Book Review: We Danced

Goodreads page with synopsis: We Danced

Confession: I’ve had We Danced by Jeff Erno on my Amazon Wishlist for a few years now, and thanks to some Christmas magic in the form of Amazon Gift Cards, finally bought the book recently. I am a sucker for M/M romance stories where one of them has a kid and they have to figure out how to be a family. So, I was really, really looking forward to reading this novel.

I had an inkling that the author derived inspiration from the Brad Paisley song of the same name, and I was right, since he basically directly quoted the song in one portion of the novel. In the song, a woman comes back to the bar looking for her purse she left behind, and the bartender and her fall in love at first sight and dance “like no one has ever danced before”. In We Danced, Josh leaves his cell phone at the bar, and the handsome bar manager Rex is the one who helps him find it. Cue love at first sight, and things moving way too fast.

Characters

Main characters are Josh and Rex. Josh is a twenty-something vet student who is in town for an internship at a vet clinic. Rex is a late twenties/early thirties (I don’t think we ever got confirmation) bar manager who wanted to be a garage owner who ended up putting his dreams aside when his mama and sister died in a car accident and he adopted his nephew, Tyler. Both are, of course, ridiculously attractive. And this is set in the south, so they have to deal with homophobic family members and community members.

Honestly, the characters didn’t astound me in any way, shape, or form. They were nice enough. But they could be archetypes for any M/M romance novel. Nothing really stood out about them. Tyler, as the rambunctious lad of the novel, really didn’t stand out either because what I’ve found with most M/M romances where there’s a parent/child combo involved is that the kid is too smart for his own good, and sometimes that comes off as obnoxious, as is the case with little Ty.

What saved Ty though was that his relationship with Rex was tested by outside forces trying to tear them apart, which then tested Rex and Josh. Now this is where the story got good for me, and where the character development shone. However, this was basically three-quarters of the way into the book, and I felt like it was a bit too late.

Aside from the three of them, we are introduced mainly to Josh’s family, and parts of Rex’s family. Josh’s family is pretty conservative, with a pastor Uncle, a stuck-up conservative Aunt (more on her later), and Rex’s family seems to serve the purpose of babysitters for Ty. It wouldn’t be a M/M romance without a gal pal for Josh though, and we have Dana who somehow has perfect gaydar after only knowing Josh for five minutes. How about that…

Story

Not much to say on the story. Typical love at first sight in a small Southern town. Their love is tested by outside forces, though it was nice that this time it wasn’t tested by another guy coming in to mess things up. I felt that the Southern setting lent itself well to the plot line of trying to tear the family apart, but Josh’s aunt’s hatred of Josh just wasn’t explained enough. The religious aspect was, and I appreciated that, but it all seemed too simple. It seemed like something else was going on. The soap opera watcher in me almost wanted Josh’s uncle to really be his dad and for his aunt to know that and to hate him for it. But alas, it was just a religious hatred that drove her to try to destroy Rex’s life, and Josh’s in turn.

Other than that, everything was rushed. I lost track of time. One minute they’re spending their first weekend together, the next Rex is asking Josh to move in. Turn the page, it’s the end of the book. Like… what did I miss? Oh yeah. Development. That’s what I missed.

Least Favorite Part

This was difficult, and not for the reason you might think. There really wasn’t anything I completely disliked about the novel. There were just mainly things that I was ambivalent about or that just could’ve been handled better. I feel like if the author had taken more time to develop the characters more, or given more depth to the relationship between Josh and Rex, I would’ve cared more. Instead, I left the novel feeling ambivalent. And I don’t like that.

Favorite Part

The backstory of Rex and the town was nice. Again, as a soap opera lover, I love a good backstory! But again, the author gave us a bit, but didn’t deliver. When he started telling us the history of the town, and the history of Rex, I thought, “Ooo, okay, so now we’re getting somewhere!” And really, we didn’t get far. But it was a valiant try, and so that’s where my kudos goes!

Overall

I gave We Danced a three-star rating on Goodreads. It was neither good or bad, and I’ve definitely read worse. It was a nice read, and I definitely think parts of it were enjoyable, but feel the author could’ve put more effort into mining the riches that the characters and backstory had to offer.