Dance Off
By Ariel Tachna and Nessa L. Warin
Blurb:
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On the reality show Dance Off, pro rugby player Olivier Gautier and Olympic swimmer JC Webster each have one goal in mind: to stay on the show as long as possible to earn his charity of choice maximum exposure and a larger donation. As the competition heats up, their goals expand to catching each other’s interest, but Olivier is firmly in the closet and plans to stay there. JC is willing to be discreet, but not to hide forever.
Starting a romance with another man is challenge enough for any celebrity, but doing it under the microscope of reality TV—and one majorly intolerant costar—is even harder. Add in meddling dance pros, JC’s overbearing family, and the need to play up chemistry with dance partners to win America’s hearts, and JC and Olivier’s time together is looking more and more like a recipe for disaster.
As the pressure to stay in the competition mounts, JC and Olivier must face their inevitable separation at the end of the show as well as decide whether a relationship as complicated as theirs can survive in the real world, outside the bubble of the set and practice studios.
My Review:
Dance Off By Ariel Tachna and Nessa L. Warin gives the reader an up close and personal look at the ‘behind the scenes’ action of Dancing with the Stars. Olivier is a professional rugby player and every inch the sexy frenchman! His looks and accent may attract the ladies but Olivier is gay…but very much in the closet. Not ashamed of his sexuality at all, just not interested in being the poster boy for gay rugby players.
JC is an Olympic swimmer and very much out of the closet as bisexual. He isn’t flaunting it but doesn’t want to hide either. However, more than anything, he doesn’t want to do anything to crush Olivier’s dreams as a rugby player. Most of the people on this dancing reality show are very nice and seem tolerant but one homophobic conservative could ruin them if the truth got out.
Dance off is very heavy on getting you behind the scenes and onto the stage with these dancers. I learned a lot about different dancing styles, techniques, and even costumes appropriate for each one. The judges were fun to get to know, the commentary was engaging, and the other couples in the competition all seemed like really great people. I know alot more about dance now than I did before I read this book.
I loved the secondary characters that these authors created. JC comes from a very large Mexican American family and everyone from his Abuela to his Mama and even right down to his little sister were very well written.
The heat was very slow to build in this book but it was there. The primary goal for most of the book is to simply practice, perform, and recover from the physical exertion that it caused! Near the end of the book, the relationship built a little bit more and you could start to feel the love and passion these two characters felt for each other.
These was not alot of angst, drama, or tension in this book…just a slow burn and a lot of hard work by some very creative and talented characters.
restaurant that had been converted to a dining room for the cast, hooked his
fingers over the molding at the top, and leaned forward a little to stretch his
chest muscles. It hurt with the good kind of pain, and he stayed on his toes
until Chelsea came up behind him.
knocking him off balance. “Some of us want to eat.”
stumbled forward. “I forgot to stretch my arms before coming up.”
downstairs.” Chelsea grinned and started making a sandwich from the deli meat
platter on the island. “The more we practice, the better you’ll be.”
as far as Olivier was concerned, the perfect anodyne for four hours of dancing
in shoes that felt like they were solid steel. He figured whatever Chelsea had
spent the morning doing to her partner, she needed to keep doing for another
several hours so Olivier could get another such view at the end of the day. “What’s
this about being stiff?” he asked as he took a plate for himself and prepared a
sandwich.
straight back to work.” JC took four bottles of water out of the refrigerator
and handed them around to Chelsea, Olivier, and Tricia. “I think I should take
time to stretch so I can move in the morning.”
still got four hours of rehearsal this afternoon. Everyone will be exhausted by
the end of the first week. It’s just the way it goes.”
training after we’ve had a break post championships,” Olivier said. “Yes, it’s
eight hour days, but we aren’t lifting weights or running drills.”
Swimming is very repetitive once you learn the right way to move. This is
different.” JC pulled his arms across his chest one at a time, stretching them.
The pull of muscle felt good and let him relax a little as he took a long
swallow of water and picked up his sandwich.
like it if you could move in the morning.”
muscles beneath his T-shirt and then forced himself to concentrate on lunch. He
still didn’t think it would be worse than the start of off-season training, but
that didn’t mean he intended to let anyone get the best of him. “You didn’t
stay here at the house last night,” he said to JC after a few minutes. “Do you
live nearby?”
live in Texas when I’m not training. My aunt has a house here in LA, though, so
Mama and I are staying with her.” He ducked his head as he realized he’d just
admitted he’d brought his mother with
him, and he tried not to think about whether he was more embarrassed because it
was Olivier or not. “She’s a huge fan of the show and insisted. My aunt said
she could stay too, and, well….” He shrugged, trying to play it off.
Olivier replied. “Don’t disappear every night, though. We had a good time
sitting around playing cards last night. Tyler says tonight he will teach me to
play rummy.”
JC chuckled ruefully. “There’s no way I can stay around tonight. If I miss it,
I’ll never live it down. You, uh—” He bit back the urge to invite Olivier over,
though he knew his mama would love it. “Let me know how the rummy goes. Maybe I’ll
stick around later in the week, and we can play.”
the game without JC present to see him embarrass himself. “You should bring
your mama to watch a rehearsal. I’m sure other couples would let her watch as
well.”
think Chelsea would appreciate Mama trying to give advice when I’m just
learning the moves.”
yet,” Chelsea said. “I’d hate for you to be embarrassed.”
grinned. “She loves dancing, and she’s watched every episode of Dance Off. She’ll probably try to give
you advice about what the judges like and what gets audience votes. I wouldn’t dare let her watch other couples yet.”
said with a wink for Tricia. “I could use all the help I can get.”
to give the audience what they want. I already have an idea for your costume.”
Olivier shirtless. It’ll make all the girls swoon.”
back, but he’d worry about convincing Tricia of that if it actually came up
with the costume department.
as she bumped her shoulder against his. “I’m sure all the girls would love to
see your abs as well.”
his amusement and failing. Dance Off
was different from swimming, but shirtless was shirtless, and on the ballroom
floor, he’d still have on pants and shoes. “Dripping
wet in a Speedo, mind you. No outfit you put me in could possibly be more
revealing than that.”
her partners wore in previous seasons.”
tempt me, Olivier thought, but he wasn’t quite ready to share with
everyone else just yet. He didn’t know Tricia and Chelsea that well, and while
he knew JC was bi, he didn’t know how JC would react to anything more than the
light flirting they had done so far. Olivier was willing to find out, but not
when they had an audience.
everything have to be appropriate for children?”
definitely gotten some well-concealed enjoyment out of watching some of his
teammates climb out of the pool at the end of practice or after swimming in a
meet, but there was no doubt that families of all sorts had watched them in
competition. “No one objected to the Speedo when I won races.”
Chelsea said. “People expect you to be mostly naked and soaking wet at a pool.
Not while you’re dancing.”
keep everything in line. They do a fabulous job with fitting everything. We’ll
probably have the first meetings with them tomorrow so they can take
measurements.”
Olivier said. He finished his sandwich and his bottle of water. “But now it is
time for more practice, yes?”
the recycling bin under the counter. “Come on, JC. Time’s a-wastin’.”
bottle in the bin and followed Chelsea out of the dining room, pausing to touch
the top of the doorframe as he passed through. “Don’t work too hard, Olivier.”
If they had known each other better, Olivier would have sworn that last little
stretch was for his benefit. As it was, he was left hot and bothered thinking
about it without any way to do anything about it.
oeil,” Olivier muttered. “We will show them how to do the cha-cha, n’est-ce pas, Tricia?”
doesn’t. Come on. Let’s get back to work.”
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