Dance With Me
Winner, Rainbow Awards 2011, 3rd place Contemporary
Nominee, 2011 Cupid & Psyche Awards, Contemporary
Best Book of 2011, Joyfully Reviewed
Ed Maurer’s life would be fine if he could just get Laurie Parker off his back. He’s bounced back, more or less, from the neck injury that permanently benched his semi-pro football career, and he volunteers now at a local community center. It’s just that every time he turns around, that damn professional dancer is in his way, hating Ed right back. But when a bargain Ed strikes at the center lands him as an assistant in Laurie’s ballroom dancing class, their perceptions of each other turn upside down. Both Ed and Laurie have heartbreak in their pasts, but somehow dancing together eases their individual pain. For Ed, dancing with Laurie becomes a way to reconnect with his body after losing football. For Laurie, partnering with Ed has erased some of his fear of performing and brought back joy to a sport he wasn’t sure he could ever truly love again.
As Laurie and Ed lose themselves in dance, their lives continue to spin around them: Ed’s injury makes it clear he’s nowhere near recovery, Laurie feels the pressure by friends and family to perform once more, and the community center that has become such an important part of both their worlds threatens to close. Alone, they haven’t had the strength or spirit to face what life has hurled at them. But as the turns of their personal paths lead them into the arms of love, Ed and Laurie begin to think that if they dance this dance together, they might be able to succeed.
Reviews
Recommended by Mandi at USA Today
Thanks to the recommendation from a friend, I finally picked up a book by Heidi Cullinan, and I'm so glad I did. In Dance With Me, Ed is a former football player who has had his career cut short by a bad neck injury. He meets dancer Laurie when he volunteers at the local rec center. When he starts taking dance classes to help his injury, Laurie becomes not only Ed's friend but they start to explore a relationship as well.
Golden Blush Award from Niterary Nymphs
Dance with Me has become my favorite story by Heidi Cullinan. Ed and Laurie are probably the most realistic characters I have ever seen. The drama that the two go through, first with Ed’s injury and later with Laurie’s interfering friends and family, are so true to life that each scene is like peeking into someone else’s life. If you have not yet tried any of this author’s books, I strongly suggest you start with this one. (Literary Nymphs)
The Romance Reviews' Top Pick
Have you ever read a book that at the end of reading leaves a feeling of well-being? Or that a few days after reading it, you still remember him? DANCE WITH ME was one of those books for me.
(Midia at The Romance Reviews)
5 Star Read at Reviews by Jessewave
Dance with Me is a contemporary Odd Couple narrative about two men who shouldn’t work together, but almost cannot work apart....And the sex!?! Holy Moly, Mother of Lube is the sex hot!
(Damon at Reviews by Jessewave)
Dear Author Recommended Read
More than anything else, I fell in love with Ed and Laurie. They're amazingly full and real characters. They've got quirks that felt like...real people, not like characters with quirks to make them cute and lovable...I fell in love with the sheer beauty of the writing.
{Sarah Frantz at Dear Author}
A Joyfully Recommended Read
I absolutely loved Dance With Me. It has the perfect combination of emotion and heat. The often heart-wrenching journey Laurie and Ed had to take in order to find their joy in life again had me tearing up several times, and laughing at others.... Dance With Me is a book m/m fans should NOT miss. It’s without a doubt one of the best books I’ve read this year.
(Cassie at Joyfully Reviewed)
Cullinan’s love of dance and music, the thread that becomes a rope tying Ed and Laurie together, creates a haunting melody that will sing to readers long after they put the book down.
(Pat Henshaw, All About Romance)
An interesting take on the opposites attract trope with a dancer and an ex-football player but told in such a way that creates a beautiful and endearing story filled with two well-developed characters.
(Samantha at Fiction Vixen)
The story is well written, as all of the author’s novels are, and thus fans should particularly enjoy this offering. The characters are definitely not flat or cookie cutter but honest and very real.
I wish I could give it more than 5 stars!! Who made this rule anyway? I shall give it 8!! Yes, I just couldn’t put it down.
(Jenny & Gitte at Totally Booked)