Fifteen-year-old Caitlin's entire world falls apart when she recieves the news that her father has died in a shipwreck. Caitlin's older sister, Rebecca, decides the best thing for the two of them to do is to move west to Nebraska, where Rebecca is to marry a man she has never even met. But from the day they arrive in Nebraska and Caitlin meets Rebecca's husband-to-be, she knows this is going to be harder than she ever imagine. Caitlin and Nate fall in love immediatley, but Nate is determined to remain honorable and marry Rebecca, as he promised to do. Living in the same house as Nate is sheer torture for Caitlin, especially after Nate and Rebecca marry and Rebecca becomes pregnant. Although she eventually resigns herself to never having Nate, a terrible tragedy gives them a chance to be together, paving the way for an ending that is both happy and sad (with an especially ironic twist in the end). I wish this book hadn't gone out of print, because it's a wonderful book for teenage girls who love historical romances, like myself (although I was actually quite young, only eleven, when I read it years ago).

soooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooood

It was lovely, I can't take it of my hand. You should read this one

I'm not really one that is into ballet or any dance, but once i read this i couldn't put it down. not just because of the dancing, but because of the romance between Sophy and Carlos, and the other characters. i've already finished the second one. can't wait to finish it. but i think when i am done reading all of it i will kinda miss reading about the characters and see what else could happen...

I just read this book and I can't wait to read the next one in the series. The dance schools merging is a great plot, because it throws all these different people together. What I really like is everyone in the book has faults--for all their likeable qualities, there's some way that they mess up or aren't perfect. In other words, it's all about real people, like my friends. I like the stuff with Sophy's family--but the dance sections are even better!

I love this book. I couldn't put it down. I was dying to know what happened next. Carlos and Sophy are two of the most intriguing characters I have ever encountered in a young adult novel. They actually have depth and souls. I cared about their problems and about them. I love all the dangling plot threads that will keep me moving through the other books just as quickly. I can't wait to see how everything turns out.

This book is a good book about a girl with an eating disorder. This book has a good lesson about eating disorders. Someone who thinks they're big would probably like this book because they can relate to what's going on.

This is the second book I've read in the series and it's even better than the first. I loved the story about Daly's family facing hard times and how that affected Daly and her eating problem. And then there's the story about Sophy and how she and Carlos might have a thing, or she thinks they do but he doesn't. And of course the dancing's all great--it's like this whole world that you really feel exists. I love these characters!

I love ballet and I always dream of being a ballet dancer though I know I am probably not good enough. I take ballet lessons and envy the girls who are very thin. Until I read this book I never really thought about how unhealthy being too thin can be. I think if Daly's father hadn't lost his job she'd still try to get too thin because she thinks and her teacher thinks she is fat when she isn't. I have a serious crush on Ray. Carlos is cool but Ray is more fun. Everyone should read this book. The kids and the story go on just like a real t.v. soap opera. I am never sure exactly what will happen. And you have to buy the next book to figure it all out. Even if you don't love ballet you will love the story. I already have book three, In the Spotlight and I really love that too. I don't want to give the end of two away so I can't say more. I only wish there were more about Laverne and about the ballroom school too.

I read all of the "Heart Beats" books. They're great! "In the Spotlight" helps teens, like myself, understand true friendship. Sophy and Inez are friends until Inez is chosen over Sophy in an audition. Then Sophy gets mad atInez. Sophy isn't always as cool and popular as she seems. Some people think she has it all together, but she doesn't. She has the same teenage problems as everyone else. Love, friends, enemies, and family all play a part in her life. I'd encourage you to read this book and the rest of Elizabeth M. Rees' series of "Heart Beats". Once you start reading, you just can't stop!

Things really heat up in this thrd volume of the Heart Beats series. Sparks fly between Sophy and Carlos, between Carlos and his parents, between Sophy and Inez, between Inez and Ray, between Inez the person and Inez the ballet dancer coming fully into her own. And then we learn more about the ever-mysterious Cat. How all this can take place in a 250 page book is beyond me, but it doesn't seem as if Rees rushed through things; everything is well-paced and given the space it deserves.

I love this book! The first two books in this series, "Moving as One" and "Body Lines" tell us all about Carlos and Sophy and Inez and Daly and all the other kids at the new dance school Dance Tech. Carlos and Sophy are meant for each other. But they seem to have a hard time getting together--when they do, problems start up. I like these books because these kids are real even if their dance school is not quite believable. Still I'd love to go to a school like theirs. Most of my friends are Latino and I love that one hero and his sister are too. Inez is very interesting. And Carlos is to die for. I hope Sophy realizes this and doesn't miss out on him. I can't wait to read the next book "Latin Nights" Heart Beats is like a real soap opera. It should be on t.v.

Awesome plot and I have never read anything like i; well, except of course, the Harry Potter Series which is 1000 times better than this but that's besides the point. However, overall it is a good read.

This Book was exactly like the tv show! When ever i can't see the eposode,(they cancled the show)i just read the book. They still show some eposode's but they still show some but not this one.

This is the best book in the wold and there is nothing to describe it. So, go and buy it and you will be amased

the 1-3rd ones were great then i got to this one. iloved it. i relized i get really into it. i stared to feel daly's pain and hate ray and inez. Not goin to give it away. Then the thing with carlos and sophy after finding him in the last one. i htink things are heating up on and off the dance floor for them. hint hint.

Carlos Vargas is now living with Jan and Peter MacGregor after he ran away. He needs a job to pay for his truck so he can be more independent. Daly announces that her mom will be managing the Beggar's Bean Too, a smaller division of the Beggar's Bean coffee bar. When Carlos hears this, he has a brilliant idea: Why not make this new cafe revolve around dance? So the dance cafe is born. This is an exciting book. Sophy and Carlos have to sneak around to see each other. Peter decides to have Ray partner Inez after their spectacular performance in Street Wear. Daly is jealous and now has to dance with Marco. But that's nothing compared to what Daly sees when she goes to the Dance Cafe one afternoon. I don't want to give away the action. Laverne is responsible for hiring a band, Swing Thing, on opening night. However, a mistake occurs and almost ruins the opening night. Who will save the day?

While Fi, Clu and Jack are in Bardo, Wyoming they come along a girl they meet at a carnival who can leave her body and travel anywhere she wants to. Fi automatically is in awe by this weird happening meanwhile Clu and Jack are in awe, well just in awe of the girl. With the help of Fi Claire will learn a good lesson and gain a new friend in the process.

Hard Characters

The words spade arrows.
They fork fondue
and hammer horseshoes.
Words won't be domestic,
will not be worlds. The words
climb over each other
and sit on top of words
in the overstuffed trunk.
The words won't shovel,
the words want more words.
Words so small they fit
in the palm of the hand,
the words that blow
at the first hard lie.

32 Pages

These poems make you sit up in your chair. They do not come straight on, but from unexpected angles, catching the reader off guard, luring the imagination into surprising, sometimes surreal, ways of looking at the world. Hard Characters is fine-edged, sophisticated work, Elizabeth Rees a poet to be watched.
-Joanna Catherine Scott

Elizabeth Rees crystallizes her written and spoken language into "hard characters," words that assume their right to bushwack or comfort the reader. The dynamics of her poems shift and shape-change, wielding fresh perspectives as the lines push to the finish. Rees gives her poems multiple personalities, grounding them with the clarity of her linguistic vision.
-Kathleene West Poetry Editor, Puerto del Sol

Several of the poems in Hard Characters are haunting. A reader will discover many things cracked or broken. Rees is skillful at releasing the darkness often trapped in images. Her words know how to climb over each other creating tension and a multitude of moods. There is not much time to turn around after reading these poems. Now is the time to surrender to a gifted poet's gift.
-E. Ethelbert Miller

Elizabeth Rees was born and raised in Minneapolis, with extended periods in Israel, and now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. She works as a Poet-in-the-Schools for the Maryland State Arts Council, teaches poetry workshops at The Writer's Center and through the John F. Kennedy Center's professional development program. She taught on the college level for fifteen years, including at the U. S. Naval Academy, Howard University, Johns Hopkins University's graduate MFA program, and Boston University, among other schools. Her literary awards include fellowships from the Washington, D. C. Commission on the Arts, and the Montgomery County (Maryland) Arts Council. Her work has or will appear in Partisan Review, The Kenyon Review, Agni, North American Review, Mid-American Review, and Seneca Review. Returning from Egypt, her first full-length collection, has been a finalist in several national competitions.

Daly tries to solve her conflicts with Ray, but finds Inez can become quite jealous. Will everything be peachy keen? or will Inez's jealousy get in the way of Daly and Ray's friendship? The clever and beautiful Roxana Ivanov is back at it again. She wants Carlos, and she'll do anything to get him. Even if she has to dig through Sophy's past to get it. Finally uncovering secrets about Sophy's father, she tries to wreck Sophy. Is Sophy strong enough to stand up to it? Carlos is trying to work things out with his family and get things together with Sophy and work his way back onto the dance floor all at once. Stress makes him a little tense. Laverne's show brings them all to New York and the trip is action-packed! You have to read the book to find out just what exactly happens there. Daly finds love again, but who is it? It's a can't miss book in the series!

This is only one book of many in this series. Number four was very exciting and got you very attached to the characters. I have to admit number five was not all I had hoped. I focuses a lot on dance and I dont recomend you read it if you have no interest or knowledge of dance. The book tends to forget about some of the problems in book four leaving you wondering what ever happened. I think all in all this boook is good but not for everyone.

Face the Music is just one book of many in a series called Heart Beats. The series is catchy with interesting caracters that you can relate to. The fourth book leaves you hanging on a cliff just wanting to read the fifth book terribly. I have to admit after I finally got my hands on the book i opened it right away. All in all the book was a good quick read with suspense in lots of places but it wasn't quite as good as the first ones. It also dropped some of the problems from book four. This is a good book but I recomend you read the first few books because they lead up to eachother. Also you might not like this if you have no intrest in dance.