I'm currently quite obsessed with ballet so Pointe of Pride was a very enjoyable read. I really liked the references and even though I hadn't read the first volume, it was very easy to follow. The romance was well developed along with the characters and it was a delight to follow the two dealing with the frustrations of their professions and family issues. Unfortunately, the part that i didn't liked so much was the final conflict, it was too anti-climactic for me and I didn't think the motive was strong enough. Overall, I still recommend reading it, as it was a perfect choice for my current interests, but I feel like it could be a 5-star book if it weren't for the ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I didn’t love this one as much as the other ARCs I had this week.

I struggled to get into it and even though it is always fun to have the characters have a different job/life (this one was ballet), it just kind of fell flat for me.

I would like to say that it may be just the timing that I read it, but I am not sure.

Where do I begin? I was obsessed with this book! The chemistry between Carly and Nick is evident from the beginning. Carly’s friendship with her best friend Heather is super supportive and as someone who didn’t read the first book in this series (yet) I still found it easy to get into.

One of the things that’s stands out in this is the way Angyal deals with Carly’s medical issues and I absolutely loved the representation for women with pelvic floor pain and it made the book feel so much more real.

Another thing I loved is how descriptive it was because I really felt like I could see it in my head like a movie. I know nothing about ballet or photography but you feel excited with the characters because you can feel the passion through the pages.

Overall if you like subtle enemies to lovers vibes, fiery redheads and swoony MMCs you’ll really enjoy this book. Thankyou to NetGalley and Chloe Angyal for this ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. This was a good debut. The book was well done and I was expecting the 3rd act breakup but it was well done and a HEA was provided. Good read.

Two makes a pattern right? Well this is the second time this year that I read the second book in a series first. Don’t fret because Pointe of Pride by Chloe Angyal stands on its own. The cover perfectly sums up the set-up - Carly, a fiery ballet dancer, meets Nick, a proud photographer (retired ballet dancer), and sparks fly. This enemies-to-lovers tale is hilarious with the physical comedy and poignant with its careful handling of a chronic pain condition Carly reveals in the most cringe-worthy scene. Angyal’s writing gets us to sympathize with bratty Carly & stick-in-the-mud Nick. As they fall in love, their secrets are ticking time bombs and as they explode over their fresh wounds, you are left to ponder how in the world they will find themselves back to each other. Set in Australia, you will find yourself searching for photos of the beaches these two frolic on & looking up flight prices. Bonus points for great subplots: best friends, WTF do I do with myself when my dream job slips away, & healing from family wounds. I’m going to need to go back & read, Pas de Don’t, as we hope for another book to the series.

My sincere thanks to Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Pointe of Pride. Opinions given about this book are unbiased and all my own.

We previously met Carly Montgomery in Chloe Angyal's previous book Pas de Don't as the best friend of the main character, Heather. In Pointe of Pride, Carly is back in Australia to be the best Maid of Honor ever at Heather and Marcus wedding. Trouble seems to follow Carly wherever she goes and her first few minutes in Australia prove this point when her luggage cart crashes into a very handsome man and their bags get mixed up in the process. Needless to say, they do NOT hit it off. When Carly finds out that her new acquaintance is Marcus's friend and also his best man, Nick she is not sure she will be able to handle it. They agree to put their differences aside and give their friends the wedding they deserve. Aside from the pre-wedding drama, Carly and Nick are also dealing with their own personal struggles. Both ballet dancers at or nearing the end of their careers, they both feel adrift and uncertain where their lives are headed. Carly is also working on controlling her explosive personality as well as enduring physical therapy for chronic pelvic pain that has kept her from true intimacy with her partners who want more from her than she is able to give.

I really liked this book. Carly was definitely a LOT, but she was also loyal to those she chose to let into her circle. While the relationship between Carly and Nick was a little too instalove for my personal taste, I still enjoyed the way it was written. Carly's chronic pelvic pain was important to the storyline and not something that I've really seen handled often in romance. The author did a wonderful job at not only teaching a little about it, but also dealing with the complicated feelings Carly worked through. There were quite a few steamy scenes that demonstrated how couples are able to be intimate and pain free. Nick was willing to take what Carly was able to give and make sure that she didn't feel less than perfect. Their relationship had to go through a lot as neither one was perfect, but who is. I was satisfied with the ending and recommend this romance to readers who want something different from the average contemporary story.

Carly and Nick are both facing the end of their professional dance careers, but while Nick was a principal dancer and soloist in France when he decided to retire, Carly is facing the end of a career spent in the corps de ballet of a prestigious NYC company as just another faceless, nameless supporting dancer. Nonetheless, they have more in common than they think. Carly's professional challenges are obvious, while Nick is hiding the fact that his recently launched photography career is not going well.

Their paths cross at the Sydney airport in a not=so-meet cute where they accidentally end up with each other's bags. After that encounter, they are horrified to learn that they are both in town for the same reason, their best friends Marcus and Heather's (from Pas de Don't) wedding, and will be working closely together to help the bride and groom with the final wedding plans.

This is truly an enemies-to-lovers romance. There is plenty of antagonism, along with a healthy dose of attraction as they rub each other the wrong way right from the start, yet also have that undeniable spark. Carly is almost a cliche, a redheaded hurricane who struggles all the time with her temper and her tendency to challenge authority, often to her detriment, but also manages to achieve gains for herself and others in a profession struggling to overcome ingrained sexism and prejudice. Nick is much quieter, a peacemaker, who hates making waves and who has been hurt by his parents' rejection of his career and his ex's lack of interest in him once he retired.

I loved that the book brings to the forefront a mostly ignored medical issue for women, chronic pelvic floor pain, which can make penetrative sex painful and difficult. It's approached in a sensitive, respectful, yet informative manner and is a subject I've never seen before in a romance. Nick was so supportive of Carly's struggles and that was lovely to read. Thank you to the author for shining a light on this issue. Aside from that, I loved that the book highlighted dancers like Carly who never get that coveted break in their career, but nonetheless, give it every bit of the love and passion that the soloists do and are able to (barely) make a living doing the thing they love. I thought the reason for the third act breakup was pretty flimsy but was happy that Carly and Nick found their way back to each other as well as a way forward in both of their careers after dance. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

TROPES:
Disaster meet
Enemies to lovers
Career transition

This is the 2nd book in a series focusing on Carly and Nick. Both MCs are at a crossroads in their ballet/post ballet careers, and use one another to advance their career goals.
Their disaster cute starts in the airport and goes all the way into the house of their mutual friends, Heather and Marcus.

Their character flaws are a heavy focus alongside the plot of being best man and maid of honor. The story is paced well and I enjoyed it. I wasn’t entirely invested in their relationship because I didn’t really feel the attraction build. It was not love at first sight, and the attraction switched on quickly.

Carly being painted as angry, impatient, rudely honest made it difficult for me to want to root for her… and juvenile. How many times can a 31 year old role her eyes? Nick easily looks past this and focuses on his physical attraction. The third act breakup was a bit expected, especially with Carly’s reaction and involvement in events.

Heather is way too forgiving. I don’t want to spoil the third act here, but if Carly was my MOH, I don’t think I’d ever talk to her again.

Thank you NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Carly Montgomery is determined to be the best bridesmaid to her friend, Heather. When she arrives in Sydney, she finds herself confronted by the rudest man. After an altercation, she is stunned to find he is the best man to Marcus, Heather’s fiancée. Thrown together to help organise the wedding, they begin to enjoy each other’s company and reveal their concerns with their future. Carly is unsure whether she will be anything more than a secondary character in the corp de ballet. Nick having retired from ballet, is uncertain whether his new career as a photographer will be successful. When Carly asks Nick to help her with gaining a promotion, he wonders if his career might get the start it needed.
Having loved Pas de Don’t, this book always had a lot to live up to. The main characters were two strong personalities who took a third of the story to overcome their dislike for each other. I enjoyed the next third of the book as their relationship develops. However, the breakup in the third section seemed to feel a bit over reactive. In this, it felt a bit forced. Overall, a good read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Carly and Nick are in Sydney, Australia to be the maid of honor and best man at the wedding of Heather and Marcus (from the book, Pas de Don't). Their relationship starts off rocky from the moment they arrive at the airport. I instantly liked Carly, who is fiery and speaks her mind. I appreciate that she isn't afraid to talk about her severe pelvic floor pain and the long term treatment she is working through in order to alleviate her pain. We live in a world that seems to be afraid to talk about anything that has to do with a vagina when it doesn't involve sex, so to have pelvic floor pain discussed in a romance book, let alone introduced very early in the book, is very impressive! Don't let this topic make you think there isn't sex in this book, because there is. Incredibly hot, steamy sex and plenty of it. Oh my, thank you Chloe Angyal! But I digress. The photography work that Nick and Carly work on sounds incredible and had me googling the locations they visited for their shoots. I liked the way their relationship progressed and I was impressed with Nick's maturity. The book ends on a happy note, of course it does, it is romance after all. But I wasn't prepared for it to have such a happy ending. Wink wink. The note to readers at the end of the book was very informative. Thank you for including this information!

Thank you NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Chloe Angyal is quickly becoming one of my favorite romance authors. I devoured Pas de Don't earlier this year and I just did the same with Pointe of Pride. It's clear from the first few pages that Angyal knows the world of ballet and honors it beautifully with her stories. At the same time, she does an excellent job of writing about Australia in such a picturesque way that it feels like we're right there with the characters. Readers don't have to read Pas de Don't to understand Pointe of Pride but it makes it so much sweeter when you do.

Now, as far as the romance goes, Carly and Nick are straight up fire. The white-hot bickering that later leads to some of the most tender moments of intimacy is so gorgeously written that it left me speechless. Angyal incorporates so many important beats of character development throughout, making Pointe of Pride a story that touches on relatable struggles for people in their early 30s and those struggling with their careers. How the story progresses and all the moments we get play out like a stunning film. Angyal's writing is so descriptive and sharp that once you start, you won't want to put the book down. For fans of The Unhoneymooners, Pointe of Pride is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy -- all opinions are my own.

FULL REVIEW: https://marvelousgeeksmedia.com/2024/05/20/pointe-of-pride-by-chloe-angyal-review/

A lovely continuation of Pas De Don’t.

You don’t have to read the first in the series to enjoy this one, but as someone who has read Pas de Don’t, I loved seeing the romance continue to grow in this novel.

Pointe of Pride pairs Carly, Heather’s best friend from Pas de Don’t, with Nick, Marcus’s best friend.

Carly and Nick genuinely dislike each other to start. It’s believable and also understandable how they come to form a relationship from the initial dislike.

Both Carly and Nick have their own issues the are working on, which I appreciated reading about. The way everything comes together is perfect!

Australia is its own character in the novel, and reading it really makes me want to go there!

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good romance in a unique setting (ballet)

The banter between Nick and Carly was so good. I was in love from their first meeting in the airport. They both just have these preconceived notions about each other and it takes them a while to get over them. She is worried that no one will be able to love her if they can't get what they want out of it. Nick shows her that it is possible for a partner to care about you and give you pleasure without penetration. The fact that he googled her issue so that he could learn all about it was everything.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I enjoyed this book very much!
I have never read a book about ballet or dance before, so I am not very familiar with the terms, but it wasn't a problem to understand the book. I love an enemies-to-lovers book, and that was the case in this book.

The meet-up was a bit predictable, like when her cart crashed into a guy, I knew immediatly that he would be the male main character (MMC). I loved how their relationship was building, it had many ups and downs before they gave in to their feelings.

I felt like the ending was a bit of chaos. Carly, the FMC, was a girl who felt a lot of emotions and showed her emotions very clearly. Sometimes it felt a little bit like overreacting. She was a very extraverted character. So at the end, when Nick revealed that he wasn't a big photographer like everbody thought, Carly was very pissed and dumped him. I found this a bit extra. If they just would have talked everything would be fine. There was a bit of miscommunication and overreacting.

I loved the ending, how they still got back together and worked everything out. Eventually he adapted his lifestyle to be with him and she became less hard on herself.

What a masterpiece. I was invested from start to end and the writing was so beautiful and easy to follow. I loved the characters, the setting, the relationships, the story itself, EVERYTHING. This is one of my favorite books that I’ve read so far this year 🥹. I’m really excited to read the first book in this series now and I hope that there will be many more!
‘Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final’
Thank you Netgalley and Independent Publisher Group for this wonderful arc.

I loved Angyal’s romance debut, Pas de Don’t, and my only point of contention there was that I needed more of Heather’s ball-busting best friend, Carly. I got exactly what I wanted with the follow up title, Pointe of Pride, which holds the amazing distinction of being my favorite Australian ballet-based Pride and Prejudice enemies-to-lovers romance. That may be an oddly specific distinction, but it also ranks as one of my most anticipated titles in 2024. Brava to Angyal, and I can’t wait for the encore.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

4 stars.

Just like my last ARC, this took me a bit longer than I intended to finish (finals will do that to you), but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pointe of Pride! This novel is an interconnected stand-alone to Pas de Don't, which I haven't yet read, but will be reading soon (hopefully!).

The main characters-Carly and Nick-get off on the wrong foot with a bit of a meet-ugly, but have to put their differences aside when they realize they are the maid of honor and the best man in the wedding of their respective best friends. Carly is a dancer in the corps de ballet at New York Ballet hoping this upcoming season will finally lead to a promotion, while Nick is a retired dancer struggling to make it as a dance photographer. While they run errands around Sydney before their best friends' wedding, they manage to find some common ground: Carly needs to boost her online image to help convince admin that a promotion would be worth the company's time, and Nick needs to boost his photography career. And as it turns out, they don't really hate each other after all!

As a dancer, I adored this book. I've gotten to a point where I don't really want to read books about dance because if the author didn't dance themselves, there's bound to be details they get wrong. But that wasn't a problem in Pointe of Pride. In fact, a good majority of my highlights and notes are just lines that I was able to relate to. Angyal paints a realistic picture of what it's like to be a dancer-and a woman-in today's society. Additionally, Carly struggles with a pelvic floor disorder, and Angyal doesn't shy away from portraying how that affects Carly's life and relationships.

Slight spoiler: [there is a third act breakup, and I initially thought it was pointless, but then I realized it made perfect sense for where the Carly and Nick are at in that moment. (hide spoiler)] Throughout the book, Carly struggles with what the next stage of her career might look like and what that means for her as someone who has only ever known dance. Part of this is related to her professional success and dancing in the corps for a decade. Meanwhile, Nick is grappling with what home means for him when he feels like he's drifting in a career change that hasn't panned out the way he hoped. When Nick gets that pivotal phone call, I feel like Carly lashes out in part because Nick is becoming someone else in her life who is "succeeding and leaving her behind." (I made myself think critically while reading for once, and I'm so glad I did!)

Overall, I really, really enjoyed Pointe of Pride. My only regret is that this is the first time I've gotten around to reading Angyal's work. Turning Pointe and Pas de Don't have been on my tbr for years, and I only wish I had read them sooner!

Thank you to the author and the publisher for providing a copy of this book!

Carly is indeed a human hurricane and Nick is sooo smug and stubborn, but I kinda fell for them, I thought the story was really interesting, it had me stressed a few times, and I would be lying if i said i didn't stay up late to finish it. The 3rd act breakup although expected was foul and I almost cried
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to see more books by the author ^^

Short review: Layered, sexy enemies-to-lovers romance deeply imbued with art (ballet, photography) whose Australian setting makes it feel like a getaway without it being insubstantial.

Longer review:
The axiom “don’t judge a book by its cover” has gotten a bit of a rethink in this Very Online era of reading (Storygraph collages, booktok, etc), though I still not to let cover art influence me TOO much as I’m picking, then reading, a book. But whew, Carly and Nick look kinda terrifying on the cover of Chloe Angyal’s follow-up romance, Pointe of Pride, set, like its predecessor and Angyal’s fiction debut Pas de Don’t in the cutthroat world of professional ballet, but also, Sydney.

As she ages, Carly is desperate to get promoted out of the corps at New York Ballet so she can retire a principal, and when the director accelerates the promotion announcement schedule, just as Carly sets off Australia for several weeks to be the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding (Pas de Don’t’s Heather and Marcus, natch), she scrambles to figure out how she can raise her profile and improve her odds of landing the principal company spot. Marcus’ best friend Nick, recently retired from a successful career in Munich and Paris ballets, is struggling to make a go as a ballet photographer, so when he lands home in Australia for the first time in years, ashamed to admit his struggles to his family and friends, he’s already not in a great space when Carly (or her luggage cart) literally mows him down. As the two reluctantly pair off to help with wedding prep, Carly realizes Nick might be able to help her with his camera skills – (and he realizes it might help his anemic career too) – if they can stop fighting long enough to work together.

How often are female romance leads described as “hurricanes” when really they’re a bit scattered and messy, maybe loud and a bit brash? Carly might be the first I’ve read in a while to truly live up to the description: bold, mad as hell, and as fiery as her bright red hair (yeah, she knows), Carly was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and promptly spit it out. Nick is more of an ass than he needs to be to Carly - the two just can’t stop getting under one another’s skin. This is the rare insta-hate that doesn’t make the leads seem unbearable not only to each other but the reader too, as though they really show love and hate can be just a millimeter apart.

In Pas de Don’t, Anygal goes after the sexism and harassment rampant in professional ballet. In Pointe of Pride, she takes on a less insidious but no less challenging facet of the art: the need for dancers to do more than just dance. There’s the company politics as always (can Carly really be sure she’s earned her place so long as NYB thinks her uberwealthy parents might donate a new building?) but also the quite modern need for dancers to create public (social media) presences that are a draw for new audiences perhaps not already inclined to spend for a ticket to what they think as a stuffy art form.

As in her previous novel (Angyal has also published the nonfiction Turning Pointe), there’s much more than “just” romance on offer here. The characters face complex challenges and their relationships are multidimensional. Carly’s relationship with Heather (and to a lesser extent, Nick’s with Marcus) and both their relationships to their families, are richly layered.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5 stars rounded up

Thanks to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked Pas de Don't, Angyal's debut novel With Pointe of Pride, she's elevated her craft. This book is a delight, and it's largely due to Carly and Nick, who start arguing early on and never fully stop. This book crackles with energy. Carly is a frenetic member of the Corps in New York. She's traveled down to Sydney to help her best friend Heather get married. She's loud and opinionated and she's traveling with a whole bunch of dilators because she has a "broken vagina," as she calls it. She's also trying to become a soloist and terrified of what her career means if she doesn't.
Nick is a former ballet star at the Paris Opera Ballet. Now he's trying to make it as a photographer. He left home and Australia at seventeen and has a one-way ticket back, to help out with his friend's Marcus's wedding and also figure out what the hell he's going to do with his life.
Carly and Nick have several meet not-cutes before they realize that they've been paired up to plan a wedding for their friends. Plot ensues.
One of the most satisfying parts of this book is that you can easily see why Carly and Nick fall for each other, and you can also see why they're not going to have an easy time of it. And so when there's the third act misunderstanding and break-up, even though it's frustrating, it also feels true to the characters. They have shit they need to figure out in order to be together, and we get to see them wrestle with their attraction as well as their baggage (literally).
I loved that there are sexy love scenes with no penetrative sex, and we learn about Carly's condition but Angyal manages to make it not feel didactic. I love getting to see more of Sydney through the Australian author's eyes. I even like Heather and Marcus from PDD more after reading Pointe of Pride. What a joy of a book to read. Can't wait to read what Angyal has planned next.

I received an ARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.