Pas de Deux

by Sara Patnaude

371 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2020

About the author

Sara Patnaude has devoured fictional stories for as long as she can remember. While her classmates hated reading the books required in their elementary school reading program, Sara had no problem doing so. In fact, she may have even begun her writing career in the 4th grade when she decided to include a few books from her imagination in order to advance in the program faster. To this day, she isn't one hundred percent sure her teachers fully bought it, but they never let on to her shenanigans if they didn't. Sara began writing stories of her own in the 7th grade and spent her junior high and high school years writing full-length novels, of which she would print out, painfully hole punch each page to slip into a three-ring binder, and pass them around to her friends to read. Sara kept writing and reading into her college years, graduating from Framingham State University in 2010 with a BA in English, and has worked in various marketing roles since.

Sara currently lives in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts with her partner, their two feline sidekicks, and her constantly growing dress collection.

You can also follow her blog: www.inanutshellblog.com and find her on Instagram/Facebook: @sarapatnaudewrites

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in the dance studio. At one point I was there seven days a week for hours on end. It was my life. I haven’t been on a stage in about 15 years and I miss it dearly.

Now that you know that, it will probably make sense to you that I love almost all books that contain dance within their pages, so I really enjoyed this one! 😍

It was much more than a book about a woman who passionately teaches dance to all ages in her studio. There was tragedy, love, characters you can’t help but love despite their faults, and drama, and I was here for it all.

It’s currently a free read through Kindle Unlimited too! 😍

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, I wish I could say I liked this one. Maybe I've been reading too much YA fantasy, but I found this love triangle to be a bit hard to stomach (the YA fantasy would have solved the problem by having father and son fight to the death or something...). I liked both Ruby and Timothy, but as a real world situation I just couldn't do it. And anything that has dance usually gains my attention (plus I love that it was a great coping mechanism for Ruby). I think if the main arc of the story, the love triangle, were something different I might really have enjoyed it. But even the beginning of her relationship with Richard seemed too much like, well, just how his friends and wives viewed it...she was a beautiful young prize on his arm. I know it wasn't really like that, but Richard's character didn't seem to have much depth.

This entire review may be pointless for someone else, since I really think the real world love triangle is what ruined it for me. But if you have no problem with reading about, in anticipation of the resolution and character development, you might enjoy it.

[Joanna Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just couldn't get enough of these characters! Ruby has been dating Richard (a much older man) for many years, but living with him and his three adult sons becomes quite the challenge when she becomes infatuated with his son Timothy. She is being torn apart and through her dancing she attempts to figure out what she is going to do. From the outside it may seem like a simple decision for her to make, there's a lot more she has to think about. I absolutely loved the development of Ruby's character and how dancing was such an outlet for her. I danced throughout my childhood and teenage years and I can totally relate to that. Timothy is such a unique character and I loved his little quirks and creativity throughout the story. The banter between the brothers was hilarious and this was such a page turner. There were many flashbacks of Ruby and Richard's relationship throughout the novel and at times it became a bit confusing with the switching between the timelines but overall I loved it. I REALLY hope there is a sequel!