Play Book Tag discussion

Dancing with the Stars is one of my guilty pleasures. I love to dance, have taken ballroom dancing and recently went to the DwtS Tour. The day after the performance, I was in B&N and saw this. Since it's an autobiography and that's the PBT tag this month, I decided to read it. Val (and his big brother Maks) grew up in Odessa (Ukraine) and due to their jewish ancestry were able to immigrate to US with their parents. The book covers all aspects of his life so far (he is in his early 30s).

This was an interesting read. Val is quite the character - he is a really talented guy and he is a very family oriented guy. He is pretty arrogant and definitely an alpha male (he calls himself that) -- these aspects of his character was a little off-putting sometimes. The love and gratitude he has for his parents, brother and the US are evident on every page. His toast at his brother's wedding brought a tear to my eye. Overall, if you are a fan of the show (and him), you might want to pick this up. He doesn't really dish a lot of dirt about his co-stars or celebrities but he does talk about how the show has changed him and how he hopes that it impacts the celebrities that he is paired with.

I love Val and DWTS! Who knew he bought an autobiography? Sounds really interesting but maybe for a someday challenge.

Yeah -- for someone so young (only in his 30's) he really has had a lot of life experiences.

I don't usually read celebrity autobiographies. Still not convinced I'll pick this one up, either.

I think Cheryl also wrote an autobiography, didn't she? Have you read hers?

No, I haven’t......I mostly picked it up because I had been to the show the night before. :-D

You went to the show? Completely jealous! Would love to see it when it comes out here. Have never gone.

Yeah, I’ve been 3 times. Once with my husband when the first one came. A couple years ago, I took my mom.....she came out to visit and it just happened to be coming and this time with another friend who wanted to go. It’s a great show!