From the gutter to the stars… Dance is in my blood. It’s what keeps me sane, out of trouble. It used to keep them out of trouble too.A group of boys I grew up with. Xeno, York, Zayn and Dax. We were a crew once and we ruled the clubs. Separate we were insanely good, together we were unbeatable. F&ing on fire. I was their girl and they were my Breakers.Until they did something they promised … Breakers.
Until they did something they promised they never would; break my heart.
We were seventeen when they left me.
You see, for kids like us, dance was all we had.
Growing up in a rundown housing estate in London with no prospects can make you view the world differently.
It can make you choose the wrong path.
I chose dance, and they chose crime.
Three years later I’ve won a scholarship to Stardom Academy. I try to forget my past.
But how can I do that when the four boys who hurt me are back?
And this time they’re following in my footsteps and joining the academy too.
Freestyle is book one of this new gritty, contemporary reverse harem academy romance for 17+ readers and deals with adult themes and some subjects you may find upsetting. If you love dance, your men on the criminal side, alpha hot holes and the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers trope, this is for you. Contains foul language and sexual scenes and ends on a cliffhanger.*
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bea paige your an evil evillll woman and i salute you freestyle was your most intense read yet 2nd only to the misfits series pen and her breakers are all flawed peoples united by one thing there love of dance in its various forms this read pulled me in and did not let me go untill it was finished i was and still am destroyed by that book im looking forward to the secrets being kept by both and pen and her guys being revealed and known to one another and hears to hoping the misunderstandings can be cleared up also pens brother and the guy who the breakers are working for both of them need to die im not one for death but those 2 males for what they done and want to do death is what they deserve want to know what they did grab freestyle and find out you wont regret it 🙂 well done bea paige and one final thing i hope your paying for the therapy costs for everyone after what you did to us in this book 😛 keep up the fantastic and amazing work
Bea Paige has written an interesting first book in a new series…the cover is absolutely amazing and the concept behind the story seems simple but as you read it gets complex and more intense than you think! The story goes from present to past moments that help to set the scene for the rest of the series but without this we would not get to understand the characters past and how dangerous their world is. I am interested to see what happens next, especially after that ending! Bea Paige once again grabbed my attention and has me wanting more, she is a very talented author.
Bea Paige has done it again! I have totally fallen in love with another series of her’s and she has left me salivating on the floor, at her feet, begging for more! Freestyle was so. freaking. good. I loved all the characters and that they had a history with each other too. Not many bully books have history, a lot of the times it’s a “new” relationship where they bully the FMC out of the gate. This was a different side where the guys had all loved her previously and they had a falling out. You will get to see flashes of their past together and what led up to their parting ways, along with all of the dark spots of their past that leads up to the inevitable split. I just freaking adored every one of the guys, and seeing them fall for her just squeezed my heart. And can we seriously talk about how she is going to literally kill me with her cliff hangers!? I might seriously die of a heart attack from that one!! UGHHHH I cannot recommend Freestyle enough!! SO SO GOOD!!! I have a feeling this series is going to be favorite yet or at least tied with Misfits on my must reads list.
What an amazing start to a new series!!
This book will have you kept on your toes the whole way through! There are so many twists and turns and your heart breaks for these characters with everything they have been through in their lives and what they are still going through! I loved the mention of characters from other series which was a nice wee surprise and the loved how this story was unique and keeps you guessing!
You will struggle to adult while reading this story as it is hard to put down! You dont want to miss a thing and become so engrossed wanting to figure out everything that’s at play! These characters will not steal a piece of you quietly, they will jump right in and dance all over your heart and make you take notice!
Can’t wait to find out what’s to come next!
A MUST READ!!
I’m newer to the Bea Paige fandom, and with books like Freestyle I want to slap myself for taking so long to discover her. Crisp writing, a tight and gripping narrative style, and emotionally nuanced and imperfect characters- Bea is a world builder, and Freestyle is an emotional, intriguing, and complex world that blew me away.
Our story centers on a RH friends-to-enemies (and hopefully to lovers) story. Our heroine Pen is fantastic. She’s a warrior- a survivor of multiple challenging circumstances, but she won’t give up. She’s also incredibly passionate, focused, and hard working. She lives with integrity even though she’s surrounded by greed and corruption. She takes nothing for granted, and selflessly sacrifices for the happiness and well being of others. She’s tough, but at her core she just wants to be loved, to matter to someone, to be FREE. She’s the kind of heroine you can admire and root for, the kind of heroine who you empathize with and hurt for.
And our harem, the BREAKERS? DELICIOUS. These guys are so well articulated, so intimately defined and developed- unique, dimensional, each completely compelling- which is HARD for RH. Not to mention, Bea so carefully sketches the emotional architecture of Pen to each guy- carefully constructed so that each relationship feels not only intimate and fully realized but also fundamental to the bones of these characters, and fundamental to the crew. The chemistry sizzles.
Where Bea really distinguishes her writing chops is in the surprise 5th harem member: Dance. Yes, the art of dance is so lovingly portrayed here, so fundamental to the emotional progression of our story and the characters’ development that it becomes a character in and of itself. I was doubly that an artform so VISUAL, so experiential, and so tied to music could be adequately conveyed in writing. Bea does this beautifully- she’s clearly researched, artfully uses imagery and descriptive language to build movement for us with words- her prose creatively conveying the emotive experience of each character in the many kinds of dancing they use to express their joy, their anger, their pain. Each character’s dance style serves to help us better understand them. The love for dance, the power of it as an artform bleeds off the page, elevating dance to a living, breathing character of this complex story. Dance becomes the emotional center of this story- an energy in and of itself.
The narrative is a split timeline, told all through Pen’s POV. Not my fav approach normally because I’m impatient, but here it really worked, even if it meant the overall progress in the story is slower because we’re building two concurrent stories. (and this also means this is a slower burn). But, it keeps you hooked, anxious to find out what is happening back in the timeline you were exploring, and it really serves our characters well- helps us understand them and also the impact of the past on the present as Bea skillfully juxtaposes the past and present- in character voice and emotive tone, in how they look, and, brilliantly, in how they dance. Answers are slow to be revealed, but what an emotional, agonizing, and angst journey. You are left with some unanswered questions, including the motivations of the Breakers, and a GIANT cliffy- HOLY SMOKES, that final scene! I sure hope we get some Breaker POV in the next book, too!
Freestyle is an enthralling, angsty, dark DELIGHT. I fell in love with these characters. I couldn’t step away from this menacing and captivating world Bea Paige has created. I need book 2 now!! <3
Freestyle features Pen and her old dance crew. It was an interesting take on the typical dancer story – no ballet here. Pure street dancing.
The story is told with multiple flashbacks, which I normally hate, but the trickling of history worked well here. Pen meets her breakers when they are young teens, coming together due to their shared love of street and break dancing. They live in a rough neighborhood so dancing has become their form of escape.
The bully aspect of the book got to me. So much felt so unnecessary; all the secrets that each side is keeping. Maybe COMMUNICATION could have prevented so much unhappiness and angst.
Regardless, I was hooked. The cliffhanger just cemented my interest and I’m totally sucked in.
Freestyle grabbed me from the very first page, and had me on the edge of my seat til the very end. This story has so many elements woven together to create an utterly engrossing story. In the present, Pen and the Breakers are very much enemies at the Academy of Stardom. They each blame the other for the breakdown of their relationship, which is revealed in flashbacks throughout the book. It’s done very well, and you’re fully invested this shared history while anticipating what caused the big break. The dance scenes are flawless, written so well you feel a part of it. Each of the Breakers has a chosen style of dance that they excel in, and I love how that is incorporated in their characters and helps to make the group a collection of distinct individuals. Pen is a fierce heroine you immediately root for.
This is an amazing start to a new series, full of hot tattooed bad boys, dance, and loads of family drama and angst. I can’t wait to read book 2!
I can’t express how utterly perfect this book is. The author does an absolutely amazing job emitting emotion to the reader. You can feel all the heartache, all the angst, all the pain, all the joy but most importantly all the love between the characters. Pen and her breakers are amazing characters. The chemistry they all share is so electric!!! I got lost in the words of this book to the point I was disappointed when I finally got to the last page. I had no clue that I hadn’t torn my eyes away from the pages for hours. I love that this book is a shared world with the other series this author has written. While it is completely separate, it was great to see some familiar and loved characters mentioned. This book made my top 10 reads so far this year. I cant wait to see the continuation in the next book.