Pretending To Dance by Diane Chamberlain

Pretend, pretend, pretend and you most likely will talk yourself into thinking you will be able to do something or overcome some fear.

Pretending about things was what Molly's family did.  Her dad was a therapist, and that was his strategy with patients and the strategy that he brought to the family.

PRETENDING TO DANCE goes back and forth in Molly's life as the reader shares her sorrows and joys as a child and as an adult.  ​Her joys and sorrows as a child surround her parentage and growing up.  Her joys and sorrows as an adult deal with keeping her past a secret from her husband and dealing with adopting a baby in an open adoption ​fashion.

We also share secrets that she finds out about her family that forced her to move away and lie about her past to her husband.

​I actually didn't like Molly as an adult.  As a child she made me nervous with decisions she made.  I loved her father, Graham, and his caregiver, Russell.  The other characters were sort of in the background but kept the story line connected.

PRETENDING TO DANCE does drag a bit, but if you have read any of Ms. Chamberlain's other books, she always incorporates social issues into her books in a very intriguing way.   

PRETENDING TO DANCE wasn't a favorite for me, but it did feel like a mystery as I thought about all of the secrets Molly had to keep and that we had to find out and how Molly needed to pretend to be able to cope with issues.  

I love the title of the book....very pertinent.

The ending was very emotional.  Let me know what you think if you read PRETENDING TO DANCE.   4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.