The Dance Deception" by Becky Ward is a fun and entertaining read, perfect for fans of romantic fiction and reality TV shows. The story follows Kate Wareing as she competes in a televised dance competition with a chance to win a life-changing cash prize. After being paired with the charming French dancer Merle, Kate's journey takes a turn when she is forced to switch to a new partner, Aleksis, who seems to hate her.

Despite the challenges, Kate convinces Aleksis to embark on a showmance to win over the public. However, as their fake relationship heats up, Kate's feelings for Aleksis become all too real. Meanwhile, Merle is determined to sabotage her chances in both the competition and love.

Overall, "The Dance Deception" is a feel-good and steamy read with lots of funny moments. The chemistry between Kate and Aleksis is electric, and the dance and reality show concepts add an extra layer of excitement to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This unfortunately was a DNF for me. I feel bad saying that but just couldn’t make it through.

This was a DNF for me unfortunately.
I was super excited by the premise, having grown up dancing with love for the world of pairs dancing.
It all felt super rushed and overdone from the beginning, and I cringed alot at the spice. I love steamy scenes in books but these felt forced and didn’t genuinely add to the story.

I love books about dancing and reality show competitions, so I was excited about reading 'The Dance Deception', but this story was a disappointment. The characters were one dimensional and very flat. I feel like I didn't learn anything about any of the characters, except that they were competing on a reality dancing competition show. The main character, Kate, is paired up with Merle, and they are immediately attracted to each other. They start hooking up in the dance studio during their dance training. After a conflict (no spoilers here), Kate is paired up with Aleksis, and they get off to a rocky start. Eventually, she and Aleksis begin a showmance, but it leads to other feelings.

I would have preferred this story if it just focused on Kate and Aleksis. Instead, there was a bit of a love triangle setup, and it just didn't work. For an effective love triangle, I want to be able to root for them. I didn't care who she wound up with because there wasn't enough of a relationship setup at all.

I didn't like how Merle got away with all of the bad things that he did, and he didn't face any consequences. I kept waiting for him to get caught or found out or punished in some way, but it never happened. It was so disappointing.

Overall, the story had a good concept, but the execution was disjointed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for an ARC of this book.

I am going to DNF at 45%, I am so sorry!

I didn't think any of the sex scenes early on with Merle were necessary. They felt forced and uncomfortable. A closed door situation would have been better in my opinion. Save the angst and spice for later with the actual love interest. Although I did find the bad sex scene kind of funny.

The next issue I had was how Merle was so easily forgiven by the audience. Maybe I have more faith in humanity, but I really don't think the audience would have taken to a man who cheated on his wife the week before and then moved on and was now kissing ANOTHER woman on screen. It felt so fake and it's already clear he wants to win and will do whatever it takes.

Then there is the fake relationship with Aleksis...he decides so quickly oh yes, let's pretend we are in love and beat Merle at his own game. But to make it worse, his sister has this grand plan they must actually share the bed for real and then leave her house to be seen so their relationship becomes public. It went from fake dating to one bed way too fast.

The writing was fine for the most part and easy to follow, but I think the characters should have been fleshed out more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dance Deception is a well written debut novel. It’s sexy, intriguing, well paced and the plot will keep you entertained.

At the centre of the of "The Dance Deception" is a Strictly Come Dancing style TV show but with members of the public rather than "celebrities" and a Latin/African bias to the dances. Kate Wareing is entered in to the competition by best friend Lucy and has the experience of a lifetime - making friends, learning to dance and having plenty of sex. In fact there is rather too much detail of her sexual exploits for me, and I used to read Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins when I was younger. More effort could have been put in to fleshing out the characters, instead of the repetitive sex scenes.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

A Strictly fan here, and one who's always intrigued when a relationship forms between the pair. However, this was a bit full on. Sex scenes from the off which I felt unnecessary, and then just a generic partner swap and both couple then get together again. Definitely not believable, and felt very far fetched. I'm not sure without watching the dances this had the same appeal. This was all a bit stereotypical, 2 dimensional and unbelievable for me,

One to read on holiday - a little steamy between the covers but a feel good read about the back stage of a dance show.
Good fun and easy read.

Well! I knew The Dance Deception was going to be spicy but I was NOT ready to go there so quick (that’s really on me though!). I did enjoy the story. Kate is on a Dancing with the Stars type show but instead of stars the show is using unknown people paired up with pros. As any reality show there’s LOTS of drama which keeps the interest level up.

This was a beautiful story. Great for fans of strictly but just too many pages of descriptive sex. In the end I just skimmed them . I really loved the story idea.

I was bored the entire time. The characters were basic and uninspiring. The setting was blah and overall I was just constantly bored out of my mind.

Kate is paired with professional dancer Merle in a dance competition. She is forced to switch partner but Aleksis seems to hate her. She convinced Aleksis to embark on a showmance but her feelings turn real...

Love the dancing and reality show concept. I do like Kate and Aleksis a lot. Very funny scenes and sexy ones too. Great chemistry between the main characters.
A great read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

The Dance Deception looks fantastic! Thank you so much for granting my wish! I certainly will share my full review and thoughts upon completion. The storyline looks fantastic and the cover immediately draws the reader in and anything yo do with dancing has this girl at hello!