I have a hard time filling out some of my profiles around the web. Why? Because I always get stuck on the part that questions my favorite books or favorite types of books. It’s really a hard question to answer because I like nearly anything. What makes a good book, for me, is keeping me interested! The storyline just has to keep me wanting more. It has to be one of those that grabs onto me from the start, so much so that it’s nearly impossible for me to put it down long enough to run to the restroom! I’ve just read an excerpt from Dancing Backward In Paradise by Vera Jane Cook, and I can honestly say, I think this is a perfect example of one of those books! I’m already drawn to it because of where it takes place - in the south! I was born and raised in Georgia, so the states surrounding my home state are familiar to me. I always tend to find this appealing, however, that’s not the only reason that I’m eager to read it! It has the perfect ingredients for the kind of novel you won’t put down until you’ve read the last word; lies, murder and betrayal.

Only a truly gifted writer can break your heart, make you laugh and inspire at the same time. Dancing Backward In Paradise by Vera Jane Cook is a brilliant debut that explores the definition of happiness and tries to make sense of the unexpected turns that create the richness and texture of life. Grace Place is nineteen-years-old and lives in Paradise, the Paradise Trailer Park in Hixon, Tennessee. The year is 1966 and Grace is content exploring the back roads, swimming in the cold waters of Tennessee and dancing in the wind. When her life is thrown off track by a man named Lenny Bean, Grace becomes entwined in a medley of lies, murder and betrayal. Trying desperately to remain true to herself, while the life she has created begins to crumble, Grace is more determined than ever to change her destiny.

“You’re going to New York City, honey” her mother told her. “It’s the only place I know of where things are so damn crazy and mean, so miraculous and exciting, so painfully alienating that you just might find yourself amongst the confusion.”

Accompanied by the most unlikely of friends, Ginny Jo, a tough-talking leader with a no-nonsense approach to life, Grace is on her way to New York City. The place that her mother had long ago told her was the only place where her life would become something worth living. There amidst the 1960’s world of civil rights, hippies and ambition, Grace begins living the dreams that her mother always held and that she never believed existed. A place that can only be called Paradise.
Absorbing and compelling, Dancing Backward In Paradise poses the question: Can