WILD AS THE STARS - Kerry Chaput

 It is the late 1920's in an alternate universe where magic is banned alongside booze during Prohibition. Eleanora 'Nora' Cleary has dreams of performing her magical tap dance on the stage but Prohibition has meant that she has to keep her magic ability a secret. Fear of those with magic powers has pervaded the general consciousness in no small part because of Nora's mother, Fiona, whose talent was unrivaled but whose fire ability literally brought the house down.

But for all her desire to dance, Nora also fears the stage. She was a child and watched as hordes of fearful people nearly killed her mother over their fear and hatred for Fiona's ability to create fire through her dance.

Nora struggles with her debilitating panic whenever she takes the stage, and yet she desire's nothing more. She works as a dishwasher in a rundown club where magic dance is performed and booze served illegally. 

There is one stage that challenges Prohibition and performs magic dance publicly - The Luminaire in Seattle. It is also the place where Nora's mother rose to fame and run out of town and subsequently sent to an asylum. The son of The Luminaire's owner has plans to bring magic back in a spectacular way and recruits Nora to come dance and release her fire in the tradition of her mother. Nora's hidden talent may be the only thing that will make the plans succeed, but Nora will need a lot of help to overcome her fears.

There was so much I liked about this book, but just enough that was problematic to bring my rating down as well.

The concept is a lot of fun. I enjoyed the idea of magic brought through dance. Though I wasn't clear on whether or not only women had this ability since the dancers at the Luminaire were all female.

I liked the cast of characters throughout the book, even though I felt the story veered off course late in the book. I liked the time period, though other than Prohibition, we don't really get a sense that this is the 20's. This could have been any time. I didn't even mind the jumping back and forth in time to get some of Nora's backstory through her mother's POV, even though I generally don't like this kind of literary device. And in general, I liked author Kerry Chaput's writing.

But there are a couple of things that hold this back, rating-wise, for me.

First, as mentioned, the story veers off course. We spend 200-250 pages (maybe more - it's hard to tell on a Kindle) setting up the story of Eleanor struggling to overcome her own fears and living up to her mother's legacy. I mean this is enough of an obstacle to plot a book. Then the possible romance angle comes in to play with the theatre owner's son, and that's a nice addition. But then it goes too far (in my mind) by adding gangsters from out of town who pit the dancer's against each other.  Wait ... what? Yup.

In addition to the added obstacle (gangsters) very late in the book, the book gets a little too long trying to establish Nora's fears. We didn't need to be told or to see it in action quite so many times. More than once I thought to myself, "We get it already, she struggles!" The concept and characters kept me going, but if I hadn't enjoyed these, I might have DNF'd the book from being hit over the head with how often we're told/shown that Nora struggles.

Despite the magic, I wouldn't urge fans of paranormal or fantasy to read this. Both elements are props to the story  This strikes me as more - I hate this term but not sure what to substitute - 'chick lit.' Given the focus on Nora, her mother, and their dancing, this doesn't even fit the romance category. The struggle to categorize this could be an issue.

Looking for a good book? Wild as the Stars by Kerry Chaput is a delightful historical fantasy featuring magic and dance that goes on a little too long.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, though Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

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Wild as the Stars

author: Kerry Chaput

publisher: Black Rose Writing

ISBN: 9781685136208

paperback, 329 pages