Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Dance For Me

AUTHOR: Allison Cassatta & Remmy Duchene

PUBLISHER: MLR Press

LENGTH: 228 Pages

BLURB:

Lo… When they dance into your heart and falling can’t be helped …ve

Alexander Benton is used to getting what he wants. With his wealthy parents MIA most times, he is left to rule Julliard and half of Manhattan with impunity. He hides his misery behind meaningless sex and condemning behavior.

Augusto Catalan grew up poor. To make a living, he dances at a local gay performance club and survives on the poverty line. His crappy New York apartment and simple life make him happy—except for the death of his lover, his brother being in a war zone and his life-long dream of getting into Julliard slipping away with each passing day.

When Alex meets Augusto, he knows there is no way this ghetto boy is getting into /his/prestigious school. Then he sees Augusto dance.

REVIEW: Augusto Catalan is ready to give up on his dream of being a professional dancer. He has no money, shares a crappy apartment with a friend and when it comes to dancing jobs, all he has to show is a list of rejections a mile long. He makes a living by dancing in a club owned by his dead fiancé’s father because even dancing in a club is better than not dancing at all. According to Augusto, dancing is freedom. When his friend encourages him to audition for Julliard he is quick to dismiss the idea because that rejection would be more than he could handle. He figures he can’t fail if he doesn’t try. But as you can see from the blurb, eventually he is persuaded to the audition, which is where he first encounters Alex the Asshole.

Alex Benton dislikes Augusto at first glance. Despite thinking he’s hot (Alex does like the bad boy look) he thinks Augusto has no place being at Julliard because it’s obvious he has no money. When Augusto refuses to take any of the crap Alex dishes out they become instant enemies. Hmmm, now that I think about it there was a missed opportunity for a dance off at this point! The two young men are forced together when Alex is instructed by a teacher to get Augusto up to speed with basic ballet moves.

Now I love characters that are absolute bastards, and Allison Cassatta excels at writing them (this is just me assuming that Alex is her creation). But I really would have preferred if his dickish behavior lasted a bit longer. I was ready to hate Alex, while completely loving him, but all it takes is a couple of hours in Augusto’s company and Alex is ready to repent his little bitch ways. And he is a little bitch (not a complaint). The way Alex and his BFF Carolynne go out of their way to be nasty to Augusto is like something out of Mean Girls (again, not a complaint).

Actually there were a lot of things about this book that made me think of movies I loved as a teenager. Mean Girls, Raise Your Voice, Center Stage, these characters could have come from any of those movies. It was fluff, and some people might say that as an insult but that’s not how I mean it. I like fluff at the right time. Sometimes after books with heavier content light and cute is exactly what I need to read. The dramatic antics of Augusto and Alex easily kept me entertained with their endless overreacting then kissing to make up. And speaking of kissing, these two boys are pretty damn combustible when it comes to getting down and dirty. There is plenty of sexy fun happening here.

I really would have liked to read more about Julliard. There were a couple of scenes that take place in dance classes but not an actual lot of dancing happened. The best dance moment takes place at the club when Alex shows up to watch Augusto perform during a BDSM theme night. Just to be clear though, there’s no BDSM in this book. It’s just hot men dancing around in leather pants with handcuffs. It was a very Magic Mike moment.

This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Just don’t go into it expecting a dance school story or you may end up disappointed.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

MLR Press

Amazon

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