Review: The Unexpected Waltz by Kim Wright

I will probably do a written review for every book I read, mainly for my personal reading archives, and perhaps also, to help fellow readers out and to create discussions about the books.

My first review is on The Unexpected Waltz*. I got this as an ARC from the bookstore I work at and it came out June 3. Here's the goodreads synopsis:

From the author of the critically acclaimed debut Love in Mid Air comes this moving novel about a middle-aged widow who finds her feet by embracing a new hobby: ballroom dancing.

Kelly Wilder becomes recently widowed from a much older wealthy man with whom she spent her married life doing charity work, building a lovely home, and, as she says, “pretending to be a whole lot more conservative and stupid and nicer than I really am.”

Now, with too much time and money on her hands, Kelly has absolutely no idea what happens next. So on a whim she signs up for a ballroom dancing class, and slowly, step by high-heeled step, begins to rebuild her life with the help of friends old and new: Nik, a young Russian dance teacher who sees the artistic potential she left behind; Carolina, a woman in hospice, anxious to experience a whole lifetime in a few months; and Elyse, Kelly’s girlhood best friend who knows all of her past secrets—including the truth about the man who long ago broke Kelly’s heart.

In the vein of Jennifer Weiner's novels, Unexpected Waltz is a deeply felt story about moving on after loss and finding a new walk—or dance—of life through the power of second chances.



Overall, I liked this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the ballroom dance aspect of it and the characters that were brought in through that part of the story. All of the characters in the story were likable and it was a light read that didn't hold emotionally intense or extremely negative topics. If you aren't looking for too much from a book other than a fun story and an array of different characters, then this is great. 

There was a lot I didn't personally enjoy, however. I love adult fiction, especially books where we get a lot of character development. Being able to see how characters became the way they are through their past and then seeing them grow throughout the story is one of my favorite tools in fiction and I thought this book would be ideal for that. Perhaps it was supposed to be, but it really felt short in that aspect. Everything was very surface level. Death, hospice, cheating, affairs; normally these things are emotional. I didn't feel much emotion at all when these topics came up because I felt they weren't dug into deeply and I didn't feel connection to the characters. There were different people and settings the main character, Kelly, interacted with and the flow seemed very choppy. Parts of the book I enjoyed more than others and it was a very nice ending. But a lot of the time I went, "Eh." 

It was disappointing for me because it sounded like it could have been so much more than it was. But if you are looking for a light, quick read, then this definitely works. It wasn't awful by any means and in general I liked it, hence why I gave it 3 out of 5 goodreads. 

*The link to the book is an affiliate link with indiebound.com.