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A review by isalaur
Dance by Teodora Kostova
3.0
I was initially intrigued by this book because the setting was so different...musical theatre is not something I often see as a setting in m/m romance books. Additionally, the two top places for musical theater, London and NYC are the centers of the action.
The story revolves around Fenix, the start of a musical called Poison, and Jared, the creator and star of a children's musical. When their shows end up sharing a theatre and they end up sharing a dressing room their attraction is immediate. This is one of those we're all in within days romances. I generally find these romances to be of the "willing suspension of disbelief" variety. It's fiction, go with it. However that did not extend to fatal flaws (for me) the resulted in my lowering of the star count.
While I enjoyed the MCs and the development of their relationship there isn't as much musical theatre as I had been hoping...similar to a sports romance that doesn't really have much action on the field/ice. And of the parts the did directly address theatre there is so much wrong I could not concentrate given my annoyance. Poor or lazy research is a pet peeve of mine. All of the things wrong with the storyline could have been easily remedied with ten minutes on the internet. This was made even worse when I read the author note that declares the author a big musical theatre fan. I don't see how that's possible with the mistakes made here. Additionally, there is also a huge error in NY criminal law that revolves around the crisis moment near the end of the book. Something that also would have been easily remedied with some basic research. While the author is primarily responsible for this I'm wondering where the editor was?
Now, I will say that I am a NYer, a retired public policy teacher, who is a huge theatre fan so other readers may not notice or care about the errors. However it is huge to me and it really impacted my ability to immerse myself in the story and enjoy the book.
The story revolves around Fenix, the start of a musical called Poison, and Jared, the creator and star of a children's musical. When their shows end up sharing a theatre and they end up sharing a dressing room their attraction is immediate. This is one of those we're all in within days romances. I generally find these romances to be of the "willing suspension of disbelief" variety. It's fiction, go with it. However that did not extend to fatal flaws (for me) the resulted in my lowering of the star count.
While I enjoyed the MCs and the development of their relationship there isn't as much musical theatre as I had been hoping...similar to a sports romance that doesn't really have much action on the field/ice. And of the parts the did directly address theatre there is so much wrong I could not concentrate given my annoyance. Poor or lazy research is a pet peeve of mine. All of the things wrong with the storyline could have been easily remedied with ten minutes on the internet. This was made even worse when I read the author note that declares the author a big musical theatre fan. I don't see how that's possible with the mistakes made here. Additionally, there is also a huge error in NY criminal law that revolves around the crisis moment near the end of the book. Something that also would have been easily remedied with some basic research. While the author is primarily responsible for this I'm wondering where the editor was?
Now, I will say that I am a NYer, a retired public policy teacher, who is a huge theatre fan so other readers may not notice or care about the errors. However it is huge to me and it really impacted my ability to immerse myself in the story and enjoy the book.