I went in wanting genuinely to give this four stars. I am giving it a star and a half. It was seriously flawed from a writing perspective, but somehow I whipped through it and couldn't put it down for the first half. No clue why. The way ballet is written about in this, makes me think the author did it herself for awhile, knew someone who did, or is amazing at research and the emotions people experience. I heartily applaud the author for bringing it to life so convincingly. I was so pleased to read a queer romance that was by a queer person, not a straight person trying hard to be ~diverse~. Enemies to lovers isn't my thing. Among other reasons, it's because in nearly every book, the change is so fast I'd get whiplash. It's never convincing at all. This book had it, and even for the trope itself, the change was breakneck speed. So, they kiss in chapter seven and have sex in chapter twelve. The pacing was strange and felt inauthentic. The book had lots of exposition. Everyone spoke in speeches and chunks of information, not anything natural. I wasn't attached to anyone. No one seemed cute together, despite the moments that were clearly intended to be so. Other tropes that were attempted and felt shoved in because Brayden couldn't think of anything else: Temporary Roommate due to apartment flooding; and I Have A Girlfriend but You're So Hot. Said girlfriend was conveniently across the country, and conveniently flew in on the day the heroines were in the studio, and conveniently walked in right after they'd kissed.

Ana doesn't seem able to advocate for herself much. Her entire life is ballet. I do get it, but she's still going to have a favorite movie, a favorite song, a favorite food, goals, places she wants to go...none were explored really, for anyone. Natalie is super pushy. I regularly reread the das_sporking recaps of 50SOG, and...there were parallels. I did not want to notice them. I convinced myself my brain was just internet-poisoned. This Ana is nowhere near as stupid. She's just melodramatic and shares some things with the other one. Natalie is not as slimy, skeezy, or awful or creepy as Xtian, but she -is- pushy and -does- have trouble with boundaries and -does- manipulate situations and blames Ana. This book was written in third person, and had a lot of POV skews. They were so strangely done and annoying to read. This book would have been so much easier and more interesting if it had been a more clearly dual-perspective, first-person one. "A Time For Dancing" by Davida Wills Hurwin does an excellent job of this: each chapter alternates between the dancers, with their names clearly stated at the top. This book jerks readers around sentence by sentence for reasons I cannot explain. I had to reread paragraphs regularly to figure out who was talking about what and why.

There is a big plot point of Ana's tendon in her foot about to snap. This is realistic and understandable. I thought the book was going to go a certain way with this: it snapping onstage, big and dramatic and gross. The book did not do this, and I actually think that was a missed opportunity for good drama and realism. Instead, Ana is in a terrible car accident in which her arm is injured to the point where she won't regain full motion in it. From everything else previously stated in the book, this makes no sense! Have her foot, leg, and hip permanently injured, and lower back. -That- is far more realistic and more thorough an injury to end someone's career. She has a concussion and spends time in the ICU. That, I was expecting and appreciated from a story perspective. Natalie is grumpy that the nurses won't let her into the ICU until Ana's dad shows up and she gets to accompany him. The edition of the book I read came out in 2011 and takes place in New York of the USA. She probably would have had to carry a marriage license with her to prove they were together. In Washington State in 2011, you did. I knew someone this exact situation happened to, and her partner had to show their marriage license. So Natalie's being unrealistically grumpy when they've been dating what, a few months? Dude, they are not going to let you in.

A common trope in romance of any orientation is that one partner is far less experienced than the other. In queer romances, this goes for both relationships and sex: one person has been out way longer, and often they're the one the person comes out of the closet for or discovers they're not heterosexual as they thought they were. The trope is only ever done in romances of any orientation so they more experienced partner can have the best sex of their life and give the inexperienced partner orgasms too. I do not like this trope! There's never any in-depth communication about sensations, emotions, or health issues! Ugh.

It would have added more character to Ana's dad if Ana had woken up to him delivering the news about her career ending, not a woman who until recently was her rival. No wonder Ana thought Natalie was gloating. I thought so too. Ana's dad delivering the news could have taught the audience even more about their relationship to one another, ballet, self-image, what they would do as family from this point....nope, better have the woman you've been dating only a few deliver serious news to you that she benefits from. Rrgh. The ending was weak and annoying. I'm glad got through this, though. ( )

Brayden is one of my favorite authors. I’ve enjoyed all her books so far; however, First Position is my least favorite despite the four-star rating. My initial impressions while reading the first few pages included Ana being the type of person who pushed herself to fulfill her dreams, but Natalie and her free-spiritedness (not sure that's grammatically correct) would be the one to muck up Ana’s dream. (Non-spoiler alert: parts of my first impressions were not true.) I didn’t feel the ice queen or the hate-love tension between the two, but the spark is there. Unfortunately, that spark falters when one of the main characters seemed emotionally detached at one point after the other experienced a traumatic experience.

My nitpicking aside, for those who enjoy workplace romances, First Position is a decent read. In the not so near future, I may have a go at rereading Ana and Natalie’s journey and update my initial review. ( )

Overgave door Melissa Brayden

Brayden schreef al verschillende romans maar voor mij was dit haar eerste. Eerlijk gezegd zou ik het op basis van de cover nooit gelezen hebben (iets te Amerikaans) maar het onderwerp sprak me enorm aan: ballet en een ontluikende verliefdheid. En als kers op de taart eens niet tussen het cliché jongen-meisje maar meisje-meisje. Woehoe! Elk boek dat dit stereotype doorbreekt verdient van mij een pluim.

Overgave gaat over de super gefocuste Anastasia die er alles voor over heeft om de prima ballerina van New York te worden. Alles moet wijken voor haar ultieme doel; buiten ballet bestaat er geen wereld. Tot ze moet samenwerken met Natalie, super getalenteerd maar met een lak aan regels en een enorme drang naar vrijheid.

Dat geeft natuurlijk vonken. Op en naast het podium…
En ja, dat klinkt super cliché maar door de setting, de hoofdpersonen en de onverwachte wendingen leest dit boek als een trein en onderscheidt het zich zeker van fluffy, zeemzoete romans.

Anastasia en Natalie zijn beiden heel zelfbewuste, krachtige vrouwen die stevig op hun eigen benen staan. (Hoewel het soms ook fijn is om eens de benen van iemand anders tussen die van jezelf te krijgen…) Vrouwen om naar op te kijken en zo lees ik ze graag.
Overgave geeft een kijkje achter de schermen van het leven als ballerina met daarnaast een fijne portie romantiek en een gezonde dosis zinderende seks.

Laat je dus niet afschrikken door de cover en kies eens iets dat buiten de traditionele lijntjes kleurt. Van mij mag er zelfs een film van komen (als fan van de boeken én de serie van Anna Ballerina). ( )

After Ab Kaāl, Melissa Brayden is definitely our favourite author. Her books are formulistic, yes, but it is a good formula. It is pleasant and we know there is a happy ending in store for us. Each time we finish one of Brayden’s books, we can’t wait for another.

Some of the things we love about Brayden’s books are that her characters are really chill. They have problems, issues, complexes but they don’t carry the weight of it all around. They make it through with panache, and humour.

Read full review @https://www.bestlesficreviews.com/2019/01/first-position-by-melissa-brayden.html ( )

"First Position" is a sweet story about finding love in unexpected places with someone you didn't let yourself get to know at first. It's fun to spend time with these young women, watching them challenge each other initially as blink-and-you'll-miss-it "rival" ballerinas and support each other as friends and lovers as they grow in their relationship. It's a light read with a bit of heat, and checks off plenty of romance tropes. ( )