The Dance Off, or Why We're Hoping for 25 More Books from Ally Blake

“Where are your leg-warmers?”

Dancing lessons...? Hot-shot architect Ryder Fitzgerald can’t think of anything worse! But he spots a silver lining in the form of smoking-hot Nadia Kent, who’ll be teaching him his steps for his sister’s wedding – maybe this won’t be so torturous after all...

Nadia is staying well clear of Ryder – never mind how jaw-droppingly hot he is. She made the mistake of letting a guy get in the way of her ambition once before, and she’s not about to do it again. No matter how well he swivels his hips!

But, as electricity crackles in the studio, restricting their chemistry to the dance floor becomes a challenge... The only question is, who’s going to make the first move?

It’s been ten years since Ally Blake published her very first book, and that’s ten years packed with fun, sassy and delightful romances.  The Dance Off is her 25^th book for Mills & Boon, and I was totally psyched to see what she came up with.

Now, I’ve always been a little bit in love with dancing – especially when there’s handsome rugby players involved (oh Ben Cohen – next week’s Strictly Come Dancing final won’t be the same without you!!) – so having her heroine as a dance instructor was always going to win me over.  And then there was Ryder.  Suited and so hot he could start a fire with his intense gaze, he seemed to be the perfect fit for free-spirited Nadia.

I loved the fact that Nadia’s career is something that is in development.  She’s working towards overcoming her previous fears as well as perfecting Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics.  This incredibly sensual woman makes the perfect foil for Ryder, though even she doesn’t expect the way he reacts to her.

There’s a wonderfully intimate scene where she performs a routine for him that becomes a mix of emotion and lust until he joins her in the ribbons and they join together in every sense of the word.

Ally Blake’s the queen of creating characters who spark against each other in ways that mean that they come to accept their pasts for what they are (ie. the past) and move on together.  The Dance Off is no different.  Both Nadia and Pyder have issues that can’t be ignored and it’s only in opening up to each other that they find the courage to face their problems.

So yes, loving everything about these characters and their story, and there’s a tiny part of me that wants to see how Ryder’s sister and her fiancé got together...

And Mills & Boon Boy Tony loved it just as much.