Review - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back by Cyd Sidney

Joshua hasn't quite got his life back together after he had to drop out of grad school to help his mother nurse his dying father. Then there was the breakup with his toxic ex-boyfriend. He thinks he should try to go back to school but hasn't quite got the confidence to apply. In the meantime, he does small web gigs and plays piano. Joshua is filling in for another pianist at a ballet school when he meets Brandon, one of the instructors. There's an instant attraction between the two, and Brandon brings out thoughts in Joshua that he'd never dreamed of.

“One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” is another entry in the limited-time-relationship category. Joshua and Brandon meet in Los Angeles just as Brandon is preparing to move to New York to start his own dance company. Despite the chemistry between them that is obvious to both men, they still hold back on discussing their feelings and the obvious solution - that Joshua moves to New York to be with Brandon.

While I generally don't like the over-used “Men don't talk about their feelings” cliché, we get to know Joshua and Brandon well enough that their hesitation to address the elephant in the room comes off as natural and understandable. Both characters are quite believable as typical, albeit very talented, twenty-somethings.

Their experiments in light BDSM play are rather sweet, as well as underlining the intensity of the relationship Brandon and Joshua are developing. The point of view switches between the two, chapter by chapter, so we know everything they're feeling, in addition to what they're not telling each other.

“One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” is available from Amazon.