Title: Dance All Night

Series: Dance Off #2.5

Author: Alexa Daria

Publish Date: December 18, 2018

Publisher: NYLA

Format: Kindle

Page Count: 156 pages

Source: Own Copy

Date Read: June 6th and 11th, 2020

Review

A cute, quick holiday novella involving Jess Davenport, a professional dancer on the reality tv competition show Dance Off! and Nik Kovalenko, also a professional dancer but not on the show. Nik and Jess share one incredible kiss at midnight at a New Year's Eve party and then go their separate ways (her to her job on the show and her volunteer work with at-risk teen girls; him to go on tour with a national Broadway show). They somewhat keep in touch via "likes" and a couple comments on each other's social media pages (ah, love in the time of IG, LOL). But Nik is back in town after the tour and decided Jess is the woman for him; so he goes about wooing her via dates to get her Scrooge mood into the holiday. 

I loved Jess - she was such a great contemporary heroine. I thought Nik was a fine hero and someone who would do right by Jess. They had chemistry both in their clothes and out - the sex scenes were hot but not OTT. There are also appearances from the couples from the first two books, so you see a glimpse of their HEAs as well. Overall, I really liked this book and want to read the other books even though I am not in any way a dance show fan. 

*meme created by Moonlight Reader

Doing this weekly blog post again so that I can keep track of my TBR of books I own. Library books will be featured on Tuesday's Library Love blog posts.

Incoming:

+1. The AI Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole - originally written for Audible, now available in ebook, Kindle, and print formats. I picked this up for #BlackoutBestSellerlist & #BlackPublishingPower challenge - the purpose is to populate the best seller lists with black authors. COYER will be doing a special RAT from June 20th - 28th focused on reading the two books purchased between Monday and Friday of this week. 

TBH, I didn't want to add any of the books mentioned on the lists going around - for one, I have read and absorbed a lot of those books already and for two, I wanted to read about black life that doesn't involve pain, humiliation, or death - I get enough of that from the news media. I wanted to read about the other parts of black life, like love, joy, and laughter. So my first choice was a romance, and one by one of my favorite authors. The other one....

+2. New Year, Same Trash: Resolutions I Absolutely Did Not Keep by Samantha Irby - I read We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by the author back in December and enjoyed it. Irby is a hilarious and honest essayist, so it will be a quick read in keeping with my overall theme for the summer reading.

Outbound:

-1. Dance All Night (Dance Off #2.5) by Alexa Dare. Unintentional winter holiday reading, but I loved it.

-2. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Aka the book that is going to convince me to read Hannah Arendt.

NOOK: 224 books

Kindle: 61 books

Print: 52 books

Working through the last quarter of Because He's Perfect anthology; hopefully I will be finished with this monster by the end of this coming week. For BL-opoly, I am reading Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis. For COYER's Diverse RAT I'm reading Proper English, Where Snowy Owl Sleeps, Birth of the Butterfly, and Dance All Night.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay hydrated (we are hitting the 90s here in Kansas). 

Last night I registered myself and the kids for our local public library's Summer Reading Program, which starts June 1st. I already received my first "badge" which was "Coffee and Books" - very fitting Beanstack, even if I drink tea not coffee. The program for the kids will be done via two ways: FB Live for story time, and then parents go the library and pick up materials for the hands on part of the program to do at home. Honestly, this works for me and the kids - who knew the social distancing methods would work so well with mine and the kids temperaments?

Today the kids and I participated in the "reverse parade" where parents drive their kids to school to caravan along the sidewalk and say goodbye to the teachers and staff (the last two social distances parades had the teachers caravan through the different neighborhoods that feed into our school). I received a succulent from Sophia's teacher as a thank you gift for helping out in the classroom this year.  After, we went to Starbucks for apple juice and cake pops to celebrate - Joshua is now a 4th grader and Sophia is now a 2nd grader! 

Looking towards this holiday weekend, I am working my way through 1666, which will be my prime reading choice so I can officially finish Snakes and Ladders 2020. Then on Monday, I start my summer reading project with daily reading in the anthology Because He's Perfect. The novellas Random Number Generator picked for me this upcoming week are Dance All Night, Love By the Letter, Proper English, Mail Order Cowboy, and The Cost of Hope. So that is what I'm reading this weekend/week. 

Happy Reading and if you are in the US, Happy Memorial Day!

All natasha.Tasha wanted was a nap. She fantasized about it on her drive home in her new Prius that had used her entire paycheck from playing a mean HS girl in a few episodes of Drama School. Not her finest work but a paycheck. When her last client canceled their private yoga session Tasha  headed straight home. She’d taught six fitness classes that day on very little sleep. But when she got home her entire bathroom ceiling was all over her bathroom and half her bedroom including her closet. Tasha and her best friend Gina had moved here five years ago. She thought it was cool and paid for the larger bedroom. Now she had plaster, water and a fine layer of dust everywhere, making it hard to breathe. The water and dust had gotten into her clothes,and shoes. Even her luggage. She put a call into her building management company and explained the situation on a voicemail. Than she sent a text to the building super-Manny-  hoping he was around. A lot of her clothes looked ruined. So it was bad but not horrible. The apartment had a second bedroom and bathroom that she could use now that Gina moved out. A part of her regretted she didn’t take Gina up on her offer to pay half the rent until the end of the lease. She didn’t want a new roommate and have to deal with another person’s quirks. She had enough dance gigs to cover the rent until the fifteenth season of The dance off started filing in the fall. Being a pro dancer on a hit reality TV celebrity dance competition paid well. Than there was a knock on her door and it was Manny the super. Then Manny  went upstairs and he had to turn off the water as a pipe had burst. Manny didn’t know how long before the water would be turned back on, he had to call a plumber. Than he said there was a bug infestation in a lot of the other apartments. Tasha was going to have to move out. If only gina was here she would know what to do and take care of everything. Than Manny let her know the water was back on and she did two loads of wash. Than Dimitri called and she answered out of habit, she didn’t have time to talk to him. She snapped at him and he asked if everything was all right and she said no and told him what happened. Then she said she only had three hours of sleep because of him  and told him to find someone else, than she hung up on him. Something she had never done before. It was better this way. She was trying to keep her distance, But not doing very well. Maybe this would push him away and give her some breathing room . their interactions were strictly the carnal sort- dancing, fun, for sex. They weren’t friends just coworkers who sometimes had sex. She wanted Dimitri with her every breathe, but all he would ever do is break her heart. Everything sucked and she cried, she had no idea what to do. No sleep, plus a whole day of teaching had left her physically drained. Now she was faced the prospect of being broke and homeless. She was done. She had been in tough spots before, and made hard decisions- like being a exotic dancer- she hoped never to make again. Life had showed her early on you could only rely on yourself . Gina had fallen in love with her celebrity partner Stone Nielson while paired on a previous season of The Dance Off. Gina and Tasha had been friends since they were in HS and done everything  together- HS, starting a dance career, moving LA. Now gina was gone. Than there was a knock on her door and it was Dimitri. He asked her what was wrong. His hands clasped on her shoulders. Dimitri said he had come to help. She said she was screwed, she couldn’t live there but she didn't have the time or money for a motel or to search for a new apartment. If she didn’t figure it out she would have to quit The Dance Off and move back to the Bronx with her mother. So unless Dimitri could conjure up a place for her to live there’s nothing he could help do. Than Dimitri said she could come stay with him. When she mentioned to going back to N Y he blurted out his offer to let her stay with him and surprised them both. Now it seemed like the best idea. Dimitri's younger brother had moved out a couple of months ago and the house was too quiet. If she stayed with Dimitri it would be cheaper than a motel or moving to the first apartment she found. She could save money and take her time finding a new place. But not too much time. Dimitri dimitri was bad for her. He tempted her like no other  man had and her inability to say no to him sabotaged her best efforts of being a responsible adult. The sex was always great with Dimitri but he’d never give her more than that. She said she would stay with him on one condition- no sex. This was a setback but she’d get through it. Dimitri had been a dancer but now was a judge on The Dance Off. Dimitri had taken Tasha for granted for three years. Since Gina and Stone there was a no dating romance of coworkers on the Dance Off. tasha hurts herself and must take it easy or she won’t be dancing on The Dance Off. Dimitri’s mom and cousin tell Dimitri maybe he should tell tasha how he feels about her instead of trying to control her.

I really enjoyed reading this book. My heart went out to Tasha when she got home and seen her bedroom and bathroom and than be told she had to find another place to live. Tasha and Dimitri had hot chemistry. I didn’t like some of the things Dimitri said to tasha, they were cruel even when put down to blurting things out. I also didn’t like how he kept pushing Tasha to have sex after agreeing to no sex while she lived there. I liked seeing the growth in tasha as well as Dimitri. I loved seeing both of their POVs. Sometimes I did get annoyed with Tasha and/or Dimitri. I wished Tashas issues with her mother had been worked out or ended. I love the pace and plot of this book. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend this.