Review: Good
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
If you are a fan of the show “Dancing with the Stars”, then this is the book for you! “Waltz on the Wild Side” is pretty much a behind the scenes play by play of the ballroom dancing competition. The book alternates POV between Salome and Vika, former best friends and now bitter rivals. After years of competing in the ballroom circuit, they now go head to head on network television. Salome has always been the underdog of the dance world. Too short and too heavy, she is constantly overlooked despite her talent. Ever since coming to America from Ukraine, Vika has had to fight to get to the top and she has not always followed the rules to get there. Her marriage to a man more than twice her age has been amazing for her career but she isn’t happy. During a season of “Dancing Under the Stars”, both of their lives will change forever.This book started slowly for me. The main focus of the story is the two girls and the male characters really take a secondary role. Both Salome and Vika are pretty flawed and I had an especially hard time with Vika, although, she does redeem herself a bit in the end. I felt a real lack of romance and by about the 60% mark there wasn’t much in sight. In spite of the slow start, the story does pick up and there is enough drama to keep the pages turning. This is definitely not a steamy romance but more of a chick-lit, tongue-in-cheek look at the ballroom dance/reality show world.Dana