Book Review: Tour de Force by Elizabeth White

*This review is part of The Blog Tour Spot.*

You know how at the end of every dance movie, there’s a big emotional dance scene where everything just falls into place?

Well, at the end of Tour de Force by Elizabeth White, there’s a . . . oh no, you aren’t going to trick me like that. I’m not going to tell you what happens at the end!

I will tell you that the book has dancing in it. Dancing that I appreciate so much more because of my love of So You Think You Can Dance. Dancing that has a whole new element because of the main characters’, well, character.

I’d read books by Elizabeth White before and thought they were pretty cute. Not too fluffy and pretty fun reads. Tour de Force was about the same, and even featured characters mentioned in previous books or related to characters from previous books.

(Although I’m not about to admit how far into the book I was before I realized that. It had been a couple years since I read one of White’s novels. And I read a lot of books, okay?! How can I remember every single character? . . . Okay, so I was more than halfway through the book when it hit me.)

I did feel that Tour de Force was a bit heavier, somewhat deeper than the other books by White. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I enjoyed reading about dance, and seriously, having watched so much dance on TV and in movies over the past few years really fueled my imagination and colored my perspective on the story.

The dialogue had a few clunky spots. One that stood out in particular was when a character used the word “eldest.” I’ve just never heard anyone say that in real life. Then again, I think the character who said that was British, so it’s possible that the British say it all the time. I wouldn’t really know. (Unless I heard it from Nigel Lythgoe, who is British and a dancer, which makes this random SYTYCD reference oh-so relevant.)

Some readers may find the resolution of the story a bit far-fetched, but I believe the author is trying to stretch our faith and open our minds a bit. What happens to each of the characters, I think, is quite possible and certainly a bit thought-provoking.

Or maybe it’s just an overly simple solution to a sticky story arc. You can decide for yourself, but for me, I liked Tour de Force. Here’s the summary: