Reviewed by Sid

TITLE: Behind The Curtain

AUTHOR: Amy Lane

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 266 Pages

BLURB: Dawson Barnes recognizes his world is very small and very charmed. Running his community college theater like a petty god, he and his best friend, Benji know they’ll succeed as stage techs after graduation. His father adores him, Benji would die for him, and Dawson never doubted the safety net of his family, even when life hit him below the belt.

But nothing prepared him for falling on Jared Emory’s head.

Aloof dance superstar Jared is a sweet, vulnerable man and Dawson’s life suits him like a fitted ballet slipper. They forge a long-distance romance from their love of the theater and the magic of Denny’s. At first it’s perfect: Dawson gets periodic visits and nookie from a gorgeous man who “gets” him—and Jared gets respite from the ultra-competitive world of dancing that almost consumed him.

That is until Jared shows up sick and desperate and Dawson finally sees the distance between them concealed painful things Jared kept inside. If he doesn’t grow up—and fast—his “superstar” might not survive his own weaknesses. That would be a shame, because the real, fragile Jared that Dawson sees behind the curtain is the person he can see spending his life with.

REVIEW:

Behind The Curtain grew close to my heart for a special reason and it was Jared. The passion of an artist is something I get and it is portrayed beautifully in this story.

Dawson Barnes gets sweeped off his feet when the famous ballet dancer Jared Emory comes to his town; to his studio to perform. At first, Jared seems a bit douchy with his smart-ass replies and someone who rarely spares you a smile but as he spends time with Dawson, we get to see different sides of him. Dawson has a lust-hate-love feeling toward him, which keeps switching with Jared’s behavior but the heat level begin to rise up and above and you sort of come to know it is only a matter of time that they’d find their way together.

If only it could be that easy! Jared is in Sacramento only for a few days after which he has to go back to his starry life in LA. They do decide to continue what has been started and a long distance relationship is tried out (emphasis on tried). It is sweet and truly adorable reading about the back-to-back text conversations the two have and it seems to work out well until Dawson gets to experience the downside of this deal. Jared shows up on one of their planned visits and Dawson realizes he is terribly sick. Being a good and thoughtful boyfriend he is, Dawson nurses him back to health but is also pissed that Jared would choose his career over his own health. And he fights hard, pulls on a tantrum and they even get into a heated arguement – all that to know why Jared wouldn’t take it easy.

Finally, it comes down to one thing and one thing only – Jared and what he wants from his life!

“…I want to quit with enough money in my bank account to not have to worry about food while I’m setting up my business. I’ve given my life to this art – I need some … some reassurances it’s not going to just leave me lying dead on the stage when the curtain closes.”

What happens in the mid of Crashing Stars is quite close and the story takes an ugly turn. It is a war of love, emotions, ambitions, dreams and expectations. Who wins isn’t the question to ask. What happens to Dawson and Jared at the end of the war is what I wanted to know badly!

Jared Emory reminded me of someone I used to know. The personality matched so perfectly that I felt like I was reading their story. That is the reason I get why Jared wanted to keep performing so badly. That passion toward art is the true identity of an artist. It is how Dawson describes it in the story at one point of time. Humans need food to survive on, Jared needed his dancing to survive on and he didn’t even care if he ate or not.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t support Dawson either. His decisions were perfectly sane ones, I believed and even thought that he handled things maturely in some instances. But only, some instances. He comes off a bit bossy at times and nags like an old lady, but that’s okay because it seems to be for the better of Jared.

To be honest, their relationship starts out very beautiful.

“Is it always like this?” Dawson whispered. “This buzz in my stomach and my chest — how happy I am to hold you? Does it always feel like this?”

Jared lifted his face in the dark, his lower lip full and swollen from kisses, his eyes shiny. “No,” he said soberly. “No. This is special.”

It is indeed very special. The little things like understanding the subtexts or the duck pond being non-negotiable made it all so damn precious to me as a reader. The way I saw it, their relationship was built, it was nourished and they stand tall, hands held with whatever storm comes to test their strength.

There is a scene where they have a very heated arguement where Dawson is simply frustrated that Jared would go back to LA going against the doc’s advice to stay put for some days. That scene is so intense that it broke my heart and even got misty-eyed a bit. That’s the level of connection I felt toward both the characters. Jared, especially, considering all that he has been through in the past. His vulnerability made me want to reach out to him and embrace him and tell him that things do get better! I was just glad that he met someone as loving as Dawson, who deeply cared for him.

The secondary characters rule in the story too. Dawson’s roommate and best friend for life, Benji Gomez, his girlfriend Darian and their other roommate (moves in a bit later in the story) Amber! Dawson is a lucky guy to have them in his life and of course, his loving dad, Mr. Stan Barnes. I loved reading snippets of Benji and Darian’s story as well. It was nice and refreshing to have an M/F parallel storyline running alongside the main story.

Benji is much more worth mentioning in this little review, I think. He not only feels it’s his duty to protect Dawson but also acts much like a big brother to him. The time when they travel to LA, I oddly saw the pair of Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee from LOTR series in them. The way Sam is ready to do anything for Frodo, Benji makes sure Dawson gets to meet Jared without any interruptions and oh lord, the gameplan they sketch out on spot – it is just hilarious picturing it all!

There are lot of good things about this book to say, but I can’t say it is perfect. We are told that Dawson is just about to turn twenty one (and so are his friends) and Jared is somewhat twenty six, but as I read these characters, their voices came off as though a bunch of teenagers were interacting. I can understand the others, but Jared should have at least sounded a bit mature, I thought because that made it difficult to picture him in any scene.

Nonetheless, Amy Lane’s writing is magical. She gets people, and their personalities and that’s how I think her characters come alive when we read them. There were parts that overwhelmed in this book by mere descriptions of things and at one point, I even feared the worst! But as I have been told and have experienced, Amy’s books are like a Pandora box that when you open it, there will always remain hope for an excellent ending. And it is my personal belief that when an author knows how to provide a perfect closure to a story that satisfies them as well as their readers, then the author has got what it takes to touch the sky!

So, take a peek behind this curtain; I insist and you will feel the love flying high in the air!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press  ::  Amazon

ABOUT AMY LANE

Amy Lane dodges an EDJ, mothers four children, and writes the occasional book. She, her brood, and her beloved mate, Mack, live in a crumbling mortgage in Citrus Heights, California, which is riddled with spiders, cats, and more than its share of fancy and weirdness. Feel free to visit her at www.greenshill.com or www.writerslane.blogspot.com, where she will ride the buzz of receiving your e-mail until her head swells and she can no longer leave the house.

GIVEAWAY

Amy Lane is giving away an ecopy of “Behind The Curtain” to one lucky winner! All you gotta do is leave a  comment to this post telling the author what aspect of this book appeals to you the most. Don’t forget to leave your email ID and also a message to the author if you want 🙂

CONTEST ENDS 26TH JANUARY, 2014 @ 23:59 PACIFIC TIME!!