A Review by Wendy
4.5 It Was You All Along Stars
* * * * 1/2
Spoiler Free
In this entry, I was primed from the start because I LOVE ballet and the dancers who do it. I am a sucker for any story about them. What made this one so good was the insight and details shared about this art form. It was just enough to give the reader an understanding of how hard this activity is on the body.
We have a woman, Francine, who dedicated her entire life to dance since she was about 6 years old. She came from North Dakota, a mindset and lifestyle very different than the place she came to, New York City. She studied and became the talent she wanted to be. She became part of a dance troop that worked in Las Vegas and it was there she met Benny.
Benny was the guy in charge of all the robotics and lighting for the show. Nerdy, intense, grumpy...all these descriptors would be used by everyone in the troop when talking about Benny. Yet, Francine saw another Benny, the one no one saw. She got his humor, his "resting annoyed face". She had feelings for him and at one point it seemed there could have been something...but then she blew it! She decided to run and not think of it again, it was too embarrassing.
Life goes on and ten years pass. Francine is about to reach the dancing goal she has been striving for all her life. She is to star in a ballet that will be performing at a location she has held deep in her heart, ruins that have called to her forever.
Yet, just when things are coming together, Francine is informed she has a visa problem. What!!!!!
No, That Can Not Be. Especially when the government is saying she is MARRIED! Francine will need to find out where the mistake was made.
Well, upon learning the government wasn't wrong...Francine learns that time in Vegas with Benny...well, they may have gotten married then. Now she has to track him down and get him to sign the divorce papers otherwise no tour, no dancing at the ruins, no fulfilling her life's dream.
Francine goes to see Benny thinking this will be easy-peasy; he'll laugh, sign and she will be back on the tour. Ah, nope, not happening. Benny, a tech billionaire, is not the same man he was and says no to signing the papers.
Instead, he presents a deal Francine cannot refuse. She must be his dutiful wife for the next three weeks for him to sign and then she'd be free. Benny needs to have a face for the wife he had claimed to have for the last 10 years.
This story was a hoot. The reason is due to how Ms. Martin created these characters. Their internal thoughts were so different than the usual. Francine was a true free spirit, funny, innocent...but not. She was strong and understood how Benny had created this New Benny who hid the man she once knew.
The story has a bit of mystery, some conflict, and truly was fun to read.
I’m a NYT bestselling author who sometimes writes as RITA®-award-winning Carolyn Crane. I live in Minneapolis with my husband and enjoy taking pictures of my cats, consuming boatloads of chocolate suckers, and tending my wild, bee-friendly garden.
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