Dance of Passion / Nancy Brophy

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Romance

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Nancy Brophy lives in Portland, Oregon. She, her husband, her two dogs, PB and J, and forty chickens own a house that was destroyed by fire in 2010. Fourteen hair-pulling months later they’ve moved back into the house. One day she’ll be able to laugh about it. Then she’ll use it in a story.”

Ms. Brophy says she writes what she loves to read. “A strong man who believes he’s in charge until he meets a feisty female who’s not taking a backseat to anybody. Give me a story that makes me laugh and then cry, but always … a happy ending.” 

Learn more about her on her blog and website.

Description:

Forty-four year old widowed Lily Carmichael has no time for any kind of a social life. She participates in the social whirl of parties and events from the sidelines of her successful catering business. While catering a charity bachelor auction Lily impulsively bids on forty-six year old Marshall Caudill who considers women delightful and charming but strictly recreational. He is a devoted scientist and director of the Oceanic Institute that bears his name. As 

a favor to his sister he consents to be auctioned off for a charity date.

“Marshall and Lily are too old, too busy and much too clever to fall in love.”

Appraisal:

I was totally swept away with this story. Lilly Carmichael is a strong, independent, smart woman with type ‘A’ goal-oriented personality. All she is after is a satisfying one-night stand. She doesn’t have time for a relationship with a man, or that is what she tells herself anyway. She has a recurring fantasy of a faceless man who visits her in her dreams. When that dream man’s face becomes Marshall’s it throws her for a loop. Marshall has played the relationship game his whole life and has no intention of ‘a real relationship’ or actually falling in love, and marriage is out of the question."

This story is told in third person, but we occasionally get a first person POV through Lilly’s and Marshall’s eyes, which I really liked. The plot is endearing and humorous as these two people discover more about themselves and each other. They are both set in their ways and change is not easy for either of them. The dialogue is realistic and I fell in love with all the characters. Lily’s business partner, Dori, and Marshall’s sister, Caroline proves to be effective sounding boards for these two characters. I loved reading about their journey.

I believe this is a five star story. However, I came across several instances of missing or extra words, although not quite enough to effect my ranking.. I’m concerned that I was so swept up in the story that some may have flown by without me noticing them. I believe it would be a good idea for the author to have another proofing done, this story is worth it. I would recommend this story to friends and actually have already.

FYI:

Strong language and sexual content

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of errors.

Rating: ***** Five Stars