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Bookshop Genres Dancing on Seaside by Julius James DeAngelus
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About the author

Julius James DeAngelus has written several short stories that range from horror to romance and he is the author of "The Lion Tamer", a crime novella. "Dancing on Seaside" is his first novel. He currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife, son, daughter, and four... yes four... cats.
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Dancing on Seaside
by Julius James DeAngelus
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Overview

5 Stars!      "If you have ever spent time at the beach, shared a summer with a best friend, discovered your first love, then this is a must-read for you. Whatever your age and gender, this is a story that will make you cry, laugh, smile, remember and just enjoy. Dancing on Seaside is a wonderful story!" - Reader's Favorite


Atlantic City, 1977. When Hope Shepherd receives a letter with a sealed message from her dead brother, it unearths painful memories of the fierce argument they had just before he was killed. Before she could say she was sorry. Will these words from the past offer redemption or rip open wounds that have taken years to scar over? To her 13-year-old son, Jamie, summer in Atlantic City is paradise: his best friend, streetwise Nicky Martre, lives at one end of Seaside Avenue, with the beach and boardwalk at the other end. The only problem? Seth, the rich kid in the neighborhood, who together with his friends, tries to make Jamie and Nicky's summer a living hell. This year it seems like they're on a collision course. By the time the summer ends, both Hope and Jamie will realize they have much more in common than they ever imagined. Dancing on Seaside is a journey about friendships, growing up, and learning to let go.

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Description

Dancing on Seaside is a novel set in Atlantic City during the summer of 1977, the last summer before legalized gambling. The story revolves around characters whose lives will be forever changed: friends who may be spending their last summer together, siblings who are finally facing regrettable decisions they made decades ago and first loves that may never be realized. Atlantic City is no longer the "Lady by the Sea" as it used to be called. By 1977, it is a town that is on it's knees with crime, poverty and desperation - and many people who had called this place home are now leaving. Neighborhoods are crumbling...but for some, some that remember the good times, it still has some magic left in it.
Read more

Overview

5 Stars!      "If you have ever spent time at the beach, shared a summer with a best friend, discovered your first love, then this is a must-read for you. Whatever your age and gender, this is a story that will make you cry, laugh, smile, remember and just enjoy. Dancing on Seaside is a wonderful story!" - Reader's Favorite


Atlantic City, 1977. When Hope Shepherd receives a letter with a sealed message from her dead brother, it unearths painful memories of the fierce argument they had just before he was killed. Before she could say she was sorry. Will these words from the past offer redemption or rip open wounds that have taken years to scar over? To her 13-year-old son, Jamie, summer in Atlantic City is paradise: his best friend, streetwise Nicky Martre, lives at one end of Seaside Avenue, with the beach and boardwalk at the other end. The only problem? Seth, the rich kid in the neighborhood, who together with his friends, tries to make Jamie and Nicky's summer a living hell. This year it seems like they're on a collision course. By the time the summer ends, both Hope and Jamie will realize they have much more in common than they ever imagined. Dancing on Seaside is a journey about friendships, growing up, and learning to let go.

Read more

Description

Dancing on Seaside is a novel set in Atlantic City during the summer of 1977, the last summer before legalized gambling. The story revolves around characters whose lives will be forever changed: friends who may be spending their last summer together, siblings who are finally facing regrettable decisions they made decades ago and first loves that may never be realized. Atlantic City is no longer the "Lady by the Sea" as it used to be called. By 1977, it is a town that is on it's knees with crime, poverty and desperation - and many people who had called this place home are now leaving. Neighborhoods are crumbling...but for some, some that remember the good times, it still has some magic left in it.

Read more

Book details

Genre:FICTION

Subgenre:Literary

Language:English

Pages:346

eBook ISBN:9781543981773

Paperback ISBN:9781543981766

Overview

5 Stars!      "If you have ever spent time at the beach, shared a summer with a best friend, discovered your first love, then this is a must-read for you. Whatever your age and gender, this is a story that will make you cry, laugh, smile, remember and just enjoy. Dancing on Seaside is a wonderful story!" - Reader's Favorite


Atlantic City, 1977. When Hope Shepherd receives a letter with a sealed message from her dead brother, it unearths painful memories of the fierce argument they had just before he was killed. Before she could say she was sorry. Will these words from the past offer redemption or rip open wounds that have taken years to scar over? To her 13-year-old son, Jamie, summer in Atlantic City is paradise: his best friend, streetwise Nicky Martre, lives at one end of Seaside Avenue, with the beach and boardwalk at the other end. The only problem? Seth, the rich kid in the neighborhood, who together with his friends, tries to make Jamie and Nicky's summer a living hell. This year it seems like they're on a collision course. By the time the summer ends, both Hope and Jamie will realize they have much more in common than they ever imagined. Dancing on Seaside is a journey about friendships, growing up, and learning to let go.

Read more

Description

Dancing on Seaside is a novel set in Atlantic City during the summer of 1977, the last summer before legalized gambling. The story revolves around characters whose lives will be forever changed: friends who may be spending their last summer together, siblings who are finally facing regrettable decisions they made decades ago and first loves that may never be realized. Atlantic City is no longer the "Lady by the Sea" as it used to be called. By 1977, it is a town that is on it's knees with crime, poverty and desperation - and many people who had called this place home are now leaving. Neighborhoods are crumbling...but for some, some that remember the good times, it still has some magic left in it.

Read more

About the author

Julius James DeAngelus has written several short stories that range from horror to romance and he is the author of "The Lion Tamer", a crime novella. "Dancing on Seaside" is his first novel. He currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife, son, daughter, and four... yes four... cats.

Read more

Book Reviews

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John 		Love Song to a City When a man is in love you can tell. It shines through in his work like Goya's paintings of the Maja. In many novels setting is merely background providing color and context, but in Dancing on Seaside, Atlantic City in the '70s is not a setting but a character. A wonderful vibrantly living character whose heart beats in the throb of the boardwalk rails, whose breath is the ocean breeze and whose voice is the laughter of the children on the piers. Mr. DeAngelus has not only brought her to life for us but allows to see her through his loving eyes in the way that only a true artist can capture and reflect the object of his affection. Dancing on Seaside is an amazing read full of intriguing characters with a fantastic plot that weaves in the biography of that Lady by the Sea (to call it history would demean her) in her later days as she fades like an aging movie star. Mr. DeAngelus has crafted a love song as moving and poignant as The Kinks' Celluloid Heroes, Elvis Costello's Veronica or Rollergirl by Dire Straights. Dancing on Seaside is an Eleanor Rigby of a novel and I truly thank him for it. Read more
Valeria 		Magnificent Read Mr. DeAngelus book is a magnificent story of friendship, love, and loss. The characters made me think of my childhood friends growing up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The closeness and secrets some families had to keep amongst themselves. I felt like I knew each character in Mr. DeAngelus beautifully written novel of friendship, love, and loss. I liked reliving the old Atlantic City spots; Boardwalk, Steel Pier, Northside, and offbeat stories about the areas. I highly recommend this novel to learn, that as human beings we still need to form true and lasting bonds with our neighbors and families. And not allow technology and social media be our only from of communication. The human bond as displayed in Mr. DeAngelus novel makes a world of difference in surviving loss. Read more
Maria 		Clever and Witty This book is great! As a Jersey shore goer myself, I could relate to the details about life at the beach and it was fascinating to look at it through the eyes of two different generations. The story itself made me both cry and laugh. The writing is clever and witty, and I highly recommend it for all ages. Read more
Courtney 		This book paints vivid pictures of AC. I felt transported I felt transported to these different times in Atlantic City. Dancing on Seaside is told mainly through the eyes of a mother and son both coming of age in AC. I loved the contrasting picture between the AC of the late 50's and 80's and how much was different and still the same in some aspects. I felt a connection to the characters! I want to know them! I did not want to put the book down. Such a good read. Read more
Amy 		Dancing on Seaside Is magic through words. I have only read part of it so far but it is really, really good. Takes you back to childhood summers at the beach. It is written so well you actually feel a bit of that magic at times while reading it. So hard to do that through words. Great job Jules!!! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great read or to recapture I have only read part of it so far but it is really, really good. Takes you back to childhood summers at the beach. It is written so well you actually feel a bit of that magic at times while reading it. So hard to do that through words. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great read or to recapture that shimmer of light from old days. Read more
joseph 		Relived my childhood In so many ways “Dancing on Seaside” is a story about my life growing up in Atlantic City for the summers with my grandparents. I felt the crush of the casinos, changing of friends and separations and deaths of the family. Truly a haunting beautiful visualization of my life as well. Kids today truly don’t know what the “shore” used to be. A fantastic read of tears and happiness! Read more
Tom 		A Haunting, Sweet Elegy "Dancing on Seaside" is a setting-sun-on-cracked-sidewalks memory poem about a boy on the verge of manhood finding out truths about his family, his friends, and his place in the world, with a parallel story about a woman looking back on her earlier life and dealing with painful memories. It's a tale that's alternately filled with hope for the future and regret for the past. A smart, sensitive writer with a gift for description and a gentle, lulling prose style, Julius James DeAngelus has written a haunting, sweet elegy for a fading time in a fading town, with a sprawling cast of family and friends struggling with change, wondering about the future, and inextricably wedded to the past. I didn't want to say goodbye to these people and I couldn't stop thinking about them long after I finished the book. Read more