Judith’s review of Learning Curves
Leanne Galloway has no time for dating; her focus is on launching her academic career. Dragged along to her childhood frenemy Gillian’s bachelorette party at a male strip club, she just wants to get through the evening—but she can’t help interfering when Gillian sends a note to a sexy dancer proposing a hot hookup. Brandon Myles is working backstage at the Foxe’s Den to fund his post-graduate studies in dance, but he’s forced onstage when the headliner fails to show up. He feels a surprisingly strong connection with a quiet woman watching from a table full of tipsy bridesmaids, and he’s delighted when she appears backstage after his set.
After a scorching spontaneous encounter, Leanne and Brandon agree to go their separate ways. But they’re both grad students on a small campus, and avoiding each other and denying their attraction won’t work for long, especially when a jealous rival appears, determined to ruin both their academic careers.
Consider what it would be like to go through your entire life knowing that you had been a disappointment to your mother. What would it feel like to know that she didn’t even notice when others around her–her family’s friends and even those closest to her parents as long-term friends–put you down and handed out oblique insults that your academic pursuits somehow put you in a category of dull, plain, and unable to attract the attentions of the important people? That was the life experience of Leanne and the crowd keeping her pinned down with their quietly nasty words was the daughter of her mother’s best friend, Gillian, whose wedding was approaching. As Leanne endured the bachelorette party at the local strip club, she ached to leave and yet there was another achep–one for a relationship where she was appreciated, valued, and where she could feel beautiful and desired, a feeling she couldn’t remember feeling ever. Only when she spied the very particular interest of the headliner stripper/dancer as he seemed to be responding to her during his act did she even consider that there might be something about her worth noticing.
Brandon is an interesting study of a man whose parents couldn’t even be bothered enough to care about him, about his achievements or talents, about teaching him to be a good person. After their divorce he lived with a grandparent who loved him but whose generation frowned on any kind of outward demonstration of affection. When she died, he was truly on his own–as he had been for most of his life, if the truth be told. It was only when introduced to the creativity and expression possible in dance that Brandon began to find himself. Yet he was still encased in walls to prevent any kind of emotional involvement, a way of living that seemed totally better than the caldron of anger and discontent his parents’ lives showcased. Meeting Leanne was an earth shaking experience, but he was prepared to enjoy their encounters until the sexual attraction wore off–it always did–and then move on. His dance would continue to “feed” his spirit. But when the sexual attraction didn’t wear off for either Brandon or Leanne, and when Gillian’s evil and vengeful spirit intruded in their lives and plans for the future, it seemed like there would be no future for them, either individually or together.
Some have criticized novels where the main characters seem to be afflicted with “love at first sight.” As one who experienced such in real life, I have no problem with it. It has been the experienced of myriads of real people that there was kind of a “coming home” when initially with the person who eventually becomes their life partner. Obviously Brandon and Leanne saw something in each other that was a kind of recognition that their encounters were more than just physical meetings. Perhaps it was because for the first time they could remember, someone was truly interested in who each of them were, the connection being far more about who the other was rather than the external appearances or performances. This story brings forward the truth that even good people can be conned by people who manipulate and use others through their physical beauty as did Gillian, but real and lasting love only finds a home in the hearts of those who care more about others than they do themselves.
Brandon and Leanne stand as icons for those who want to be the best simply because it is the right thing to do, as representatives of individuals who believe that caring about others and seeing to the good of others is far more satisfying than serving one’s own selfish ambitions. This is really a story that highlights the differences between toxic persons and those who give their lives for the authentic attitudes and feelings that make us truly human. It is also about the hurt people can cause even those they claim to love as they are drawn more to the external appearances than to the expressions of genuine affection.
I found this story to be far more than the erotic content. Hot, hot, hot it was, to be sure. But the eroticism was the servant of the story and that is as it should be. The story was beautifully written as so very delightful for those of us who not only like the content of a book but delight in the use of language when it is done well.
This book is available from [insert publisher here]. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This is a novel that will play well with romance lovers and those who like a love story that has substantive connections to real life.
I give this novel a rating of 4.25 out of 5.
You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.
his book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here
Great review — I’m hooked in a way that I wasn’t by the description.