Ballroom To Bride And Groom by Kate Hardy

4 columns: a recommended read
Mills & Boon Cherish

Mar 2013

ISBN 9780263900941
Amazon UK

Harlequin Romance

Feb 2013

ISBN: 9780373178629
Amazon US  Barnes and Noble

 

Blurb:

TV presenter Polly Anna Adams has spent a lifetime living up to her name. Suddenly single, Polly hides behind her cheery facade and enters a celebrity dance competition. Her partner? None other than gorgeous but wary professional dancer Liam Flynn.

Liam has learned the hard way to keep his heart on lockdown, but Polly's joie de vivre puts a spring back in his polished step. As the competition heats up, so does their unstoppable attraction. If only they could convince themselves their hot tango passion is just for the cameras….

Review:
 

Smile-and-the-world-smiles-with-you Polly Anna Adams loves her job as a children’s TV presenter. Until her fiancé, the show’s producer, cancels their wedding and brings his new girlfriend onto the production team.  Polly can’t bear the thought of working with her replacement, so walks out of her job—even though a recession means she’s unlikely to find another one soon.

A door opens when her agent clinches her a spot on Ballroom Glitz (think Dancing with the stars/Strictly come dancing) partnering gorgeous ex-ballroom champion Liam Flyn.  Polly fears her natural clumsiness will be her downfall, but convinced the show is a stepping stone to another presenting role, she’s is determined to think positive, try her hardest — and smile her way through.

Liam is equally desperate for her to succeed. A year ago he lost his marriage, his career, his home and his dreams when he was badly injured in a car accident. Experts predicted he’d never dance again, but he’s fought to prove them wrong.  His new dream – to land a job as a choreographer on Broadway – is almost within reach, but first he needs to prove himself by taking his celebrity partner all the way to the final of Ballroom Glitz.  Cue external conflict when Polly’s lack of co-ordination and clear inability to pick out a rhythm seem certain to jeopardise his plans.

Both Liam and Polly share the same internal conflict – fear of  betrayal and  abandonment, coupled with a marked reluctance to trust

Due to his ex-wife/professional dance partner leaving him for another man shortly after the accident, Liam has decided he’s better off on his own and needs to hold himself apart emotionally. When he finds himself strongly attracted to seemingly capricious Polly, he hides his normally kind, supportive nature behind a façade of cool professionalism.

But Polly has a strong backbone under all the sweetness and light, and won’t allow him to treat her so brusquely. A clash ensues resulting Liam apologising to her and seeing her in a different light.

Liam quickly realises that Polly’s super-bright smile hides low self esteem and is a brave attempt to fake it until she makes it –in all areas of her life. She sees herself as far too girl-next-door and clumsy to be a glittering ballroom princess and this affects her ability to grasp the steps and techniques Liam needs her to learn.

He fixes that by taking their practice session to a private candle-lit ballroom in Vienna, where he presents her with a beautiful frothy dress, then whirls her round and round the dance floor in a floaty Viennese waltz, kissing her as they spin. The steps come effortlessly and for the first time ever, Polly feels like the fairy ballerina she always wanted to be as a child.

They kiss all the way back to the hotel, and Polly wanting him more than she’d ever wanted anyone in her life, can’t resist his invitation to share his bed.

 But by the next morning Polly has managed to convince herself that once Liam goes to new York, there’s no way she’ll fit into his life. To protect herself from the inevitable heartbreak, she makes the decision to push him away now before things get too complicated. Liam’s disappointment at her reaction leads him to retreat into cool detachment and re-affirm his vow to hold himself apart..

The second half of the book sees them attempting to focus on their career plans—plans that will end with them living thousands of miles apart.

Although both Liam and Polly have apparently identical emotional issues, they deal with them in opposite ways-- and it’s these differences that enable them to gradually change each other.

Liam believes he’s the only person he can rely on and he can’t trust anyone else. Although this belief gradually changes during the course of the story, he retains a strong sense of self-belief which enables him to teach Polly to have faith in herself and transform from clumsy tomboy to ‘gorgeous kittenish flirt.’

Due to a traumatic incident in her teenage years, Polly has learned to look on the bright side, hide her true feelings and  ignore the difficult stuff.  Embedded in this flaw is a great strength – her warm, optimistic nature. And it’s this  which causes Liam to eventually see that keeping himself separate and pushing people away won’t bring him happiness.

I found the pacing of this story extremely smooth – due to Kate’s short punchy sentences and very linear character thoughts. (Each and every action was beautifully motivated leaving the reader in no doubt at any time as to why the characters were behaving as they were.)

My only quibble is some of the scenes seemed a touch repetitive (practice sessions, dancing on the show, facing the judges, basic dance tuition) but considering the setting of the story it would have been very difficult to avoid this.

Overall, this is a beautiful romantic story filled with tender emotion, sparkling (and sometimes very novel) dance scenes and an ending that will make you cry.

 Athena