This is a sequel to Hurwin's brilliant "A Time For Dancing," which is my favorite book. When I finished reading "A Time For Dancing" when I was nine, I read the author blurb in the back of the book. It stated she was working on a sequel to "A Time For Dancing." This broke my heart since a sequel would surely be sad. I got my hands on the sequel when I was eleven. I remember being so impressed by it. All these years later, I bought "A Time For Dancing" again and it became my favorite book. I toyed with reading the sequel again. The first chapter was always so off-putting and the synopsis so annoying that I never read it. Finally I decided, if I can find it, I will read it and then I will know what I think. Thankfully, I was able to find it at Open Library. If you have an archive .org account, you can login to Open Library using that. So I did.

Mona increasingly horrified me. I was alternately appalled and just wanted her to shut up. I'm not saying people with parents of poorly-treated bipolar don't go through those things or develop senses of humor like that. I'm saying I disliked her as a character. She and Sam didn't seem like people who would be friends, either. Sam changed a lot as a person, which is to be expected. But she doesn't dance anymore. She doesn't hang out with people she used to. She's practically not the same at all. And for some reason, there's a subplot with a homeless lady. The boyfriends didn't make sense really. None of the original characters from the first novel are in here in a meaningful way. I hate to say it, but it's a poor spinoff with "blink and you miss it" references to the first book, with several original passages oddly rewritten. As in, they contain new information. "Blink and you miss it" references include but are not limited to: 1. the mugs Jules made in pottery class in seventh grade and how Sandra drinks out of them still, and so does Sammie 2.Sam reiterating that she feels closer to Sandra and William than her own parents 3. Bruce and Sam's mom are in love and ignoring Sam 4. A reference is made to castrating one of the girls' boyfriends 5. Jules being a water sign astrologically and talking to the ocean and

6. Jules dancing by the ocean. This was a beautiful passage in the first book. Here? Oh here, it turns out Sam was there too! For some reason, that annoyed me so, so much.
Davida Wills Hurwin retcons a lot of little stuff and it ticked me off. The magic of dance is not here at all. Instead, Sam now works in a restaurant. All new and boring characters are introduced. The sequel would have been far, far stronger if it had been all the same characters as the former! Only them talking about Julie and working through their grief! Thea is mentioned. Brooke is mentioned. Have them in the book! Have them -talk- about dance. But no, Sam blows them off because Mona calls them anorexic.
One of the final passages in the original book discussed seagulls. Here, it's briefly mentioned, but it's like Sam forgot what the seagulls originally symbolized. I lost respect for the book at that, I admit. Her grief is kind of skated over until eight months after the funeral, when she suddenly cannot stop crying. I can't speak to the reality of that. As a -written story-, though, it felt weird, especially since this occurred in the third quarter of the book. Before that, Sam was just dry-eyed and a waitress. She mentions avoiding places but I never really -got- the sense.

Mona should not have existed as a character in this book. She adds nothing. Her voice sounded exactly like Jules when she's irritated and it really creeped me out. If Davida Wills Hurwin was going for "so she is definitely replacing Jules and the audience should be sad," she failed because that's not the reaction it got out of me. Several characters mention that Mona looks like Jules. When I first read this as a tween, I thought that was so sad and touching. As an adult, something about this felt off..

7. Sam calls herself and Mona the Shithead and Asshole duo, which is again another reference to the first book twice over: towards the end of the first book, Jules and Sam call Dr Connor a shithead and an asshole. Halfway through the book when Jules won't come out of her room because she lost her hair and needs space, Sammie calls her a shithead and bangs on the door. Jules retorts by calling her an asshole and telling her to go away. In the sequel, the context is wildly different and DOES NOT WORK. I was annoyed!

This could have easily been a single-perspective POV on Sammie dealing with her grief in new ways, and others talking to her about it. She could have reached out to Linda, Brooke, Thea, definitely Sandra...they were not included because for whatever reason, the author wanted to introduce a grating, bitter teenager whose mother had a disease that's difficult to treat, especially back then. It was pointless. Sam could...idk, watch dance recitals on television and think of Jules and her past. Her emotions could have been explored more. The author chose not to do that.

Why the references to "Into the Woods"? Those came absolutely out of nowhere. Sam and Jules were not mentioned as liking stage theatre. They were dancers. I'm not saying it's impossible. There's tons of crossover between the two industries. It just wasn't addressed. Sam does sing a little bit of "A Chorus Line" in the first book when she's in the car with Jules and they're talking about dance that night at the beach, but that's it. The author could have worked that into the second book. The flashbacks of Jules working with a different dance instructor--fine, shove in a new character. Whatevs. And sure, have Sammie work with him at the end too. Or that could have been the halfway point of the book as an emotional arc! Coming back to dance!
Discovering who she is, and rediscovering parts as well! She could have worked at the studio as a receptionist and still talked to Linda, and seen little kids and remembered herself and Jules. But sure, waitressing is an option as well.

At least I read the sequel. Grumble. ( )

i liked this book but the first one was better... ( )

This book was good, but I thought that the first one was good enough without a sequel. I liked the first one a lot better, but this one was slightly interesting. ( )