Flirty Dancing by Jenny McLachlan Pages: 245
Published by Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan on April 28, 2015
Genres: contemporary, Humorous Stories, Love & Romance, Young Adult
Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher
Bea Hogg is shy, but she has a fiery core that she doesn't let many see. When the national dance competition Starwars comes to her school looking for talent, she wants to sign up. It's just her luck that her best friend Kat ditches her and agrees to enter with school super-witch Pearl Harris (and Bea's former best friend).
Bea is determined to fight back! But when the school hottie, Ollie Matthews, who also happens to be Pearl's boyfriend, decides to enter the competition with Bea to jive dance, she will have more than a fight on her hands.
Debut author Jenny McLachlan weaves a warm and hilarious story of friendship and dance starring the refreshing and plucky Bea Hogg.
Flirty Dancing is such a fun read. It kind of reminded me of the British Georgia Nickelson series. Laugh out loud antics with a refreshingly levelheaded main character. I don’t know how to best describe Bea. She is her own person, she is nice, has a good little group of friends (most of the time), is quirky funny, has eclectic interests and is such a great big sister. She just seems like a well rounded girl that I would love to be friends with. And she brings Flirty Dancing to life. I loved watching her Jive. The more she jive danced, the happier she got. It was like she just started glowing as the book went on. I know that sounds kind of dramatic and strange, but dancing really brought Bea to life. It was lovely to see.
In Flirty Dancing, a show like Britain’s got Talent, was search for high school students all across the country. First up was dancing. And Bea’s school was one of the schools on the auditions list, so naturally the whole school went crazy forming dance groups. First, of all I give Bea major props for even deciding to do a dance. She didn’t have any training and she was already kind of picked on at school. And both of her best friends joined other dance groups, leaving Bea all alone. (I think if she really wanted to she could have joined Betty’s group, but that is besides the point.) Just deciding to try out, won Bea huge points in my book. And then her grandma talked her into doing jive and swing dancing. I loved the throw back feel, plus I think Jive dancing is awesome. I had big band music playing in my head every time I watched Bea practice.
And then can we talk about Ollie?? And how awesome he is. This is a guy that is genuinely nice and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. I wish that more Ollie’s went to my high school. He is a rare breed. He didn’t even think twice about dancing with Bea, when his sister paired them up. He was never anything but totally nice and fun with her. I just loved Ollie. When Bea was made fun on right off the bat in the book, I was kind of worried that Ollie was going to take some warming up to her, because he was the hot guy, but that wasn’t the case at all. Ollie is a gem.
Flirty Dancing is the first book in the Ladybirds series. The second book is already out in Australia and Britain, but I don’t think we will get it until next year sometime. It is Betty’s story. The Ladybirds is the name of the group that Bea, Betty, Kat and Pearl (the mean one.) formed when they were younger. I want to find out more about Pearl and Kat because I don’t know what caused Pearl to turn into a mean girl, and Kat disappointed me with her sheep-ness in this book. But Jenny McLachlan is an author that I want to see lots more of. I love her writing style. Humor seems effortless in Flirty Dancing. I was smiling and laughing with every turn of the page. If you are looking for a Laugh out loud, flirty fun read, look no further than Flirty Dancing. It is great.
'Laugh out loud Flirty Fun' @BookBriefs #reviews Flirty Dancing by @JennyMcLachlan1 @FeiwelFriends Click To Tweet
While you are here…
Have you entered these awesome Giveaways?
Click the banner to enter
kindlemom1
I am always up for a read that makes me laugh and this sounds so much fun! Great review Michelle!
Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books
This book sounds so cute and adorable!! I haven an arc of it, I can’t wait to start it now. The protagonist seems pretty awesome, and so does Ollie. I love the throwback moments you’re referring to, I’ll check this one out. lovely review <3
Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books
Megan McDade
I have this for review from a while ago. It sounds cute and fun. I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Jaime Lester
I cannot dance, but I love to dance. If I could magically make myself talented in one area, it would be dancing. I might not be good at it, but I love it, and anything to do with it. SYTYCD is one of my fave shows. So this book, especially with Jiving and Swing dancing, is awesome. I am definitely going to check it out. And a huge plus is an awesome MC, and an awesome guy, to boot! Thanks for the review!
Gabs
Wow, this sounds like an awesome contemporary! I’ve been looking for a well-done humorous book for a while. And I love the title, haha! Plus, dancing is one of my favorite things, so that’s a bonus. Great review. 🙂
The Cosy Dragon
Sounds like a great chilled back and funny bookie. Sometimes you just need a good cute book like this. Thanks for sharing, I’ll look out for it 😀
Morgan
I have this one, and need to read it! Your review makes me want to read it even more now. Glad you enjoyed it!