2 stars

The blurb for Flirty Dancing promised "colorful side characters, a million Broadway references, and enough drama for a high school summer camp". After reading it, I'd say that it delivered on one out of three.

I will give this book credit where it is due - I so appreciate a LGBT+ story where the characters can just live their truths without a trauma plot. This delivered in that aspect in spades! Unfortunately, so much of this book is let down by what I felt was a meandering plot, lackluster character work, and a focus on interpersonal drama that was irritating rather than entertaining. As an actor myself and unrepentant lover of mess, I felt like this concept could have been explored with so much more depth, humor, and heart.

I'm sure that there are people out there that will gobble this book up and I wish that I could have been one of them - alas!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Thank you to Net galley, St. Martin’s press and MacMillan Audio for the ARC of Flirty Dancing!
When I saw that this was inspired by Dirty Dancing, I was immediately intrigued. They did an excellent job incorporating the movie, while also creating their own story. I appreciated all the references, especially “I carried a watermelon”. Matteo felt so Johnny like to me multiple times!

The story was very cute. The story was an extremely slow burn, with a nice will they won’t they fell. At moments, it felt almost too slow for me. The ensemble of side characters were all great, with many side characters sticking out.

This plot was basically every theatre kids dream- having your Broadway crush fall in love with you. It made my theatre heart very full. The phantom of the opera touch near the end? Perfect

This book is perfect for both theatre kids and Dirty Dancing lovers alike!

This book was cute! I went in expecting more romance, but I’m a sucker for camp drama so I ate this up. I also adored the meeting of a long term crush/hero actually working out.

What a great fun take on one of the best Dance Movies ever. The concept of pivoting the story to a MM romance and bringing on the dancer vibes and long time hero crush really brought a freshness to the story.

The characters were relatable and felt natural.

The spice was also the perfect mix for this type of a story as well.

Well well well... Someone finally wrote the book I didn't know I needed....

I loved every single hip sway in this book. I enjoyed the heck out of it. It felt like a real ballroom dance.. The way the book moved along at this beautifully rhymic pace. STUNNING!! As someone who was a dancer for over 20 years... The book was well researched and I felt like I was right there. I am a big fan of books with dancing in them.

I am a big fan of sweet romances and this one was so sweet. It was beautiful.

I enjoyed it so much I was sad that it was over.

4.5 stars

I loved the concept for me, but it’s a DNF after chapter one. I just don’t like/relate to Archer. He’s 27, but doesn’t act like it. And there’s so much that just feels off to me - that it’s not worth it to me to continue, as I can’t get into the story because I don’t relate to the main character

✨ Broadway dreams. Catskills drama. One last shot at love (and stardom).

If you’ve ever chased a dream, crushed hard on a celebrity, or found yourself tangled in a summer full of drama, Flirty Dancing by Jennifer Moffatt is your next must-read.

Archer Read is 27, unemployed, and dangerously close to giving up on his Broadway dreams. His final chance? A chaotic musical revue at Shady Queens—a gloriously queer Catskills resort with more glitter than stability. What he doesn’t expect is his teen idol, Mateo Dixon, to be running the show… or stealing the spotlight in more ways than one.

Add in a brooding bunkmate-turned-lover, a dance crew brimming with heartbreak and hijinks, and enough backstage drama to make Smash look tame, and you've got a wildly entertaining romantic comedy with big heart and even bigger jazz hands.

With sharp humor, sizzling chemistry, and a cast of lovable misfits, Flirty Dancing isn’t just about finding love—it's about rediscovering yourself when the spotlight fades. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston, musicals, and messy queer joy.

💃 Funny, flirty, and full of feels—this book sings.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Jennifer Moffatt for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is the poolside read of your Dirty Dancing dreams. Queer resort in the Catskills, with a full dance troupe performing 6 nights a week. Oooooh weeee the gays are messy in this one and as Marie Kondo says- I love mess.

"Flirty Dancing" is such a perfect summer read. I can picture myself lying by the pool with this book in hand, reading for hours. Archer reflects the struggles of modern people in their late 20s very accurately, trying to make it in the creative industry. As someone who is going through something similar, it was easy to relate. He takes the challenges in stride, with realistic and still entertaining reactions. It is clear from the start that Matteo is deeply struggling with his past. He's built up a wall that no one has tried to bring down, at least not until Archer wants to be the one.

When it comes to the other characters, they were a messy and caring group of people. The B-Boys accurately depicted that one couple we all know, Caleb struggling with his internalized jealousy, and Eileen, my queen, I just loved her.

I would absolutely love to read a novella about Lynn's proposals gone wrong, through the texts, you only got a glimpse, but I want more!

This book was kind of a let down. Personally, it fell flat, and felt somewhat uninspired.

The writing style felt childish, which threw me off because this is an adult book about adults. It includes lots of unnecessary fluff, and all the characters were immature in their own way.

I especially disliked the way every character dealt with conflict. There is lots of cheating which is not dealt with in the right way in my opinion, and when one of the main characters mentions something he said that is pretty transphobic and out of pocket, the other main character tells him simply that he's not a bad person for one mistake, and that he can simply apologize after YEARS of making said mistake. If I was the character he was venting to, I would tell him that what he said was wrong, and it would honestly change my view of him a little bit. The effects of saying these kinds of comments to people isn't even addressed, and it is simply brushed off since he "was thought to regret it and was sorry". As a trans person, this whole aspect of the book was just icky. No one is really held accountable.

The characters also act very childish in general, and everything overall just felt immature and out of place in an adult book.

I also thought the romance went from 30 to 100 very quickly. When they finally get together, they immediately sleep together, and act like they're meant to be together. It honestly just felt disjointed, and I would have loved to see their relationship grow more before they became a serious couple.

Overall, I don't think I would recommend this to readers, for all the reasons listed above, but again, this is all my personal opinion, and other readers may absolutely love this book.

A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the perfect summer romance. Archer is in his late twenties when he decides to quit his accounting job in Ohio and move to New York to pursue his Broadway dreams. After unsuccessfully auditioning for five months, he lands a gig at a lgbtq+ summer resort as a dancer. While there he meets a cast of fun and very dramatic people and an outcast Broadway star named Mateo. This is just a pure fun, low spice, take on Dirty Dancing. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

🕺🏼🕺🏻🪩🎶🩰

This book is chock full of dance, divas, and soooo much drama!!! I have many thoughts and feelings, so buckle up!

First off, I must vent my frustrations about the love interests. The main character Archer spends a majority of the book fucking around with douchey playboy Caleb, who he doesn’t even seem to be all that interested in. Caleb drove me insane and seemed hellbent on causing drama between literally everyone, then making himself the victim. All the while, Archer is actually crushing on Mateo, who is not only his childhood idol, but also stayed up all night baking Archer a birthday cake, and somehow he still chooses to date Caleb??? I was simply flabbergasted. Once we finally moved on from Caleb (who cheated on him like 7 times but somehow made Archer the villain 🙄🙄), the story got much better lmao. I reallyyy liked Archer and Mateo together, and wish we’d gotten to explore their relationship for longer than last 15% of the book. Was it all in the name of character development??? Probably but I’m choosing to remain a hater for now 😂

Now I’ll step off my soapbox and say I actually did enjoy some aspects of the book!! The side characters were fun; I especially liked Archie’s bestie back home, Lynn, and was very invested in all her foiled attempts to propose to her girlfriend. And most of all I liked that Archer chose to continue pursuing his dream of being a Broadway performer even when he was struggling to land gigs and his parents were insisting he was “too old” and it was “too late” for him. The odds weren’t always in his favor, but he kept his eyes on the prize and his perseverance paid off in the end. You’re never too old and it’s never too late!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!!! 🫶🏼

This is such a fun romance read! It's packed with drama, silliness, flirting and love all while giving an inspired by Dirty Dancing read. The characters really shine in this one, making me wish that I too vacationed in the Catskills. It's delightfully queer and a fun way to spend a weekend!

Thank you so much to St. Martins Press for my ARC.

4/5

This was so fun and cute! I didn't know much going into this, but I was so excited that the setting had summer camp vibes because I love that!! As a former dancer, I loved Shady Queens, and it made me want to visit a resort like this. Safe to say I was hooked pretty quickly. And oh, the drama. The chaos of the dance crew was so messy and wildly entertaining. I really liked Archer and Mateo, and I would have loved to see even more of their relationship. The ending was a bit abrupt, but I did enjoy how things ended up.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed this. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a fun (and messy) mm summer romance! Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for supplying an ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of "Flirty Dancing" by Jennifer Moffatt.

This book was cute! Exactly how I'd picture a cast of dancers at a queer resort to behave, with alllllll the drama. If this was a reality show, I'd watch it. While (obviously) based on Dirty Dancing, I liked that it deviated from the original plot and was more "loosely" based, rather than a direct rewrite with the only difference being that the characters were queer. They were flirty and quirky, and I really enjoyed it!

This is my first book by this author and it did not disappoint at all.
I absolutely loved this book! I couldn’t put it down and read it in one day.
I thought this book was funny, sweet and just so dang good.
The characters had great chemistry and you really wanted to root for them.
Their chemistry was off the charts and the banter was just amazing.
A great read with humor, heat and great characters.

Flirty Dancing by Jennifer Moffatt
Pub Date: 5/27/25
Rating: ⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Griffin for the gifted eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion! I am a huge fan of dirty dancing and queer romcoms so I was very excited to check out this new to me author.

This book had a lot of potential but I found the author played into some very frustrating stereotypes of gay men (and gay men in theater specifically). The characters did not act like adults of certain ages and even the supporting characters were made out to be messy drama queens. It was overkill and really left a bad taste in my mouth.

I did enjoy Archer’s journey and was rooting for him and Mateo. Their connection was sweet! I just wish we spent more time with their developing relationship and less time on all the other drama and the Caleb subplot.

I didn’t hate it, but I would not be quick to recommend this one.

Archer Read is 27 and quit his accounting job in Ohio to follow his dream of a Broadway career. After five months of rejections he lands a dancing job at a queer friendly resort in the Catskills called Shady Queens. His one time teen crush and former Broadway star Mateo Dixon will be working there as well. Of course the cute cover and the location has you thinking of the classic movie Dirty Dancing. But I was surprised this isn’t a straight forward romance. (No pun intended.) Archer gets a thing going with another dancer first. Of course they’re going to be told they're too old no matter how good they dance. There are some silly hijinks and other drama happening among the dancers too.

A drawback for me is the characters behaved immaturely and I would have to remind myself this wasn’t a YA story. This is also low spice. There is action but with mostly closed doors. I knew Archer wasn’t going to end up with bunk mate Caleb, so I was disappointed with how long they were together in the story. But the story has light moments and Broadway references which are fun. (3.5 Stars)

Broadway? Two boys reconnecting and falling in love? Feeling like your life is over and starting it from scratch? You can become anything you want to be when these things come together. I loved being a part of it, and found such job in every second of this story. I'm so grateful I was given the chance to read it early, and cannot wait to pick up a copy of my own.

Dirty Dancing, but make it queer? Say less! I picked up Flirty Dancing because I just had to know what and how much Jennifer Moffatt would borrow from the movie!

With a queer dance resort in the Catskills as its setting, I was delighted to find that besides the age-old "carried a watermelon" line, (and obviously that pose on the cover), this book didn't rely on Dirty Dancing as a crutch - but all the sweaty dance vibes were there! (Think the staff party, with rehearsals and stage dancing to round it all out!)

There was also love triangle drama, dance lingo, 90210 references, and ways to cheat at Clue (don't tell my cousins, but this has always been my strategy)!

My only gripe was that the characters came across as acting slightly too immature at times. But then, in the same breath, there were some really emotionally mature moments to balance everything out!

I'm beginning to become a huge fan of Mark Sanderlin's narration, and I think that alone sums up my love for this audiobook perfectly!

I can't exactly pinpoint what worked so well for me... but this was just a fun read! It was pure escapism, and it was exactly what I needed!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.