Series: Dance Off, #1
Traits & Tropes: cinnamon roll hero; opposites attract; forced proximity
Publication Date: 02.14.23
Genre/Setting: Contemporary;
Heat Level: 5
Rating: 3/5
Gina Morales is determined to find true fame but after four seasons on The Dance Off she’s yet to make the finals. That could change this season though, thanks to her new partner, an attractive survivalist from an Alaskan wilderness reality show. It seems Stone Nielson will be her shoe-in for the trophy, but that hope comes crashing down when it becomes clear that the producers are setting them up for an on-camera romance.
Stone is less than thrilled to be joining this competition, but his family needs the money so he’s willing to do it for them, even as he fears accidentally revealing their secret. The whirlwind of life in Los Angeles has him longing for the quiet stillness of Alaska, but Stone can’t escape his growing attachment to Gina. Neither is interested in faking a relationship for the cameras, but the fiery chemistry between them is all too real.
With their continued success in the competition, the cameras do catch on to that inevitable chemistry and the spotlight threatens to derail them, leaving both Gina and Stone to reevaluate their priorities.
I started off really liking both the heroine and hero of this story. They started off feeling impossible from the get-go and that was frustrating, but it did set the stage for a ton of great character growth. Stone was this gruff mountain man, the real strong, silent type. As the book went on, we got a lot of his inner monologue and in an excellent bit of character development he realized he didn’t want to fit himself into the mold as he’d been typecast. We really saw him start to come into his own as the person he wanted to be, a person who is allowed to have feelings and whose feelings are valid. It’s this element that made me so annoyed with Gina. I started out really liking her but ultimately, she was only about herself and her image and she just got to be too much. Too much angst, too much complaining, too much stubborn refusal to see anyone’s side but her own. Yes, Stone made an error in judgment, but it was ultimately a minor mistake. She put way too much focus on keeping him a secret, making him feel boxed into a role just like his family had. Gina, and therefore the book itself, was completely focused on Stone’s mistake and not her part in that little debacle, highlighting only her feelings and assumptions on how this would affect her and not caring about Stone’s feelings at all. Almost as if, once again, he’s not meant to have feelings. That was not cool, especially when Stone called her out on invalidating his feelings and she still didn’t make any changes. It’s nothing she hadn’t done in other parts of the book but still, I had come to expect more of her. I shouldn’t have been surprised, however, since when Stone was uncomfortable with being sexualized in a dance that was a problem and he was being unprofessional, but when Gina didn’t want to be sexualized by bringing their relationship public, her reasons were all automatically validated. I’m not here for the double standard.
Of course, everything is eventually fixed, and they meet each other halfway fairly easily after some basic communication, which I appreciated, but I would have appreciated it more if it had come sooner and with less angst. I enjoyed the book even though some of the pacing was a bit slow, but the heroine’s treatment of the hero left something to be desired and I wasn’t crazy about the third act break-up. All in all, I did enjoy this story and found it a refreshing break from my usual fare, but some aspects could’ve been handled a bit better. This was my first read from this author but I did like her writing enough to check out more of her work.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1161535723
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5309728989
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