Book Details:
Book Title: The Winner: A Ballroom Dance Novel by Erin Bomboy
Category: Adult Fiction, 326 pages
Genre: Women’s Literature, Literary Romance
Publisher: Curtain Call Press
Release date: Dec 20, 2016
Content Rating: PG-13: (four brief sex scenes with no named body parts and written in metaphor, five minor instances of profanity (no f bombs), no violence)
Book Description:
The most prestigious ballroom dance competition in the United States.
Two dancers need to win.
Only one can.
Nina Fortunova wasn’t supposed to end up almost thirty, divorced, with her dreams of winning shattered. She teams up with Jorge Gonzalez, a Latin dancer, to reinvent the flashy Smooth style. When the Chairman of the Judges offers to throw the competition in their favor, Nina must decide how far she will go to win, even if it means losing Jorge.
Carly Martindale is doing everything she’s been taught not to do—placing her happiness first by dancing with Trey Devereux, the former three-time champion who’s returned to competition for mysterious reasons. Carly becomes obsessed with Trey and allows him to control her every move at great risk to her physical and emotional health. How far will she sacrifice herself, so Trey and she can win? Co-workers, then friends, and now arch competitors, Nina and Carly face off to determine who will be the winner.
Bright, emotive, and told through dual narrators, The Winner examines the costs associated with winning, the internalization of parental ambition, and the effect of gendered roles on and off the dance floor. A literary romance, The Winner is perfect for readers who love Dancing with the Stars, Strictly Come Dancing, So You Think You Can Dance, and the old-school elegance of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Winner contains a fact-versus-fiction section at the end.
Praise for The Winner:
“ . . . educational, enjoyable, and engrossing.”
– Midwest Book Review
“The Winner is a winner.”
– Goodreads Review
“Rousing, bittersweet, and heartbreakingly beautiful.”
– Amazon Review
To read more reviews, please visit Erin Bomboy’s page on iRead Book Tours.
My Review: 5/5
I’ve been a lover of dance from an early age. I grew up taking dance, gymnastics, and twirling. In high school I was on the drill team, and later in life I found myself tearing up the dance floor with friends. I am a frequent watcher of the television show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. When I was given the opportunity to read a book about the inside world of dance competition, I jumped at the chance. I was highly pleased!
This book is a phenomenal. It dives into the world of ballroom dance competition. From the views of two women (Nina and Carly) who are training to become dance champions, it is a heartfelt and touching story.
Nina’s heritage is Russian. Her parents migrated over before she was born. From an early age, she had her sights set on dancing and winning the championship. Her drive leads her to lose people she cares about, and learn lessons along the away. Just how far will she go to win?
Then there is Carly. She is from a small town in Ohio, and has moved to New York as an escape from her family, including her sever-autistic brother. She is soon partnered with Trey, a three-time champion, and her life takes a drastic turn. Will she win? And will she ever recover from the changes her life takes?
I love the characters in this book. I felt the ache in their muscles as they practiced day and night. I empathized with them as they went though another disappointment in life. And I cheered along with them as triumphs occurred.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who has any interest in dance. For a behind the scenes view, this book hits the mark! A true WINNER!!
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Erin Bomboy trained as a classical ballet dancer before spending a decade as a professional competitive ballroom dancer. She holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter where she works as a writer, editor, and teacher in the dance field. In her free time, Erin enjoys bacon, books, cats, and wine.
She is the author of The Piece: A Contemporary Ballet Novel and The Winner: A Ballroom Dance Novel. Her next novel, tentatively titled The Pas de Deux: A Classical Ballet Novel, will explore the relationship between a ballerina at the end of her career and the much-younger dancer with whom she falls in love. Taking the shape of a traditional pas de deux, it will premiere in 2018.
Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter
Kristin's Novel Café 
Thank you so much for reading and your review!
LikeLiked by 1 person