BODY GUARDS OF L.A.
#10
FINDING LYLA
By
Cate Beauman
SYNOPSIS
Principal Dancer Lyla Markovik-Avery is always on the go. Grueling practices and endless performances rule her busy days—and things are about to get more hectic. Russia is rolling out the red carpet for their beloved star, despite the string of violent terrorist attacks that have rocked the nation.
Bodyguard Collin Michaels’ life is falling apart. His long-time relationship recently ended. He’s trying to start over, but that’s easier said than done. Luckily, Collin has a new assignment on the horizon: keeping a beautiful ballerina safe for the next three weeks.
Collin finds comfort in Lyla’s easy friendship, but that all changes after a night out on the town. Simple feelings become complicated—something Collin can’t afford, especially when tragedy strikes and Collin realizes Lyla’s caught in the middle of a dangerous plot for revenge.
Collin and Lyla are forced to flee. They need to reach the border before it’s too late, but the odds are stacked against them in a country that wants them dead. With time running out, Collin formulates a risky plan that might be their only chance of making it out alive.
REVIEW
Cate Beauman has re-invented the fairy-tale. She has taken it out of the realm of “Once upon a time” and brought it into the here and now and made it believable. The knight in shining armor isn’t limited to the shelves and tomes of literature, the damsels in distress can be saved and swept off their feet and rescued to be loved and live happily ever-after, with their prince charming.
Finding Lyla is all about discovering that there really are princesses who hurt and who need to be rescued and loved very much. It is about knights in shining armor whose armor is a bit scuffy and bent and worn, who suddenly discover that they just might truly be Prince Charming. But in the midst of all this they fall in love with the very princess they are sworn to save from the fiery dragon and the black knights who swear vengeance on the realm.
But I love that the princess is actually a ballerina, daughter of a Russian prima ballerina, who has risen in the ranks on her own rights. A young lady who loves others and has such a sweet young heart and thinks of others before herself, while her father serves his country a long way off,… in a cold, cold land. Sound just like a fairy-tale, or a ballet.
My children, both female and male, grew up on the boards from the time they were three years old. They studied under wonderful masters for years, some for about 6 years, and others for almost 20 years. I worked behind the scenes many years helping to make the shows work, from helping with the young charges, to costuming and creating some of the wonderful creations that floated across the stage. Ballet is a fantastic world of wonder that is a mesh of storytelling, music, dance, movement, and athleticism. There are the artists, the prima-donnas, and the hard-working craftsmen who come together to create a world of wonder that will mesmerize an audience for hours as they move and dance to the masterful music of the masters. One of the masters once told my daughter that the true dancer was one who was one with the music. When looking for the truly gifted, they watched to see how the dancer moved in the breaths of the music, for that told them that they were one with the music and not counting the steps.
Maybe it was because of this long history with the arts and with music and dance, but I found myself once again living backstage, sitting on the hard benches along the walls of the practice rooms, and breathing the music and movement of the dance again. No, I don’t dance, never could, never will. Lol. But music runs deep in the well of my soul and I believe I have the heart and soul of a dancer. If my feet could leave the earth, they would fly across the boards and though the wind, just as effortlessly as the most beautiful of the ballerinas I watch from the sidelines.
Cate was able to catch this same passion and essence of dance on the pages of Finding Lyla. You find yourself flying across the pages and feel yourself floating through the air like you have always dreamed a dancer would feel, feeling the shear pain of injury as you land. The agony of pain piercing up through your body as you force yourself to continue powering through, while you feel blood flowing down your toes. Then feeling the agony of pain as you, out of pride, refuse to limp away at the end of the dance. Been there, watched it as they hobbled off the stage and met them to attend to their needs.
I love this story, this modern day fairy-tale. I love falling in love again, and again. What a wonder way to curl my toes and escape for a long weekend read. Cate does not disappoint! I give this, her 10th book in the series a fantastic FIVE STAR rating for her story-telling abilities and the story craft she used to get the story across to us at a new level of AHHHhhhhhh.
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