Dress Up

Pages into Dress Up, Joel had me laughing and continued to do so throughout the book. That is, up until the end where he had tears in my eyes.
Dress Up is a phenomenal story about Wyatt Stark, a Broadway director going to the big screen with his successful musical, Dress Up. Since Wyatt is dealing with panic attacks and looking for true love after a relationship gone bad, his ex-lover, best friend and manager, Murphy Smith, sends Wyatt to Maine for a few months, away from all the anxiety, before they start the filming process in Hollywood. Murphy has sent his assistant, Ryan Taylor, to prepare Murphy’s home for Wyatt’s stay over the summer months and to assist Wyatt with whatever he needs. However, Ryan is to stay out of Wyatt’s way so he can relax without any worries.
The attraction between Wyatt and Ryan is immediate when Wyatt gets off the plane and meets Ryan. Because of Ryan’s strong liking to Wyatt, he starts to lie about who he is and the lies grow as the two come closer together. Wyatt believes Ryan is the one, his true love, and starts thinking about what their future could hold. Unfortunately, the lie is revealed and Wyatt turns his focus to the making of his movie.
I don’t want to divulge much more about the story, but we all know in a great romance there is always a happy ending. Dress Up is witty, charming, enlightening and very well written. I look forward to reading Joel’s next book.
Joel has written a romance between two men beautifully. The characters have emotions that are moving and evoking. There is a line in the book that struck a chord with me, “How unfair the world is. How is my love any different from anyone else’s?” With eagerness, I stepped out of my comfort zone to read Dress Up and I'm glad I did. Sure, I blushed here and there, but what well-written love scene doesn’t. Reading Dress Up reminded me love is love and God made us who we are. We are all gifts and deserve to love someone and receive their love in return.