Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE:  Follow My Lead

AUTHOR: Lisa Worrall

PUBLISHER: White Stiletto Press

LENGTH: 75 pages

BLURB:

Hell hath no fury like a boyfriend scorned as sitcom star and comedian, CJ Edwards, finds out when his ex releases a sex tape he hadn’t even known was being filmed. Not to mention the headlines on every newstand accusing CJ of being an abusive alcoholic. His career in tatters, CJ’s agent manages to get CJ a spot on the Christmas special of Dancing with Stars in Your Eyes. Seeing it as a chance to possibly redeem himself, CJ accepts.

Lucien Moreau has been a dance professional on Dancing with Stars in Your Eyes for three years, and he loves it. Until the powers that be decide, in view of new marriage equality laws, the show’s Christmas special will include a gay couple. Finding out he is being partnered with CJ Edwards hits him like a fist to the gut. Six months ago his brother and sister-in-law were killed in an accident when their car was hit by a drunk driver. How the hell is he supposed to teach a man, not unlike the one who destroyed his family, to dance?

REVIEW: 

Wow! This book had the potential to be sooooo cheesy and it wasn’t! It’s short, so I will be careful with giving away too much plot, but I really liked it…

CJ Edwards is at the bottom of his comedian career. At the top, he had his own sitcom, was doing stand-up, had a hot boyfriend, nice house, the works. unfortunately the hot boyfriend turned out to be a douche, cheated on him, said he was an alcoholic abusive ass, released a sex tape, pretty much made CJ’s life a living hell. Goodbye career, all due to a bunch of bullshit. CJ is now stuck with nothing, when his agent calls and offers him one last opportunity. Dancing with Stars in Your Eyes. But why the hell would CJ do it? Money. He agrees and off we go.

So I am a fan of Dancing with the Stars, have been for years. I have always wished they had the balls to do a same-sex couple. We get that with his story! CJ is paired with Lucien Moreau, one of the professional dancers on the show Dancing with Stars in Your Eyes. Lucien is not at all excited to hear he’ll be paired with CJ, for a whole lot of reasons. He doesn’t want to be known as the gay dancer on the show, doesn’t want the controversy of  being part of a same-sex pair, even though he is gay. He also has issues with CJ. Lucien is raising his niece, whose parents were killed by a drunk driver. Everything Lucien has heard about CJ is bad, he drinks, he’s abusive, the sex tape, oh… the drama of CJ’s life is just not what Lucien wants to deal with. But it’s his job so he does.

That is the set up to get Lucien and CJ together. You’ll have to read the story to get the rest! I will say I liked this story a lot! At first look, the plot was pretty basic and fluffy, but it really isn’t. It’s all about mis-information and the mess the media can make out of a life. Assuming we know what is happening with a person’s life based only on the information we see in gossip magazines and TV shows. Lucien makes some big mistakes in regards to CJ, we see why, but still. It’s proof there are two sides to every story. You never know what is in someone’s home life, it’s not always what you see on the surface. Then there is the fluffy part! I loved the parallels to DWTS, the slight name changes of the judges, the silliness of the filming in the studios, how fake it all is. That part was all very fun for me to read, being a fan of the show.

I have only read a book or two written by Lisa Worrall, and I really need to go find more. Her writing is very good. This book walks the line of fluffy and deep just perfectly. It is short, there isn’t time for a whole lot of plot, but she manages to get a lot in there anyway. We get the depth needed in the history of these two men, they both do have some drama, plus we get a fun plot on top of the message of incorrect assumptions. They have a bit of implied sex, but this is not an erotic story. We get a great kid, in Lucien’s niece Melody. And the ending…. perfect! Revenge is a bitch!

This was a great way to spend a bit of time last night, give this book a shot, I totally enjoyed it!

RATING: 

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