Pas de Don’t

So good I read it twice

I love author Chloe Angyal and have read all her books now. I read this one on October 20-25, 2023, and again on January 26 - February 3, 2024.

I find the main character Heather extremely relatable in how she navigates a tough and problematic industry like ballet. However, she resolved her toxic workplace much better than I ever could. I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve never had a serious relationship where my partner was controlling or verbally and emotionally abusive. Still, I can identify with the feeling of sunk-cost fallacy keeping me in a toxic situation. Luckily, Heather has a best friend, Carly, who is relentlessly loyal and who helps her leave her terrible fiancé, Jack, and senders her on her way to Australia for a guest artist job under a progressive new artistic director who does not entertain sexual harassment. Dream job! Part of his policy for stamping out sexual harassment is a no-dating policy, which shouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for injured dancer Marcus being assigned her tour guide around Sydney.

Marcus is one of my favorite leading men in a romance novel (up there with Jacob in Act Your Age, Eve Brown, Alex Claremont-Diaz in Red, White, and Royal Blue, and Keiran in Sweethand). He’s smart, sensitive, obsessed, and yearning for Heather, as he should be — extra points for getting rid of a spider. Marcus is also receptive to Heather’s criticism when he engages in some unconscious toxic masculinity. Ultimately, that’s not who he wants to be, and he thinks about his behavior and issues a meaningful apology. Similarly, he helps Heather see and use her [relative] privilege as an international star in the ballet world. He points out their power imbalances in the risk assessment for their secret relationship.

I giggled at the ballet journalist and Heather’s read on her as a former dancer who never entered the professional sphere on stage. Chloe Angyal, herself, falls into this category and has a similar deconstruction of ballet industry journalists in her non-fiction book Turning Pointe.

Of course, Heather and Marcus make it to their HEA ending, but they both strengthen their relationships with their friends. I appreciate a romance that doesn’t neglect friendships, in books and real life!