Cecilia‘s review of Dance With Me by Alexis Daria
Contemporary Romance published by Swerve (SMP) 12 Dec 17
In which I extol the virtues of renter’s insurance, because I am a boring person.
This is the second book in Daria’s Dance Off series. Disclaimer: I haven’t read the first, but I don’t think I missed much…she does a really good job of incorporating past storylines into this novel. Our heroine, Tasha, is the now-solo roomie of Take the Lead’s heroine, Gina. She’s on her own, occasionally fucking her (ahem) fuck buddy Dmitri, who’s a judge on The Dance Off. BTW, that’s a super no-no, but we’ll get to that later. Tasha’s apartment goes to hell in a waterlogged handbasket after a pipe breaks in the apartment above hers, and chaos ensues. She freaks out, she has no idea what to do, and then Dmitri offers to let her stay at his place in Beverly Hills. She agrees on one condition: no sex.
Yeah, like that’s gonna last. But the sexual tension, the angst, the sometimes sweet but sometimes graphic foreplay and sex scenes set exactly the right tone, especially when they decide to start “dating.”
But before I go any further, I’d like to take time out from this review to provide my readers with a bit of information regarding the critical adulting requirements of our time. With this, I give you:
Cecilia’s Guide To Renter’s Insurance
Tasha, Tasha, Tasha. Girl, we need to talk. Look, I know Gina carried the load for a long time and you’re freaking out because you’re on your own and they don’t teach important shit like balancing a checkbook, maintaining credit, and other common sense stuff in high school, but…OMFG. Your apartment flooded, the ceiling collapsed, there’s a bedbug infestation and you don’t have renter’s insurance?!
Now, keep in mind I’m hyperalert about this stuff. My mother was an underwriter for 40-some years (Auto-Owners Forever!), so I always got lectures on insurance coverage, be it auto, home, or life. So when I struck out on my own after law school, mama was like, “Call this agent. Get coverage.” And I did. Maybe 20K of coverage was a hundred bucks or so a year, probably less. Now that I’m Full Adulting But Not Quite ™, I have the highest levels of coverage possible on my car and on our home. Let no one say I’m boring because this is LIVING THE DAMN DREAM, FOLKS!
Anyway, get renter’s insurance. It’s super cheap and it covers stuff so that you don’t have to (sniffle) toss away things that were destroyed in a freak apartment flood/bedbug infestation.
Moving on…
I have ridiculously high standards for contemporary romances, probably because I read them so infrequently and I’ve read some true stinkers in the past. Since I’m attracted to quality characterization and snappy dialogue, sometimes solid contemps are hard to find. And although I hate to call this a home run, I think Daria has a ground rule double here. (Keep in mind it would have been a triple but, you know, ground rule.) I loved how we got inside both characters’ heads right away, how we could feel their insecurities and their desires, and, yes, how their hangups manifested in oftentimes awkward and potentially asshole-y behavior. Dmitri is the kind of guy you’d intensely dislike under other circumstances, but his inner monologue gives his true goodness away. In the hands of a lesser writer who doesn’t explore a character so deeply, he might be lost. But I found his feelings to be genuine, if not a bit conflicted.
Tasha is the same, although it takes us a bit longer to get to her backstory. Much of her insecurity is rooted in her relationship with her mother (SO FREUD YES) and the belief she’s had hammered into her head time and time again that she is destined to be a failure. If I had one complaint about the book, it’s that we didn’t really explore her relationship with Mommie Dearest enough…we got a bit at the end and a couple of mentions in the epilogue, but…you know. On the other hand, too much family drama can ruin the plot of a good romance, and Tasha’s mom is the kind of person that is best kept at arm’s length.
Overall, a lovely book. And the author is a joy as well. I may have, uh, hassled her a little about renter’s insurance on Twitter, and she took it all in stride. I do what I can to make Romancelandia a more secure place.
But seriously, get yourself renter’s insurance. For real.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Natasha Díaz is having a day. She’s trying to prove she can make it as a professional dancer, but she’s overworked, out of cash, and her roommate has just moved out. When she comes home to find a hole in her ceiling and her bedroom flooded, she’s desperate enough to crash with the one guy she can’t quit. She accepts his offer with one condition: no sleeping together while she’s living with him.
Dimitri Kovalenko has never lived with a woman before. But when Tasha’s in need of a place to stay, he suggests she move in without a second thought. He accepts her condition, hoping she won’t stick to it. They’re good together, both in the ballroom and the bedroom. Since their first dance, she’s never been far from his thoughts. Sure, she’s a pro and he’s one of her show’s judges, but they’re not currently filming, so no one needs to know.
Living in close quarters shows Dimitri a side of Natasha he’s never seen before, and he likes it. A lot. Too bad she’s doing everything in her power to keep him at arm’s length. When an injury forces Natasha to take it easy or risk her ability to dance, it’s his chance to show her that the rules have changed, and she can trust him with her heart.
No excerpt available.
