Time of My Life (Oceanic Dreams #2)
by Laura Heffernan
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Contemproary Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF
Blurb:
She’s a poor dance teacher. He’s her rich student. If they can overcome their differences, this could be love.Legend says everyone who boards the Oceanic Aphrodite finds love. Janey’s on the ship to teach dance, not for romance. Then she meets Frank. He’s everything Janey isn’t–refined, classy, rich–but his good looks and charm make him undeniably appealing. Unfortunately, he’s also a passenger, which makes him off-limits.
When Janey’s partner can’t perform in the end-of-cruise talent show, Frank offers to fill in. He’s never done pole, but she’s got time to teach him. As they grow closer, Janey finds herself hoping the legend is real–but if she gives in to temptation, she could lose her job.
Fans of Dirty Dancing will love this charming gender-swapped version set on a cruise ship.
My Review
I received a free copy of this book from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
Time of my Life had been on my to-read list for a while, first as an ebook, then I received an audio copy for it and decided to listen to it. I am glad I finally got around to listening to it as it was such a fun romantic story.
Time of my Life is set aboard a cruise ship, this is set on the same cruise ship as some other stories. I’ve read one other Oceanic Dreams book, but they work great as standalones. The cruise ship makes for a fun setting. Time of My Life follows the story of Janey, she works aboard a cruise ship. Both she and her friend are poor and can use the extra cash winning the talent show on the last day of this cruise could give them, when her friend becomes sick and can’t perform they have to find another person who could take her place. Frank, a guy Janey ran into when boarding the ship, offers his help and so Janey begins to teach him pole while trying not to fall in love with him. Romance between staff and passengers is forbidden and Janey could lose her job if their working relationship turns into more, but she can’t help but develop feelings for Frank.
This was such a fun read. I really liked the romance between Janey and Frank. They are from different worlds, the one poor, the other rich and this influences how they see the world. It clearly becomes clear they have enough common ground. They have mutual attraction from the start, but what I liked most was seeing them spend time together and getting to know one another both during the pole dancing and while talking. Those scenes really sold me on their whirlwind romance.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book about pole dancing before and it was interesting to learn a bit about the sport. It was a bit hard at times to really visualize some of the moves, because I haven’t seen much pole dancing, but the author did a good job with the description so I could still form a bit of an image in my head of what they were doing.
There are plenty of great scenes in this book and I really liked reading about Frank and Janey. I also liked how most of the time they discuss things in a mature matter and talk through any issues that come up.. The only thing that didn’t quite work for me was the conflict scene at the end, after everything they had been through it just seemed a bit too much. I did like how it got resolved, but at the same time I would’ve liked the actual couple to be more involved in solving it.
While this is a fairly short read, it felt like the right length for the story. I love it when an author can pull of a shorter read like that without having it feel like a short read. The focus really is on the romance and most scenes deal with that, which helped as it really feels like you get to see a lot of the couple. It never feels rushed.
The narrator was a good fit for this story. I liked her voices for Janey and Frank and it seemed to fit their personalities. I liked how she inserted some emotion in the scenes that required them, but didn’t go overboard. I am glad I listened to this one. I did think her other male voices weren’t as well done though and a few times I had trouble deciding whether something was dialogue or inner voice.
To summarize: This was a fun romantic read about pole dance teacher Janey who falls in love with Frank a passenger. I liked the romance between Janey and Frank. They start with mutual attraction, but spending time together and talking deepens that into something more and I could feel their romance. I didn’t really care for the conflict at the end and how it was resolved. The cruise setting was interesting and I liked learning a bit about pole dancing throughout the story. The narrator did a great job with this story and I am glad I listened to it.
I’ve not read any books with pole dancing as a focus either, but I’ve watched some pole dancing competition and it’s intense and strenuous. I like the way they communicate and get to know each other. It does sound great, Lola!
It really sounds like an intense sport. It was interesting to read a book about it.