Title: Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams
Author: Sue Watson
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 1 July 2015
Twitter: @suewatsonwriter
Blog/website: http://www.suewatsonbooks.com/
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Blurb
Dance like nobody’s watching. Love like you’ll never get hurt…
Laura Watkin’s heart isn’t broken, she’s just forgotten how to use it. After years on her own, the highlight of single mum Laura’s week is watching Strictly Come Dancing with a glass of Pinot Grigio and a large helping of imagination.
With her daughter Sophie going travelling, Laura knows the time is right to do something for herself for a change. One disastrous Zumba class later and Laura ends up at the feet (literally) of gorgeous dance instructor Tony Hernandez.
A natural dancer and inspiring teacher, Tony rekindles in Laura a passion she inherited from her ballroom dancer father – and with it comes a dream… to make him proud.
But when Tony enters them to perform at the National Dance Festival, can Laura’s new-found confidence survive the test? And with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn Flamenco in Spain, could Laura truly learn to dance like nobody’s watching… and love like she’ll never get hurt?
A laugh-out-loud, uplifting comedy about finding the courage to be yourself, the importance of dreams, and learning to grab life by the glitter balls.
Review
Laura Watkins hasn’t really given much thought about her life until a thoughtless throwaway comment from her daughter leads her to reassess it. As a single parent, she has let life slip away from her whilst raising her beloved daughter, Sophie. Her only pleasures in life are a glass of wine whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing on TV. However, Sophie is now grown-up and ‘flying the nest’, prompting Laura to come to the decision that she needs to make some changes in her boring, predictable life.
A disastrous and very funny attempt at Zumba leads Laura to meet dance teacher, Tony Hernandez. Laura joins his dance class and realises that she’s not such a dud on the dancefloor! Tony and Laura partner up with the aim of competing at that Mecca of the dance world – Blackpool. Laura finds her life changing beyond recognition. Where there was once supermarkets and Slimming World, there is now excitement, passion and fun as ‘Laura’ transitions into the exotic ‘Lola’.
Dancing stirs up a lot of old memories for Laura as she relieves the highs and lows that her parents experienced in their ballroom career, lurching from one competition to the next. She has to learn to put those memories behind her and move out from behind her parents’ shadow if she is truly going to master the art of dance.
Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams is a very entertaining book and had me laughing out loud in places, particularly when they attend the Zumba class. The titles of each chapter also made me smile. There was a real sense of humour that prevailed throughout the book and it strikes a lovely balance between hilarity and emotion – a perfect balance for a romcom.
The heroine, Laura, is fantastic. She’s older, realistic and, on realising how staid her life has become, she’s actually doing something about it! Her dance partner and new BBF, Tony, is bitchy, warm-hearted and fabulous. He’s largely responsible for helping Laura to regain her confidence and move into the spotlight. The supporting characters, Laura’s mother and her colleague Carole, add extra dimensions to the story, which really work well overall.
Overall, the book is enthusiastic, funny, warm and heart-felt. It has great pace and flow to the story and proves to be yet another great book from Sue Watson.
About the Author
Sue Watson was a TV Producer with the BBC who combined motherhood and family life with a busy career. However, one day it dawned on Sue that Cosmo magazine may have been telling porkies about ‘having it all,’ and her life had become a slightly crazed juggling act.
So after much soul searching (and comfort eating) Sue abandoned her TV career, bought a pink laptop and wrote ‘Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes.’ It was then Sue realised she couldn’t stop writing and produced ‘Younger, Thinner, Blonder’ ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Cake’ and ‘Snow Angels, Secrets and Christmas Cake,’ ‘Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams,’ and ‘Bella’s Christmas Bake Off.’
Originally from Manchester, Sue now lives with her husband and teenage daughter in Worcestershire where she bakes (and eats) lots of cake. She spends much of her time making big decisions about whether to have Caramel Chew Chew or Peanut Butter ice cream (or both?) while watching ‘The Biggest Loser USA,’ and procrastinating over her latest novel.
For more info visit Sue’s website; http://www.suewatsonbooks.com/
Sue would love to meet you on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/suewatsonbooks
Follow Sue on Twitter @suewatsonwriter
Buy Links
Amazon UK | Amazon US | Goodreads
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