I’ve just finished Kephart’s House of Dance and, like her previous Undercover, it’s left me stunned and hopeful about the human condition, love, and just living life. Kephart poetically encompasses the minute details of life (that turn out to be not so minute after all) into a richly moving, easily flowing story that will envelop you in its world and, when you’re finished, leak into yours. House of Dance, written during the author’s own personal experience with death, is a story of a girl’s discovery of her grandfather’s life and the lives of her ancestors through the organization of his long accumulated possessions as he disintegrates from cancer. But House of Dance isn’t about death. It’s about life—living it, breathing it, and accepting everything that makes it what it is—and how even the seemingly minute can become a big, exciting legacy.

Kephart’s Undercover is an excellent book that has received rave reviews and many awards and has a cinematic version in the making. The above are no indication that a book is good; however, this one is. Kephart’s style is beautiful and natural, flowing poetically with good word choices and characters with many layers. The protagonist is strong and willful, a universal character; you will see some of yourself in her. Undercover is the perfect blend of whimsical and serious, it will uncover parts of yourself you didn’t know were there with descriptive adjectives and old-fashioned charm. Nature also plays a key part in this novel—most books today lack that element.

 This Reader Review was submitted by Aggie, PA.