The Phoenix Ballroom by Ruth Hogan - Book Review

Publication Date: 11th June 2024 

Genre: Contemporary Feel-Good Fiction 

4 stars 

One Liner: Low-stakes cozy read 

At seventy-four, Venetia spent fifty years of her life being a wife and a mother. After her dear husband’s death, she finally decides to find her previous self, a beautiful dance instructor who wanted to open her own ballroom school. 

Liberty is in her mid-forties and lost her mother. She also lost her job. An unexpected chance gives her a fresh start. But can she build a new life without dwelling too much on her past and making safe choices?

What brings these two women and many others together? What decisions will they make? How will their lives change? 

The story comes in the third-person POV of Venetia and Liberty, with some chapters from Kite, Crow, Swan, and Evangeline (also in the third person). 

My Thoughts: 

I read the author’s The Keeper of Lost Things a few years ago and liked it. Glad to say this one gave me the same enjoyment. 

The book deals with many heavy themes like mourning, grief, parental death, assault, bullying, lost love, etc. However, none of them are overwhelming or intense. This is a low-stakes version, so the characters manage to move on without too much trauma. It may not work for everyone, but I like it since the aspect is consistent throughout the book. 

It is a story of second chances for Venetia and Liberty. They all have distinct personalities, which make them react differently to the circumstances. This also brings out a nice contrast while establishing the found family trope. 

Kite is my absolute favorite character. He is Venetia’s ten-year-old grandson, a delightful darling with a huge heart! I cannot imagine the book without him, so a majority of my rating is only for Kite and Colin Firth (secret). 

The pacing is slow, especially in the middle when we get the backstories (in the info dump). This could have been better and spread out more evenly across the chapters. Luckily, the pace picks up in the last quarter. 

There’s a spiritual church, too. I’m usually wary of such stuff, but this one is well done. It’s not really a church kind of church. More like a community center that opens the door to anyone who needs help with a touch of god’s blessings and service. 

Things start to come together even as they fall apart, just like life! Secrets are revealed, and decisions have to be made. One teeny element hasn’t been made clear. I wish there was a line mentioning that. 

Naturally, everything ties up in a sweet and neat bow at the end. It’s not that realistic, but who cares. I liked it enough and enjoyed it. 

To summarize, The Phoenix Ballroom is a sweet and heartwarming book about second chances, finding one’s tribe, kindness, hope, and doing what makes one happy (without hurting others). 

(Alcohol freely flows and no one seems to get hangovers!) 

Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow, for eARC. 

#NetGalley #ThePhoenixBallroom