What do you think?
Rate this book
Dancing at the Harvest Moon
At forty-five, Maggie McIntyre has been abandoned by her husband for a much younger woman. But some old letters in the attic from the first love in her life remind her of the precious summers she spent at the Harvest Moon dance hall so many years ago.
Now she is returning to Little Bear Lake, to the peace of the northern wilderness, hoping to recapture the woman she once was--and the woman she knows she could be again. But time has changed the place she knew. Until a second chance at love makes an unexpected appearance. . . .
Now she is returning to Little Bear Lake, to the peace of the northern wilderness, hoping to recapture the woman she once was--and the woman she knows she could be again. But time has changed the place she knew. Until a second chance at love makes an unexpected appearance. . . .
233 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 15, 1997
7 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
August 27, 2012
Easy read, couldn't put it down. Interesting turn of events. Her insecurities were relatable even if the material wasn't. Nice to see a woman do what men have been doing forever!!
June 8, 2024
This book deserves all superlatives. It has a very lovable major character (Maggie), it describes a fascinating journey from Kansas City to Ontario, it has a beautiful love story.
This was the 9th time since 1996 since I've read the book and I know I'll reread again, because they don't write such wonderful novels any longer.
Highly recommended to everybody who enjoys a good love story.
This was the 9th time since 1996 since I've read the book and I know I'll reread again, because they don't write such wonderful novels any longer.
Highly recommended to everybody who enjoys a good love story.
September 10, 2025
The first time I read this book I was completely captivated. I remember being so engrossed in the summer at the lake vibe, that I was shocked when I looked up from the book to see cold, gray November outside my window. I still enjoyed the story this time around, but I wanted more of my favourite parts.
Maggie is a middle aged English professor who has recently separated from her cheating husband. Her kids are grown, her job is boring, and she longs to return to the scene of her first love - the summer community of Little Bear Lake. She sells her house and goes in search of the joy that she felt as a young woman. She also wants to apologize to her first love, Robert, for leaving him. At the center of her memories is the Harvest Moon, the bar where they all worked. She returns to the lake to find the Harvest Moon closed down and up for sale, and, my favourite part, she buys it and restores the bar to what it once was. Her plan is to open it again in time for the Harvest Moon dance.
In the meantime she meets old friends, and discovers that Robert has passed away, leaving a grown son, Eliot who looks exactly like him. (Eliot is the name that they had picked together for their future son when they were a couple). Maggie has a lot to work out, and Eliot plays a part in that process. Through poetry, and nature, and time at the lake and love, Maggie manages to forge a new path for herself, and I learned a new word: Hejira - a journey made for the sake of safety or as an escape.
Maggie is a middle aged English professor who has recently separated from her cheating husband. Her kids are grown, her job is boring, and she longs to return to the scene of her first love - the summer community of Little Bear Lake. She sells her house and goes in search of the joy that she felt as a young woman. She also wants to apologize to her first love, Robert, for leaving him. At the center of her memories is the Harvest Moon, the bar where they all worked. She returns to the lake to find the Harvest Moon closed down and up for sale, and, my favourite part, she buys it and restores the bar to what it once was. Her plan is to open it again in time for the Harvest Moon dance.
In the meantime she meets old friends, and discovers that Robert has passed away, leaving a grown son, Eliot who looks exactly like him. (Eliot is the name that they had picked together for their future son when they were a couple). Maggie has a lot to work out, and Eliot plays a part in that process. Through poetry, and nature, and time at the lake and love, Maggie manages to forge a new path for herself, and I learned a new word: Hejira - a journey made for the sake of safety or as an escape.
July 25, 2016
It was an easy read, but it wasn't a great one. I finished this book a couple of days ago. Not quite a 2, a cross between "not liking it" and "it was okay", more like a 1-1/2 stars. It was predictable from beginning to end and I starting skipping over parts because, there just wasn't a good reason to read every word, or paragraph. I wasn't missing anything by doing so.
Maggie's lawyer husband of 20+ years ends their marriage by falling in love with his intern who is as young as their two daughters - first ewwww!!!!! Maggie wants to return to her summer job in Little Bear Lake in Ontario (and yes there is a real place called Little Bear Lake in Ontario because I just google it and there are cabins there to rent. Who knew? I'm from Toronto, Ontario) to find the boy she left to marry her idiot husband. There's my second ewwww! Because sometimes the memories are better than the reality of returning, unless of course, if it's just a book. Her logic of going back doesn't even make sense: "I want it back as close as it can be. That's the only way I"m ever going to get over it. Get over him." My opinion: No! You've just ended a marriage. Move on.
Besides finding out that the dining and dancing bar she worked at for three summer has since closed down, she also finds out that Robbie died 5 years ago. She decides to buy the place and get it up and running for the "Harvest Moon". My third ewwww comes next because she falls for his son, who also happens to be the same age as her two grown young adult daughters. Okay, yeah for an older woman and a younger man getting together, just because you know....this happens a heck of a lot less than the older man and a younger woman scenario, but to both, I say: ewwwww!!!! I think both are pretty creepy and the older partner will always have issues dealing with the much younger one, especially as they get older. To be mistaken all the time as their father or mother, or to feel their younger partner will leave them for someone more their age, no thanks!
My fourth ewwwww! As the famous line goes: I don't care what you say....but sleeping with the father and then the son 25 years later....is really, really gross!!! Other readers described this book as sweet. There is nothing sweet about that. That's ewwwwww!!!!!
Maggie's lawyer husband of 20+ years ends their marriage by falling in love with his intern who is as young as their two daughters - first ewwww!!!!! Maggie wants to return to her summer job in Little Bear Lake in Ontario (and yes there is a real place called Little Bear Lake in Ontario because I just google it and there are cabins there to rent. Who knew? I'm from Toronto, Ontario) to find the boy she left to marry her idiot husband. There's my second ewwww! Because sometimes the memories are better than the reality of returning, unless of course, if it's just a book. Her logic of going back doesn't even make sense: "I want it back as close as it can be. That's the only way I"m ever going to get over it. Get over him." My opinion: No! You've just ended a marriage. Move on.
Besides finding out that the dining and dancing bar she worked at for three summer has since closed down, she also finds out that Robbie died 5 years ago. She decides to buy the place and get it up and running for the "Harvest Moon". My third ewwww comes next because she falls for his son, who also happens to be the same age as her two grown young adult daughters. Okay, yeah for an older woman and a younger man getting together, just because you know....this happens a heck of a lot less than the older man and a younger woman scenario, but to both, I say: ewwwww!!!! I think both are pretty creepy and the older partner will always have issues dealing with the much younger one, especially as they get older. To be mistaken all the time as their father or mother, or to feel their younger partner will leave them for someone more their age, no thanks!
My fourth ewwwww! As the famous line goes: I don't care what you say....but sleeping with the father and then the son 25 years later....is really, really gross!!! Other readers described this book as sweet. There is nothing sweet about that. That's ewwwwww!!!!!
August 31, 2007
Ok, I'm not one for cheesy romance novels, but I liked this one. The author does get a bit wrapped up in describing scenery every now and then, but I just sped up my reading through those parts to get to the meat of the story. It's a pretty quick read and it doesn't have all the "filler" that a lot of novels have just to increase the number of pages. I recommend it if you are in the mood for a story about second chances for love.
January 1, 2022
This book was ok. It was good for a quick light read imo if that's what you need or more your speed.
I gave it to my mom because it's more her jam then mine.
One of my goals this year is to read at least one book per month. I may review them in depth or just give a quick sum up of my thoughts. Or not at all 🤷♀️.
I gave it to my mom because it's more her jam then mine.
One of my goals this year is to read at least one book per month. I may review them in depth or just give a quick sum up of my thoughts. Or not at all 🤷♀️.
February 24, 2010
One of the best novels I ever read!
The perfect love story. An American woman who teaches at college finds out that her husband of many years is in love with a younger woman and wants a divorce. She returns to Canada to a lake where she fell in love for the first time.
The TV movie is with Jacqueline Bisset.
There is another novel by K. C. McKinnon, "Candles on Bay Street", it's also a very good read!
This is a great book for a deserted island...
The perfect love story. An American woman who teaches at college finds out that her husband of many years is in love with a younger woman and wants a divorce. She returns to Canada to a lake where she fell in love for the first time.
The TV movie is with Jacqueline Bisset.
There is another novel by K. C. McKinnon, "Candles on Bay Street", it's also a very good read!
This is a great book for a deserted island...
November 24, 2021
K.C. McKinnon is a pseudonym for a respected literary novelist. I googled and still she was not one I have ever read. This book written in 1997 caught my eye in a thrift store because of the title. The writing was nice. The storyline was good. They should make a movie for the Hallmark channel. They did. Half way into the story I knew where we were headed and I said "Oh hell no!" Maybe forty years ago I may have thought differently. enjoy.
May 12, 2010
This book was alright. I found myself a little disturbed by the story line--the main character falls in love with her (now deceased) ex-lover's son. I just thought that the plot was a little weird.
July 6, 2013
A great summer read. Well written. Quite sentimental, but works for a hopeless romantic like me. A sweet story, worth passing on.
August 15, 2020
Actually 2.5. I dug this out of the discard pile because I wanted something not depressing or serious to read on a trip. A light romance seemed like it might fill the bill. Well, this romantic fiction about an older woman seeking a new life was so light it could almost float away.
Maggie, a recently divorced university professor, finds a pile of letters from a long ago sweetheart. On the spur of the moment, she decides to sell her home in Kansas City, take a sabbatical, and travel to Canada to see if she can reconnect with her youthful life at the Harvest Moon dance hall. She had met her first love Rob there when she worked as a waitress during summer vacations. But the past is a difficult place to visit. On another whim, Maggie decides to purchase the now-closed Harvest Moon and reopen it in three weeks for an autumn dance. Along the way, romance reappears.
Maggie is blessed with friends who are eager to make the reopening happen, doing all the grunt work while Maggie drifts around. There is no real sense of the hard and multitudinous tasks there are to take care of to make this happen. I realize this is a romance novel, but Maggie is a ditz.
To add to the sense of unreality is the fact that the author creates TWO unicorns-- perfect, sensitive men who exist to make the heroine feel loved. Will Maggie choose love this time, or will she blow it again? Well, this is a romance.
On a slightly positive note, the author makes frequent use of poetry and literary references (Gatsby, anybody?) to dress up the book in fancy duds.
This book is being donated to the Little Free Library in our campground. Perhaps it will suit another reader.
Maggie, a recently divorced university professor, finds a pile of letters from a long ago sweetheart. On the spur of the moment, she decides to sell her home in Kansas City, take a sabbatical, and travel to Canada to see if she can reconnect with her youthful life at the Harvest Moon dance hall. She had met her first love Rob there when she worked as a waitress during summer vacations. But the past is a difficult place to visit. On another whim, Maggie decides to purchase the now-closed Harvest Moon and reopen it in three weeks for an autumn dance. Along the way, romance reappears.
Maggie is blessed with friends who are eager to make the reopening happen, doing all the grunt work while Maggie drifts around. There is no real sense of the hard and multitudinous tasks there are to take care of to make this happen. I realize this is a romance novel, but Maggie is a ditz.
To add to the sense of unreality is the fact that the author creates TWO unicorns-- perfect, sensitive men who exist to make the heroine feel loved. Will Maggie choose love this time, or will she blow it again? Well, this is a romance.
On a slightly positive note, the author makes frequent use of poetry and literary references (Gatsby, anybody?) to dress up the book in fancy duds.
This book is being donated to the Little Free Library in our campground. Perhaps it will suit another reader.
October 7, 2019
For the most part I enjoyed this book. It's not a very large book but I think it's well written and an easy, quick read. I've never been much interested in poetry but what I've read in this book has me wanting to check out Keats and Eliot. I do want to say that I loved all the wonderful illustrations in the book.
April 15, 2024
No olipa aikamoinen, vaikea sanoa, mikä mätti eniten, pienen paikkakunnan uudelleen avatun tanssipaikan menestystarina, päähenkilön heittäytyminen yrittäjäksi, kaiken sujuminen ”kuin tanssi”, vai vähän outo rakkaus. Kirja tuntui paljon vanhemmalta kuin se oli.
Lukiessa mietin, että onko tehty elokuvaa, no on, 2002.
Lukiessa mietin, että onko tehty elokuvaa, no on, 2002.
January 14, 2022
Not my usual fare, but nice quick read, which was a bit predictable, must agree w/ my friend, and I can see it on Hallmark Channel.
July 25, 2024
This was kind of boring all things considered
January 24, 2020
This romantic novel was published in condensed form in the the October 1997 edition of Good Housekeeping magazine, which is what I found while cleaning out a bookshelf today, and read. The author, apparently writing under a pseudonym (stated to be a “respected literary novelist”), tells the tale of a 46-year-old divorcée who revisits a memorable summer vacation spot from her youth in Canada after many years away, looking for her lost first love, but instead discovers much more there than she expected. It was a charming story, but a little too saccharine for my taste.
November 26, 2016
I saw this one in a book drop off where people leave the books they no longer want for others to take and I'm glad I took it. I really enjoyed this book; one of the best I've read in a while after a line of 'meh' books--perhaps I'm just growing out of YA? I loved the imagery and the poetry of this one, it was very pretty. The story line really spoke to me; it reminded me of my summer days when I would go to my grandmother's for my summer job--right down to the lake and the forest. Everything about how Little Bear Lake brought Maggie memories of the best summer of her life reminded me of my fondness of that place I loved when I was younger. And the "she'd always imagined that the moon would wait for her, would encase itself in a gauzy cocoon of memories and wait." quote really hit home. Alongside the memories and the relateablility, this book gave me some serious wanderlust. I love a book that can make me homesick for the places I've never been. I loved each of the characters as well; none of them were foolish or did anything stupid and abrupt. Maggie put thought into things before making decisions. And Eliot put just as much in for her as she did for him. Good book, I highly recommend it.
June 4, 2013
I found this book at the bottom of my book shelf. Not sure when I got it; possibly when I worked for a big book wholesaler a decade ago. I don't know why it took so long to read it but I'm glad I did because I really liked it. This is definitely chick-lit but not a romance novel. Yes, it has a lot of romance, in fact it is obsessed with it, but not in the romance genre kind of way. So why you may ask did I finally read this book? The back cover enticed me with the following:
"For some people, there comes a day when every dream they ever piled up over the years, every good intention rises up in rebellion against the life they've been living...."
There was something about that phrase that caught me; I had to read this book. The only thing I didn't like about it is that the protagonist, Maggie, got a bit too obsessive for me. Eventually I learned to accept that one annoyance and was able to enjoy the story for what it was, a love story in both the past and the present. Definitely worth reading.
"For some people, there comes a day when every dream they ever piled up over the years, every good intention rises up in rebellion against the life they've been living...."
There was something about that phrase that caught me; I had to read this book. The only thing I didn't like about it is that the protagonist, Maggie, got a bit too obsessive for me. Eventually I learned to accept that one annoyance and was able to enjoy the story for what it was, a love story in both the past and the present. Definitely worth reading.
December 1, 2016
Oh what a true love story this is. I really enjoyed this predictable story yet wonderful romantic story.. It flow effortlessly and ended as it should...Maggie had left her first true love at the Harvest Moon Bar in Canada and returned to Kansas City to graduate school. While there, she meet Joe, married had two children and taught English literature. Twenty five years later, Joe asks for a divorce and Maggie finds the love letters written to her so many years ago.
She now decides to return to Canada hopefully to reunite herself with Robert, the love of her life. Will he still be waiting for her? Is there still a chance for that one true love? Read this heartwarming novel and find out. Will true love win out after all?
She now decides to return to Canada hopefully to reunite herself with Robert, the love of her life. Will he still be waiting for her? Is there still a chance for that one true love? Read this heartwarming novel and find out. Will true love win out after all?
January 4, 2011
I have read this book four times already and I absolutely love it. It is a simple story about the unique path love can take sometimes. After getting a divorce Maggie goes to Canada where she had spent a couple of summers and found her first love. It was a time in her life when she was defining who she was. Now, after losing her husband, her children all grown up, she feels that she needs to define herself all over again. She goes in search of the love she once turned away from but finds another love waiting for her there. I must warn people that this is a love story about an older woman with a younger man.
July 7, 2016
Dancing at the Harvest Moon is another lovely, little gem of a book. It is one of the best used books that I've picked up at the library. I really related to the story of the older woman in a transitional phase of her life. Even though my transitional issues are different, I loved the way the main character bravely set out and moved forward in her life... making decisions that were "outside of the box" and not always what others thought she should do. The simple story and illustrations were very appealing to me. The drawings of the north country reminded me that it is one of my favorite places to be. Altogether, I found the total package to be a sweet read!
June 22, 2016
Maggie has gone through a divorce. She finds a remnant from her former single life from long ago and rushes to Canada to find her lost love. Maggie works hard to make the Harvest Moon dance hall a reality. This is a very lovely but tempestuous story of romance. The plot is rather thin but the 1960's music they talk about and dance to, reminded me of my own fond memories. Bear Lake and the loons brought back happy times at Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks; with the the haunting calls of those majestic birds. To reminisce is a pleasant experience.
November 4, 2012
Very enjoyable book, leaning into the romance category, but well-written. This was a great quick-read with vividly beautiful word pictures. I could actually hear the loons calling on the lake and feel the early morning mists. Easily relatable characters for me with a story about my generation and its music & poetry. Lovely escape fiction!
July 22, 2019
Maggie's first love took place in 1967 and so did mine so guess I enjoyed this book for that reason.
We never really forget our "first love" and after Maggie's 20 year marriage ends, she heads back
to Little Bear Lake to find the life she left behind. Her best friend is there, the Harvest Moon is for sale and thus begins her tale.
We never really forget our "first love" and after Maggie's 20 year marriage ends, she heads back
to Little Bear Lake to find the life she left behind. Her best friend is there, the Harvest Moon is for sale and thus begins her tale.
April 14, 2016
Maggie’s 46, her daughters are grown, and her husband has just left her for a 20-something paralegal. She decides to return to Canada, where she worked summers as a college student, to find her first love, whose heart she’d broken 25 years before. He’s gone, though, but left behind a son, with whom she falls in love. A very romantic and enjoyable read.
May 15, 2024
Beautifully written! I needed a beautiful novel to fill my soul this midsummer, and this slow, sultry romance fit the bill. Mixed with a bit of heartache and melancholy, the story builds into a strong lust for life in the present among the people from our younger days that we know so well, and enjoying the beautiful spirit of birds, lakes, and trees in the north woods.
January 13, 2008
After Maggie's husband of 20 years leaves her, she returns home to Canada. She is determined to reopen the Harvest Moon, a local club. Maggie also meets up with Robbie, her old flame and befriend Claire.
I wish that K.C. McKinnon would write more books!
I wish that K.C. McKinnon would write more books!
August 13, 2015
I read this years ago. But I heard the Neil Young song today and was reminded of the book and thought I'd look it up. I remember really enjoying it when I read it after it had first come out. If you're looking for something light for a fall afternoon this is it.
July 6, 2007
Being a woman from minocqua I could really appreciate this book. I read it by the campfire one night and continued to read in the dark until I was forced to go inside. I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews