When You Dance with the Devil

By: Gwynne Forster

Narrated by: Susan Spain

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

When You Dance with the Devil explores the complicated lives of two lost souls looking to start over at a Maryland boarding house.

Fannie Johnson has seen darn near all the world has to offer at her Thank the Lord Boarding House. It is home to a variety of interesting people who regard each other as family. One such is Sarah Jolene Tilman, who, after spending 35 years under the thumb of her vindictive mother, is ready to strike out on her own. In stark contrast, Richard Peterson has done more than his share of living and is looking for simpler pleasures. Under Fannie's watchful eye, each will embark on a path of self-exploration and find that life is nothing if not a wildly unpredictable journey.

Essence best-selling author Gwynne Forster writes thought-provoking tales of love and personal growth.

©2006 Gwynne Forster (P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"The characters' earnestness will appeal to readers looking for a light pick-me-up." (Publishers Weekly)

Not what I expected but still good

The story was different than what I expected. Originally I thought the two main characters would fall in love with each other but I was wrong. I felt like Jolene was a little too naïve, for the time that the book takes place. If she had been home schooled it would have been more believable that she didn’t know how to interact with people. The worst part about the book was the narrator. It seems like sometimes she would stop in the middle of a sentence and then start a new thought. Sometimes she would announce a new chapter and sometimes not. It led to some confusion at times.

Good but no page turner.

This book was somewhat predictable but had an interesting plot. Although I have no favorite part, I did appreciate the happy ending. It had just the right number of characters so that I could remember names and their association.

There were too many references to Jolene's past that did not match her intellect. For a person to learn so quickly would suggest that she at least had a good education or was taught well by someone. That was not what was suggested in this book.

I could relate to the boarding house and wish there were really such places where people could learn to live together with respect and consideration. We hear so much about people finding relatives they never knew, I guessed who Jolene's father was amost immediately.

Overall, the book was good reading. More time could have been dedicated to the lives of the couples after they decided to get married. However, there has to be interest for the next book I suppose!

When You Dance with the Devil

By Arlena (Broken Arrow, OK, United States)
I really enjoyed When you Dance with the Devil. It was again for me another good novel to listen to. I thought the narrator Susan Spain in her delivery did a wonderful job on this one. It was long but I was kept interested in getting through the story. Keep on doing what you are doing Mrs. Forster! I loved it. I have now listened to all of your audibles and have truly loved them all. Hopefully, your next audible will be out soon.

Outstanding!

Great narration and well written. I enjoyed every character and the setting was very detailed.

Save your money..

This book is a huge waste of time and money...I gave it a good 2 hrs. before I let myself scrap it..shallow characters, mindless plot, I can't find one good thing to say...

I tried...

This book was so hard to find interesting. The main character was so annoying and naive. The other characters were uninteresting as well. The whole storyline was so far fetched and unbelievable. Nobody acts that way in real life.

boring with 1 dimentional characters.

I struggled to finish this book. The characters were one dimentional and boring. All talk and no action. The main character wants you to feel sorry for her without going into depth of why we should feel sorry for her. It's predictable and uninteresting.

NOT an impressive listen...

I was not impressed with this book. It started out slow and ended in an uncanny way. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book.

Boring

What disappointed you about When You Dance with the Devil?

I'll admit I'm not a romance novel fan, so I didn't expect to love it, but the dialog seemed fake to me and the story uninteresting. People simply don't speak that way in the 21st century.The audio addition made it worse. There were unnatural pauses between lines. It sounded like someone recorded a few lines, stopped and came back a different day to record a few more lines. It was obviously spliced.

Would you ever listen to anything by Gwynne Forster again?

Maybe. I understand the earlier books are good.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I would have picked someone else to read it. The narrator's voice sounded like a very bad actor.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Bored.

Same ole, different setting

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone that loves fantasy romance

What do you think your next listen will be?

A mystery or anything with a complex storyline and characters

What aspect of Susan Spain’s performance would you have changed?

She did a decent job in portraying the various voices but a woman will never be convincing as a male character. So I would love to hear various actors male and female read

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from When You Dance with the Devil?

most of them, especially the sappy love scenes. It's unrealistic

Any additional comments?

It dragged on and the main characters were not convincing as anyone remotely close to a real person with real issues. The premise is unrealistic. A boarding house in a remote part of Eastern Shore, Maryland that houses 12 unique adults ranging in age 35-85. It's a mix of professional people that includes a truck driver, female undercover detective, school teacher, an international diplomat to name a few. The two most dysfunctional is a 35 year old that for most of her life was sheltered and mentally abused by her overbearing mother. She knows nothing of the world and it's not until her mother dies that she begins to come out of her shell which happens at this boarding house. To follow her discovery of the world and the way humans interact particularly the dynamics between men and women is nauseating at best. And then there's the international diplomat, who boasts about the 100+ women he has bedded but who walks away from his priviledged life to find himself and a new love in one of his fellow boarders. The rest of the boarders are minor characters who interplay with the diplomat and the naive 35yr old. The characters are boring, storyline is not only predictable but slow as molassess and so you have to painfully listen to 10 hours to see where each of these misfits end up but you don't really have to because you know that it ends like all fairytale romances even among dysfunctional people.