REVIEW: DANCE WITH ME by Heidi Cullinan

Posted October 13, 2015 by MeliMel in Book Love, Guest Posts & Reviews, Home, Meli Mel Review / 0 Comments

Dance With Me REVIEW

RELEASE DATE: August 29, 2015

Format: Novel • Genre: Contemporary • Length: 94,000 words

Publisher: Heidi Cullinan

Cover Artist: Kanaxa

Characters: Ed Maurer, Laurie Parker

goodreads

amazon usAMAZON UKAmazon CAbnereader_ipadpreviewibooks_thumb_featurekobo

Blurb

Sometimes life requires a partner.

Ed Maurer has bounced back, more or less, from the neck injury that permanently benched his semipro football career. He hates his soul-killing office job, but he loves volunteering at a local community center. The only fly in his ointment is the dance instructor, Laurie Parker, who can’t seem to stay out of his way.

Laurie was once one of the most celebrated ballet dancers in the world, but now he volunteers at Halcyon Center to avoid his society mother’s machinations. It would be a perfect escape, except for the oaf of a football player cutting him glares from across the room.

When Laurie has a ballroom dancing emergency and Ed stands in as his partner, their perceptions of each other turn upside down. Dancing leads to friendship, being friends leads to becoming lovers, but most important of all, their partnership shows them how to heal the pain of their pasts. Because with every turn across the floor, Ed and Laurie realize the only escape from their personal demons is to keep dancing—together.

This novel has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.

Sultan


♥ ♥ ♥ 4 STARS ♥ ♥ ♥

●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●

“You don’t simply feel the rhythm. You must feel the soul, both of the dance and of your partner. The tango isn’t something you dance. It’s a story you create with another.”

●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●

Ed Maurer is an ex-semipro-football player that has had to leave his athletic glory behind due to a neck injury that bans him from ever playing again. Ed doesn’t want to accept his fate that he is disabled as a result. He is determined to live his life as normal as possible even without football, by trying to ignore the pain he sporadically gets. That means having an office job he hates. While also volunteering at a community center, the only thing he looks forward to.

●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●

“With the right partner, it’s like I’m anchored, and I can do anything.”

Ed’s lips brushed Laurie’s ear, sending electricity through his body, but his words burrowed into Laurie’s soul. “I want to be your right partner.”

●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●

Laurie Parker was once a rising star in the ballet community. But after an event left him feeling humiliated he has turned his back to competing professionally. Now, Laurie is a dance instructor at the same community center. Everything is great for Laurie until Ed enters the picture pestering him about the volume of his music he uses in his classes. Things change when Ed ends up being his dance assistant in exchange for turning the volume down.

I can’t tell you how much I loved these two characters. They were so freaking cute together. When Ed and Laurie begin dancing together, it made me giddy seeing that attraction between them grow. They were pretty opposite as well. Ed was a “manly” broad football player making average pay, while Laurie was a slightly “feminine” dancer with a wealthy background. Yet, they worked so well together. I loved being inside Ed’s head and seeing how he was falling for Laurie, it was so damn adorable. Another thing I really enjoy, and something have noticed from ready many of Heidi’s books, is that she thoroughly researches what she writes about. In this case, it was the dancing. It was described so well with some delicious sensual tension that the only thing that could make it better was to see it live.

●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●

‘I don’t ever want to disappoint you. I want to stay here, like this. Always. I don’t want to just take care of you. I want you to take care of me too.’

●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●  ●

This book also had many emotional moments that made me feel for Ed and Laurie. They were both a bit broken, but together they calmed, supported, and healed each other. I loved how Laurie took care of Ed. It was really just a beautiful story. The only reason I didn’t give it a higher rating, was because some parts of the book were a bit slow at times. I also didn’t really care for one sex scene in particular. But other than that, it was a wonderfully written story that was very enjoyable. I loved both the characters and really connected with them. I definitely recommend this one.

 ~ARC gifted to Kris & Vik Book Therapy Cafe in exchange for an honest review.~

About Author

Heidi Cullinan

Heidi Cullinan has always enjoyed a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. Proud to be from the first Midwestern state with full marriage equality, Heidi writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. Find out more about Heidi at heidicullinan.com.

HC logo banner_smaller_edited-1

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.