Let Me Lead

A young ballroom dance instructor is the focus of two women who have very different plans for him: love and control.

Jared is caught between a student who loves him enough to help him question his life’s purpose and a brutal seductress who callously plays with his emotions.

Living through the pain of losing her husband and daughter is testing Christine’s faith, but this gentle woman is willing to put her heart in harm’s way one more time for her young instructor.

And Tracy? Well, to Tracy, people are merely tools to get what she wants--and what this sensuous young woman wants is complete control over handsome Jared.

*May Contain Spoilers*

 

Kathleen Sutton writes a harrowing yet hopeful tale of recovery, retribution, and sociopathic chaos in Let Me Lead. Three main characters take very different roads in their search for happiness as their lives intersect byway of a dance studio in Indianapolis. And though the intersection will direct them forward, it will certainly upset their normal routine.

 

Christine O'Garra, Jaden Gregory (who also goes by Jared), and Tracy Martin are the main players in this dance routine of life. Christine is an older woman who has experienced the loss of her husband to cancer, her daughter to fibromyalgia, and her son to the world. She feels completely alone in the world, with only her guardian angel and cat to keep her company. Christine is a motherly woman who thinks the best of everyone. Though she has a scar from her past, Christine doesn't let that interfere with how she sees the world. However, she does hold a bit of anger against fate and God and herself. She hopes that one day she'll earn her right to peace after all she's been through. Readers will connect with her sympathetically, and those readers who have experienced similar situations will connect on a much deeper level. Loss is a universal affliction and all readers will undoubtedly form a bond with Christine as they watch her try to rebuild her life after all is lost.

 

Jaden Gregory is a dance instructor with a past riddled with mistakes. His divorce. His son. Old drug habits. Drinking problems. But now, he's cleaned himself up and given himself a new name in order to move forward. All he really wants from life is a family with a wife who loves him and children he can take care of. Readers will be proud of Jaden for changing his life and bettering himself. He's a sweet thirty-year-old man who is ever polite and caring. Though he doesn't connect easily with others based on his unfortunate tries in the past. Jaden struggles to let people in, let people see the real him. However, when Tracy Martin steps into the picture, she threatens to ruin his newly built life.

 

Tracy Martin is a terrifying sociopath who enjoys creating misery for others. She's the very focused villain in this novel and readers will shrink back in fear of this woman. Some readers will be able to understand what is wrong with Tracy and therefore, be sympathetic to her plight, but she enjoyed her evil nature too much for me to even feel sorry for her. She's manipulative, mean, and readers will surely dislike her.

 

Let Me Lead begins with the death of Christine's daughter and husband, eliciting a strong initial emotional response. Then Christine is selected as a celebrity dance partner for an upcoming fundraiser. During her lessons, she meets Jaden Gregory. She immediately feels a connection to this man who reminds her so much of the son who ran away. As the gala grows close, Jaden develops feelings for Christine. Meanwhile, Tracy Martin takes over the bookstore next door to the dance studio for her Aunt in hopes that she can use the store as a front for her drug dealing business. When Tracy decides that Jaden is the perfect target to start a new side business she sets her sights on controlling him. The plot of Let Me Lead is incredibly engaging and with three different points of view, readers really get the whole story. Kathleen Sutton does an amazing job in crafting a story that involves such different characters and making it believable and understandable.

 

Rating: 4/5 Cups