This series is one of my favorites by this author and I just recently listened to them on audiobook to get ready for the extended epilogue, Encore, that’s releasing next month. I picked up on things I hadn’t before, and made me fall for this shared universe she writes in even more. I am sad to be seeing it go but I know this ending will be amazing!
We get to see in book 1 of this series how Pen and her Breakers grew up in flashbacks and the main storyline continues and she is reminded of past events and feelings. I enjoyed the back and forth, I know some people didnt. I think it added more complexity to the storyline to get that background. I loved the Breakers as kids, like how they protected her right off the bat, seeing her go through things they had gone through and not abandoning her like others had. The banter was fun (*cough pickle cough cough * IYKYK haha) and I loved the connection with Asia from Academy of Misfits right off the bat. I love dance, I used to watch World of Dance all the time, love seeing it on AGT too and the show where the Jabberwockies got their big break on MTV haha I am forgetting the name. I totally can see why it’s got Step Up vibes, the academy is done well. Nothing overdone, esp in book 1 where other books can over-describe things. I loved how the dances were described and the emotions in them. I felt everything while I read, it was mesmerizing. The enemies to lovers part of this story is hard to get through but this author never disappoints with HEAs so I knew it would be a hard-fought love. Don’t want to give anything away, but the way things were lined up and hinted at with the plot was fabulous, the tension between the characters was palpable, and I just wanted them make up already haha. And the different dances the guys focus on, done so well!
In terms of the narration I thought it was done well. I do wish it was duet though because sometimes the female narrator didnt hit the mark for me when doing the guy parts. I have listened to her a lot before so I do enjoy her performances, but I would give the narration a 4/5 just because I felt a couple miscues and I wished the male narrator did a better job with making the guys different sounding. Some he did but not all in this one. I still enjoyed it and would recommend people listening to this series on audio as well <3