debbiereadsbook

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book. This book has been edited and tightened up, following being released from the previous publisher. I enjoyed this, I really did! I will admit, I had an old copy that I started to read ages ago, but never finished it. Something IS different about this copy to that, but I have no idea what! It’s a warm and fuzzies, too stinking cute kinda book that just wiles away a couple hours, and you can forget about the laundry and the cleaning, and just fall into the Joy Universe! I must admit, at first, for some reason, I thought that the Joy Universe was an ADULT place to be, you know? And I couldn’t place dancers in that world, not for the life of me! But all becomes clear when Derek starts to do his thing, dealing with a murder on site and an attack of food poisoning that decimates his dance troop! Derek is a big ole teddy bear, that has a work smile I would be so proud of, but I loved that Trav can see right through that false smile, that work face Derek puts on. Loved that Trav could bring a real smile out of him, just by looking his way. I understood Trav’s. . .not hatred, more a strong dislike of the image Derek puts across. When explained why he has that reaction, it makes a lot more sense. The murder thing takes a twist, and I didn’t see it going that way. So I liked that. Some sexy on screen time, some not. Some deep emotional bits, some a much lighter feeling comes at you. Just enough of everything, to make it interesting. I liked this book, a LOT. But for one thing. First person, present tense AND both Derek and Trav have a say. Maybe that’s why I didn’t finish it before, but I’ve made a decision to give a book a couple of chapters, even if it IS written in my least favourite way, and I’m glad I did. Not a difficult or hard read, just what I needed at this point in time