Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Finding Your Feet
SERIES: Toronto Connections #2
AUTHOR: Cass Lennox
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 283 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 16, 2017
BLURB:
While on holiday in Toronto, Evie Whitmore planned to sightsee and meet other asexuals, not audition for a dance competition. Now she’s representing Toronto’s newest queer dance studio, despite never having danced before. Not only does she have to spend hours learning her routine, she has to do it with one of the grumpiest men she’s ever met. Tyler turns out to be more than a dedicated dancer, though—he might be the kind of man who can sweep her off her feet, literally and figuratively.
Tyler Davis has spent the last year recovering from an emotionally abusive relationship. So he doesn’t need to be pushed into a rushed routine for a dumb competition. Ticking major representation boxes for being trans and biracial isn’t why he went into dance. But Evie turns out to be a dream student. In fact, she helps him remember just how good partnering can be, in all senses of the word. Teaching her the routine, however, raises ghosts for him, ones he’s not sure he can handle.
Plans change, and people change with them. Learning a few steps is one thing; learning to trust again is another entirely.
REVIEW:
Caught in a three month gap between her old job making her redundant and her start of schooling, Evie isn’t sure what to do. She could stay in England and get a crappy short term job to tide her over before she has to fly to Toronto to start school…but that sounds a bit like voluntarily walking thru the gates of retail-hell. Then one of her best online friends offers to put her up for a couple weeks in Toronto so they can hang, go to Pride, and give Evie a chance to check out her new home before she moves over permanently for school. Getting a job is by far the most sensible option, but offered the chance to see the city and finally meet one of her closest friends in person…it really isn’t a hard decision to make.
She never planned on falling into an amateur dance competition between two of the city’s dance schools, or falling for her dance partner, Tyler. Being Ace has left her a bit wary of relationships, but that is nothing to how gunshy Tyler is. And the two may hit it off on all levels, but what makes them great on the dance floor might not translate well into real life. Especially when Tyler thinks Evie is only going to be around for a couple weeks.
Gods, but it has been forever since I’ve read a book with a cis-female main character. It took a bit getting used to, but I found Evie–aka Eviezzla, aka Godzilla–to be very relatable. I tend to shy away from female main characters because I have female-body issues that can sometimes flare up at the oddest times (usually around sex scenes in books) but with Evie being Ace I was pretty sure that I could read this without accidentally tripping over any triggers. Some books with Ace MCs do have sex scenes but luckily for me this one does not, and while I get that some people may see this as a drawback, for me it let me read the book without having to worry about what was on the next page. I do wish this wasn’t such a big deal for me, because it kinda narrows down all the great books I can read, but I have to deal with what I got. So, yeah, that fact that Evie was Ace was really great. It gave me confidence to read this book, and to add to my ever-growing pile of queer books not strictly confined to gay romance.
Finding a book with a black trans-masculine main character was also really cool. In fact, a lot of things about this book really had me excited. I like book about dancers, and queer characters, and Canadians (don’t ask me why, but I think part of me thinks of them as our mythical hocking-bringing maple syrup moose-whispers to the north and will not be swayed). Add in a character who is English, and you have a tri(quad?)-fecta of awesome.
I didn’t enjoy this book as much as book one, but it was certainly still really enjoyable. I liked the geekiness and the fun that these characters (both main and secondary) brought to this story. And despite the fact that dance really is something that is best enjoyed in visual form, the author did a good job of translating some of the action and flow into a written format. I like stories about dancers (and musicians) but sometimes trying to get parts of those stories to work in print instead of visually or auditorily just doesn’t mesh well. Here, by focusing more on the dancers instead of trying to transcribe large portions of the dance, the author was able to get a feel of the scene without boring me to tears with descriptions of dance moves and techniques that I really wouldn’t have got anyway.
My main issue with it mostly came from the fact that a lot of the angst in this book would have been sorted out a hell of a lot earlier if someone, anyone, would have made it clear to Tyler that Evie was actually moving to Toronto in a couple months. I get that he didn’t get it originally, but as the book went on and he kept not understanding, I started to lose my patience. I think if the book had spent less time on this, and more time on Tyler’s relationship issues, I would have enjoyed it a bit more. Because Tyler’s issues were real and I got them and could sympathize…the whole misunderstanding aspect of the plot just kinda annoyed me by the end.
Other than that, though, this book worked really well. The characters did a good job of catching my attention and holding it. And the little side relationships going on (including a small cameo from the boys in book one) didn’t distract from the overall story, but instead did a great job of adding to the atmosphere and plot. It may not be something I am used to reading, but I have to give it my recommendation. It is nice to step out of the box sometimes and see what else it out there. You might be surprised. Can’t wait to see what Cass Lennox has in store for us in book three.
RATING: 
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