Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly delightful!
Review: This is my favorite of Jeanne Ray's books. I'm a writer, too, and when I finished STEP-BALL-CHANGE I thought how much I wished I'd written it, and that's the highest compliment I can pay another author. Jeanne Ray is a terrific writer. Not only does she have a great sense of humor (and I laughed out loud many times while reading this) but she has something to say about life. I caught myself nodding my head in agreement more than once. I especially loved her observations about marriage. And I absolutely loved the way she depicted Caroline's relationship with her sister.Jeanne, if you read this review, don't pay any attention to the person who only gave STEP-BALL-CHANGE one star and said it was boring. She's wrong. This story is charming and warm and wonderful, and I hated for it to end. And you are a WONDERFUL writer. I only wish there were more than three Ray books to read.
Rating:
Summary: A throroughly enjoyable read
Review: This novel was wonderful. I truly did not want it to end. Ray's characters are so vivid and three-dimensional they may as well be living next door. Her writing is witty, sharp, and endearing. I hope she publishes another novel or two soon!
Rating: 
Summary: As light and carefree as a tap dance
Review: This was an easy, likeable read about a perfectly normal family-something pretty rare in fiction these days. The action starts right away when the McSwain family is thrown into chaos by a simultaneous divorce and engagement. Caroline, "Minnie" McSwain, the matriarch of the family, finds out that her younger sister Taffy is coming to stay with her after leaving her husband, Neddy. The same night, her only daughter, Kay, tells her she is engaged to Trey, the wealthiest man in town. Of course, between the two events there are a myriad of little details that make things interesting-Kay loves another man, too, Taffy takes an interest in Caroline's dance studio and falls for the family handyman, Caroline's youngest son finds love with the handyman's daughter and so on. There's certainly enough going on here to keep you interested without tragedy or trauma. It's a pleasant little novel that's as light as a tap dance-a nice break from heavier fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: boring!
Review: very trite book with predictable plotline, too much like Eat Cake in form. Author presents conflict, varying family members come and go, main character is overwhelmed, then learns to cope. end of story. better authors are out there. don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Warm, kind, uplifting
Review: When an author's first novel is as wonderful as "Julie and Romeo", the expectations bar is set quite high for any subsequent work. Once again Jeanne Ray has written a fine book and, while perhaps not quite as insightful and wise as her first novel, "Step-Ball-Change" is a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. Ray's style is understated, deadpan humor and she employs considerable irony. Clearly speaking from experience she effectively depicts how a lifetime of experience provides a broader perspective and, often, results in less impetuous -- more rationale decisions. The author evocatively (but not saccarinely) depicts the fundamental fulfillment that a family -- spouse, children, siblings -- represent, and how regardless of life's challenges they are ultimately the harbor to which we seek to return. In comparison to "Julie and Romeo", if "Step-Ball-Change" has flaws, however, they are in that it tends to be a bit too idealistic, and the lives of it's characters are a bit too easy and smooth -- relatively free from economic concerns they can fully endulge focusing on their emotional side. Additionally, the ending was devoid of any complexity in that the angst of the many characters depicted I felt was resolved too neatly, completely and happily ever after. I felt warmed after reading this novel. While I didn't think conveyed as effective or "profound" a message as "Julie and Romeo", it was still a wise and a definitely entertaining diversion.
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