This book spoke to me.. I have struggled like Sadie. With being a mother. A wife. With my own body. This book deals with so many issues that a parent and a wife face as their children grow up and away from them. How do we deal with "empty nest" syndrome? How do we deal with the loss of a child that never had the chance to grow up?

An honest and heartfelt look at the bonds between a mother and a child, during a time of great trial and risk. Will Sadie and Lauren survive being lost in Yosemite? Will they surmount the obstacles between them? Will Sadie and Tom be able to put their lives back together without the glue of their children binding them together?

Spellbinding and beautiful. An excellent read by one of my favorite authors.

In Dancing With the Sun, vivid descriptions abound, transporting the reader to the mesmerizing Yosemite National Park. Author Kay Bratt spins a great tale! I could feel the characters’ emotions, such as tragic loss, disappointment in failed relationships, and palpable fear at being lost in the wilderness. This is a great story with a heartwarming happily ever after!

As usual Kay Bratt finds a way of sharing what is going on the the minds of her characters. Anyone can narrate a story, but Kay tells you how her characters feel, in a way no author that I have read can do.
Dancing with the Sun is her latest example of sharing emotions and thoughts of her wonderful characters.
Thanks for my preview copy!

This book was awesome! As usual, Kay Bratt allows you to feel the characters in this book. I started to read it and I could not put it down. It was great to see how the characters interacted with each other through good and bad. Loved this book and would recommend reading it. I cannot wait to read what she has next in store to read.

Thank you NetGalley and Kay Bratt for an advanced copy of this wonderful and touching book!

A first time read by this author, and I enjoyed everything about this story of survival, unresolved grief, and a mother’s love for her children.
Sadie Harlan is dealing with the loss of her son Jacob years ago and her daughter Lauren’s absence, as a college student, currently doing an internship in Yosemite. She suspects that her husband Tom’s frequent weekends away, are an indication of an affair, as their marriage continues to crumble. In a moment of acute loneliness she books a trip to visit Lauren in
Yosemite.
Not an outdoorsy type, Sadie is unwillingly pulled into an ill prepared hike by Lauren, anxious to show off her new knowledge and the beauty that is Yosemite. As they’re placed in obvious danger by the treacherous terrain, unstable weather and threatening wildlife, keeping her daughter safe becomes Sadie’s main objective. She learns a lot about Lauren, herself and the reasons for her rocky marriage, as the experience opens up a lot of feelings that she has covered. A very emotional story of losses and the difficulty in overcoming them, without drawing on the love and strength of family and friends.
I received this ARC from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley, for my honest review. Thank you to Kay Bratt for a beautiful story.

What a beautiful book about grief, loss, family, love and resilience. And hope ! Such a beautifully written book from start to finish. You laugh, you cry, sometimes at the same time. So many emotions while you read this book. Brilliant ! So grateful to the author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. It is so good though I would have happily paid for a copy. For anyone who has ever lost a child this book needs to be read. And as someone who does not have children it touched my heart as well. This is one amazing book, buy it and enjoy !

Dancing with the Sun is a remarkable story and yet, again, Kay Bratt did not disappoint me. I was pulled into this book immediately.

Sadie is in a rut; her daughter, Lauren, is off starting to live her life on her own, becoming an adult and not needing her as much. Sadie is feeling the empty nest and realizing that she has done things in her life that she wished she could change. Her relationship with her husband, Tom, is strained and has been since they lost their son, Jacob, to a tragic accident years ago. Instead of leaning on Tom during their time of grief, she withdrew. She made a decision to change her life, but wants to see her daughter, tell her in person. In a spur of the moment decision, Sadie decides to surprise Lauren for the weekend. She hops on a plane to California. What she thought would be a relaxing (and somewhat emotional) weekend turns into an adventure neither was expecting. Lauren wants to show her mom a view of Yosemite after she picks her up at the airport. Against Sadie’s judgement, they venture onto a trail and eventually get lost, totally unprepared to be out hiking. This adventure tests their strength, perseverance and undying love for each other in ways neither expected, both doing all they can to survive. It opens up wounds and starts healing that neither ever expected.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Kay Bratt for the advanced readers’ copy of DANCING WITH THE SUN.

Once you start reading, you won't be able to stop. The inside of this book is every bit as beautiful as the cover. Written from the heart with lots of emotion, strength of characters and feeling like you are in the wilderness with this lost mother and daughter team. It tugs at all your heart strings and leaves you wanting more. This one will stay with me for a long time.

Dancing with the Sun is such a wonderful, heart filled book that I found I didn't want to set it down to sleep. It pulled me in immediately, the story of Sadie and why she decides she must go see Lauren right away.

Sadie and Lauren were so realistic and likable that I truly cared when I could see a mistake in front of them. I wanted to yell out No, not that way! Do this, not that! I was rooting for them and invested in how this would end.

The author expertly wove themes of self-forgiveness, family and self-awareness seamlessly into the story of a mother and daughter facing disaster in the unforgiving terrain of a huge National Park. There are also object lessons in the story, if you will, about making assumptions, losing your family and friends to your unending grief and the damage not loving oneself can do.

Please don't get the impression from my use of themes and object lessons that this book is preachy, because it's far from preachy. It's a lovely story that carries you along and gently, kindly opens your eyes along the way.

The story flows effortlessly and I found myself realizing that even though Lauren and Sadie were almost the only characters, that there were so many more ~ characters that were introduced during reminiscing or recalling things.

Quite honestly I think almost everyone would enjoy this book. It's obvious to me that a lot of research work went into this as so many places within Yosemite, and bugs, plants and wildlife were described. The author does a wonderful job with descriptions, leaving the reader feeling as if they were actually there.

Do yourself a favor and get this book as soon as it's available. It is that good. I want to tell everyone about it.

An Amazing heart stopping novel that had me holding my breath, crying happy and sad tears and laughing out loud at times. I could relate in so many ways.
When Sadie impulsively and out of character surprises her daughter Lauren with a visit, neither of them realizes that they will be on a journey of survival and healing while lost in the Woods of Yosemite Park.
The message in this beautiful book is clear :"I like to think that we don't really know why the sunflower moves the way it does." "But, the lesson I learned as I watched them and cataloged their progress is that through everything good and bad, we should stand tall and follow the light."
Love this story!

Dancing with tears. Wow. This was my first book from this author, who I honestly picked up mostly based on the strength of the other books from her publisher (Lake Union). And yet again, yet another of their authors shows just how good the books they put out are. The book itself is laced with sorrow with a genuine amount of fear of survival once the main plot kicks in, and both the revelations about the past and the perils of the present are well paced. The sense of sorrow never really leaves, even at the end, but it does indeed have a fitting happy ending. I've definitely found a new author to get caught up on.