LuAnn McLane, Dancing Shoes and Honky Tonk Blues

Dancing Shoes and Honky Tonk Blues

LuAnn McLane

Signet, May 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0451221036

Reality TV arrives in rural Misty Creek, Kentucky, when a ballroom dancing contest is planned. However, most of the contestants signing on take the contest seriously, but the show's sponsors are lampooning the locals as redneck hillbillies who would not know what a ballroom looked like, let alone be able to perform one of the dances.

Local waitress Abby Harper was going to pass as she had no doubt that she and any other "yokel" was meant to be ridiculed. However, when she learns $50,000 is the winner's prize, she signs on although her natural reticence and two left feet make her feel more like a performing clown than a dancer. Her partner is Mexico City ballroom dancing champion Rio Martin. As they rehearse, an attraction ignites even as both are irate that the hosts plan this as a big joke. Led by Rio and Abby, every dancer vows to prove that the hicks can dance with the best city slickers.

This is a fun, small-town drama starring a delightful, seemingly opposite lead couple and an eccentric but likable support cast. The romance flows mostly on the dance floor as Rio is determined to turn Abby into the darling of the cha-cha crowd. Fans will enjoy dancing step-by-step with this pair and the other contestants especially since the ballroom dance is the most developed "character" with the cast being predominantly two-step deep.

Harriet Klausner