Dancing with Dragons is a beautiful and beautifully written story about trauma, grief, resilience, and the healing power of friendship and dance. This is a story of love - first love, love of home, and love of other creatures. Set in Australia, the descriptions of the land and especially the ocean, the reefs, the fish, and, of course, the sea dragons are vivid and stunning. The characters, and there are many, are all well-drawn with distinct personalities and compelling backstories making it easy to care for them. It is the kind of story, easy to pick up and hard to put down but, at the same time, one you want to read slowly, to capture the beauty of the prose and to spend more time with the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sea Dragon Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Dancing With Dragons, by Jenni Ogden, is not what I anticipated just from looking at the colorful cover. There is much more depth to this novel than the cover art implies.  Though it is a book of tragedy and heartbreak, it is also a lesson in hope. It is worth your time reading it. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Dancing With Dragons by Jenny Ogden is about Jaea, she lives off the grid and in the bush with her brother and her parents. They are homeschooled and all their life their mother has taught them ballet with dreams of them eventually going off to ballet school and possibly having a dancing career. On the night the tragedy happened it was the same day she saw the Seadragons a kind of seahorse that is colorful and is thin as a weed and she couldn’t have been more excited but when she woke to hear her parents arguing with the neighbor Dave and was there to watch the tragedy unfold something she would luckaly not remember. she also didn’t remember being burned on the right side of her body nor how she a scape the fire. Once she is released from the hospital she goes back to goshawk farm Her brother has left on a containership and she wonders if she’ll ever see him again. With the help of the indigenous caretakers of her neighbors farm Mary and Eddie she starts to carve a life for herself and doesn’t wander far from her home especially since everyone stares at her.
When Mary’s 11-year-old nephew Jera comes to visit she will find a soulmate and a dance partner but he will also be the key to her life expanding. Through him she meets shamus a 22-year-old Irish boy in the middle of a jaunt around Australia but meeting her stops him in his tracks and they slowly start a tentative romance. Through it all Jaea wonders if she’ll see her brother again and most importantly what happened the night of the fire. The neighbor Dave says he saved her but is that the truth? This book was OK for the most part but throughout reading the book I noticed if I thought oh if that happens that would be so great and that would be exactly what happened. Having said that about 60% in the book really starts revving up secrets or exposed as well as her not so nice neighbor Dave’s real personality something she only previously glances at but now gets a full on look,He is racist a drunk with many other not so endearing qualities. The book did hold my attention as I am an optimist and love a happy ending in speaking of the ending I was kind of let down with this epilogue. The book also left me with lots of questions but because asking them would’ve just ruined the plot for me I just let it go. I do believe though if you’re also an optimist in love happy endings with great happy developments you’ll definitely mostly enjoyed this book I certainly did it was certainly better than I thought it was going to be it is also a book I absolutely recommend. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.#SeadragonPress, #NetGalley, #JennieOgden, #DancingWithDragons,

In the past few days, I've enjoyed swimming with seahorses living in the Australian coral reef while following the life struggles of the young protagonist of this novel.

"Dancing with Dragons" is a well-crafted novel that tells the story of a girl whose family (mother, father, and brother) is torn away by a fire that devastates their home, leaving her with deep scars as a painful reminder. The passion for dancing that Gaia's mother instilled in her since childhood now seems overshadowed by the prejudices she faces due to the marks that mar her body. People can be particularly cruel when confronted with someone who appears "different."
During that initial period where life proves its harshness by forcing her to live in a barn and sell vegetables to survive, Gaia realizes that her existence cannot be reduced to mere survival. Everything changes when the eleven-year-old son of neighboring Aboriginals starts laying the first stones of their friendship. The result is a true rebirth.

I find Jenni Ogden's novel captivating, filled with magic, and carrying an important message confined within its pages. The writing style is fluid and enchanting, allowing readers to immerse themselves page after page in a world of personal redemption (where Gaia's tragedy dominates and her subsequent need to react) and the necessity of preserving the coral reef's nature (here, allowing those small marine creatures to survive despite severe threats). This blend of personal and environmental storylines ensures the narrative remains engaging and never predictable or dull, holding the reader's attention throughout.
However, I must note a minor critique: in a couple of instances, the narration became clumsy and the events predictable, although everything resolved for the better and the story delivered numerous positive emotions, making the reading slightly less captivating for a few pages.
At the same time, I initially believed I had a young adult story in my hands, but some themes are treated in ways not entirely suitable for that audience, although it cannot be considered a story strictly for adults either. This left me somewhat perplexed by the end of the book.

Having said that, I still recommend reading this story, both for its exploration of the protagonist's tragic experience and its advocacy for preserving the local biodiversity—a theme I deeply care about and recognize as increasingly relevant.
A detailed review will be posted on my blog (https://medium.com/@inabookhole) on July 18, 2024. Additionally, at least a couple of posts will appear on my Instagram profile (@inabookhole) during July. The review is already available on my Goodreads profile.

3.5/4

Dancing With Dragons has a nice story with an environmental edge to it.

Gaia and her family live off-grid on the Coral Coast of Western Australia. Her father runs a market garden business and her mother is a retired ballet dancer - which is what she wants for both Gaia and brother Bron. Gaia loves the dancing but she also loves the creatures of the coast being particularly fascinated with a pair of rare weedy seadragons who have taken up residence where she snorkels.

However tragedy strikes and Gaia is left to deal with the consequences alone. With help from Aboriginal neighbours Mary and Eddie she rebuilds her life and makes friends with Jarrah, Mary's 11 year old relative. But is further heartache round the corner and where is her brother? Can Gaia make a good life for herself while following her passions?

This is a nice story, a little predictable at times but it definitely draws the plight of the aboriginal population along with the environmental factors that endanger the corals and coasts to the fore. It does also deal with quite a lot of difficult personal issues - sexual and physical abuse, recovery from burns and alcohol abuse.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Sea Dragon Press for the advance review copy.

This book was positively magical. It was raw, tender, loving and had beautiful emotion dancing through it's pages. A story of overcoming trauma, facing adversity and pure love in friends and family. I adored Gaia, she is one strong amazing individual so full of life who leaves you with a smile on your face. And the setting was gorgeous. The author described it so well that I could feel the sand in between my toes. I loved everything a out this book.

It is on sale July 16, 2024, make sure you visit your local bookstore for a copy!

Thank you to the author Jenni Ogden, the publisher Sea Dragon Press and NetGalley for letting me enjoy the delight of this ARC.

This book was so beautifully written. Thank you NetGalley and Sea Dragon Press for allowing me to read this book. What an amazing story connecting nature and people. I loved the friendships in this book. I also really enjoyed Gaia’s journey as she overcomes tragedy and finds herself and her place in the world. I adore the friendships she makes and Jarrah holds a special place in my head for his beautiful connection to Gaia. It was a slow easy going read that I very much enjoyed and would recommend to others.

🌅Beautiful sea life imagery🐠

I think this Jennie Ogden novel of a solitary Australian teen and her love for nature and dance is geared to a YA readership; nevertheless, the story of young Gaia and her independent spirit in the face of so much hurt, loss and adversity was good and it passed along some useful knowledge about the rare creatures inhabiting the Western Australia coast and affected by human and climate impact on the planet's ecosystem.

The author paints beautiful pictures with her descriptions of the reef and Gaia's beloved sea creatures. I found the early parts of the novel the most compelling as Gaia suffers so and only begins healing when she is able to return to the family homestead. The thought of a teenager taking on the running of the family farm and a campaign to save her local pristine reef from developers almost single-handed and with little in the way of finances or experience of the wider world was inspiring. Her small cohort of friends, both human and animal, gave this a bit of a Snow White vibe with neighbor Dave acting as the proverbial wicked queen. I especially like her friend Jarrah and how Ogden worked him into Gaia's life. I did think, though, that the way all of the obstacles and problems in Gaia's life were so tidily resolved in the course of the story seemed a bit too fortuitous and unrealistic.

Thanks to Sea Dragon Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Thank you for allowing me to review this excellent book. I found the story very moving as it explores loss, trauma, friendships and new beginnings. It was an emotional read. The characters are very well written and their experiences feel completely honest in their portrayal, especially Gaia. Jarrah, is such a lovely boy, who I wanted to give a big hug to and offer a home.
I am impressed by Jenni Ogden and will definitely read more of her work.

I enjoyed <i>A Drop in the Ocean</i> when I read it years ago and was excited to get immersed in nature writing and marine life again. However, this book is written at a much younger level and focuses more on romance and human-centric family drama than nature and has my all time hated trope (refusal to communicate and lying as a plot device). I really didn’t enjoy this.

The beginning has some of the nature writing that I loved from <i>Ocean</i> but it’s a flash in the pan. Once Gaia gets to the hospital, it becomes bog standard “women’s fiction”. The reader knows the truth of the fire from go so watching all these stupid humans refuse to communicate or tell the truth was pure agony. While there is an environmental theme, it’s more to create drama and, as an enthusiastic eco-fiction reader, doesn’t feel authentic to me. It’s certainly not enough of the focus to call this book ‘marine, environment, and conversation’ themed.

<b>Content Warning: Graphic descriptions of burns. I suffered third degree burns in my early twenties and didn’t enjoy reliving that! </b>

I don’t want to belabour how much I disliked this but I do want to share some of the things that I didn’t get on with, just in case it helps other readers manage their expectations going in. 

<b>Characters:</b> I didn’t like any of the characters: they were all pretty boring and one-dimensional. Gaia was “traumatized young woman”, Jarrah was “precocious child who’s wise beyond their years”, Seamus was “simpering male who falls in insta-love and wants to protect traumatized young woman”. Everyone was either Good™️ or Bad™️ with no complexities or dimensions.
The Gaia/Jarrah story made me uncomfortable… especially when the 11 yo boy fancied himself in love with her and she made some comment about “when he’s 20 and I’m 27”. 🥴
The Gaia/Seamus thing was ridiculous and I grew so weary of his schoolboy obsession with her and his threatening to beat people up on her behalf. Gaia isn’t much better feeling threatened every time Seamus mentions a woman and moping around when he’s not around. Gross.
Gaia’s character is all over the place in general: she’s too scared to go to the local market but ends up going to a city four hours away for days at a time? She’s sheltered with arrested development yet knows what takeaways and dates are? She doesn’t speak to people for days on end for most of her life and she’s suddenly negotiating with lawyers, threatening surveyors, and charming everyone she meets?

<b>The writing style</b> was very simplistic and the plot formulaic. I found the book moved at a slow pace but that could be because I found the characters boring and wasn’t invested in a story where everything was telegraphed miles in advance. The pacing was wonky with everything going a mile a minute but then when it switches gears to focus on the romance, slows down to a crawl; then, at the end, it speeds back to again. There were a <I>lot</I> of spelling and grammar issues that’ll hopefully be corrected before publication too.

<b>I would <I>strongly</I> recommend that dialect and characterizations of the Black and Indigenous characters be examined by a focus group or sensitivity reader. It feels insensitive and almost mocking that a white woman wrote Black and Indigenous characters as illiterate country folk and with some of the dialogue and word choices she did. It made me, as a reader, deeply uncomfortable. </b>

A swing and a miss for me as a reader. Folks who enjoy writers like Mary Alice Monroe or Delia Owens might enjoy this more than I did.

Thank you for the opportunity to read the ARC, Sea Dragon Press.
Even though I’m new to NetGalley, I want to shout out that the formatting of the eARC was the best I’ve seen so far. The table of contents was filled in which made navigation a dream and the font was a readable type and size. Thanks for putting so much care into the config of this proof!

Beautifully written , this is the kind of story that stays with you long after you have finished. Some tough topics handled but with underlying hope and courage. There is something magical about the back drop of Australia’s coral reef and the amazing creatures that inhabit it. This has been captured by the Author, particularly well. First time I have read this Author, but will definitely put more of her novels on my reading list.

Thank you to the Author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read, review and give my honest opinion of an ARC.

This is a beautiful story of a Brother and Sister living on the Australian coast. Gaia and her Brother hold onto their dream of being dancers as they were taught by their talented Mother a dancer. After a terrible family tragedy Gaia returns to the family land to live in the barn off grid and start her life anew. The author has written a well crafted story of a independent girl who is a survivor and holds onto her dreams. You will love the ocean conservation theme and the beautiful way the author incorporates the characters love of the ocean and sea creatures.

I was mesmerized by this book and read it cover to cover. Its a lovely story of courage, starting over and love for the ocean. I call this book "the perfect summer read.." The setting of the Australian coast is atmospheric and perfectly done by the author. The reader is captivated by the writing and you can picture the coastal setting as you read. I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and to the author for the opportunity for review. My review opinions are my own.

This was a very strong book from a debut author that drew me from the first page with intriguing title and an original concept. With a distinct allegorical presence, I was drawn into Gaia's story and felt both the wonder of her life with her family and then the pain and isolation of her time growing up as she reconnected with the land and the original people who lived on jt. With a strong inclusion of the Aboriginal world view and experience through Jurrah and his extended family, this made me ask different questions then i had expected while further developing the story's scope. If you want to read a story that will have you wondering how much one lone girl can experience, and delight in the power of her will to live and rejoice in nature while fighting to protect herself and that world, then this is a book you do not want to miss. This is a story of resilience, love, acceptance of self and others, and the intense identification of Place that grows from tryly being one with Nature. This was different then what I had expected, but it was a strong Coming of Age Story that will speak to readers who enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing. One of the strengths of this story is that is will speak to both male and female readers of any age and it will highlight the wonderfully rich interconnectedness of everyone not just with those people them but with nature and the Spirit of the Earth itself.

Thank you New Galley and Sea Dragon Press for the Advance Copy I Read

What a beautiful story! Margot was a well known ballet dancer, and she trained her 2 children to be ballet dancers- Gaia and her older brother Bron short for Oberon. They love to watch the dance of the Seadragons around mating time. Sadly, there's a tragic fire that take the lives of their parents, and Bron with some scars on his legs. But the fire causes Gaia deep third degree burns and disfiguring scars. This story is about how Gaia learns to deal with her problems and ordeals, makes new friends, and perhaps even finds love. Will Gaia ever get to be the Ballerina that her mother was? It's a touching tale and highly recommend it, with memorable characters, and a wonderful.story.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

This was a beautiful book, a story of survival, of finding your passion and building connections with people around you and nature.

This books follows Gaia as she returns to her family home that has been destroyed in a fire. She lost both her parents and suffered severe burns herself leaving her with serious scarring. She moves into the barn and sells fruit to survive, practicing ballet on the beach and snorkelling with the super rare sea dragons that live only in Australia. Gaia hides from people as much as she can due to their horrified reactions to her scarring, her main company coming from her aboriginal neighbours. Her life is changed when their eleven year old nephew comes to visit and they become friends.

Gaia rebuilds her life, forming new friendships but deals with the prejudice and violence of others. She is forced to take action when the greed of others threatens the survival of the endangered sea dragons. Leading her on a mission to protect the reef. I love a conservation/environmental story so this was an instant win. I enjoyed seeing Gaia work with her new found family to battle against the callousness and greed of people who would destroy the land, ocean and its inhabitants.

I had some issues with some of the dialogue. There were a few points that I found a little uncomfortable or clunky. However this didn’t detract too much from what was a wonderful story. I would also check trigger warnings for this one as there is abusive behaviour in a number of ways.

Reading this book transporte you to an Australian beach and brings back all memories of wonderful snorkeling experiences. This book is a perfect read for a sea vacation or to get back to those memories after such vacation. Will be enjoyed by all sea creatures' lovers!!

The imagery in this book while describing ocean life was breathtaking. It made me feel like I was there, experiencing the wonders of the ocean with the characters. The beautifully drawn-out descriptions of wildlife and ocean life were my favorite parts. However, I felt that the character development was lacking. Some aspects of the relationships felt rushed, and the sentence structure was sometimes choppy.

The book had a slower beginning pace but picked up just before the halfway mark. The theme of ocean and reef conservation was consistent, though it sometimes got lost in a convoluted story.
The plot followed a strange trajectory, with events falling too smoothly into place, reducing conflict and tension. Conflicts were resolved too quickly and easily, leading to less emotional engagement.

Overall, I really liked the setting, the beautiful imagery, and the plot, but I wish more time had been spent on character relationships and development. Therefore, I give this book 3 stars.

Thank you Sea Dragon Press and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow … such a beautiful book in so many ways, especially when describing the sea dragons. I knew so little about them previously and now i’m so interested in learning even more. So much happens in this book and it is such an adventure to read, tugging at heart strings on multiple levels. The book touches on so many issues including death, ballet, helping disadvantaged children, conservation and so much more … and is told in such a captivating way that the story of Gaia and her friends and family will stay with me for a long time. Some sections did remind me a little of When the Crawdads sing but it is so nice having this book set in Australia.

Today I went swimming in my local pool and as I looked out my goggles at the bottom of the pool, I wished that I could be at Gaia’s beach seeing instead the turtles, fish and amazing sea dragons.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced review copy. On storygraph my rating is 4.5/5 - I wish we had more flexibility across platforms to give more accurate reviews.

I am going to be honest. I love the early parts of the book - Gaia's blissful days, the fire, the aftermath and her recovery from her injuries, and her decision to return to the abandoned place she once called home - and I almost cried in public multiple times.

And then it sort of go downhill from there, and the more I read, the less I like this book.

My issue is that the plot of this book follows a really strange trajectory, in my opinion. I'll call it the 'domino effect plot', because it seems to me that all Gaia needed to do is to make the first move and everything falls into place.

Now there's no way to explain what I dislike about this book without going in-depth into the plot, so spoilers alert. I'll have a concluding remark at the end for those who wish to skip the spoilers.

I hate to use the word 'bland', but that's really the best word to describe this book. There's very little conflict or tension (except for Mason... we'll talk about Mason in a bit). When Gaia decided to live by herself, she almost immediately succeed in it. Like, she has a garden and she could survive with the help of her neighbours, Eddie and Mary, and she even have cute wildlife pets, Disney princess style. Oh, she has a bit of money from her parents, so there's really very little danger of her dying. I wished we had seen more details about her struggle in trying to live off the land alone, which is tough on everyone.

[spoiler section]
This lack of tension continues when she became friends with an 11-year-old boy called Jarrah. Jarrah saw Gaia dancing on the beach and was immediately spellbound because Gaia is just that beautiful and amazing. Her scars? He doesn't see them AT ALL. Their friendship develops in a wholesome, almost saccharine way.

Then this guy Seamus appeared, and right away you can tell this is the LOVE INTEREST CHARACTER. At this point I was like, sigh. Of course he's good-looking. Bonus points for him not seeing Gaia's scars at all (or rather, he was shocked for like 2 minutes and then he doesn't see them afterwards). And he's Irish, so he can dance really well, which allows him to have amazing dancing moments with Gaia. Genuine question: is every Irish person great at dancing, or is that a stereotype?

Anyway, tension arose when Jarrah saw Seamus and Gaia kiss. But no worries, as with every conflict in this book, it is resolved easily: Jarrah gets a heart-to-heart talk, and they all returned to being friends. To be fair, I did like the talk Seamus gave Jarrah, but that's beside the point: everything is resolved way too easily and quickly, and as a result there is very little emotional engagement from my part.

Later on, things started to pick up. Some developer showed up with a plan to turn the area into a vacation spot, which would mean damage to the reef and wildlife. Gaia decided to try and save her home... and once she made that decision everything falls into place again. Oh, she needed a lawyer? Guess what, her lawyer turned out to be an environmentalist at heart, and was willing to help her pro bono. He also conveniently knows that a university might be willing to purchase the land for research and conservation purposes.

At this juncture the book became really tedious and frustrating to read. The domino effect thing became really prominent when Gaia decided to take up formal ballet lessons again. She went to a plastic surgeon, whose daughter *just happen* to be in this ballet school, and the school *just happen* to have this instructor who's so nice she decided to give Gaia a 50% discount. Then when Gaia put up a dance performance to raise funds for a school, she was apparently so amazing that she wowed the Artistic Director of the West Australia Ballet (who's also conveniently the ballet instructor's husband).

Oh, did I mention that her performance also led to the publication of an article that subsequently helped her save her home and brought her brother back to her?

Sigh.

Let's talk about Mason. Most of the characters in this book is just unbelievably helpful, friendly, selfless, and wholesome. When I mentioned that there's very little tension, that's what I mean: Gaia was never shown to have any serious disagreement with any of her friends. They were never angry with each other, or have to come to a compromise of sorts or reach an understanding despite differing opinions. They just... fall in line.

Now, Mason. Mason as a character does a lot of heavy lifting in this book. He's drunk, racist, has a temper, tried to rape Gaia, and even had an affair with her mother. At this point I just think that there are no nuances to any of the characters in this book: they are either perfectly wholesome and amazing, or they are... Mason. This further hurts the story because there was a part where the story sort of wanted to comment about the racism issue in Australia, where the Aboriginal people might suffer unjust persecution from the police. But no, we don't really see that (other than a minor scene and Gaia telling us that they are racist), and most of the 'on-screen' racism came from Mason.

Speaking of Mason, towards the end he resurfaced after conveniently being out of the picture for half the book. This was the part where I got really annoyed with Gaia because her brilliant idea was to confront an angry, armed Mason despite advice against it? Like, girl, what did you think was going to happen? Also throughout the book Gaia has been advised to install a telephone in her home, but for whatever stupid reason she refused to?

Heavy sigh.

[end of spoilers]

I wanted to like this book. I truly do. I started this book with the expectation that we'll see Gaia's growth and determination. Unfortunately, because every other character is just perfectly wonderful and helpful and kind, she never has to learn or grow. Thing happened in ways that aligned with her wishes somehow and hence she didn't even have to work very hard to achieve whatever it is that she wanted. Oh, I almost laughed at how despite years of self-studying and recovering from grievous injuries, apparently she was so well-trained as a child that her ballet techniques were still perfection itself. Also she was self-conscious of her scars but since everyone is 100% accepting (except for Mason, because he's just the worst in every single way), she has no issues with them after all. There were just way too many conveniences that what you get is a really tepid story that doesn't actually do much for Gaia as a character.

But I guess seadragons and whale sharks are cool.

This book normally wouldn’t be my thing but as someone who loves the ocean, I decided to give it a try. It really surprised me. From tragedy comes hope as we follow Gaia through her life. The themes of loss and loneliness, connection and courage are felt throughout. Where this book shines is its vivid ocean imagery. I look forward to reading more by Jenni Odgen!