This is a pretty one-to-one retelling of Pretty Woman, swapping out a sex worker for a ballerina (who, yes, historically could likely have been a sex worker but this one is not) and therefore saving the author the complicated work of having a sex worker heroine. It's fine! It's a fine book. I didn't always buy the chemistry, and Lysander is kind of a flat character.

There were two elements where I think Howard was making an attempt at increasing representation in the novel that really didn't work for me. In the author's note and, like, three brief statements  in the book, there are allusions to the fact that Lysander is neurodivergent. None of that is ever explored, and honestly I'm tired of this kind of disingenuous representation where someone is *insert marginalized identity* simply because the author states that they are once and it's not ever brought up or thought about. Something similar happens when Neve and Lysander discuss children - her periods are irregular from dance, which is a real thing! But it feels yucky to be like "oh my periods are irregular because I'm soooooo slim and slender from ballet" and not because "I work really hard to keep my body at both peak performance and peak aesthetics and sometimes that means I don't nourish myself adequately," you know?

Anyways, I suppose those are maybe minor issues. But I do feel like they're worth bringing up. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book - I just like others of hers more.

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for the ARC!