And They Danced

And They Danced is an engaging and fun read! It could easily be a beach read as well as a warm-Texas-night-with-a-slight-breeze read. This is a character-driven story, and author Tiffany Seitz treats us to some endearing (and some not-so-endearing) characters.

The story takes place in and around Fort Worth, Texas—present day. It follows the actions of three people as they team up to try and solve a murder investigation that has gone cold. Texas Ranger Sergeant Crock Ward is taking a chance on the paranormal abilities of Tess Corona and her twin brother Dr. Lazaro “Laz” Corona. All other leads in the deaths of Dr. Daniel Green and his wife Esme have dried up, resulting in Crock’s desperation move to enlist the help of Laz and Tess. As they seek the truth, they confront several paranormal beings; some want to help them, but another wants to destroy them.

First, this is not a spooky read at all, in my opinion. Throughout the story, my arms did not produce one goosebump and the hair on the back of my neck stayed still. I think that’s primarily because of the author’s matter-of-fact presentation. With a Texas Ranger and a former Army soldier (Tess), that’s not surprising.

Each of these main characters has a little backstory, particularly Tess, and I loved the way the author weaved all of it into the story. There were secrets that Tess kept from her family about her Army experiences, and the author managed to keep those secrets from the reader until almost the very end of the story.

The character arcs were wonderful. Tess had the biggest arc, but Crock wasn’t far behind. One of the minor characters, the twins’ grandmother (Gram), was very interesting. Gram also had paranormal abilities, and she was considered a healer. Gram’s character arc is very flat—she is who she is, no more, no less. However, the interesting thing is how the reader’s perception of Gram changes throughout the story. This is also evident in the way Crock considers the grandmother.

“There were three deaths:
when the body stopped functioning,
when it’s buried,
and the last time the name is spoken.”

—Neuroscientist David Eagleman

The author also found a way to put some humor in the story. One of my favorite scenes regarding humor was when Laz answered a call from his mother. It started with a “mooing cow” ringtone. The author then presented the entire conversation as what Laz wanted to say, followed by what he actually said. Here’s a sample of what I mean:

“Hello, darling. How’s my boy?”
Tired of being treated like I’m six. “Good. What’s up?”
“Am I disturbing you?”
Yes. “No, Mom, just heading to the library to do some research.”

This is quite a good story, and I very much enjoyed reading it, but there were a few things I didn’t particularly like. The first one is pretty picky, I know, but it has to do with the character names. Laz’s daughter is named Tila, which starts with the same letter and has the same number of characters as Tess. For people like me who struggle to keep characters separate (are there any others?), these two character names made separation particularly hard in the beginning.

There are a couple of subplots, such as one having to do with Tila’s favorite teacher at her school. These subplots come up several times throughout the story, but I did’t get a good sense of closure on any of them. Maybe in book 2?

I also thought the author was a little sneaky with the climax. I was almost completely through it before realizing it was indeed the climax. Maybe it’s just that I wanted more—which I do. But I suppose the author has to save some of the good stuff for the next book.

And speaking of good stuff, this story has a lot of it! I highly recommend it, and please pardon my pickiness about some of it.