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Time/Steps
THE DANCE OF LOVE FORGED THEIR DESTINIES. THE MARCH OF TIME SHATTERED THEIR DREAMS.
Beatrice Crane and Bobby Bradley were Hollywood's greatest movie dance team, and nothing could keep them apart...
Not the film studio moguls who demanded they make love on-screen--and hide their love when they were off.
Not the bitter ex-dance partner who vowed to destroy Beatrice for taking another man on the road to stardom.
Not the director who married her.
Not the daughter who hated her.
The events of one horrific night changed their lives forever.
Beatrice Crane and Bobby Bradley were Hollywood's greatest movie dance team, and nothing could keep them apart...
Not the film studio moguls who demanded they make love on-screen--and hide their love when they were off.
Not the bitter ex-dance partner who vowed to destroy Beatrice for taking another man on the road to stardom.
Not the director who married her.
Not the daughter who hated her.
The events of one horrific night changed their lives forever.
644 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
6 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Vale Allen
60 books40 followersCharlotte Vale-Allen was born in Toronto and lived in England from 1961 to 1964 where she worked as a television actress and singer. She returned to Toronto briefly, performing as a singer and in cabaret revues until she emigrated to the United States in 1966.
Shortly after her marriage to Walter Allen in 1970 she began writing and sold her first novel Love Life in 1974. Prior to this book's publication she contracted to do a series of paperback originals for Warner Books, with the result that in 1976 three of her books appeared in print.
Her autobiography, the acclaimed Daddy's Girl, was actually the first book she wrote but in 1971 it was deemed too controversial by the editors who read it. It wasn't until 1980, after she'd gained success as a novelist, that the groundbreaking book was finally published.
One of Canada's most successful novelists, with over seven million copies sold of her 30+ novels, Ms. Allen's books have been published in all English-speaking countries, in Braille, and have been translated into more than 20 languages.
In her writing she tries to deal with issues confronting women, being informative while at the same time offering a measure of optimism. "My strongest ability as a writer is to make women real, to take you inside their heads and let you know how they feel, and to make you care about them."
A film buff and an amateur photographer, Allen enjoys foreign travel. She finds cooking and needlework therapeutic, and is a compulsive player of computer Solitaire. The mother of an adult daughter, since 1970 she has made her home in Connecticut.
Shortly after her marriage to Walter Allen in 1970 she began writing and sold her first novel Love Life in 1974. Prior to this book's publication she contracted to do a series of paperback originals for Warner Books, with the result that in 1976 three of her books appeared in print.
Her autobiography, the acclaimed Daddy's Girl, was actually the first book she wrote but in 1971 it was deemed too controversial by the editors who read it. It wasn't until 1980, after she'd gained success as a novelist, that the groundbreaking book was finally published.
One of Canada's most successful novelists, with over seven million copies sold of her 30+ novels, Ms. Allen's books have been published in all English-speaking countries, in Braille, and have been translated into more than 20 languages.
In her writing she tries to deal with issues confronting women, being informative while at the same time offering a measure of optimism. "My strongest ability as a writer is to make women real, to take you inside their heads and let you know how they feel, and to make you care about them."
A film buff and an amateur photographer, Allen enjoys foreign travel. She finds cooking and needlework therapeutic, and is a compulsive player of computer Solitaire. The mother of an adult daughter, since 1970 she has made her home in Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 25, 2015
"Bea could have gone to the theater twice a day every day. She loved it. Her special favorites were the Astaires, especially Fred. His dancing made her want to run up onto the stage and join him."
Time Steps is a rags-to-riches to Hollywood super star story. It starts pre-depression era and follows Bea's life, loves and tragedies into the 1970s (I think it was the 70s - it's been a week since I finished this). More than that, I really don't want to give much away. This is definitely a book for Hollywood glitz and glamor geeks (I'm a bit marginal on that), with tons of name dropping and scandals and plastic surgery that may or may not turn out so well.
"Well, at least the scene's in the can. I don't have to worry about showing the world my new cleavage anymore. At this rate, another ten minutes and they'll just explode off my chest."
Bottom line, for me is that while I liked Bea's character a lot, I'm just not that big of a geek for Hollywood that I was enthralled either. That's just me. I have owned the original MMPB with that gorgeous cover, but I ended up getting a Kindle copy via Kindle Unlimited, and the formatting for that new edition is so poor that I'm dropping a star off my rating. It was littered with page breaks where no page breaks should be, it was incredibly distracting. I borrowed it for free, but if I'd paid the asking price currently on the Amazon page, I'd be a pretty unhappy customer.
Time Steps is a rags-to-riches to Hollywood super star story. It starts pre-depression era and follows Bea's life, loves and tragedies into the 1970s (I think it was the 70s - it's been a week since I finished this). More than that, I really don't want to give much away. This is definitely a book for Hollywood glitz and glamor geeks (I'm a bit marginal on that), with tons of name dropping and scandals and plastic surgery that may or may not turn out so well.
"Well, at least the scene's in the can. I don't have to worry about showing the world my new cleavage anymore. At this rate, another ten minutes and they'll just explode off my chest."
Bottom line, for me is that while I liked Bea's character a lot, I'm just not that big of a geek for Hollywood that I was enthralled either. That's just me. I have owned the original MMPB with that gorgeous cover, but I ended up getting a Kindle copy via Kindle Unlimited, and the formatting for that new edition is so poor that I'm dropping a star off my rating. It was littered with page breaks where no page breaks should be, it was incredibly distracting. I borrowed it for free, but if I'd paid the asking price currently on the Amazon page, I'd be a pretty unhappy customer.
October 4, 2021
Anyone who can appreciate the Golden Age of Hollywood will fall in love with this book. The reader is introduced to the central character, Beatrice Crane, at the age of ten, and chronicles her life, loves, career, and pitfalls along the way, spanning six decades. This is a doorstopper of a novel at 641 pages, but Charlotte Vale Allen keeps the momentum going at a fairly steady pace. Beatrice Crane (or "Bea" as she's referred to most of the time) seems like a cleverly disguised version of Ginger Rogers in her youth (Bea longs to be a dancer), then switches to a version of Bette Davis as she becomes a more seasoned actress. In fact, one description pretty much nails the mannerisms and non-stop wielding of cigarettes that became Ms. Davis's signature. Supporting characters were fleshed out well enough, and the dialogue felt true to form, and could be quite biting at times, particularly when Bea is battling film studios, the men in her life, or the daughter who resents her (another scene occurs towards the end that is another reflection of Ms. Davis's life). Charlotte Vale Allen's style of writing is swift for the most part, even during moments of internal dialogue that could've grown bogged down in the wrong hands. Definitely worth the time.
June 30, 2018
DNF, pg 50-some.
I don't think this is bad, per se, but it's not my style -- too much Bookclub Women's Fic & not enough Tawdry Glitter Trash. So if you like your entertainment industry doorstoppers less OTT & more, shall we say, refined...? Perhaps it would be to your taste.
As for me... *shrug* I got plenty of other books to read.
I don't think this is bad, per se, but it's not my style -- too much Bookclub Women's Fic & not enough Tawdry Glitter Trash. So if you like your entertainment industry doorstoppers less OTT & more, shall we say, refined...? Perhaps it would be to your taste.
As for me... *shrug* I got plenty of other books to read.
May 7, 2019
I have read a number of Charlotte's earlier books, all which did hold my interest for their storylines and I think I may have already read this in the 1990's as it was published in 1986. I wouldn't consider myself as a dancer, but I would think I have 'happy feet'. This story of a girl's passion and life as an entertainer was quite heady, some 628 pages and quite a long distinguished bibliography! It is about the life and loves of a girl in Hollywood throughout the early 20th century when people once thought this was paradise and yet could be a ruthless, hedonistic jigsaw of life, love and sorrow.
The stage and movies; dancing, singing, acting … I will leave it to those who see to it with a passion to entertainment and self-fulfillment … I think you have to be in that mind-set to enjoy this story. It was a life story of heavy going .. but okay!
The stage and movies; dancing, singing, acting … I will leave it to those who see to it with a passion to entertainment and self-fulfillment … I think you have to be in that mind-set to enjoy this story. It was a life story of heavy going .. but okay!
March 12, 2022
You know those old movies from the thirties in which Our Heroine is afflicted with - basically - everything, from lousy parents to terrible bosses to sexual assault to an ungrateful, betraying daughter? Yeah? This is those, in novel form, but with a healthy dose of found family and romance novel (Beatrice has several friends and romantic partners throughout the book who are loving and devoted and remain so throughout). The book itself occasionally gets a little overwhelmingly informative, as when Bea and her guardian Lucy read through the ads in a film magazine in excruciating detail, but it moves quickly and sketches out characterizations lightly, such that the frequent ridiculousness never becomes too much to swallow.
January 28, 2018
This is one of my favorite books, and one that always pulls at my heartstrings each time I read it. This time was no different.
January 7, 2011
THIS WAS THE FIRST "REAL" BOOK I EVER READ! I WAS YOUNG AND LOVED TO DANCE! THIS BOOK HAS GREAT EMOTIONS...YOU CAN TRUELY FEEL HOW AWEFUL IT WOULD BE IF SOMETHING YOU LIVED FOR WAS TAKING AWAY AND HOW GREAT IT IS TO FIGHT FOR IT AND WIN! (AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT BOBBY, I'M TALKING ABOUT DANCING!)
June 21, 2014
Давам толкова високи оценки на книгите на тази авторка,защото историите й са много интересни и различни.Има много неща ,които можеш да извлечеш като поуки. Единственото , което няма да хареса на по-младите читатели е стила, който вече е остарял.
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September 2, 2013Read 9/97
December 22, 2016
Romance. Big, long book
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews