Pier Lights

Dancers & Lighthouses

by Ella M. Kaye

Caroline was a relevé away from becoming prima ballerina when, partly due to her own actions, she was damaged enough to never be allowed en Pointe again. Returning to her hometown area, she finds a grittier dancing job and determines to land on top this time.

Dio hides away on his farm near Charleston, South Carolina, and ventures out only when he can be in disguise. He uses his swordsman skills to work out aggression and connect with others while he maintains distance. When the two collide on the beach in the glow of the lights from the pier, their personal scars push them away, and pull them in, just as the ebb and flow of the Atlantic.

233 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 14, 2013

About the author

Ella M. Kaye uses her art and psychology background to create contemporary love stories with mental health issues set around the creative arts. Each of her novels and novellas fall under one of three series: Dancers & Lighthouses, Artists & Cottages, and Songwriters & Cities. Kaye has been writing romantically inclined literary fiction that branches into straight mainstream in both novel and short story form under the name LK Hunsaker for more than two decades. After many moves as a military spouse, she is settled in western Pennsylvania where she enjoys the abundant foliage and recreational lakes along with the hilly vistas.

Reviews

[Lindsay Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 'Pier Lights' Ella M Kaye gives us a wounded hero and a wounded heroine. Both Dio (short for Diomedes) and Lina (the stage name Caroline adopts) have been hurt by life and by others. The author draws rounded characters, with flaws as well as virtues and is unflinching in showing that some of their injuries and suspicions are self-inflicted. Dio, the dark knight of the piece, uses a mask and sword to maintain a distance from others. Lina, a dancer, once brittle and intensely competitive, is still wary of everyone. These two are drawn to each other in a slow, sensual build-up where every scene is hightened through rich, flowing prose. Like a ballet, the characters unfold to each other and to the reader and when they come together it means something. Ella M Kaye's eye for detail, description and the 'masks' people wear is telling.



It is a love story where both are changed and have to change, have to put down their guard for true intimacy. I followed their taut, charged courtship with great interest and involvement. By the end of the novel, when final fears are faced and conquered, I was very happy to return to the beginning again and re-read.

[Kathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pier Lights has a great story line that keeps you hooked combined with a little spiciness to add some kick without adding vulgarity. The characters are well rounded and interesting. They have obstacles to overcome that are believable. I ended up reading it in a few hours on a rainy Sunday. Perfect read for this kind of day.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say, right at the start, that I had a hard time connecting to the two main characters, Caroline and Dio.

Caroline is a former ballet dancer who suffers a career-ending injury (we are not told what it is or how it happens until almost the end of the book). We are told that she was almost the prima ballerina of the company, which would have made her a top-tier soloist at a minimum. In any event, instead of doing what most former ballet dancers do and becoming a director, an instructor or so on ... Caroline goes back to her home town and becomes a stripper. This makes absolutely no sense ... except for one thing.

Caroline has become infatuated with Dio -- although she doesn't know his name -- from watching him practice with his sword at night, way out on the water in a boat, as she watches from the sandy shoreline.

And Dio? Well, he's a farmer in the area ... who also just happens to be a stripper at the same club. And he wears a mask to hide his own injury, which is likewise not explained until the end of the book.

I found some of the supporting characters in the book, like Harry and Nelda, to be more interesting than the two leads and wanted to know more about their story. Perhaps the author will tell it some time.

There was a lot of potential in this book, I won't deny it. The author has a nice style and good pacing. It just wasn't my cup of tea.