoughts or actions, but I could understand (most of the time) where she was coming from and why she did the things she did.

I wasn’t sure where the romance would go in this story, but besides those couple kisses, it was pretty clean in the romance regard. Other Sexual Content comments and hints (mistresses, affairs, illegitimate children & abortion) were not over the top, but I hesitate about recommending this book of those under 16 because of that content.

I’ve been sitting here at my laptop for a few minutes now, debating not only my own personal rating but the higher two age groups’ ratings. This is why: “A Midnight Dance” felt more grown-up (I prefer to avoid the word “mature” as each girl is different and one word with a broad meaning cannot cover for every girl) then most books I’ve reviewed on here—but also enjoyed. (To clarify, there has been plenty of books that have been more “grown-up” because of sexual content that have received low ratings. Trust me, plenty of books.) This novel was different in the way that the Sexual Content that was there (see above) was typically more glossed-over then expounded upon like other books, so it felt cleaner than most, even while it was dealing with some similar topics.

Another reason for my debate: Ella’s Spiritual Content parts were great, however, I do question her kissing a man (quite soundly, I might add) who was not a Christian and did not seem open to sharing her faith. There’s a moment at the end with him and his own walk with the Lord, but I wish it would have been clearer and obvious. But, I suppose that could mimic life in a way, that someone’s witness takes more “pages” than what’s written down in a story. I do wish, though, it had been more precise, especially with the rumors about him being a flirt. (He does say in one of his own point of view chapters, that it’s a role he’s given himself, but I would have preferred that also be told to Ella for clarity’s sake.)

So, yes, I’m not sure if I was able to put my feelings about this book into words well, but it was a fascinating novel. I’m becoming quite a fan of historical mysteries, so I’m curious to see what this author will write next.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!