Review - Seduction en Pointe by Gemma Snow

Title: Seduction en Pointe

Author: Gemma Snow

Rating: 3.5/5 

Synopsis:

When successful TV star of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Nicco Castillo, finds his boyfriend in bed with another man, he goes full-on Hollywood trainwreck that lands him in ER. Next thing he knows, the producers are shipping him off to Paris to shape up and learn to dance for the next season’s story arc. But his incredibly tempting Parisian ballet instructor, Isabelle La Croix, makes that all too difficult, especially when he learns about her decadent desires--desires Nicco is all too pleased to indulge in. Against the ballet barre, the balcon railing, and wherever and for however long Isabelle is willing to have him.   

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts:

Seduction en Pointe almost lost me as a reader after its very first line. Even in the romance/erotica genre I like when the action is neatly prepared… I need the metaphorical foreplay in a story as much as it is needed in sex. The in medias res beginning kinda felt as if the author wanted to assure me that there are tons of sex scenes in the book, therefore I won’t be bored. 

Perhaps I’m a strange one, but I’ve always felt erotica doesn’t work without the well-developed extras in the story – and here I mean everything that is not sex. If the plot, the characters, the relationships don’t please me, the passionate love-making won’t move me for sure.

The funny thing is, Seduction en Pointe wasn’t a bad read at all and I’m glad I brought myself to continue after my personal displeasure in the first line. It is altogether a very nice ’rich hollywood playboy meets French ballerina’ story with good character developement and well-thought-out pacing. It was a believable contemporary romance, a treat really, that I enjoyed in big chunks when I had the time to sit down to read.

I liked that the drama in it wasn’t too much, and that – despite what the first line suggested – there wasn’t a sex scene on every other page. I like when I can tingle with anticipation. 

Plus points for Miss Snow for giving me a bisexual male for main character, that was really refreshing after the bunch of heterosexual romance books I've read lately.

Neither Nicco nor Isabelle were pushy or annoying in any way (which is worth to point out as protagonists in romance/erotica book tend to irritate me). They were people who reflected on their own life and previous relationships and were able to learn from lessons that life gave them.

There was one thing that bugged me in the plot though. Nicco, who played a pirate in a tv show, Queen Ann’s Revenge, was sent to Paris to learn ballet, but it was never actually mentioned why the dance he did had to be ballet. Ball room dancing I would have understood for a pirate, but ballet… Anyway, this is just a small detail that I kept wondering about and was never explained.

I’d never read a book about dancing before, I guess I had to start somewhere and this novel was a good choice.

I would recommend this book to everyone who likes light, insightful romance and who is into voyeurism *wink wink, nudge nudge*.

 
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