Pepper is a vaudeville dancer and she's known Gregory and Robert since she was a kid. Robert is the owner's son she's been crushing on forever and Gregory has been her long time friend. When Robert returns to run the failing theater Pepper believes all her dreams are coming true. Ties in loosely with her previous book 'The Belly Dancer' A lot of rich detail and historical interest but the story while good, is predictable.
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Loved DeAnna's debut book, and this one as well. The flavor of the era comes through seamlessly, and you feel the dirty, bustling streets of New York. I'm not well versed in the time period or the subject matter, but I feel I know more, after reading this book. The Heroine is flawed, and has a very nice arc. The love story is tender.

Everything to like here! I highly recommend it. ( )

I like Vaudeville. If it wasn't on my list of buzzwords, it should be. I guess it's kind of a subheading under Circus, which is all under the umbrella of Spectacle, and I love Spectacle. Which is why, even though this is somewhat out of the realm of books I'd normally accept for review, I accepted it. (I mean, early 1900s Old NYC vaudeville? Don't mind if I do!) And though I definitely liked Cameron's view of vaudeville as it sort of crumbles into the past, the rest of the book left me feeling sort of lukewarm.

Mostly I think it was that it felt a bit rushed. I would have liked more development to the characters - all of the characters, because the side characters had the potential to be fascinating, too. I wanted more of their side stories and escapades, and more emotional development throughout. There were some really interesting things going on in the story that gave it the potential to be more compelling (Pepper's unrepentant friendship/closeness to a lesbian character, which would have been fairly controversial; her turn as an unintentional mistress, and general sexual predatoriness, as well as the social mores versus the looser atmosphere of the stage; the clash between stage and the burgeoning world of film, etc.) that I found really fascinating, and wanted more of - but the book just barely scratches the surface of these things.  It left me feeling a little unfulfilled, like there was wasted potential.

And the characters - and even to an extent, the plot - were a little lackluster for me. In fact, within a week of finishing it, I found myself struggling to remember names and details. The world was vivid, and I think so much of Cameron's focus went into building an authentic, accurate world, that the other aspects suffered. But until I was able to connect with the characters more fully, the world was the saving grace. I liked Pepper ok-enough, but I actually liked the other characters more. I sometimes found Pepper a little hard to connect to or root for, at least early in the story, anyway, and in general, I preferred Gregory Creighton's narration. I found him a more fascinating character, and scenes with him felt more authentic. I would have loved to see more of his story, and of everyone's story - and a little less of Pepper in her own world.

But for all that I couldn't help thinking it was fluffy and somewhat forgettable as I was reading, I found myself fairly engrossed. It's mostly really wholesome, which works for the time, and opens it to a wider audience, and it was a quick and easy read. I didn't necessarily think much about it when I'd set it down, though - nothing compelled me to pick it up again. But when I did pick it up, I found myself engaged pretty easily, and I did quite like how it ended, and the potential the ending holds for all of the characters. It just was never quite enough to make me feel I had to read it, had to know what was going to happen. And that's probably because, as I mentioned in my Rewind vlog, it felt like a Hallmark movie - you pretty much know the minute you start this where it's going to go and how it's going to end and the emotional investment is pretty much zilch - but for some reason, that doesn't stop you from watching or enjoying them. ( )

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A heartwarmingly beautiful story of loss, love and talent.

Opening Sentence: For a full half hour the stage manager sat on a stool near the footlights, his fingers curled on the hooked head of his cane, silently watching the vaudeville players at morning rehearsal.

The Review:

Picture, if you will, early twentieth century New York City. Back before terrorism, before the Great Depression, or even the Roaring Twenties. Back to the days of stage performing, before moving pictures were so popular. Back to the little theaters featuring vaudeville — variety acts much like one would see on, well to be current, on America’s Got Talent. This book has dancers, singers, dog acts, even a guy who spins plates on sticks.

This story features one of these vaudeville performers, Pepper MacClair. Pepper and her mother, Bessie, arrived thirteen years prior to the opening of this story on a boat from Scotland, braced for a new life beginning with the reunion with Pepper’s father. When the man never showed, Bessie was forced to make do, to find ways to support herself and her daughter, and that’s where The Chance Theatre comes in. For the past thirteen years, Pepper has called the theater and its small basement rooms her home, and its employees and performers her family.

After a disastrous premiere as a dancer on the stage, on what was apparently the worst night of her young life, Pepper was relegated to work behind the scenes. That is until an opening in one of the chorus line acts gave her another chance at stardom. But, stardom is a hard row to hoe in a place as unkempt and obscure as The Chance is. But, The Chance is apparently her only shot, as she is rather reluctant to leave. So, there she dances, every night, hoping for her big break. Or is it something else that keeps her there. Perhaps it is the return of her true love that she is truly waiting for.

On the night of her debut, she had given herself to one Robert DeGraaf, son of the owner of The Chance. Robert swore to love her forever, and never forget her. But, also on that night, Robert’s father had sent him away, back to school, refusing them the ability to be together. Pepper had always assumed that it was because she was a lowly immigrant showgirl. And when Robert returns, she naively thinks that he will go against society and his father and marry her.

Alas, upon Robert’s return to New York, all is not as Pepper had planned. Robert does indeed want her back in his life, but as his mistress, not his wife, and he wants her to quit dancing. And when Pepper is fired from her job, he gets what he wants. But, when his father dies, she comes to realize that he cares nothing for his father’s theater legacy, or what it meant to Pepper and all the others involved therein. And, it turns out that Robert was perfectly willing to leave her back then to return to school. In fact, it was his idea all along. But never fear, for waiting in the wings is the one man who always has and always will truly love her, Gregory Creighton. Gregory and Pepper both came to The Chance as young children, and she has always held a special place in his heart. Gregory is there for her when everything crumbles at her feet, holding her up, helping her deal, loving her anyway.

So, with the demise of her relationship with Robert, Pepper is forced to return to her stage family and it is she who delivers the news to them of The Chance’s imminent demise. But, she will not allow them to go quietly into the night, and she and her friends come up with a brilliant idea. They will do one final show for free, a showcase of everyone’s talents, with a title completely unlike anything The Chance’s stage has seen.

After the show, which was a hit by the way, Pepper is summoned to attend the reading of Robert’s father’s will. And what happens there is quite the shock to everyone, including Pepper and that piss poor excuse for a human being, Robert. Best part of the book, and where we finally receive our happy ending.

You might say that this book stands alone among the other type books that this website features. And I believe you would be correct. This is, after all, a largely paranormal based site, hence the name, and a large percentage of books featured here are just that — paranormal. This story is straight up historical women’s fiction, I guess the term would be. Not our usual mojo, nor is it my personal preference of reading material. I am more of a steamy-medieval-romance-with-a-mysterious-vampire-sex-god kind of gal. But, the genre of this book shouldn’t keep any of you from reading it, however. It is still a very well written, heart-wrenching story without the sex, mystery, or fanged love machine.

Notable Scene:

“What would he do with it?” She knew the answer, she just could not believe it.

“Who knows, and who cares? It isn’t my concern.”

And it wasn’t. She could see it in his sneer, his stony glare. He did not care about the theater, not the show, not anything that mattered to her.

“Is that what your father thought?”

“Hardly.” Robert took his glass to the cabinet again and poured another drink. “He flew into a rage and wouldn’t stay in that damn rolling chair. He actually tried to throw the agreement letter in the fire.”

A numbness was settling over Robert. His words had lost their strength. Pepper remained silent; she did not trust anything she might say.

“When I wrestled those papers from him, he clutched at his heart and began to gasp—all very theatrical, very dramatic, just what you would expect from an old show horse like him.” He gulped from his glass. “He made such a scene that Gertie flew in and threatened to throw me out. Can you imagine? The maid throwing me out of my own home? She demanded a doctor be called, but I told her it would be done after my father signed the papers. You see, I know his tricks. I knew it was a bluff.” He shook his head. “I thought it was a bluff.” He drank again. “As it turns out, it wasn’t.” He paused, then added, “I suppose I won’t be needing his signature now. The theater shall be mine by inheritance.”

Pepper could not move. This was too much to take in. “And you intend to sell it?”

“Have you not been listening? Of course I am going to sell it. What do I want with a shabby old theater? That old-fashioned vaudeville is dead. People want flash and sparkle, they want something new. Ziegfield has it right and so does Keith and the others. That’s why the patrons are moving uptown.”

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Berkley provided me with a copy of Dancing at The Chance. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

My thoughts:
I have to say author DeAnna Cameron instantly transported me to old New York City in the early 1900's with her fantastic novel Dancing At The Chance. I LOVED visiting this vaudeville theater and getting acquainted with these characters.

What I enjoyed about Dancing At The Chance is that I really felt like I was in the midst of the Chance Theater and experiencing all of the goings on within its walls. I felt like I should have been eating popcorn as I read.

Pepper MacClair is a vaudeville chorus girl whose life has been at the Chance theater since her mother brought her to America from Scotland as a child. She awaited her debut as a dancer while her mother worked as a seamstress for the performers. The two made lives for themselves at the theater.
After her mother died, Pepper continued on living and working at the Chance. She is a chorus girl with dreams of being a big Broadway star.

Pepper is in love with the owner's son, Robert DeGraff, whom after being away for schooling is now back to run the theater since his father is now ill.
The lovebirds reunion however, is not what she expected it to be. Added to that, the Chance is now in danger of falling under with so much competition on Broadway.

Also in the plot is male impersonator Em, an older employee at the Chance who instead of retiring has now made her comeback on the stage as Uptown Joe. Em has been like family to Pepper and her mother.
A man named Gregory is also in Pepper's life and is always looking out for her, mostly from the sidelines.

I liked that the story kept revealing itself to me, these characters were multidimensional and as the story flowed, different aspects of their backgrounds emerged. Little surprises kept peeking up as I read. It was also obvious that the author took her time to do her research. When reading historicals I tend to google names and places from the book. This time around I googled Annie Hindle, since Em has a small shrine to her in her apartment and credits her with teaching her the art of male impersonating. Annie Hindle is known for being one of the first really famous male impersonators in vaudeville theater.

With it's wonderful storyline and interesting characters Dancing At The Chance is a great read for anyone looking to lose themselves in fantastic historical fiction. Vaudeville, old New York, romance and friendship are all weaved into the plot beautifully, and I was captivated as I read. ( )