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Dancing for Jonathan
The palpable sexual attraction between Jonathan, a wealthy paraplegic, and Vince, his new live-in aide, is deepening as quickly as their friendship. But both men are trying to keep their feelings in check, keenly aware of the difference in their ages and the stresses on their relationship caused by the imbalance of power in their roles of employer/employee and patient/caregiver. Adding to the strain are the secrets Vince is keeping... secrets that might lead Jonathan to suspect he is trying to take advantage of him and destroy any hope of a future together.
93 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 11, 2009
80 people want to read
About the author
Anel Viz
20 books31 followersAnel Viz, born and raised in New York City, currently resides in the Midwest, where he has taught at the same small liberal arts college for over thirty years. He has lived about one-quarter of his life in French-speaking countries. He returned to his childhood passion of writing at age sixty, and ever since he has churned out works in a variety of M/M genres: poetry, short and novel-length fiction, humor, essays, etc. He likes to experiment. Though most of his stories are romances, few of them would be called traditional romance. His work appears regularly in Wilde Oats and GayFlashFiction online magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 27, 2011
This is could have been really angsty and interesting, with Vince being a former escort/ current stripper, who gets a job working as an aide for the rich Jonathan who is confined to a wheelchair. He lies to Jonathan, claiming to be working in a restaurant. Vince was a health care aide in the past, and despite years away, scores a glowing recommendation from the head of the Physical Medicine. Whereas there could have been clashes and situations, instead it was more the day to day care of Jonathan, Christmas presents and even when the lie is found out, through Vince finding Jonathan in bed with an escort who Vince knows, it was all so blase. So in love, but Vince doesn't mind finding Jonathan freshly sexed up by his old friend, and Jonathan doesnt mind that Vince lied to him the whole time? Seemed out of character, at least somewhat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 11, 2010
THE BLURB
The palpable sexual attraction between Jonathan, a wealthy paraplegic, and Vince, his new live-in aide, is deepening as quickly as their friendship. But both men are trying to keep their feelings in check, keenly aware of the difference in their ages and the stresses on their relationship caused by the imbalance of power in their roles of employer/employee and patient/caregiver. Adding to the strain are the secrets Vince is keeping… secrets that might lead Jonathan to suspect he is trying to take advantage of him and destroy any hope of a future together.
THE REVIEW
I was intrigued by this book from the blurb and looked forward to reading it, but in the end, it just didn’t work for me. This was a new author for me. Maybe his fans will have a different opinion, but I found this book to be uninvolving, tedious, and—although I hate to say it—boring. Getting the stats for this review, I was surprised to see it was only 93 pages (I read it on my Kindle, so I have no idea of the page count). It felt much longer and I, unfortunately, felt like I needed to plow through it to get to the end.
Usually when I read a book, I see the characters in my mind’s eye and hear their voices. I think it is telling that when I finished this book, I had no mental image of one of the main characters, Vince. I can’t tell you the color of his hair or eyes. Jonathan didn’t fare much better. He’s wealthy, so I pictured him with a patrician nose and he’s paralyzed, so he’s in a wheelchair. Beyond that, who knows? I almost felt like the actual story was playing up on a movie screen, and the author was writing notes while he watched it—and what I got to read were the notes! But that’s not what I want to read. I want to be in the story, with the characters—up on the screen, as it were—and with Dancing for Jonathan, I definitely wasn’t there.
Compounding this, the vast majority of the story happened off-page. There would be statements such as, “Over the course of eight months, Vince and Jonathan became friends.” But we never see them becoming friends—they never have any real, meaningful conversation, never have an interaction. Everything is described in this weird, abstract third-person vantage point. Vince did lots of stuff for Jonathan: bathed him, dressed him, did range of motion exercises, cooked his meals, took him out to exercise, get fresh air, shop—but it’s all described in an arm’s length way that never brings me, the reader, into the story.
The most vivid descriptions occur at the beginning of the story when Vince is trying out for a job as a dancer at a club and wears scrubs (hence, the cover). But once he starts working for Jonathan, all that disappears. There were lengthy portions where I felt like I was reading some sort of clinical manual on how to care for a paraplegic. I suppose for some people that might be sort of fetish-y but for me it was just TMI.
This is the fourth book I’ve read recently in which one character believes his shady past will impact his relationship with his new love interest. Only one book of the four has handled this in what I believe is a realistic manner (and this one wasn’t the one). In this story, Vince has worked as a dancer and briefly as an escort. He believes that if Jonathan finds this out, he’ll fire him on the spot. While that might be a worry, by the time the info comes out, Vince and Jonathan have forged a real friendship and trusting relationship. Vince still worries that Jonathan will hate him/kick him out, but Jonathan doesn’t. Isn’t that what trust is? Isn’t that what caring is? Knowing someone in the present and being able to forgive the past? Like I said, this is the third story that used this trope and it bugs me, because I feel like it is fake conflict—trying to create an issue where one does not exist. The only story that got it right (K.Z. Snow’s Bastards and Pretty Boys, in case anyone is wondering) had the character with the bad past confessing it right up front, before there was any sort of a relationship. In that situation I could see the other character deciding to not get involved and walk away. But once a foundation of trust has been created, the “shady past” device just doesn’t work for me.
Another oddity of this story: there weren’t many secondary characters, but the few that there were, three of them were named Brenda, Brenda, and Brendan. I’m not quite sure why the author selected all these Bren names but…whatever.
One thing the author did get right: Vince was quite ethical in his approach to Jonathan. Even though he was attracted to the other man right from the start, Vince never breached any professional boundaries in their interactions. When they did finally become lovers, it was with an open and honest understanding of their relationship and what was going on between them. As a health professional myself, I appreciated the respect that Vince gave Jonathan through the author’s words.
Like I said, this author was new to me so I have no idea if this is his usual style of writing or a fluke for this book. Fans of his will likely have more insight into this. Those who enjoy disability-based stories might enjoy this, too, since the clinical detail is carefully presented and accurate. But for me—this is not a book I can recommend to the general audience of M/M readers.
(posted at reviewsbyjessewave, 1/17/2010)
The palpable sexual attraction between Jonathan, a wealthy paraplegic, and Vince, his new live-in aide, is deepening as quickly as their friendship. But both men are trying to keep their feelings in check, keenly aware of the difference in their ages and the stresses on their relationship caused by the imbalance of power in their roles of employer/employee and patient/caregiver. Adding to the strain are the secrets Vince is keeping… secrets that might lead Jonathan to suspect he is trying to take advantage of him and destroy any hope of a future together.
THE REVIEW
I was intrigued by this book from the blurb and looked forward to reading it, but in the end, it just didn’t work for me. This was a new author for me. Maybe his fans will have a different opinion, but I found this book to be uninvolving, tedious, and—although I hate to say it—boring. Getting the stats for this review, I was surprised to see it was only 93 pages (I read it on my Kindle, so I have no idea of the page count). It felt much longer and I, unfortunately, felt like I needed to plow through it to get to the end.
Usually when I read a book, I see the characters in my mind’s eye and hear their voices. I think it is telling that when I finished this book, I had no mental image of one of the main characters, Vince. I can’t tell you the color of his hair or eyes. Jonathan didn’t fare much better. He’s wealthy, so I pictured him with a patrician nose and he’s paralyzed, so he’s in a wheelchair. Beyond that, who knows? I almost felt like the actual story was playing up on a movie screen, and the author was writing notes while he watched it—and what I got to read were the notes! But that’s not what I want to read. I want to be in the story, with the characters—up on the screen, as it were—and with Dancing for Jonathan, I definitely wasn’t there.
Compounding this, the vast majority of the story happened off-page. There would be statements such as, “Over the course of eight months, Vince and Jonathan became friends.” But we never see them becoming friends—they never have any real, meaningful conversation, never have an interaction. Everything is described in this weird, abstract third-person vantage point. Vince did lots of stuff for Jonathan: bathed him, dressed him, did range of motion exercises, cooked his meals, took him out to exercise, get fresh air, shop—but it’s all described in an arm’s length way that never brings me, the reader, into the story.
The most vivid descriptions occur at the beginning of the story when Vince is trying out for a job as a dancer at a club and wears scrubs (hence, the cover). But once he starts working for Jonathan, all that disappears. There were lengthy portions where I felt like I was reading some sort of clinical manual on how to care for a paraplegic. I suppose for some people that might be sort of fetish-y but for me it was just TMI.
This is the fourth book I’ve read recently in which one character believes his shady past will impact his relationship with his new love interest. Only one book of the four has handled this in what I believe is a realistic manner (and this one wasn’t the one). In this story, Vince has worked as a dancer and briefly as an escort. He believes that if Jonathan finds this out, he’ll fire him on the spot. While that might be a worry, by the time the info comes out, Vince and Jonathan have forged a real friendship and trusting relationship. Vince still worries that Jonathan will hate him/kick him out, but Jonathan doesn’t. Isn’t that what trust is? Isn’t that what caring is? Knowing someone in the present and being able to forgive the past? Like I said, this is the third story that used this trope and it bugs me, because I feel like it is fake conflict—trying to create an issue where one does not exist. The only story that got it right (K.Z. Snow’s Bastards and Pretty Boys, in case anyone is wondering) had the character with the bad past confessing it right up front, before there was any sort of a relationship. In that situation I could see the other character deciding to not get involved and walk away. But once a foundation of trust has been created, the “shady past” device just doesn’t work for me.
Another oddity of this story: there weren’t many secondary characters, but the few that there were, three of them were named Brenda, Brenda, and Brendan. I’m not quite sure why the author selected all these Bren names but…whatever.
One thing the author did get right: Vince was quite ethical in his approach to Jonathan. Even though he was attracted to the other man right from the start, Vince never breached any professional boundaries in their interactions. When they did finally become lovers, it was with an open and honest understanding of their relationship and what was going on between them. As a health professional myself, I appreciated the respect that Vince gave Jonathan through the author’s words.
Like I said, this author was new to me so I have no idea if this is his usual style of writing or a fluke for this book. Fans of his will likely have more insight into this. Those who enjoy disability-based stories might enjoy this, too, since the clinical detail is carefully presented and accurate. But for me—this is not a book I can recommend to the general audience of M/M readers.
(posted at reviewsbyjessewave, 1/17/2010)
September 21, 2011
This is a nice quick light read. No real angst even though one of the MCs is in a wheel chair. No drama, no trauma.
Vince is nearing 30 and tired of trying to make it in the entertainments biz. He is 3 months behind on his rent and is at an audition at a strip club when he sees an advert for a live-in aide to a parapalegic man - gay male preferred. Vince had worked as an orderly in a hospital when he was in college and enjoyed it so he thinks this might be another avenue for employment. Since he doesn't think he's going to get the job at the strip club, he decides to call the number in the ad and is asked to come for an interview that evening. In the meantime, he is hired for the strip club job and is asked to fill in that very night.
Jonathan, the potential employer obviously likes Vince right away while his sister takes a less favorable view. Since Vince has come straight from the audition, he doesn't have his resume or references with him. Brenda, Jonathan's sister, is none too impressed and wants to dismiss Vince out of hand. Later that evening, while Vince is at the club, Jonathan calls and asks him to come back that evening after he's done working to sort of have a "working" interview. Vince and Jonathan get along well and Vince cooks, bathes and puts Jonathan to bed and sleeps over in the room meant for the aide.
Jonathan hires Vince over Brenda's objections. Over time the relationship between the men grows. Jonathan convinces Vince to go back to school to get more training in the medical field. The fall into a routine and become good friends. At Christmas, Vince decides to gift Jonathan with a night out on New Year’s at a club that Jonathan used to frequent and Jonathan gifts Vincent with a worthy wardrobe for the evening out. They have a wonderful time.
I won’t spoil the ending, but their relationship changes after someone from Vince’s past resurfaces in a most unusual way. A lovely ending wraps up this sweet story.
Vince is nearing 30 and tired of trying to make it in the entertainments biz. He is 3 months behind on his rent and is at an audition at a strip club when he sees an advert for a live-in aide to a parapalegic man - gay male preferred. Vince had worked as an orderly in a hospital when he was in college and enjoyed it so he thinks this might be another avenue for employment. Since he doesn't think he's going to get the job at the strip club, he decides to call the number in the ad and is asked to come for an interview that evening. In the meantime, he is hired for the strip club job and is asked to fill in that very night.
Jonathan, the potential employer obviously likes Vince right away while his sister takes a less favorable view. Since Vince has come straight from the audition, he doesn't have his resume or references with him. Brenda, Jonathan's sister, is none too impressed and wants to dismiss Vince out of hand. Later that evening, while Vince is at the club, Jonathan calls and asks him to come back that evening after he's done working to sort of have a "working" interview. Vince and Jonathan get along well and Vince cooks, bathes and puts Jonathan to bed and sleeps over in the room meant for the aide.
Jonathan hires Vince over Brenda's objections. Over time the relationship between the men grows. Jonathan convinces Vince to go back to school to get more training in the medical field. The fall into a routine and become good friends. At Christmas, Vince decides to gift Jonathan with a night out on New Year’s at a club that Jonathan used to frequent and Jonathan gifts Vincent with a worthy wardrobe for the evening out. They have a wonderful time.
I won’t spoil the ending, but their relationship changes after someone from Vince’s past resurfaces in a most unusual way. A lovely ending wraps up this sweet story.
November 16, 2016
Sweet short story of Vince a barely making it income wise former actor/ escort/hospital orderly whose life is changed by reading two want ads. One add is for a stripper, which he applies for and does a routine and waits for a call back.The other ad is for an aide for a 55 year old gay man who is paralyzed from the waste down. Vince is asked to come in for an interview and meets Jonathan and his sister Brenda. Brenda isn't pleased with Vince (at the time he doesn't have references) because he is not trained or skilled to do this type of job. Jonathan on the other hand is very interested in the young man and later after Vince has accepted to work part time as a stripper calls him for an interview. The job with Jonathan also allows Vince to have a room at the beautiful luxury apartment which is a major plus to Vince since he's several months behind his rent. After showing Jonathan that he's can handle lifting the man and is an excellent cook, Vince is hired. Though fast approaching 30, Vince is attracted to the older and handsome Jonathan. Vince doesn't want to let Jonathan know he's gay and his background an adult performer.Jonathan becomes friends with Vince and Vince in turn becomes friends with Brenda. Vince loves spending time with Jonathan and the older man even encourages him to get a certificate in health care training.Will both men realize that they have deeper feelings for each other? Will Vince past hurt his future? I won't tell.This is a short and sweet story that is a good read.
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August 3, 2012It's no secret that I like angst, but every now and then I love to curl up with a feel-good little novel about two guys falling in love without having to get shot at, abducted, or overly suffering to get there.
This is a wonderful little Cinderfella story, starring two endearing characters who had to get past a bit of hard-headedness to reach their HEA. But it left me with a happy smile on my face.
This is a wonderful little Cinderfella story, starring two endearing characters who had to get past a bit of hard-headedness to reach their HEA. But it left me with a happy smile on my face.
June 8, 2011
This was really great story. I liked it a lot! Both main characters, Jonathan and Vince, pulled my attention. They were perfect together. But truth to be told I didn't feel the age difference between them.
August 4, 2013
The cover does not do the subject of this book justice at all. There's an actual point to this and it's very enjoyable. Not smutty at all, though the main character sites work as a stripper for a bit, in scrubs, yes. Anyway, a very nice read from a very good writer.
December 23, 2011
An uplifting story, that made me smile.
Age has no meaning for these too but their style needs a visit from the fashion police.
I loved it.
Age has no meaning for these too but their style needs a visit from the fashion police.
I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews