Sometimes the best moves are the ones that aren't made on the dance floor...

A Dance For You - Colette Davison, Neil Macfarlane

‘A Dance for You’ is the second audio book by Colette Davison that I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy and I admit I definitely enjoyed this one a bit more than ‘A Dance for Two’. Even though these books share a very similar title reading ‘A Dance for Two’ is not required in order for the reader/listener to enjoy ‘A Dance For You’. While we do meet Mason in the previous book and Luc, whom we met in ‘A Dance For Two’ is his best friend there’s really no over lap between that story and this so regardless of the fact that I’m glad, I listened to the audio book for ‘A Dance For Two’ I feel fairly safe in saying  that it really had no impact one way or another on how much I enjoyed this one.

 

For me the fact that I enjoyed ‘A Dance for You’ more was directly attributable to other things…those things being in part…the subject matter. For Mason and David, the relationship issues were essentially twofold being their age difference and their work dynamics.

 

David is the guest choreographer for the production that Mason will be performing in at his new ballet company, BalletEast. So while their dynamic at present is one of employee/supervisor it’s not a permanent situation what is permanent is the age difference and since neither of these men are a minor and at no time did I feel like David was using his position to pressure Mason…I actually liked how the author dealt with both of these issues and as the story progressed they became non-issues for me.

 

The other issue addressed in this story that I found to be an interesting touch was the issue of bullying. We often times forget that this happens not just to children in the schoolyard but to adults in the workplace and while we don’t associate it with places that tend to present a more liberal minded attitudes it can and does still happen everywhere. I definitely appreciated how the author dealt with this because so often in the real world it’s the easy solution that’s taken and not necessarily the right one, as was the case here when it was the bully who was made to suffer the consequences of his actions as opposed to making the victim go away since it’s often times easier to make the victim go away than to make the bully accountable for their actions.

 

While I really enjoyed David and Mason as a couple and how they negotiated their relationship the only real niggle that it held for me was the issue of the BDSM. When they were dealing with this aspect of things, I found that at times it felt more like a public service announcement than two people negotiating a new aspect to their relationship and I willingly admit this is very much a subjective viewpoint. I’m sure that for others it won’t seem this way, but unfortunately this was how it came across to me and I think that was due in part to how it was written but also to the narration. However, well it did or didn’t work for me, I did appreciate the fact that the author dealt with this aspect of the story in what I felt to be a respectful manner and we were given two different viewpoints that of someone who has never participated in a BDSM lifestyle and that of someone who as an experienced DOM understands their responsibility to both nurture their potential subs interest and to respect their boundaries.

 

Neil Macfarlane was once again the narrator for this story and I just didn’t feel like his voice held the same emotional level that was there during ‘A Dance for You’. Don’t misunderstand I’m not saying his voice was monotone because I didn’t feel it was that by any means either. So, this could once again very much be a case of it’s not you, it’s me and I may well find that listening to this another time and being in a different frame of mind it won’t seem this way but for now it is what it is.

 

While somethings worked and somethings didn’t work as well, at the end of things I’m left with a story that I enjoyed far more than I didn’t and an author and narrator who have both gotten a spot on my radar as someone that I’d like to read and/or listen to again.

 

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An audio book of ‘A Dance For You’ was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.