I can see Emerald Eyes being your kind of thing, honestly! I don't think it was my thing as much, but because I backed into it from an odd direction, I did like it.

Moran has come back to writing, btw! I kind of respect that apparently the reason he vanished was to raise something like five kids -- not a common trajectory for a male author. There are two more Continuing Time books now, in addition to The Last Dancer, and others he's been serializing on Patreon, which I hope he eventually releases independently.