Pas de Don't by Chloe Angyal

Title: Pas de Don’t
Author: Chloe Angyal
Publication: Chicago Review Press, paperback, 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Setting: Present-day New York City and Australia

Description: Heather Hays has worked for years to become the principal dancer at the New York Ballet and when her boyfriend, Jack Andersen, already established as the biggest star in American ballet, proposes, she thinks she has everything she’s always dreamed about, even if Jack is sometimes condescending about her talent. But if your best friend distrusts your fiancé, you should listen – it is Carly who learns Jack is cheating on Heather with a younger dancer. When Heather breaks the engagement, it is all over social media and hard to face Jack and his spitefulness every day, so she takes a month-long gig as a guest principal artist with the Australian National Ballet. At first, she thinks ANB’s rule prohibiting workplace dating is sensible, given her own history, but then she gets to know Marcus, a gifted dancer recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. Heather is not looking for a rebound romance but Marcus is everything Jack was not – warm, supportive, and fun – although he is going through a difficult time, trying to rehab from his injury and having recently lost his father. Maybe they can agree to enjoy a secret fling but what will happen if their sizzling romance is discovered?

My Impression: Think Ballet Shoes meets Lucy Parker in this thoughtful and appealing romance that is realistic in its portrayal of the ups and downs of artistic life. The reader knows Jack Andersen is a jerk before Heather realizes – at her more important career moment, when she is “made” principal dancer after a performance of Giselle, Jack proposes before an audience, guaranteeing that the coverage is about them, not her (similarly, I remember reading about a man proposing to his girlfriend as she finished a marathon, and he was criticized for obscuring her triumph, although I don’t think that would necessarily be the case). When Carly shows Heather evidence that Jack is cheating on her, Heather at first makes excuses for him, but once she faces facts, breaks the engagement, and moves out (never easy in NYC; she has to crash in Carly’s apartment, which is already crowded), and finds a temporary place to lick her wounds/face the future in Australia, Heather realizes Jack’s belittling and condescension was abusive and damaged her confidence.

Heather may be emotionally wounded but Marcus is suffering not only from a torn Achilles tendon, which has jeopardized his career but also from the recent loss of his father and worry about how his mother is coping. When the artistic director of the Australian National Ballet suggests Marcus take Heather sightseeing in Sydney, readers like me who yearn to visit also get a treat. Their friendship is built on laughter, which has been in short support for both of them.

He tried to remember the last time he’d had two good days in a row. Two days when he’d smiled without it feeling like work, when he’d had the mental energy to think of a joke to crack before the conversation had moved on without him. It had been months since he’d sat with someone in a silence that felt comfortable, not heavy with grief or fear or unspoken bitterness. It had been even longer since he’d felt a physical pull towards someone, since he’d felt the kind of thrilling awareness of a woman’s body he’d felt just driving with Heather in the passenger seat.

However, from the beginning, both know the ANB’s policy against employee dating, nicknamed “Pas de Don’t”, and if they allow their attraction to turn into an affair, both know they are risking their careers.

When they arrived at Heather’s place, he watched her unbuckle her seatbelt and gather her things, her delicate fingers fumbling slightly with the button. As she bent to grab her bag, her ponytail fell over her shoulder against her cheek, and he had to grip the steering wheel to stop himself from sweeping it back for her. Don’t be stupid, he told himself. As if The Heather Hays is going to break company policy for you. Even if she’d looked as disappointed as he felt when he’d told her about the Pas de Don’t, he needed to keep his hands out of her hair, and the rest of his body as far away from her as possible. He knew this, and now she knew it, too. But as she put her hand on the door handle, he threw caution to the wind anyway.

“What do you want to do tomorrow?”

Both make mistakes and have to figure out how to move forward and whether love and ballet can coexist, and these compromises made the story more convincing. This was a 4 1/2, maybe even a 5-star book for me.

Sydney (photo credit Acenela.com)

Source: eBook/Library