Five Stars for Dancing in the White Room

Dancing in the White Room got a five star review from Michelle Robertson at Reader's Favorite

"Ute Carbone has skillfully written a highly enjoyable story filled with realistic circumstances and emotions, making it appealing to many different types of readers. The story itself has a transitional tone to it, popping from past to present, making it intriguing and entertaining, making the reader eager to read more."  
Read the rest of the review HERE

Dancing in the white room is slang for skiing or boarding in deep powder snow. The dancer is PD Bell, one of the best extreme skiers on the planet. Mallory Prescott, the woman who lives with him and loves him, is used to Bell’s exploits. A patrol woman at Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, New York, Mallory is no stranger to risk. But this time Bell is taking on the West Rib of Denali, highest and most dangerous mountain in North America. It’s a descent that has never been done, though it’s been tried. Five years ago, Bell had tried it. The attempt nearly killed him. Five years ago, he promised Mallory he wouldn’t try it again.

     Over the six weeks in which he’s gone, Mallory begins to question her relationship with Bell. Does he really love her? Is he in it for the duration? What has loving him cost her?  Mallory’s life choices are thrown into stark relief when her daughter Emily takes a terrible fall. Together with her life-long friend Creech Creches, she must work her way through a maze of uncharted territory at a hospital miles from home.

            Dancing in the White Room is the story of the love we keep, the price we pay for that love, and the forgiveness it takes to hold on to what is precious.

Buy links:

Turquoise Morning Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

For more about this book, please visit the Dancing in the White Room web page

#SaturdaySnippet Bell's Accident from Dancing in the White Room.

I've got a few more excerpts from Dancing in the White Room to Share. In this one, Mallory remembers what happened the first time Bell tried a descent down the West Rib of Denali. He's gone to try again, and Mallory is upset that he would.  This is the reason why--

It’s been five years, and I can still hear Roddie’s voice. “We had to grapple him down. Copter’s won’t go that high. We’re shipping him off to Anchorage.” When I didn’t say anything, he added, “Hope I didn’t worry you, love.”

After we hung up, I called the airlines and booked the first flight to Anchorage. They had Bell in a room by the time I got there. He looked like he’d been the loser in a prizefight. One eye was swollen shut, one hand bandaged because of frostbite on two fingers.

I was trying at the time to unhinge an awful fear, the awful thought of Bell as fallible, as vulnerable. It sat in my head, reinforced by tape and bandages and the blistering on his face. It sat there and I couldn’t shake it. It still sits there, this heavy pulsing gravitational thought.

When I think of Bell on Denali, this is the picture I get. Bell vulnerable. Bell fallible.

For more, please go check out Dancing in the White Room on my website

White Room stops at the Lusty Penquin

I'm talking with Lori Zalewski about skiing, writing, and life in general, over at the Lusty Penguin. There's still a chance to put your name into the hat for some free books! Okay, it's not a hat, it's a rafflecopter. But still, you gotta be in it to win it.
I love the name Lusty Penguin. If I ever opened a pub, I think this is what I would call it...

http://lustypenguin.com/dancing-white-room-ute-carbone-interview-giveaway

#Ski Addiction at Gemini Girls

The Dancing in the White Room blog tour stops at Gemini Girls today, where I talk about being addicted to skiing.  There's a contest to enter for some free books by yours truly!

http://www.geminigirls.com/dancing-in-the-white-room-by-ute-carbone-plus-giveaway/

Dancing in the White Room #snippet An Unwritten Promise

We're on a break from touring today, so I thought I'd post another short snippet here on the blog.
Mallory has called her father after having a fight with Creech.

“So why are you really calling, sweetie?” he asks.

And I’m ready to cry again, except that I’m too old to go crying to Daddy. He wouldn’t know what to do with it, if I did.

“I thought me and Em might come visit once the season’s done.” The thought has just popped into my head, as likely an excuse as any.

“That would be great.” He sounds like he really means it. “About the middle of April, maybe? Bell ought to be home by then.”

The mention of Bell is enough to do me in, and I find I’m telling him all my troubles, about Roddie and Bell’s continuing despite what happened. About how scared I feel. “And Creech is pissed at me too,” I finish, though I don’t even try to explain this part.

“Creechie will come round. He always does.”

But I don’t know. He didn’t seem very willing to come around when he left here.

I don’t feel much better after I hang up. What I’d really like to do is pack up and take Emily down to Wells right now. If this was seven years ago and there was no Emily and no Bell, I might go running home. But it’s not seven years ago, and it’s not so easy to just pick up and go. I have my job to consider. I couldn’t leave Albie in a lurch. It wouldn’t be right.

I go to bed but I don’t sleep. I tell myself I better stop obsessing. I’m going to pay for my insomnia tomorrow, but it doesn’t seem to matter what I tell myself. I keep playing my conversation with Creech over in my head. How could I have made him see it differently?

Then I get mad, thinking it’s really none of Creech’s business in the first place. He has no right to be upset with me. But that doesn’t sit well either.

Then I switch channels and think about Danny and try to imagine Bell running to his grandfather because I wouldn’t marry him. 

There’s still some kind of promise between us. Even if it’s unwritten.

Isn’t there?

Dancing in the White Room Blog Tour

Just because the Winter Olympics are over doesn't mean you can't still enjoy Dancing in the White Room. I'm taking my ski-themed book on tour over the next few weeks and there'll be plenty about my characters and skiing. Hope you'll make a few of the stops with me.

Tour Schedule

Feb 25 - The Book Bug Review   

Feb 26  -  Reviews by Crystal

Feb 27 -  Fiction Witches

Feb 28 -  Fall into Reading Reviews

Feb 28- Angela Smith

Feb 28- Coffee Time Romance

March 1 -  Harlie's Books

March 2- A Passion for Romance

March 3  -  Toots Book Reviews

March 4- Romance Lives Forever

March 5  -  Gemini Girls

March 6  -  London Scribbles

March 6 -  That Girl Reads 

March 7- Lusty Penguin Review 

March 10 - Romantic Reads  

Dancing in the White Room--#Snippet The bedtime story. #TMPress

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Mallory and Bell's daughter, Emily, asks her mother for a bedtime story that Mallory would rather not tell--

Settled into bed, she asks for a story. “I want the story of Daddy and the mountain.”

This stops me for a minute. I have to bite my lip to keep from crying. “I don’t know that one, Em.”

“Yes you do. Daddy went to the big mountain,” she begins and she lies back expectantly.

I swallow hard. “Oh, that one,” I say and I pick up as best I can. “Daddy went to the big mountain.”

“And what’s the big mountain called?” she asks, though I know that she already knows the answer.

“It’s called Denali.” The name is loose and pliable on my tongue. It rolls like pebbles in my mouth.

Dancing in the White Room is available as an e-book. Buy your copy at TMP, Amazon, Barnes and Noble