Thank you for this arc!

I was really intrigued by this story, because I've never read a book before where ballet was in the middle of it all and I can never say "no" to a good enemies to lovers story.

I enjoyed this story. I enjoyed the representation of a chronic illness and how it was handled so perfectly throughout this book. The author managed to emerge me into the world and there were times when I felt like I was actually walking through Sydney (I've never been!).


That being said, I did like the overall story but the enemies to lovers part fell really flat. I'm convinced that it is really hard to write a good enemies to lovers plot in a non-fantasy book, because most of the time the reasons why they "hate" each other are a bit .. silly? This book had that same problem.
I also didn't understand the actions of the main characters most of the time, because they were supposed to be adults, but acted like teenagers.


This book had great potential and it was by no means a bad book, but I expected more (especially from the enemies to lovers part) and was mildly disappointed.

Carly and Nick’s first meeting doesn’t go well, but when it turns out they are the Best Man and Maid of Honor for their best friends’ wedding, they have to put their differences aside.

As a dancer, I was so excited for this book, but I have to say it was hard to get through.

This book is set up to be enemies to lovers, but the event that makes them “enemies” is so weak that it’s really not believable. The main characters are very underdeveloped and read more like college students than the fully grown adults they’re supposed to be. They also just had zero chemistry with each other. It felt like there was no build up at all and then out of nowhere they were together. The third act break up was also completely unbelievable. The man just didn’t want to tell everyone that he had been struggling with his new career, and yet she reacted like he committed a full on crime.

My other big issue was that the writing was almost overly descriptive. I found myself skimming paragraphs to find the important parts because there was just too much extra fluff. And on top of that, it was repetitive, so you’re reading the same extra fluff over and over again. It was not enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Have you read Chloe Angyal yet?

Between her Australian settings to her insights on the world of ballet, Angyal is offering a lot of competence in her characters and settings that breathe. I really enjoyed this second in the series, set around the prior couple's wedding and their maid of honor and best man.

Although I felt the "enemies" was embarrassingly flimsy and so was the 3rd act break up (and I'm a fan of them), I thought the meat of this romance novel was very enjoyable. I could buy the attraction and the romance completely.

Aside from that, this book has absolutely no penetrative sex. There's sex, and it's pretty well done, but Carly has never experienced penetration that wasn't painful so it's simply not on the table (although she is actively in therapy for it). I thought this was spectacularly done, and I'm not sure I've seen this in a romance novel featuring straight characters who engage in sex.

I didn't feel as strongly about this one as I did the first, but I enjoyed it a great deal and hope this world continues to expand.3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for proving me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

i guess im the first person to rate this book lowly 😔🙏🏻 but I HAVE VERY VALID REASONS

let me start with the pros:
- i appreciate the author’s effort to bring awareness toward pelvic floor conditions!
- ballet!!

cons:
— both main characters are GROWN but act like teenagers. from the start the whole “hating” the other thing was very dumb, definitely not enemies-to-lovers, more like just annoyed lame idiots to lovers.
— the third act break up was soooo silly
— the writing is SO CRINGE and repetitive 90% of the time
— the book was soooo hard to get through i was literally skimming through many of the draining passages part of literally every chapter
— a very forgettable book 🤩🤩🤩

I absolutely loved Carly when we met her in Pas de Don’t, and I was so excited about her book. It did not disappoint.

New York ballerina Carly Montgomery is in Sydney to be maid of honor in her best friend’s wedding. Unfortunately for her, duties include errands with the best man she quite literally ran over at the airport. Nick Jacobs is newly retired from dance, single, feeling like a failure at his fledgling post-dance photography career, and back home after over a decade away. Tensions run high between the two as they work through the wedding checklist, but when they hatch a plan to help each other out in their careers the extra time together has walls coming down and feelings heating up.

I love a good meet-disaster that makes antagonists out of our protagonists, and Carly and Nick had a great one. The tension was immediate and burned between them even as the tone of that tension changed once they started accepting their attraction to each other. Carly was fiery spirit who spoke first and thought later, especially in the heat of the moment. I loved the moments she had to come back from that and the instances she would realize she interpreted a situation entirely different than what Nick’s intention had been. It led to many moments of personal growth. Nick had his own growing to do and reconciling with his past and future to face. A poignant conversation between Nick and Marcus later in the book was one of my favorite moments.

A major part of why this book was so moving revolved around Carly’s health. Her struggle with the pain of physical intimacy due to her pelvic floor created so many thought provoking and touching interactions I’ve never read in romance novel before. It really gave credence to the idea that everyone deserves a partner who is willing to meet them where they are. There was so much to explore around Carly’s condition and Nick’s response to it in comparison to her past partners. I would recommend this book based on this storyline alone simply because it is such a unique and important picture of a relationship. I was so impressed with how everything around this was handled.

As with Pas de Don’t, the setting of Australia was not wasted. There were so many beautiful descriptions that helped paint of vivid picture of everywhere Carly and Nick ventured together.

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

DNF @ 30%

Thank you to Netgalley and Independent Publishers Group for providing me this book, but unfortunately I have to DNF this book.
I really tried to push myself to keep reading this book, but overall i'm not really connecting with the story and the characters.
The writing in the pages that i've read so far were at times too repetitive and way too descriptive , Carly and Nick didn't really captivate me as characters. Sadly this book just didn't work out for me.

If you do one thing this year, read this book. Read it. As someone who reads 100's of romance books a year I always get tired of reading the same intimacy scenes. The female has no issues, and the O is earth shattering, they are blinded by it ect ect. In my head I'm saying, "I wish these bo0ks knew the truth". THIS ONE DOES. The main character Carly has pelvic floor issues that cause intimacy to be painful for her. Having the same issue I almost dropped the book when I got to this part because FINALLY after years, this book understands. You're not getting the same perfect sex scene we read so many times. Reading this book. This is what I had been hoping for with every other book I've read. Just like Carly, I figured out I needed PT thought an internet article. This book will be so many women's "internet article" who are struggling with these same issues, and I have no idea what to do. Even if you don't have these issues, you'll read this book and see an FMC who is a real woman. Not just more rose-colored glasses intimacy scenes.

If the author ever does see this, Thank you. Just thank you. You have given me what I've been wanting to see in my reading. You've helped one less person feel alone.

I haven't even gotten to the romance plot yet and I want to keep singing this book praises. I am running to go grab the first book in this series Pas de Don't.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers/ maid of honor and best man/ intimacy issues/ Ballerina romance / Firey redhead/third act breakup

This was an interesting concept two adults in the world of ballet, one retired and trying to figure out how to move past that and the other nearing the end of their career feeling as if they have not accomplished anything. I like reading mature characters who struggle with their sense of identity because well it isn't just young twenty three year olds who don't have it all figure out, sometimes people are in their early 30s and making a change in career. Carly and Nick meet with a literal crash after landing in Australia for their respective best friend's weddings and after a few screaming scenes at each other they learn they are maid of honor and best man respectively. The two characters had a nice chemistry but Carly's hot headedness seemed a little over the top but it definitely moved the plot along when it started to drag.

I liked the author's inclusion of sexual health and issue's that many women face in regards to pain. I think it maybe would have been nice for Carly at some point not to view herself as broken because of it, but I was pleased to at least see some representation.

As for the negatives, the third act break up was..... I mentioned earlier the hot headedness being over the top but I mean freaking out because he isn't as successful of a photographer as she thought he was and that he doesn't want to tell his best friend on his wedding day that things haven't been going so great.... I mean come on. It felt more than a little immature for two characters in their thirties that I had enjoyed for so long. I also will say the going viral was a bit well not realistic, having seen the growth of dancers going viral through social media these examples probably wouldn't have that big of a reaction. Additionally Nick's dramatic backstory with his family was just giving man who cannot talk about feelings which we don't see in other regards (other than him not wanting to be a downer to his friend) so that wasn't my favorite.

This was such a fun read! Ballet, Australia, adversaries to lovers, what's not to love? On a more serious note, Angyal's inclusion and artful representation of Carly's struggle with pelvic floor difficulties was refreshing and educational. As we see here conversations around sexual health and intimacy can be very difficult even among friends, and stories like these make these topics much easier to broach.

Pointe of Pride was such a sizzling enemies to lovers story - I loved that Nick and Carly had sparks flying from the moment they met. The set up sounds pretty simple - best man and maid of honor hate each other, but, wait, do they??? But this story takes that terrain and adds depth, exploring the nuance of what you want to be and what comes next when you need to find a new dream, difficult family dynamics, and even a really tender plotline about physical healing, consent, and sexual wellness. Getting to see these two grow solo as they grew together was so fun and I was so excited to see how they were going to make it work!!

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I related a lot to Carly and how she brings chaos wherever she goes. The enemies to lovers story as done well in this book. Her and Nick get off on the completely wrong foot but end up finding their way. The open dialogue around Carly’s ‘broken vagina’ was really refreshing. And I love how they discussed that’s there’s so much more to sex than penis in vagina. Being open and honest about what you need and what you want make things better for everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley, Chloe Angyal, and Amberjack Publishing for this free ARC in exchange for my review.

This was a delightful, charming ode to the often misunderstood world of ballet, set in the stunning Australian beach world.

It’s so refreshing to see stories with imperfect main characters, not just flawed, but real people dealing with real issues. So rarely do you get frank discussions of stretch marks, and the often invisible chronic illnesses that so many deal with.

I didn’t love the third-act breakup scenario in this book - I think there could’ve been a way to choose a different catalyst that would’ve been more impactful, but I loved the reunion and epilogue.

3.5/5 stars.

Pointe of Pride picks up a year or so after Pas de Don’t leaves off. While it can be read as a standalone, there are several references to people and events from Pas de Don’t that make having read the first book helpful for background information.

Carly is a 32 year old corps de ballet dancer at a prestigious, NYC based ballet company. However, being in her 30s means she’s nearing retirement age for a ballerina, and she is trying to get promoted to soloist before that happens. She’s missing several weeks of classes, to be the maid of honor in her best friend’s wedding, and when it is revealed that promotions will be decided before the season starts, Carly is forced to scramble to come up with a plan to get herself promoted. Nick is a retired ballet dancer turned dance photographer who has returned home to Sydney to be the best man for his childhood friend. Retirement is not going well for Nick, who has yet to really get his photography business off the ground; he is bowled over and bruised by a luggage cart immediately upon his return to Australia, then his bag gets switched with none other than the person who nearly ran him over - Carly. The two are forced together to make their friends’ wedding a success, and Carly hatches up a plan to use Nick’s photography skills to raise her profile in the hopes of getting that promotion. As they work together, they find they understand each other better than they think.

I loved having 30-something main characters in this book, which provided maturity and emotional intelligence to the storyline, while still having fun with the bickering banter between them. Carly is a firecracker and is a perfect foil to Nick’s more subdued personality. While I wouldn’t describe this book as a true enemies to lovers, it works well as a strangers to rivals to lovers progression with forced proximity in that they have to work together to complete wedding prep tasks. Pointe of Pride is easy to get into, easier to like, and makes the reader want to buy a plane ticket to Sydney as soon as possible.

Thank you to NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group, and Amberjack Publishing for the ARC of this book!

Pointe of Pride is the sequel to Pas de Don't, which was one of my favorite books of 2023! Carly Montgomery is nearing the end of her career at New York Ballet in the corps and is tired of feeling like an easily replaced dancer. When she travels to Australia for her best friend's wedding, she crashes into Nick Jacobs, whose uptight attitude rubs her the wrong way. The two get closer as they have to complete wedding-related tasks together. Nick is a retired dancer trying to get his photography career off the ground and Carly wants to finally stand out. The two start a social media photography project to try to help their careers, even though Carly is under the impression that Nick is a well-established photographer. It turns out that they have more in common than they originally thought.

I was SO EXCITED when I found out that there would be a sequel to Pas de Don't, which I absolutely loved. I checked NetGalley every few weeks to see if I could get an ARC. When I was approved, I read it as quickly as possible. And it did not disappoint!! I have never been a dancer in any capacity but really enjoyed getting a peek into what being a professional ballet dancer looks like. I loved the Australian setting and liked Carly as the passionate and fiery main character. Nick was a nice balance to her while still having his own personality. It was nice seeing Marcus and Heather again, but while they were present, Carly and Nick took center stage, which gave space for their relationship to develop. I don't always love enemies to lovers in modern romances, but I felt like it worked really well in this book. It didn't take forever for the ice to thaw and the progress seemed natural.

In this book, Carly has pelvic floor issues that make sex painful for her. I have similar experiences and was so surprised to see this representation in a romance novel!! Based on the note at the end of the book, the author is a pelvic floor physical therapist, which makes sense. She even includes pelvic floor resources at the end! This really meant a lot to me. I identified a lot with Carly. Through lifestyle changes, therapy, and rehab exercises, we see the condition improve that felt very realistic to me, but not magically go away because she meets the "perfect fit." Nick reacts as a caring partner and the two discus how to be intimate in a way that is enjoyable for both of them. It made me so happy to see something like this in a romance novel and is a reminder that sex can look different for different people and there is no one right way to be intimate.

I loved this book just like I loved the previous novel and recommend it to anyone who is at all interested in ballet or just wants a good romance novel! While this book is stand alone, I recommend reading Pas de Don't as well because it's also amazing and gives you more background on the characters. I really hope that the series continues! 5 stars from me. Thank you to Independent Publishers Group and NetGalley for the eARC of this book, my thoughts are my own!

Thank you to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for this ARC!

Pointe of Pride is a cute enemies-to-lovers romance between two ballet dancers, set against the backdrop of sunny Australia and a best friend's wedding. Carly and Nick are serving as maid of honor and best man in their friends' wedding, but get off to a rough start with a couple luggage mishaps. Carly is hot-tempered to Nick's practical organization, and nervous as she needs to be promoted at her job before it's too late for a dancer. She enlists the help of Nick, a retired dancer, now flailing photographer to boost both their social media presences.

This book is a successful enemies-to-lovers romance -- even if the inciting incident is small, it feels as though the tension and dislike for one another continues for the entire first half of the book, which I appreciated. Many of the enemies-to-lover romances set in contemporary books have a fleeting dislike; here, it lasts, and to be honest, their banter is great. It feels like the dislike piles upon an unfortunate first encounter, and that makes sense to me.

I'm not a dancer, but I imagine someone who understood the words and posturing would also thoroughly love envisioning the photographs of this book - I appreciate that attention to detail, even if I myself don't fully follow. Our two main characters slowly grow to like one another as they learn more. I particularly enjoyed Angyal's portrayal of dyspaurenia, or in general, the "painful sex" and the understanding that Nick showed as they began to get more intimate. I love that it wasn't just a plot point, but rather, was discussed multiple times; we see why this has greatly affected Carly's psyche, and it wasn't glossed over in favor of Nick being "the one". I do think however her symptoms and treatment might be more indicative of vaginismus - dyspareunia quite literally just means pain with sex, and is not in itself a condition. It’s typically associated with endometriosis, which would not be treated with expanders.

There is a sort of third-act breakup that occurs from lies in the relationship -- I'm not a huge fan of third-act breakups/would rather it have been a fight over their circumstances rather than something a bit more contrived, such as in this example. This may have just been me, but I didn't feel like the lie warranted that big of a reaction, though I could tell the book was trying to build up to it. That being said, I did feel like the author pulled it off better than most, particularly with Carly's upset over a recent career promotion. The anger over her "begging" Nick to take her photographs though - I didn't feel like she had to beg that hard? But could've just been me, and in fairness, I can see how that power differential, if amped up a bit, would be a huge sore spot later on. Plus, Nick just says the wrong thing over and over and over, and it feels mean-spirited!

Overall, giving this book a solid 4 stars - it had a great core enemies-to-lovers romance and a strong base of familial relationship trauma to work off, circulating themes of home and career advancement and uncertainty in your 30s when its time to take stock and evaluate life. 2 for spice!

I wanted to love this book, but there was something about the pacing that just didn't work for me. It was a little too cheesy (even for contemporary romance) and I didn't love the third person POV.

Carly's goals are pretty straightforward: she wants to make it out of the ballet corps and into a soloist position before she retires. She wants to be her best friend's best-ever maid of honor. And she wants her vagina to stop, well, cock-blocking her.

Enter Nick. His goals are also pretty straightforward: with his dance career over, he's desperate to transition into photography. He wants to be *his* best friend's best-ever best man. (See what I did there?) And if there's a way to get over his recent heartbreak in the process...

Needless to say, these things are not as A-to-Zed as Carly and Nick hope.

I read this based on the strength of Angyal's first two books (one nonfiction, one romance—it's the romantic leads of book 1 who are getting married in this one), and it doesn't disappoint. There's a lot going on here: both characters questioning their futures and their personal and professional worth; what Carly is working through medically; the wedding; Carly's determination to earn her place rather than relying on her family's name (and money); and on it goes. Neither Carly nor Nick is entirely my preferred sort of romantic lead (I lean towards characters who keep their emotions in check and talk things out; Carly has quite a bit of a temper, and Nick in particular is not exactly keen on open communication), but they're well done, and I appreciate that they're quite different characters than Heather and Marcus of "Pas de Don't".

The speed with which Carly gains social media followers doesn't really make sense to me—she starts to get big jumps in followers as soon as she starts posting, and I would find it more realistic if she'd already had a number of followers that was, like...not big enough to impress publicity directors but big enough to impress your average Joe?...or if there'd been more to-do about other dancers with bigger followings sharing her posts, or something. (The flip side of that is that I expect that professional dancers probably do have an easier time building follower count than...I don't know, UPS drivers...because their work is by nature aesthetic in a way that usually translates well to social media, and it's done literally as a performance for the public. How many times have you looked up a performer on social media after an event? And how many times have you gone looking for your UPS drivers on social media?)

Probably my favorite thing is this, though: Carly's not a principal dancer. She's been in the corps for years, and she knows that if she doesn't make it out of the corps soon, she never will—and that when a principal retires, there will be articles in big-name newspapers; when a corps dancer retires, there will be applause backstage. It's not that prestige is the point, but...we all dream, don't we? And most people don't make it to the top. They don't have their name in the lights, and romance novels aren't written about them. It's nice to see a version of the story where the heroine has the unusual job of *dancer* but is still playing a quieter role.

Not sorry that this seems to be turning into a series, because I'd like to see more dance romance on my shelves.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I loved this latest ballet romance, with huge enemies to lovers appeal and Australia as its beautiful (and necessary to the plot) setting. What I loved most of all is how Angyal navigated the physical therapy that the main character was undergoing for what she called her "broken vagina". This book is so much about intimacy and demanding the kind of sex that makes you feel good. It's about deserving love and deserving non-painful intercourse, and I haven't read a romance novel ever that handled this topic so deftly. Yes, there is plenty of fun in this book: checklists to check off, social media antics, lots of steam, but there's also a necessary undercurrent of respect in lots of ways that I truly appreciate. Brava!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Chloe Angyal is definitely one of my favorite authors to go to for dance themed rom coms. I absolutely loved her first book in the series and this one was great as well. I think I preferred the first one a little more as it had a lot more plot points centered around dance but this one was still a fun read. Though the books could be read as stand alone novels I believe they are best read in order as a lot of plot points from the first book are referenced throughout. I really enjoyed the characters in this book and it taking place in Australia. There were a lot of laugh out loud comments as well. My least favorite part of the book was the end of the book drama. I felt it didn't need to be as much of a blow up as it was and it just seemed to take way too long to settle. All in all it was an excellent read.

This was a really great book. I loved the ballet references and the setting was perfect. I absolutely loved the romance. I would highly recommend.