eBook Review: Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams by Sue Watson

"Dance like nobody’s watching. Love like you’ll never get hurt…
Laura Watkin’s heart isn’t broken, she’s just forgotten how to use it.

After years on her own, the highlight of single mum Laura’s week is watching Strictly Come Dancing with a glass of Pinot Grigio and a large helping of imagination.

With her daughter Sophie going travelling, Laura knows the time is right to do something for herself for a change. One disastrous Zumba class later and Laura ends up at the feet (literally) of gorgeous dance instructor Tony Hernandez.

A natural dancer and inspiring teacher, Tony rekindles in Laura a passion she inherited from her ballroom dancer father – and with it comes a dream… to make him proud.

But when Tony enters them to perform at the National Dance Festival, can Laura’s new-found confidence survive the test? And with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn Flamenco in Spain, could Laura truly learn to dance like nobody’s watching… and love like she’ll never get hurt?

A laugh-out-loud, uplifting comedy about finding the courage to be yourself, the importance of dreams, and learning to grab life by the glitter balls."

Rating: 5/5

Available to buy now.

One of my new favourite authors is definitely Sue Watson! I have read her last 3 books, and completely devoured each of them, they have just been brilliant. Her writing is warm, funny, and her stories are about normal people you can imagine yourself knowing, and always leave me with a big smile on my face when I've finished them! Her brand new book Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams was no different, I absolutely loved it, and here's why I think it's a must-read!

This story is based around one woman, Laura, who works in a supermarket. Her parents were dancers, but after a tragedy in her childhood, Laura hasn't followed in their footsteps. Instead, she has ended up a single mum to a grown up daughter, works hard with her friends but certainly doesn't have job satisfaction. When she joins a dance class and reignites her passion for dancing, her new friend Tony is determined to get the Lola out of Laura, and get her performing again.

Now that we are entering that countdown to Christmas, and the X Factor/Strictly Come Dancing is upon us already, this is the perfect book to pick up! The main character Laura loves watching Strictly, her narrative about the music and dresses is a joy to read, you can tell her love of dancing and passion about it just from the way she talks about. I warmed to Laura straight away, she was a very normal woman, someone who has no confidence, is lonely and just wants to try and step out of her day to day life and try something new, and thank goodness she did! The story really is about Laura's journey to becoming a dancer, but it was so much more than that too. It was Laura's first person narrative that worked so well for me though - her thoughts, feelings and fears were written so perfectly, you end up feeling them along with her and I was just completely absorbed by her story!

Some of my favourite bits were with Laura's 'deaf' mother in her nursing home - I use the term deaf loosely of course! The pair are clearly not as close as they could be, owing to whatever happened to Laura and her mother years before, but it takes a long time for that to be revealed. When it is, however, I loved the honesty of both women and these were some of my favourite parts of the book. Laura's new best friend Tony, the dance instructor, is just absolutely brilliant - he's funny, unafraid to take the mick out of himself, and is the perfect person to bring Laura out of herself!  He's certainly larger than life, and I loved how he encouraged Laura every step of the way to dance again, and become what she truly can be. Her little holiday to Spain to learn authentic Flamenco was brilliant, one of my favourite parts of the book and I admired Laura for taking the plunge and going away!

Sue Watson's writing is just superb, and allows you to totally immerse yourself in the world of her characters, from the first page to the last. The story of Laura was very inspirational, made me smile and left me wanting to do something new with my life like Laura was. Dreams aren't just for young people, and Laura proves that when she takes a chance, and tries something new - as well as helping her confront the past that still haunts her. Everything about this book made me smile, from the dancing to the characters to the music - I could picture it all vividly in my mind as I was reading along. As you can tell, I loved this book, and now can't wait for the next one from Sue Watson, hope we aren't left waiting too long!!