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.

Chloe Angyal knocked it out of the park again with her second romance novel. In both her books, I have loved the perfectly imperfect characters, and their individual growth as well as growth as a couple. In Pointe of Pride, Nick and Carly - both professional ballet dancers - are dealing with career transitions and figuring out what comes after their ballet career. I enjoyed the fact that the characters had a lot of depth to them, and each had space to figure themselves out individually. A true pleasure to read - highly recommend!

I was very late to the pas de don't game...as in I read it a few weeks ago and then couldn't wait to dive into Carly's story!

I feel like all the enemies to lovers I've read recently were down right cruel but this story had the tension and the chemistry and the longing glances and the banter and the who's going to claim feelings first and it was such a fun read to watch Carly and Nick fall in love.

It was fun to revisit the friend group, but it felt like almost more of a continuation of the first book and so much of the plot was spent on wedding that we missed out on other parts of seeing Nick and Carly's relationship grow. The third act break was a little too extra but the resolution was perfect and felt appropriate for their story.

All in all though, this was a fun rainy day read to escape to Australia!!


Thank you Netgalley and Independent Publishers Group | Amberjack Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Carly and Nick both had complicated internal issues that they needed to go through in order to develop as a couple. My favorite part of a romance book is definitely when two people become closer, and Angyal executed that so well! I enjoyed seeing them work through their individual issues as well as those they shared with one another. I thought Nick and Carly's relationship was beautiful, and I thought their character growth was great. I had never read a book where ballet was the main focus, so I was particularly intrigued by this story. I was expecting more, especially from the enemies to lovers part.

Thank you Netgalley, IPG and Chloe Angyal for this book ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love this ballet world Chloe Angyal has created and I loved being back in it, this time with Carly and Nick. I enjoyed their adventures and photoshoots. However, I despised the 3rd act break up. The real star of this book was pelvic pain representation and the absolute care it was treated with.

I enjoyed this, although not quite as much as the first in the series (Pas de Don't). We're once again in Sydney but not quite as enmeshed in the world of ballet, as the FMC Carly is on break and helping to plan her best friend's wedding. The MMC, Nick, has retired from dancing and is trying to make it as a dance photographer, but is also in Australia to help plan *his* best friend's wedding. The book starts with a pretty amusing meet-not-so-cute, where Carly accidentally maims Nick at the airport as they both arrive in Sydney, not realizing they're about to be thrust together as maid of honor and best man.

Nick and Carly had excellent chemistry, and the push/pull was really fun to watch as they both realized they may have misjudged each other. Additionally, Carly suffers from a pelvic floor condition that makes PIV intercourse painful, and seeing how they were able to *satisfy* each other anyway was spicy and fun.

My main complaint is that the *big misunderstanding* leads to a long break between the couple, and I prefer a bit of a quicker resolution. Like, what do you mean you can go months without seeing her and not lose your mind? Overall though, it was a great reading experience and I look forward to more from the author.

I was hooked from the cover and so glad I was able to read this, the romance had a great overall feel and thought the characters were realistic. It had a strong story going on and thought the Australian elements worked. Chloe Angyal has a great writing style and I can’t wait for more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3.5 stars!
🌶 - 1 spicy pepper!

Chloe Angyal does ballet rom-coms like nobody else and I'm here for it. So, I loved her previous book, highly recommend it, which is why my expectations were through the roof for this one.

Both the plot and her writing are really good, but I had a bit of trouble with the overall flow and sometimes with Carly. While I loooove her character, she sometimes had reactions that felt a bit abrupt to me or hard to relate to. However, I am soooo here for her health journey and really loved seeing a FMC that has, as she puts it, "a broken vagina". I very much enjoyed seeing that in a book and felt like it makes it much more real.

Overall, a sweet enemies-to-lovers that hits the spot, especially if you enjoy the ballet component like me 😁💜

I'm disappointed to find that this book has been archived WELL ahead of it's publication date. I was really excited to read this book and almost always get to book within two weeks or so of their pub date. Thanks for the opportunity to read - sorry I missed out!

I was expecting a five star read :(

I looooved the pelvic pain representation and how Nick was very supportive and respectful of Carly’s boundaries. Really well done as neither seemed too forced or like it was being used as a tool to add depth to the characters!

Overall, I enjoyed this book however I did find some parts hard to get through as I felt like the event that made then “enemies” wasn’t strong enough and as the characters continued to cross paths it bordered immaturity. I will say that despite this, the tension was sooo fiery 🥵 and as an ex dancer, it was nice to read a book taking place in that world.

Thank you netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book!

This was a super fantastic and fun followup starring Carly, who I loved as a side character in the first book. As a ballet dancer myself, I adore the way Chloe Angyal writes ballet and that both MCs are ballet dancers! It's so rare to find ballet accurately represented in romance, and I appreciated Angyal's expert writing in this series.

Romance-wise, I thought this was so fun. It wasn't anything revolutionary trope-wise: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, meet-ugly, but it did them so perfectly with great banter between our characters, Nick and Carly. Both had complicated internal problems going on, and they had to deal with them in order to grow together. Growing together is probably my favorite thing in a romance novel and Angyal did them perfectly!

I really enjoyed the writing of Carly's pelvic floor dysfunction and of the sex between Carly and Nick, which wasn't penetrative at all, and how the characters had fulfilling sex in many other ways.

I loved this book and I'm so looking forward to any future anything by Angyal!

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

I don't think it would necessarily work in a school library, but I cannot recommend it enough for adults. The romance is beautiful, the chronic pain rep is SO needed, and just the Australia of it all!

RATING: 2.75/5

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one fell short. I lost interest close to half way through. I didn't feel the chemistry between the two main characters Carly and Nick. Their interactions felt surface level to me. I did like the premise and ballet theme though!

I really enjoyed Chloe Angyal's debut romance Pas de Don't and was excited about her next one set in/around the world of ballet. The set up of Pointe of Pride is really fun: the maid of honor and best man get off on the wrong foot but are thrown together again and again, both navigating their lives and identities around ballet and what comes after, plus photography and Sydney. It started off strong for me, but sadly didn't go deeper or more developed as it did in Pas de Don't. Angyal's writing gets more repetitive and doesn't delve too deep beyond the surface plot. The central fight and third act conflict were obviously telegraphed early on and from the start, I could see how the inciting problem wasn't a big enough deal, and that was confirmed when it came to pass. It just wasn't enough to merit the blow up or to lead to a strong character and relationship development to end the book. As a former dancer, I still love all of the thoughts and depictions of ballet and hope for more.

I’ve been waiting for Pointe of Pride since shortly after Pas de Don’t came out. It did not disappoint. I had so much fun reading. Carly and Nick have strong Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy vibes with their prides and their prejudices (masking insecurities) acting as barriers. They have a meet disaster and initially show each other their worst sides. And then Carly hears Nick talking about her in a less than complimentary way.

Neither is in a good place emotionally at the start of the book. Carly feels like she is facing her last chance to be promoted to principle dancer after a decade in the corps. Nick’s post-retirement life is going rather badly as his girlfriend has dumped him and his photography career is floundering. As Heather and Marcus’ maid of honor and best man, they are forced to put aside their differences and work together to prepare for the wedding. Heather suggests Carly ask Nick to take pictures of her to raise her profile in hopes that it will improver her chances of promotion. Nick finally agrees, and this is where they really start to get to know each other. The number of times I almost opened Instagram to go look at the pictures described is ridiculous.

Angyal centers a couple of different things in Pointe of Pride. She continues to shine a light on toxic aspects of the ballet world, while balancing it with the joy of dance. Carly and Nick are in their early to mid 30s and their bodies snap, crackle, pop. Carly’s ability and willingness to push through pain may have served her in her dance career, but it hasn’t served her in her personal life. Carly has chronic pelvic floor pain which makes p in v penetration* very painful, which has negatively impacted her romantic life. After years of being dismissed by physicians, she has finally found a physical therapist who believes her and is helping her. During a memorable scene, Nick has ungraciously commented on the pleasure toy resembling therapeutic devices Carly has in her suitcase and Carly yells at him about her broken v. Nick does some research and we love a man who looks things up on his own and is prepared to make his partner happy. I’m not sure why, but my reaction to a hetero romance with no p in v is akin to my reaction to good pockets in women’s clothing. I want to twirl around an say “look! No penetration!” 

I don't mind a third act breakup that makes sense. Given where Carly and Nick are emotionally at the start of the book, the breakup is inevitable. Heather puts it all in perspective when she reminds Carly that one of the toxic messages in ballet is that you are either perfect or worthless. There was also a moment when Nick was not being his best self and I thought, "you deserve whatever is coming your way." The breakup makes sense, and so does the makeup.

*I am so sorry I am using ridiculous language here. If I want this review to stay up on various corporate places I can't use correct or appropriate terminology.

This has become a very disjointed review. I highly recommend both of Chloe Angyal's ballet romances. While I can't say I regret not becoming a ballerina (lack of talent and drive), I can feel the love and passion for dance that she embodies in her characters.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Thank you Netgalley, IPG and Chloe Angyal for this book ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I start? I loved how the author writes, it's difficult to find good writing in books lately. I also liked the pace of the story.

Some negatives: I didn't think the argument was that serious. It was too drawn out. The book also made me lose interest halfway through, it's not a bad book, it just didn't particularly capture my attention.

Overall, the story was ok. Possibly the 1st story in this series was more interesting, but this one left me meh to look for more in this series.

I probably would've finished this read sooner but the last couple of pages were hard to get through. At that point, I'm uninterested in an extra sex scene and there wasn't anything new to it. I'm sure the author thought she was giving the audience what they wanted, but sometimes the final sex scene slows the story done and doesn't add value.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Upon arriving in Sydney for her best friends wedding Carly manages to knock an infuriatingly good looking douche-bag over, accidentially take his bag and discovered that she would need to do something spectacular to be promoted if she doesn't want to spend the rest of her ballet career playing Maiden 4. Nick, ex ballet star in Paris and now a fumbling dance photographer, thinks that Carly is everything he would want to avoid: angry, loud, and with a temper that could send most men cowering. Unfortunately, they end up being best man and head bridesmaid at the same wedding. They are forced into being around each other whilst they complete a list of wedding tasks. Carly asks for Nick's help, and suddenly, they are spending even more time together, and he is taking the best photgraphs he has ever taken. They both, however, think there is a time limit on them and their friendship.

This was amazing. I read it in two sittings, unable to put it down. The author has managed to get the temper and personality of a ginger girl right down to a tee and had me laughing out loud at how familiar some of her temper 'tantrums' were. The banter between the two of them was exceptional, and the author had us truly believing they hated each other more once they realised they were attracted to each other. There were some mild miscommunication issues , but these were both necessary and resolved by the end of the book.

I really enjoyed how complex the subjects discussed in this book were. From the complexity of difficult families to the irritation of class divides to the conversation about difficulties with intimacy and sex. Nick had difficult relationships with his parents, Carly was trying to overcome being known as a ballet brat. Each had their own personal problems, and I loved watching them work through them, both separately and together. I felt that the character development was amazing, and I honestly loved Nick and Carly together. This book is definitely a 17+, with some explicit sexual content and a lot of swearing. That being said, the issues the author had the characters deal with were written with a great deal of sensitivity and research. Despite this being a very typical romance novel, you could see that a great deal of thought and research went into the finer parts of the story and that this was an incredibly intelligently written book.

My only criticism is that the main female character came across as quite self pittying for a lot of the book. This isn't a deal breaker for the book in any way. However, it is something that can cause minor irritation throughout the reading experience.

Easy 4 stars.

Lovely. Exciting. And most of all, one of my fav enimies to lovers + forced proximity book duo ever.
Thank you so much for the opportunity