Dance Away with Me
A Novel
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
At long last, the legendary New York Times bestselling author returns with a heartfelt novel of womanhood, a wild heart, and the healing power of love.
Run, run, as fast as you can!
When life throws her one setback too many, midwife and young widow Tess Hartsong takes off for Runaway Mountain. In this small town high in the Tennessee mountains, surrounded by nature, she hopes to outrun her heartbreak and find the solace she needs to heal.
But instead of peace and quiet, she encounters an enigmatic artist with a craving for solitude, a fairy-tale sprite with too many secrets, a helpless infant, a passel of curious teens, and a town suspicious of outsiders, especially one as headstrong as Tess. Just as headstrong is Ian North, a difficult, gifted man with a tortured soul—a man who makes Tess question everything.
In running away to this new life, Tess wonders— Has she lost herself . . . or has she found her future?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We love Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ relatable romantic comedies, but this story mixes the sweet and funny with deep, dark, and complicated emotions—and we’re here for it! Headstrong widow Tess is determined to escape her grief, whether that means dancing outside in her underwear or upending her life altogether and moving to the aptly named Runaway Mountain. There, she meets Ian, a handsome, hotheaded artist whose abusive father recently passed, leaving him with unimaginable wealth and his own mess of grief to weed through. Even though Dance Away with Me deals with tougher material than some of Phillips’ other books, it still sings with humor and, underneath it all, optimism. We wanted Tess and Ian to find their happy ending from the moment they contentiously laid eyes on each other. And we knew that working through their heartbreak would make that moment all the more gratifying.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two people determined to withdraw from society instead discover the power of human connection in this deeply felt romance from Phillips (First Star I See Tonight). Midwife Tess Hartsong retreats to remote Runaway Mountain, Tenn., following the death of her husband. While letting loose with a cathartic one-person dance party, Tess provokes the anger of Ian North, a reclusive artist who just moved nearby and confronts Tess over the volume of her music. He's quickly followed by the pregnant Bianca, who introduces herself as Ian's wife and strikes up an easy friendship with Tess. When Bianca goes into early labor with no time to get to the hospital, Ian calls upon Tess's help in a tense, deeply emotional scene that ends with Bianca's death. Ian hires Tess to help take care of the premature baby and, despite her best efforts, Tess can't help getting attached to the newborn. Raising the baby together while facing a firestorm of town gossip, Tess and Ian grow close and open up about their secrets, among them the true nature of Ian and Bianca's relationship. Phillips layers this poignant love story with robust descriptions of mountain scenery and society, and a well-handled subplot about Tess's fight for comprehensive sex education for the town's teens. This stirring romance is sure to capture readers' hearts.
