Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Dance This Song With Me?
SERIES: Aunt Macie’s Lonely Hearts Club, book 2
AUTHOR: R. Gaen
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 119 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 20, 2026
BLURB:
When you ask someone to dance there’s always a risk you’ll be rejected.
Lucas has a problem. He’s seen a guy that he finds attractive, but the only way to get close to him is by learning to dance. And not just any old dance, it’s a dance with specific moves, and it’s going to be awkward if he can’t do them, especially in the ‘sensual’ parts of the song.
After learning to dance, Lucas realises there’s still a major obstacle standing between him and his dream man, so he turns to Aunt Macie for advice. But Aunt Macie’s currently on vacation. Will Lucas get the help he needs to end up with the man of his dreams? Or will he be rejected?
Content Warnings: explicit content, crushed toes, cringy pickup lines, swearing
REVIEW:
Lucas is at a gay bar and not feeling it. Getting hit on by a creep just cements the off vibe, so he leaves but doesn’t want to go home. While wandering, he hears music that “…made me want to move and it was fueling my curiosity.” He ends up at a social where the dance is bachata, a dance from the Dominican Republic (yes, I looked it up), and he is immediately entranced not just by the dance but by a smolderingly sexy man who is dancing it. He can’t get the man out of his head and writes to Aunt Macie’s advice column to figure out what to do. Aunt Macie, as noted in the blurb, is actually Jase. Well, at this time Aunt Macie is actually Emilio, who is helping out his friend Eddy, who is Jase’s boyfriend. The advice Emilio gives is – get some lessons and ask the man to dance. Lucas does but the dancing man is not impressed. Actually, dancing man is a jerk and I couldn’t figure out why Lucas wanted to go back for more. But he does. So back to the advice maven he goes and now Aunt Macie promises him some dance lessons.
As Aunt Macie, Emilio is having a blast. Except he is has blown the “gift” budget of Aunt Macie out of the water and Jase is fuming. More so when he realizes Emilio promised these dance lessons to Lucas and there is no money for it. So he charges Emilio with providing the lessons. No problem, Emi can do that. Except Emi, the king of the hit it and quit it, starts to become friends with Lucas, the king of search for a real relationship. They keep it professional until the lessons are over, knowing that Lucas is chasing someone else and Emi wants no relationship.
I admit, I expected this to be funnier than it was from the content warnings of crushed toes and cringy pick up lines. There are some crushed toes but with the dancing jerk it wasn’t funny. With Emilio it was sweet. And the cringy pickup lines are mostly Jase’s invention. Emilio is very kind, laidback and so chill. Just what Lucas needs, but how to get past the one and done thing?
Side characters Jase and Eddy (from book 1) are great. I haven’t read their book yet. The dancing jerk, who is actually named Damian, is a believable jerk. He isn’t over the top, just obnoxious. I liked the descriptions of the bachata and did end up watching videos to see what it was all about.
RATING: 
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