Thank you to @stmartinspress and @macmillianaudion for the complimentary digital and listening copies of Last Dance on the Starlight Pier. I decided to listen to the audiobook of this one. Last Dance on the Starlight Pier published on April 12, 2022 - available now!

This book follows Evie, form her time studying to become a nurse during the Great Depression through to joining in Dance Marathons and travelling within the US. A lot of the story is set in Galveston, where she has befriended the daughter of an influential family while studying.

From the synopsis, this sounded like a book that would be right up my alley, and it may have been if it was significantly shorter. I was listening at double speed, and still found the plot was moving along too slowly.

There were also parts of it that felt like they came directly out of another Historical Fiction set in Texas during the Great Depression that I read recently. This duplication didn't help me in wanting to pick this one up.

My favourite parts of the book were the dance marathon sections. The author has created a hilarious cast of characters. I would happily read a series with each book focusing on one of them.

I will say I liked the narration of this book, and will keep my eye out for future works from Cassandra Campbell.

The story picked up a bit at the end, and I enjoyed some if the final twists and reveals, but overall this was a so-so read for me.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I wanted to love this book. I really REALLY did. It was beautifully written and the characters were fantastic, but the story just did not hold my interest. I'm a hit and miss with historical fiction and as much as I loved the characters and writing style, i just couldn't get into the story.

Evie Devlin is feeling like her life is starting over again and her future is looking very promising. She's had a difficult childhood where she has been forced to financially support her mother, Mamie, by dancing and performing. Evie has been accepted to St. Mary's St. School of Nursing to become a nurse. She has a friend Sofie, and she can clearly see the opportunities that are opening up to her. She works hard and studies hard and is excited to graduate. Unfortunately, the Director of the school refuses to acknowledge or allow her to get her pin so she can work as a nurse. Evie, finds a dance marathon group and works there unofficially as a nurse taking care of the dancers.

The book takes place in the US around 1929-1932 so the reader gets to read a bit about the Great Depression that took place and how some people tried to survive these difficult times.

I really enjoy Historical Fiction so I was looking forward to reading this one. I found it really interesting and I was able to connect with the main character of the book. The book covers some information on Vaudeville and the Dance Marathons that took place during that time.

If you enjoy reading historical fiction, I would recommend picking this one up. I would rate it around 3.5

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I think it took some time for the story to find its legs. It also took me some time to warm up to Evie, partly because she was mature and grown in some ways, but completely naive in many other ways. Her moment of awakening made sense in terms of who she was, but it did seem like a complete 180 for her and, as well as for Sophie. Actually, I think the shift in Sophie seemed more unbelievable than in Evie, although I appreciate what the author was trying to do here. The setting was one that I was both familiar with (dust bowl, depression) and not familiar with (dance marathons). In fact, I had no idea such things existed and had to look them up. It was a test of endurance, stamina, and stoicism during a time when most people had lost hope. I also didn't know much about the Hoover/FDR election time period, so I enjoyed learning about this as well. I also loved many of the side characters, especially her friends on the dance circuit (but not Pops), and Zave--how could you not love Zave? I absolutely loved the ending, which doesn't tie everything in a neat bow but leaves you with hope for the future. It's the main reason I ended up giving this book 4 stars. With all her trials and tribulations, I grew to love Evie by the end and I liked what she saw in the future for herself. I also loved her "found family" and the book ended up leaving me hopeful not just for her, but for ourselves in the present day in terms of what the human spirit can overcome especially when we work together.

I don't know much about this author, but after reading this, I'm open to trying another one of her books. I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is based during the great depression (1920-1930’s.)
Evie Devlin was brought up in the Vaudeville arena. She wanted a better life and to get away from her mother. Evie got accepted to a nursing school in Galveston, TX. She ended up leaving Galveston and ended up helping in a dance marathon.
The characters were well defined, and the descriptions really helped me visualized the areas and the time frame.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I loved this book up until the last few pages.
The book is really well written, with beautiful descriptions of nature and people. Bird is able to capture people's personalities really well, so you almost know in advance how a character will respond to an event because you can see them in your mind so clearly. the historical details are included beautifully too, with no info dumps other than one long speech.
The book moves quickly from one happening to the next, with lots of obstacles put in the way of our heroine.
And then we come to the end.
I was so, so disappointed with the attempt at a HEA that would never in a million, trillion years have played out the way it did. We're talking about culture in the '30s, not the 2000s, for goodness sake! So yeah, read it for the gorgeous writing, but don't read it if you expect a realistic ending.

It's Texas in the late 1920's and Evie Devlin gets an opportunity to escape her horrible narcissist mother by heading to nursing school. But three years later on the day of her pinning ceremony, a horrible and shameful secret from her youth comes bubbling to the surface and she is forced to flee... without recurving her nursing pin. Distraught and hopeless, she stumbles upon a dance marathon and an whole new world swallows Evie. She can be a nurse here, even without being registered, but she has no idea what she is getting into by joining the unpredictable underbelly of the dance marathons of the Depression era.

First, I had no idea the scope of insanity that these dance marathons entailed. These were brutal and downright unsafe and inhumane. It's wild to me what people were entertained by in addition to the risks desperate dancers would take to stay off the streets. I found myself falling down Google rabbit holes to learn more about these fascinating marathons (spoiler alert: they were subsequently banned due to the sheer unsafely of their practices.)

As for the book itself - it ironically also felt like a marathon. I swear I was reading this book for months, not 10 days (which is much longer than my 4 to 5 day average). The story was interesting, characters were decent, but man did this book drag. I nearly put it down many times but, like the exhausted dancers fighting to stay on their feet, I pushed on. If you enjoy a major slow burn historical fiction thick novel with many interesting characters, this may be the one for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review. It surely was a marathon I won't forget!

Sarah Bird's Last Dance on the Starlight Pier was a refreshing historical read set during the Depression Era Dance Marathon craze which was both interesting and musically enriching. It took me a little longer to get through than I typically would but only because I spent so much time pulling up YouTube videos of the period dances and creating my big band play list! Working in a young woman's fight to overcome her beginnings, Depression era financial struggles, political swing with FDR's presidential bid, homosexuality views of the time, and nursing and mental health practices, Nurse Gravy's story painted a vibrant picture of a time past. Put on a swishy dress, strap on your dancing shoes, caffeinate, and settle in for a Dance Marathon for the ages!
Thank you #NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This is a well-crafted novel, and I admired the author's ability to ground us in every single scene. Her attention to detail is outstanding. Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is written from a historical perspective and portrays a part of Texas that I knew little about. I also had no idea that dance marathons were a thing, especially during the Great Depression. It's a captivating story that covers some intense issues, Evie is scrappy and resilient, but the cruelty she endured as a child and the overall heaviness of the novel made it challenging for me to keep reading.

Evie Grace is determined to be a nurse. She has been given a scholarship to a nursing school in Galveston. But, all does not go as planned. Her past comes back to haunt her. So, Evie Grace heads back to her old life. But, things have changed.

Ok, when I started this book, I just was not very interested. I don’t know why, just didn’t hit me at the start. But…Y’ALL! This is a wonderful book! I loved Evie Grace and Zave. I enjoyed the prohibition era and the marathon dances. Who knew about the coin showers and the rules of marathon dancing.

Now, not everyone liked this book. I have read a few reviews (and I very seldom do that!) And I agree with a lot of their assessments. There are a lot of characters and Evie Grace makes some poor decisions. But, it is during the depression, I am not sure the decisions I would have made at that time would have been the best either. However, the setting, the time period and the unique backdrop of marathon dancers had me hooked! Now, I did listen to this book and did not physically read it. Sometimes that makes a difference. I might have not enjoyed it as much if I had physically read it.

The narrator, Cassandra Campbell, is probably the reason I enjoyed this book so much. Highly recommend the audio version!

Need a fabulous book which gives you all the feels…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

A interesting and unique story about a young girl, Evie Devlin, who grows up on the Vaudeville circuit during the depression era. Her life is not a easy life and she dreams of a better life for herself. Her dream is to become a nurse. She lies to get into nursing school and does extremely well. Just as she thinks all is going to turn out well, her past catches up with her and she finds herself going back to working on the Vaudeville circuit. Evie makes choices that are not the best ones to make.
The setting goes back and forth between Chicago and Galveston, Texas.
Last Dance on the Starlight Pier shows how facing adversity can help you get where you want to be.
I think readers of historical fiction may like reading this book especially if interested in the depression era.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was so fascinating! I don't read a lot of books set during the great depression or about dance-athons. I know very little about both so I loved and appreciated the author embracing both and really giving us an inside look. I could feel both the political climate and a bit of menace in the air that went so well with the odd partying and dancing of a dance-off. The main character was odd but I did like her. I'm so glad I gave this one a chance, I really liked it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Powerful Examination Of Oft-Ignored Areas. Know up front that there is a LOT going on in this book, and to me it absolutely warrants the 400 page length. The book begins and ends in Galveston during the Depression, when one family had absolute control of the island. In between, we see a lot: the burlesque shows of the era - including their seedier sides engaging in open pedophilia, the dance marathons that were cheap entertainment for so many in this pre=television era and the marathoners that endured so much just to stay off the streets, the politics of the era (where your mileage is absolutely going to vary, but was true to the period at minimum), the treatment of homosexuality in the era, a new surgery meant to cure so many mental health issues - including homosexuality - that was just as barbaric as described late in the text here, and so much more. For those that care about precise historical fact in their historical fiction - I personally tend to give authors at least a touch of leeway, depending on particulars including overall story - know that this surgery was real, and the details provided about both it and the doctor that originated it - Dr Walter Freeman - are real. Bird simply moved up the timeline by about 15 years or so, and used it to great effect within the confines of her story. Truly a remarkable work, and very much recommended.

Note: For those seeking more details on the real horrors of the transorbital lobotomy described in this tale, My Lobotomy by Howard Dully - which I first encountered as a late night NPR broadcast - is truly tragically horrifying.

The Last Dance on the Starlight Pier shows us a part of life, and the struggles during The Great Depression. I had heard of dance marathons before, but not the role they played providing for couples and families during the 1930s. This story is told through Evie Grace Devlin. Evie had been a very young performer in the days of vaudeville, having been pushed on the stage by an unloving, selfish and abusive mother. When the days of vaudeville began to wane, she left and moved to Galveston to start a new life. She worked diligently to become a nurse, only to be kept from getting “pinned” as an actual nurse because of a mean spirited director and prejudice. She goes to see her uncle who gets her a job working as a "nurse" tending to contestants at dance marathons, and Evie soon finds absorbed into the cruel and rough world. These marathons support many employees (dancers, trainers, announcers etc.) but also contestants from the various areas they are put on. Spectators would also pay to come and watch, cheering on their favourites. Conditions were difficult with contestants dancing pretty much nonstop 24 hours a day, sleeping on the dance floor against their partners, and even dancing on broken bones. Having them ruin their health for a few coins so they could entertain the masses is heartbreaking. As time goes on, Evie becomes a part of the show, but she still desires to be a real nurse.

I found this to be an interesting story, a part of history I knew nothing about. Evie was a great main character. She was a victim of circumstances who tried to pull herself up by her bootstraps but was thwarted more than once. She didn't give up and continued to look for ways to follow her dreams. I liked many of the characters, but also disliked the ones who were written as the villains. People did what they had to do in order to survive, and at times it broke my heart. There were other themes in the story such as the attitude of people toward gay characters and how lobotomies were used to "cure them". Prejudice towards people who did not have money or came from poor areas, money separating classes and organized crime families. Even though there is a lot of sad stuff happening in this historical novel, it’s a different view of this time in history which I found interesting. I did pop out and do a search about these dance marathons and found this book well researched. I found sections of the book a bit repetitive and longer than need be, but the characters were easy to like.

I’ve been a big fan of Sarah Bird’s historical fiction since I read Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen, which was published in 2018. When I saw that she had a new book coming out, I was excited and couldn’t wait to start reading it. My thanks go to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy, and McMillan Audio for the recording. This book is for sale now.

Our protagonist is Evie Devlin; the setting is in Texas during the Great Depression. This is a time before government relief exists. Jobs for capable men are scarce, and for women, nearly nonexistent. Evie’s father is dead, and her mother has let her know that she won’t support her efforts to become a nurse. When hard work and determination land her a scholarship, Evie is over the moon, and she makes her way to St. Mary’s School of Nursing in Galveston. The director is not happy to see her; she disapproves of scholarship girls in general—a low class of girls, she believes—and in particular, a Protestant one! What is this world coming to? However, Sofia Amadeo likes Evie, and she wants her admitted, and since the Amadeo family’s money and power drive absolutely everything in Galveston, the director is forced to let Evie in. She and Sofie become roommates first, and then the closest of friends.

We follow Evie through nursing school, but on graduation day, she hits a snag and is sent away without her pin, which is the equivalent of a license to practice. Now homeless and nearly penniless, Evie is adrift, until she learns about the dance-a-thons that feature cash prizes. She was forced to dance for money as a small child and doesn’t care to do so again, but when she sees what passes for a nurse in the show—basically someone off the street recruited to play the role of nurse, but with no training of any kind—she persuades the manager to hire her instead. From there, romance and all sorts of other entanglements and complications ensue.

For roughly the first eighty percent of the book, I am enthralled. The plot is fascinating, the historical accuracy commendable. Soon this becomes my favorite galley. And this is why I feel such a colossal sense of disappointment, almost a sense of betrayal, in fact, when the ending is cobbled together with feel-good revisionism and wishful thinking. Without going into spoilerish detail, a member of an oppressed minority becomes Evie’s focus, and suddenly we roam so far from the historical truth that we never find our way back again. And make no mistake: the actual truth is ugly. But if you’re going to write in the kitchen, you have to be able to bear the heat. Or, something like that.

Sarah Bird is a badass writer. Just reading her figurative language alone gives me joy, and I am hoping fervently that this bizarre departure is an anomaly. I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

As for the audio, Cassandra Campbell does a serviceable job, though the Italian accent sounds a bit like Dracula. This is a common issue, I find, and so I’m not terribly concerned about this aspect. Everything else she does is right on point. If you are going to read this book—which, sadly, I cannot recommend—I’d say it’s a toss up as to audio versus print. Go with whatever you’re most comfortable with, but do it free or cheap if you decide to acquire it.

A beautiful book about a strong woman fighting for what’s important to her! This historical fiction novel is set during the Great Depression and I enjoyed reading about what life was like during this time. Evie, the MC, is so lovable, smart but maybe just a tad bit naïve is some ways of the world. I appreciated the gay representation in this book but there were some harsh moments depicting societal views on homosexuality.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693319

Sarah Bird is a new to me author. I will look for more of her work. This book was very good and very well written. I throughly enjoyed it through all the ups and downs and many tears.

This is a story about a young lady, Evie Grace Devlin, who has only known heartache since her dad died. She was very young but knew a very strong love from him. Her mother on the other hand was awful. A full fledged tramp in my opinion. I honestly detested her so much I literally wanted to slap her in the face over and over. She was that horrible. I believe she was very jealous of her daughter. Possibly of her deceased husband also.

Evie worked hard to support her and her mother until the day she got into nursing school. She left that day with no intention of ever returning. She was going to go forward and make a life. Try to find a happiness. Her life did change. In some ways it got worse and in others it was better. I'll always wonder why some nuns are so mean and unhappy. Why they are so cruel and uncaring. I also wonder why pictures and statues of the Virgin Mary show her as a very sad person. I mean really. She was the mother of the Christ child. How can she be depicted as sad all the time. It must be a Catholic thing. Possibly.

Evie goes through some of the worse things you can imagine and still doesn't get her pin to be a full RN. She leaves and gets into dance marathons. There her life is a bit happy for a while. She helps the hurt dancers and even dances herself. She sees her grandmother during this time and makes so many new friends. She falls head over heels in love also. But her live takes another drastic change. It's a constant for Evie.

This book teaches us a lot about what the dance marathoners go through and why. What is expected of them. Of the many hours they spend on the dance floor. It also talks about a person's sexual preference and what a person goes through who is considered different. About a so called "cure" for that abnormality. For being a deviant. A bad person. What one man went through in his life because he was "different." Not a lot has changed by the way. As far as people being cruel that is.

This book brought me to tears in so many places. It almost broke me when I read a letter from one person to the other. It was so sad and so honest. So raw and emotional. What was to become of these two? Will they ever know happiness?

Then there was the fire.... Who survived? Who didn't?

Thank you #NetGalley #SarahBird #StMartinsPress for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 stars. It's a long one but so worth reading. I learned a lot reading this one.

Wow. So much history that we just don’t know about. I love a good historical novel and the chance to learn more. This is a great look back at a pretty unknown slice of life. I had no idea about dance marathons and what it was really like. An excellent book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I thought this story had a very unique premise, and for that it is worth reading. Throughout the course of the book the premise becomes less and less important as more characters are introduced and more storylines diverged from the original story. Evie's story became so convoluted in the past, and her character was making bad choices which made me wonder if we were supposed to root for her or not. I lost interest in Evie's story and finished it just to finish it but would have put it aside. A good edit or streamlining of the plot would have worked wonders on this book.

In Galveston, Texas amidst the Great Depression, Evie Grace Devlin breaks away from her toxic mother and upbringing to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. When things do not go as planned, Evie is swept into the world of dance marathons, acting as the nurse for the contestants, and eventually as a dancer herself.

While I thought this was an incredibly interesting premise and story, I found parts of it to be somewhat slow, and it felt a bit too long for the storyline. I appreciated the historical aspects of the Great Depression era, and the focus on the dance marathons, but overall I struggled to connect to the story so it was just an “okay” book for me.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my gifted copy.