Urgh. Such unlikeable main characters and a storyline that really dragged on. I was hoping so that this was going to be fast paced and thrilling but think the editing let it down.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Talk about unlikeable characters. It can be competitive in the dance world and this book reflects that.

I will say at the outset, We Only Want What's Best is not my usual style of book. It's an interpersonal drama largely set on a flight between Sydney and Los Angeles. However I enjoyed it way more than I expected to. At its heart, Carolyn Swindell's book is about motherhood and the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her daughter. It's also about class and power: "You know, anywhere else, those curtains would be rude, but up here, we're just supposed to accept it. Just accept that the rich people who have paid more – the rich people of Business Class... don't want to be looked at by the not-rich people."

The two mothers in the book, Bridget and Simone, both struggle to do what is best for their daughters who are vying for lead roles in their dance group. They're not inclined to like each other, and it's easier to side with Bridget, the Aussie battler: "Rich people love to use a first name when they're talking to people who are subservient to them. Makes them seem real and in touch". However when a scandal emerges about sexually suggestive photos, the protective behaviours of each mother become more apparent: "She's fifteen years old and has a fifteen-year-old's warped view of sexy – informed by the porn that the cyber-safety experts tell us is so readily available to kids nowadays." And if the ultimate goal is to protect your daughter from greater harm, it is not quite so clean cut about who is the most effective. In the novel, the dance world emerges as a dangerous place for young women: "And dance is as competitive as an Olympic sport, but without the rules. Choreographers openly promote their 'muses' – a romantic name for a casting couch." Yes, this book is quite compelling, and not at all what I thought it would be at the outset: dance mums being horrible to each other.

The description of this book had me intrigued! Dancers and their mothers and a long haul flight to Disneyland. Two dance mothers with very talented daughters, but at the opposite end of the eliteness scale combine. Both have ambition for their daughters, Simone is an ex-dancer herself and her daughter Zahra is also talented but it will be the last year in the current troupe as she is getting older. Zahra is on the cusp of womanhood and likes to push things to the limit. Bridget however has struggled and her daughter Becky is only 12 years old and quite talented. Being on a flight for the troupe to perform in Disneyland all sorts of secrets come out including ambition, drinking, explicit photos of young girls, a lovesick boyfriend, the mile high club and the list goes on.
This book kept me page turning until the very end. I thought about the ending for quite some time, not sure that I was happy with it, but so be it. It was refreshing to read a book that was very different from what I usually read.
Thank you to Affirm Press and NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.