The tension in book 2 of the Academy of Stardom series is even more intense than book 1 and I loved every minute of it. I loved the reconciliations starting to happen, the walls came down and the Breakers and Pen could finally realize their feelings were still there and could talk things out. I had read these when they first came out and listening to them again to get up to speed for Encore was an amazing idea because I fell in love with these characters all over again.
I wanted to grab Zayn and hug him and never let him go. York made me want to smile and giggle, and I love how they came to a head and released their anger and hurt in the class/studio. I thought the dance scenes got even better in book 2. We feel all the emotions, not just anger and hurt. The song choices were brilliant and I could envision the dances in my head as I read it and could hear the song in my mind as well with it. This author does a fabulous job with giving enough descriptions without being overly detailed where it takes you out of the story. Perfect combo!
I wanted to shake Dax and Xeno in this one. I knew they were going to hold out the most but coooome on hahaha I was dying for it. My heartstrings were in shambles when Dax finally got his head on straight and Xeno makes us wait even more but the end of the book was fun for them haha. Now to the steam…oooooh boy. We were waiting for things to start happening and I was so happy and *fans self* excited when Pen goes with her heart and not her head haha. I won’t give things away but I am loving how the the steam amps up with each book.
The plot in this book grips you even more than book 1. We have some heart stopping moments with our Breakers and a couple different baddies. I won’t give anything away but if you have seen any of this author’s other series, she makes some spinoff duets after some of the characters introduced n this series and the previous series (Academy of Misfits). The side characters I think stole the show for a bit in this one too (I love me Grim and Beast!). Pen finally gets what is at stake/the world her Breakers and now herself is back in and what could happen with one wrong move/bad decision. I also really enjoyed the new places introduced in this book. We get more time at Tales and I loved Pen’s new role there! I loved Jewels and wish I could go to one because it sounds epic. And the nightclub for Clancy’s birthday was eye opening and fun (before it gets real with all the raw emotions). Ok I am rambling now but pretty much I loved every second of this book, might be my favorite of the series.
Narration was good, again the female narrator sometimes doesnt give the best male performances so I hope the audio company really thinks about duet narrations for all the books they do moving forward, it’s just better for most books (I will say some female narrators are amazing at both, but I think its like 5 of them that I have listened to that can do that). I will say the emotion in this one could be felt through my earphones, the story is getting more intense and the narrators did a good job upping their intensity to match. 4-4.5 stars for the narration but overall still easily 5/5 for the story <3
Favorite quote of the book: “Dancing with you is a gift, Pen. Loving you, an inevitability.”