Laurie had a bad experience at a ballroom competition and will no longer compete or perform in public. Ed had his football career ended by a bad hit. They currently work at a community center where they get on each other's nerves. But eventually they learn to compromise and begin ballroom dancing together. That dancing leads to love. I enjoyed this book very much. I liked seeing what a football player does when his career is over. I liked that they could connect over the tango. The characters were good. Laurie's mother was a piece of work but the rest were okay. His dad could have used some therapy also. I look forward to reading more of her books.

I was able to read this early because I am a patron of Heidi's on Paetron.com.  :)

 

Heidi is one of my favourite authors and I was so looking forward to this book, the second book in the Dancing series.  The first one, Dance With Me, was the first book of Heidi's that I ever read and I adored it, so I was very eager to read this long-awaited sequel.  

 

The first quarter of Enjoy the Dance was disappointing. (And it kills me to say it.) I felt as if I was reading a series of articles on the GLBQT homeless youth community in Minnesota.  I understand that this is a subject very dear to the author's heart and it should be important to all of us, but selfishly, I didn't want to feel lectured while reading about Spenser and Tomas' love story, and that's how I felt during the first quarter of the book while the teenager that brings them together, Duon, got settled.  I learned little about any of the characters - and characters that I love are Heidi's strong suit, so this was especially disappointing.  I know the author possesses the talent to make her readers aware of all this stuff through the presentation of her characters, but it didn't happen this time, I'm afraid.

 

But the other three-quarters of the book were WONDERFUL!  The characters came to life, the relationships were created and things began to move forward.  Spenser, the kindergarten teacher is a lovely character.  Calm, sweet, smart, instinctively wise... I liked him an awful lot.  The object of his affections, the fellow who lives across the hall, Tomas, is the dancer and some of my favourite scenes have to do with him dancing with Duon and Laurie (one of the MCs from the first book) en pointe.

 

Spenser and Tomas fall in love easily and quietly and simply, despite all the hurdles they have to overcome - Duon's future with them, marriage equality, immigration problems, prejudice at Spenser's job, Spenser's scars from his youth in the system... my GOD there were alot of them!  And I ended up in tears more than a couple of times during the final chapters.  

 

So, despite the near lifeless read of the first quarter of the book, the rest of it picked up most wonderfully and gave me the Heidi read I love so much.  

Remy Chandler is recovering from the death of his wife and wondering at his place in the world – if he even has a place in the world. Especially since the Thrones have offered him a place back in heaven.But the world doesn’t stop for a grieving angel. Several weapons have gone missing – weapons from every stage in history, each the very epitome of their kind and craftsmanship. They are the pitiless and they have power far beyond being devastating tools of destruction.And other people certainly want them - not least of which the Denizens, fallen angels who have returned to Earth from Hell to live out the rest of their penance and seek redemption. They’ve absorbed the forces of Hell and aren’t seeking a path back to Heaven – but revel in the corruption of mortals around them.But the Pitiless contain power even they don’t know – and are part of a scheme that can rock Heaven itself to its core.I do have an issue with the pacing of the book. It takes a long time for the book to get going and a long time to set the actual plot and premise up. We spend a lot of time with Remy’s emotions and dealing with his wife’s death and considering his place in the world – and whether he truly wants to remain with humanity or re-ascend to heaven. There follows a series of side-characters he deals with to find the pitiless who serve no real purpose at all. I’m not sure why the Denizens were there or what purpose they served or the semi-human purveyors of stolen goods. They seemed almost place holders that could have been equally filled by anyone else. They felt like fillers, interactions with them felt unnecessary and all it really did was mean Remy didn’t have to do any real investigating.The contrast is that once he does get his hands on the actual Pitiless, it’s run and keep up, no sprint and keep up with action left right and centre, passing into hell, fighting through Tartarus against hellions, against the fallen and we’re up to our eyeballs in gore, scary feelings and big rebellious falling angels.Read More

3-3.25 stars - because it is, after all, a Julia Quinn bookSplendid was mostly that - splendid. Dancing at Midnight was... a fun read and worth the read in the end, but rather tortured at times (and not just the Hero), rambling, and seemed to include a lot more story elements than necessary.I applaud Ms. Quinn for writing a book about a war hero - one that doesn't push away the nastiness of war. But our hero in this book, John, isn't as tortured by the war as he is about what he thinks is his own failure to prevent the rape of a 13-yr old Spanish girl by one of his soldiers. I empathize with John's grief over Ana, and the event was horrible -- enough to cause the nightmares that plague him. But John is not at fault; even if he was drunk, was John supposed to follow Spenser around everywhere he went to ensure that Spenser didn't rape Ana? Ana's mother's comments ("It might as well have been you.") stick with John, and I can see an anguished mother crying out such horrid words immediately after the deed. And since Ana killed herself shortly thereafter, I can also see how John would be tortured by the event.So perhaps this is where I'm insensitive or unaware of how such events affect people, but for *this* to be what makes John think that he is unworthy of love or any woman seems... overkill. If Ms. Quinn had brought in a bit more about his war experience or even his family's carelessness and lack of love.... Perhaps it was because the story kept going and going and going, and we kept coming around to the same sticking point. It was reminiscent of "Splendid" in that way; so perhaps, this is when Ms. Quinn was still learning and decided to stick with something she knew?And then there's Arabella (Belle)... she doesn't seem to be the same sparkling Belle we met in Splendid. Yes, her cousin Emma is happily and blissfully married to Alex. Yes, her family is away. And yes, Belle is still reading and being teased as a "bluestocking". But at the beginning of this book, this Belle seems to THROW herself at John, constantly... and she does so by convincing herself it's because he doesn't like her and EVERYONE should like Belle. It's hollow and shallow... and silly. And Belle didn't strike me as any of those. She seems out of character, and I suppose one could argue that Belle is acting thus because she's falling in love. But love doesn't generally make us LESS of who we are, but MORE; it might make us silly from time-to-time, but not shallow or trite.Really, between Belle and John, our H/H seem to be quite confused and emotional people. You never know if they're going to scream at one another, kiss one another, or banter with witty repartee.And once again, we're forced to endure a sub-plot that seems so unnecessary. Yes, there's been some foreshadowing, and yes, even the gentlest of readers has an idea of what's coming. But John has already overcome his fears and self-loathing -- he's already realized that by saving Belle from her fever, that he is allowing forgiveness to wash away the misplaced shame, guilt, and burden. So why must we deal with Spenser again?And poor Belle, to be kidnapped again! At least this time, the kidnapping wasn't the final act. Thank goodness for Persephone! She's truly one of the delights of this story from the moment she makes her entrance. And she plays an active role in rescuing everyone from the dreaded Spenser more than once. But the whole incident (as in Splendor) seems to be thrown in for an extra measure of drama, not because it's necessary to the story. And in Caroline, Belle's mother, I see the foreshadowing of Violet Bridgerton. I can only imagine that Belle's father Henry is the image of what Viscount Bridgerton would have been, had he lived to be a flesh-and-blood part of the Bridgerton stories.With so much good in this book, it's exhausting to think about all the ground we cover... a whirlwind meet-cute, she-loves-him-he-loves-her-not go-round, fighting for the one you love, steamy scenes that mean marriage is soon too follow, a delightful marriage ceremony (one of my favorite quotes comes from that), and then the whole dreadful affair with Spenser drawing it all out... Ms. Quinn is forgiven for putting us through all of that though, because the majority of the story is enjoyable and a fun read. And this *is* one of her earlier books. And I've heard that the 2nd or sophomore attempt is often the most difficult and usually not the best work. But because of its shining moments, I'll give it 3+ stars and a recommendation.

Dancing on the Head of a Pin is the second book in the Remy Chandler series and follows A KISS BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE. Chandler aka Seraphim Remiel, is a disillusioned former Angel of Heaven who was unhappy after the war between Heaven and those who supported Lucifer. He's now a Boston PI, with a dog named Marlow and a Detective friend named Steven Mulvehill; one of the very few who knows his real identity. (the others being his deceased wife Maddy and Marlow).In this book Remy gets a call from an antique collector named Alfred Karnighah, whose antique weapons have gone missing. Remy struggles to work on the case because he has been struggling with keeping his humanity (and repressing his angelic side) since his wife Maddie passed away several months previousy.When Remy goes to meet with the antique dealer he finds that the weapons missing were extremely powerful weapons called the Pitiless (which included a Colt Peacemaker, an Ax, and a Katana). Now Remy needs to find out how these weapons are tied in with the Nomad angels and how all of this ties in with the increased activity in Hell. Of course, if he can't figure it out the world as we know it will end.Remy's Flashbacks to when he met and revealed himself to Maddy were kind of sad, truth be told. He really truly put his heart and soul into loving her, and now he is having true self doubts about his ability to maintain his human facade. The Angel within is trying desperately to get out. It also longs to return to Heaven. Maddy, however, gets more storytime than Det Mulvehill does. Interesting.Things we learned from this story.1. Remy search for the Pitiless, leads him to an all out war between the fallen, the Thrones (angels from the creator), a Nomad leader named Suroth who wants desperately to release Lucifer from his prison.2. Remy loses his friend Francis, the Guardian of the gates between Heaven and Hell, in a showdown between the Nomads, the Fallen, and Denizens. However, what remains to be asked is...is he really dead, or was he allowed to go home?3. We learn more about the Fallen from Heaven and Hell, and peek at Tartarus where a major battle takes place.4. We see that Remy still has human emotions that his angel side cannot bury which leads him to return home. He refuses to return to Heaven when offered by the Archangel Michael who is in the process of leading the angels into war against Lucifer; again. Remy is truly sick of war and wants nothing to do with it.5. Lucifer is free and planning a war on those who he claims betrayed him. He allowed Remy to live so that he could be his messenger to heaven while building his new kingdom of hell. 6. We learned that Blyeth, aka Satan of the Denizen, is in fact Lucifer encased in another skin. 7. We learned that the Pitiless were weapons built forged in heaven for Lucifer, but were never used. They fell to earth and were found by mortals.8. We learned that this author doesn't mind killing of characters, including Remy's friend, to tell the story of Lucifers uprising.Next book in series: Where Angels Fear to Tread (2010)