Samhain Publishing, $4.50, ISBN 1-59998-902-6
Contemporary Romance, 2008

Hmm, Dance of Seduction has a plot straight out of a Harlequin Blaze, now that I think of it. We have a poor little rich girl, Elenore “I Am Not the Author’s Mary Sue, Really!” Dawson, who decides that she needs some space and time to mull over a most dramatic series of tragedy that hit her a while back. When the story begins, she’s been a dancer with the Dancehall Dolls (which seems to be an erotic cabaret revue dancing to jazz music) in San Valdez for the last two months or so. She used to dance proper ballet, but now she’s kicking up her heels and doing the shimmy in a sexy corset as if she’s auditioning for the Pussycat Dolls.

Unfortunately, her brother Josh is not the person who understands the concept of personal space so he pretty much commands his buddy Lucas Russell to bring her back. One look at her, however, and he’s all but drooling onto his toes. Ellie however is not keen on being dragged back to San Francisco by anybody so Luke isn’t going to get his way so easily.

After reading this story, I have to feel sorry for Ellie because her brother is a control freak of an idiot. I know, he is concerned for her, blah blah blah, but since Ellie is an adult woman, it’s ridiculous that he goes on to make Luke drop everything just to get Elle back home. Why is Luke such an obedient lap dog anyway?

While the author doesn’t succeed in making the set-up of this story convincing where I am concerned, the story that follows is pleasant, if predictable. Ellie’s fellow cabaret dancers will of course go, “Ooh, that guy is so cute!” while there is a sage and kindly older woman who will give our heroine some “saucy” advice or two to go get that man. The heroine has a few issues about her self-esteem after the series of tragedy that hit her in the past and the hero of course soothes her fears away with a healthy dose of TLC and hot sex.

There’s nothing particularly bad here, just as there is nothing that particularly stands out here as well. The characters are fine, even if they do come off too much like Josh’s lap dogs at times, and the story is okay. It’s just that I have read this story and encounter these characters many times before.