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.

In the spirit of full honesty, I must start this review with a confession - I was originally drawn to this book because the cover illustration, while gorgeous, is also fully unhinged. Kudos to the artist who captured Carly’s temper so well! 😂 I’m so glad selected this book, even if for a silly reason. After realizing it was a companion to Pas De Don’t, I read that book first. You certainly don’t need to do so to enjoy Pointe of Pride, but I’m glad I read Heather and Marcus’s story before starting this one.

Moving on to the actual review, this book was well-written and refreshing on several counts. While remaining polite and spoiler-free, I’d like to say that this take on physical intimacy was especially well handled, putting outdated notions about what sex is or isn’t to rest. As someone with pelvic floor dysfunction, I found the discussion of Carly’s issues to be accurate and informative, possibly opening the door for women with similar issues to find relief. And I loved Carly’s personality - she’s a spitfire, for sure - a work in progress, perfectly imperfect. I also found Nick to be likable, though less well-rounded than Carly.

The banter and chemistry were both good and I loved that, even in the end, the book makes sure to mention that Carly and Nick still have their disagreements. I hate when a romance is like “And then everything was perfect and nothing bad happened ever again. The End.” Real relationships don’t operate like that - you choose to work through conflict *because* you love someone, not despite it.

As for the dance parts, I can’t speak to their accuracy, but it all certainly seemed believable and well-researched. The author’s past credentials seem to support this.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy of this book. I will most certainly be looking for future books by this author.

I've been eagerly awaiting the follow-up to Pas De Don't, and was so excited to see Pointe of Pride show up on Netgalley! Chloe Angyal might be my favorite romance author, her books are romance novels that acknowledge the complexity of adult relationships. This book follows Carly and Nick, the best friends of Heather and Marcus from PDD. Carly has been in the corps for years, and desperately wants to be promoted as she knows she doesn't have many years of dancing left. Nick has left ballet, and is trying to break through as a photographer. They meet up in Sydney for Heather and Marcus' wedding, where they are tasked with driving around Sydney to help get everything ready. But complicating matters, they've very much got off on the wrong foot.

Pointe of Pride follows Carly and Nick as they slowly overcome their initial animosity, to becoming allies, to becoming more. The chemistry was so hot, and I really appreciated how realistic the enemies to lovers timeline felt. It didn't seem abrupt at all.

I can't wait for the next book in this world, I'm so looking forward to it!

3.25⭐️

ARC kindly provided by publisher via NetGally for an honest review.


A smutty enemies-to-lovers rom-com that was a delight to read! Nick and Carly both had good moments of growth throughout the story. The only down side for me was the third act break up, I’m not typically a fan of these along with the fact that the reason was a bit ridiculous made it fall off a bit.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this story. The main characters, Carly and Nick, are ballet dancers (or former dancer in Nick’s case), who travel to Australia for their friends’ wedding. I love ballet, so I was excited to read a story about ballet dancers, which I don’t see very often.

At first, I struggled to get into the story. The writing style seemed a bit clunky, the characters barely talked to each other, it was a lot of inner dialogue. But after the first 20% or so the story definitely picked up, and I enjoyed myself, even though it was a bit ridiculous at times (the third-act conflict was definitely over the top).

One thing I want to point out is that this book depicts pelvic pain and Carly’s struggle with it. This isn’t a topic I see very often (or at all) in romance books, even though it’s an issue for a lot of people and I think it was realistically represented here; the author even put more information on it at the end of the book, and I just thought that this was really great and important.

I struggled with the writing style, but overall I enjoyed the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book, especially as someone who struggles with pelvic pain. I often don't see myself represented in romance books, but with Carly, I found someone in the romance space I could relate to. The story itself was enjoyable for a cute, fluffy read!

What I loved:
-The characters are in their early 30s and still haven't figured their lives out. It's so refreshing to showcase characters struggling to find their way.
-Representation of pelvic pain and the difficulty of approaching intimacy, as well as having doctors dismiss your pain.
-THE TENSION. Oh my god, the sparks that crackle between Carly and Nick are incredible! It made me so giddy when the enemies turned into lovers.
- loved the theme of finding a home and Nick's struggle to find what home means to him.
-It was really well-written
-Strong and complicated characters

What I didn't love as much:
***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER***
***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER***
-The third-act breakup was a STRETCH. I didn't believe that Nick's pretending to be a more prominent photographer than he was resulted in Carly fleeing the country.
-It would help if you suspended your disbelief a little bit when Carly and Nick go viral. I always say romance involves fantasy elements, especially with this book. Don't question it too much.


Overall, I really enjoyed Pointe of Pride. If you want a sweet, fluffy romance read that touches on some complex life topics, I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Chloe Angyal, and Amberjack Publishing for providing and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nick is a retired dancer returning home for his best friends wedding. Carly is a hurricane flying into Sydney for her best friends wedding. Nick and Carly have a bumpy start. There is tension and romance and a HEA guaranteed.

Carly kinda annoyed me as the main character. Heather deserved a better best friend

Ballet
Third act break up
Maid of honor x best man
"Broken Vagina"
Enemies to lovers

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Thank you amberjack publishing and netgalley for providing this ARC.

Now this book is such a light read for me.. it really gives off romcom movies vibes but instead being set in NYC like many romcoms this is set in Sydney.

i really like the banter between Carly and Nick and how chaotic their first meeting is! And their dynamic oh i like it!

This book also talks about how Carly has pelvic issues and i love there is PSA about this issue in the end of the book.

Overall i would rec this book for romcom enjoyers