Book Blurb:
From the gutter to the stars...
Dance is in my blood.
It’s what keeps me sane, out of trouble. It used to keep them out of trouble too.
A group of boys I grew up with.
Xeno, York, Zayn and Dax.
We were a crew once and we ruled the clubs.
Separate we were insanely good, together we were unbeatable. F*&ing on fire.
I was their girl and they were my Breakers.
Until they did something they promised they never would; break my heart.
We were seventeen when they left me.
You see, for kids like us, dance was all we had.
Growing up in a rundown housing estate in London with no prospects can make you view the world differently.
It can make you choose the wrong path.
I chose dance, and they chose crime.
Three years later I’ve won a scholarship to Stardom Academy. I try to forget my past.
But how can I do that when the four boys who hurt me are back?
And this time they’re following in my footsteps and joining the academy too.
**Freestyle is book one of this new gritty, contemporary reverse harem academy trilogy for 17+ readers and deals with adult themes and some subjects you may find upsetting. If you love dance, your men on the criminal side, alpha hot holes and the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers trope, this is for you. Contains foul language and sexual scenes and ends on a cliffhanger.**
Bea Paige isn’t a new author to me, I’ve read her Academy of Misfits series and really enjoyed it. So when the opportunity to receive ARCs of Freestyle & Lyrical came up, I jumped at the opportunity and said screw my aversion to cliffhangers. I’m so happy I did!
Book 1 is the Stardom Academy is a reverse harem story about Penelope, Zayn, Xeno, York & Dax. The 5 of them used to be a part of the Breakers crew but broke up for a reason we don’t know 3 years prior to the story beginning. Throughout this book, it bounces back and forth between present and the past working through when they first met and ending ultimately with what drove them apart.
What begins as a friendship eventually becomes strained when Pen falls for all 4 of her boys. All we know at this point is that something happened to cause the boys to feel betrayed by Pen and for her to feel betrayed by them. Fast forward to the present and suddenly, after not seeing them for 3 years, each boy she fell in love with and spent the last 3 years missing appear back in her life. And for reasons we don’t know, she’s terrified. “He can’t know how scared I am that he’s here, that the Breakers are back.“ As the world she just started to gain control over begins falling apart around her due to choices she made as a child, she has to deal with the fact that all four of the Breakers look at her with resentment and betrayal in their eyes.
“Zayn, Xeno, Dax and York were my Breakers and I was their girl. Was being the operative word.“
The steam factor is pretty mild in this book, most of it took place in the past, which made sense for their story. Definitely a slow burn. But you can tell that when the tension from three years ago comes to a head, there’s going to be an explosion.
I enjoyed the format of this book and how little pieces of the past were revealed so you can’t see the full story until the very end. Once what drove them apart is revealed, all the little breadcrumbs that had been dropped suddenly made sense. Then we bounce back to the present just in time for the book to end in a cliffhanger. A major cliffhanger! I expected one, but I still was taken by surprise. What a ride! Luckily Lyrical, Book 2 is releasing tomorrow, September 23rd and my review will be live at 7AM EST tomorrow morning. Spoiler Alert: it’s another 5 star read.
RATING: 5/5 STARS ✰✰✰✰✰
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