This was the third book in this series. As with the other two books, this was enjoyable. I liked the characters as well as the continuous plot. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for access to this arc.

Truth time here. I read the first book in this series and wasn’t blown away. The second book didn’t work for me. So when I started “Take a Bow,” well, I wasn’t sure how things would go. Now having finished it I can say that I’m happy and that for me, the best was saved for last.

Part of what I didn’t care for in “Tread the Boards,” was most of the nitty gritty of preparing and staging a play. I didn’t know this about my tastes ahead of reading this series and realize that this is a true case of “it’s me, not the book.” Readers who delight in theater might lap all this up and ask for more. Part of why I enjoyed “Take a Bow” more is that there isn’t actually a lot of detail about all this in this book. So good for me but something for theater aficionados to be aware of.

Instead, this story focuses tightly on the reunion between teenage lovers who are now older, more seasoned, but still capable of being hurt by those actions from long ago. Neither Lexi nor Mark expected to be thrown together seventeen years after their “first love” romance was broken up but events are going to keep them in proximity until after the stage run of this play.

After some teeth gritting, both get down to business and – glory be – act like adults. They’re still not ecstatic but they are professionals. It’s too bad that as they begin to work back towards the love that never ended, the seeds of a new break-up are being sown. All this is baked into the plot and didn’t feel as if I were being jerked around for Angst and Drama. The issues now springing up between them are predicated both on what happened years ago as well as on how Lexi is desperately trying to save the theater company that has become her home and family.

The revitalization of their attraction takes off slowly with both of them aware that it might be viewed negatively by the people around them for various concrete reasons which are again essential to the plot. But those old feelings spring up and are blazing just as hot. Then the Big Secret is revealed and it’s something to tear a heart out at hearing it. It was then that I stopped and wondered, how could Lexi have worked with Mark for so long by then with This hanging over her from her past? Mark’s response is also gut wrenching but I could understand his reasons which have been laid out over the course of the book until that time. I still wanted to smack him but I could understand.

Just as the lies and secrets of the town and its Hometown Son have been worked into this play that might save the theater, lies – both unintentional and required for maximum effect for the theater – and secrets threaten any hope for Mark and Lexi. Cheers that Mark realizes just how fantastic a job Lexi managed to pull off in staging this remarkable play. The answer to the ax hanging over the theater is one that Mark discovers and works to engineer a positive result for everyone. He also realizes what a dick he was and makes amends in a special way that will always mean something special to Lexi in addition to verbally admitting his dickheadedness. His turnaround might be a bit quick but he does a nice grovel. B

Take A Bow, by Fiona Greene is the third story in the Rivervue Theatre anthology titled One From The Heart. Set in Brachen on the NSW south coast, this is a story of second chances and healing for both theatre creative director Lexi Spencer and Brachen Council CEO Mark Conroy, who had an affair when she was nearly sixteen and he was seventeen. Years later their reunion is not pretty as old wounds are opened.
Lexi is a strong woman and a survivor. She’s deeply loyal to and fiercely protective of those she holds dear, in this case the entire Rivervue Theatre caste and crew, but she’s also fragile. In picking herself up and dealing with what life has thrown at her along the way she’s developed a tough shell to protect herself. I admired her, empathised with her and hoped like heck that she’d come through the turmoil that arose from reconnecting with Mark.
Mark initially comes across as the consummate professional—and he is—but like Lexi he’s been hurt and is wary of letting that happen again. He’s also a generous and loving father to his daughter Emma. It didn’t take me long to fall a little bit in love with him.
There was lots to like about this story. Loss and grief feature strongly and are sensitively addressed. I loved the reference to Angel Gowns and it took on much more significance as the story unfolded. I loved the way that puppetry was used to allow the children in CJ’s Youth Theatre to open up, relax and tell their stories. I also loved the way that Lexi pulled the theatre community together so that all they did from rehearsing to performing to moving past one bad review was done as a United body. The support for each other was inspiring. Finally I loved the overarching story and the way I was pulled forward as each piece of the puzzle was revealed. This was a fitting conclusion to what has been a thoroughly entertaining anthology.