Wood’s use of a classic Shakespearean play to retell in this book means it already came with its own atmosphere and feeling, but yet she has still managed to make it hers. Wood has introduced characters that feel real and wonderful and has put them in a setting to match. This book is s a beautiful reading experience that I would highly recommend to anyone. With their new friends gleefully setting the rules for their fling, Bea and Ben can agree on one thing at least: they absolutely, positively will not, cannot fall in love... I thought it was going to be impossible to beat A Sky Painted Gold, but Laura Wood has achieved the almost impossible: a perfect second novel that compliments the first in total harmony, whilst having a style and charm that is completely its own. The romance, which was just as swoonworthy as Lou and Robert's in A Sky Painted Gold, was out of this world amazing. Keeping the acerbic wit I love most in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, it also had a tenderness and sweetness that I wasn't expecting. It's never cliché or forced, but as natural as breathing. Set in Italy, during Mussolini’s rise, Bea is sent to her uncle’s house to spend the summer with her cousin Hero. There she meets Ben, the devilishly handsome artist.

Why should young women be left out of such conversations? After all, Vicar, we’re the ones who must become mothers ourselves, if the human race is to continue at all. It’s in the Bible, isn’t it? Be fruitful and multiple and all that.’ I wave my hand airily. ‘So, you must agree that to keep young women in ignorance when it comes to acts of sexual congress is nothing less than irresponsible.’ Inspired by Much Ado About Nothing, with a heroine reminiscent of Sybil from Downton Abbey and a lazy Italian summer setting evoking other works such as Call Me By Your Name, UNDER A DANCING STAR is a beautiful novel about a girl finding her place in the world and deciding to take control of her life and who she wants to be. (She also falls in love with a very handsome artist along the way.) Such pretentious exposition affords a reader very little credit. And let’s not forget those subtle reminders of Bea’s searing agency: ‘ It’s time to take my destiny into my own hands…’Indeed my lord, he lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one.” (Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 1) The author’s Great Gatsby-esque A Sky Painted Gold was a 2018 favourite of mine, and this is every bit as bathed in coming-of-age hope and a sense of being on the brink of something special. Beatrice is this smart and driven woman, struggling with her people-pleasing traits, but while still being herself : a self-thought insect fanatic. She wasn’t forced and had dept, which I liked very much. The idea of romance certainly wasn’t her main goal in life, far from it, which made her story with Ben even better. Instead of asking for her life to change, while doing nothing like so many other book heroines, she actually decided to make the most of her youth, exploring Italy and studying medicine. Power move. The beauty in the words of this book creates a captivating and atmospheric reading experience. The setting of a summer in Italy painted the perfect picture for a mesmerising setting in which Bea can really discover herself and her passions. She is a fantastic leading lady, wanting to break out of the norm that has been set for her by society and her parents. I felt I wanted to fight fiercely for her and her rights as a human to be able to do what she wants in life! As far as my parents are concerned, daughters aren't terribly useful asset. I’m not supposed to go out into the world and actually do things.They’d like me to be more… ornamental. I’m just too much for them. Too big, too loud, too clever.'

I really liked the theme following the artists in and out of Bea's Uncle's house. It added another layer to the story and also helped to contribute to Bea's passions being truly unearthed. This book is very much about finding yourself, having a fleeting adventure and learning a new approach to life. I read Laura Wood's debut YA, A Sky Painted Gold, earlier in 2019 and fell in love with it. It was my perfect idea of a book: historical fiction, with a romance to die for and a female heroine it was impossible not to fall in love with. Laura Wood even started my love for Eva Ibbotson's books and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, which I'll forever be grateful for.

LoveReading4Kids Says

The lush Tuscan setting was expertly combined with a dazzling cast of characters (I’m a bit in love with Ursula), and the history included here and there about the rise of Mussolini and fascism was really interesting. Also I’m really happy Wood always adds a bit of LGBTQ rep to her novels - there’s an older secondary f/f couple featured, and one of the central cast is bisexual!

I read Under a Dancing Star within the space of a few hours because I could not put it down. It was impossible to tear myself away from Wood's mesmerising prose, her witty lines, and incredibly realistic characters. I was torn between wanting to read it all and not wanting it to end, but eventually I settled on practically inhaling it, and will most definitely be revisiting it line for line, word for word, very soon.

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Her dialogue is contrived and her frequent outrageous sex references as a means to differentiate her from her peers are quite frankly wince-inducing. Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. Under a Dancing Star.." Retrieved Nov 26 2023 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Under+a+Dancing+Star.-a0609890846 Wood evidently strives to emulate Shakespeare’s acerbic wit. Her writing is appropriately cheeky and wryly observed. The side effect is that it sometimes strays instead into the obnoxious. This one is too cringey to be indulgent - and that’s why Under a Dancing Star made me gag a little.