How much you enjoy Second Night Stand by Karelia and Fay Stetz-Waters might largely depend on whether or not you are a dancer. I am a dancer, and I found myself really disappointed by the amount of dance-related content in this sapphic romance centered around contestants on a reality TV dance competition show. To be fair, I am often disappointed by the amount of dance in dance-themed books.
Lillian is a Black ballet dancer and director of her dance company; Izzy (aka Blue) is a curvy burlesque dancer and owner of the theatre where her no-audition, body-positive troupe performs. They both have strong financial incentives driving them to go for the big cash prize in a reality contest that has a name which will remind you of America’s Got Talent, but is apparently an entirely dance-themed show. Why doesn’t the show have a dance-themed name? I don’t know. Why does the show film in Portland? I also don’t know. In fact there are a LOT of things that I don’t understand this book, which interfered with my enjoyment even more than the fact that we have to get well into the book until we actually see any descriptions of anyone actually dancing.
Here’s a thing I don’t understand: Lillian’s cousin manages to gain constant access to the backstage and the apartments where the dancers are staying by printing herself a badge that says “INFLUENCER.” In what universe would a reality competition even want an influencer backstage at their competition?
Here’s a thing I don’t understand: Izzy worries that if she loses her theatre, there will be no place for her body-positive burlesque troupe to perform. In Portland Oregon. PORTLAND OREGON. I guarantee you if I open my Instagram right now, I’ll see a post about curvy burlesque dancers performing in Portland, because I know several of them personally and know other people who cast them in their shows. And the thing is, it would have taken a really small tweak to make this motivation work. Just make it about how too many venues closed during the pandemic and Izzy is trying to get something new afloat to create a space for all kinds of alternative entertainment.
Here’s a thing I don’t understand: Izzy was upset that a venue in Seattle asked her no-audition troupe not to do the second half of their show because they weren’t good enough. Izzy, girl, why are you putting your amateur dancers on professional stages? You don’t need a mold-infested theatre, you need to collaborate with other teachers/directors in town to curate a quarterly student-friendly show.
Look, don’t ever read a romance novel about your own hobbies or industry, you’ll just get mad about everything they get wrong.
But seriously. The first time Lillian’s company performs on the show, we get zero description of what they do. The dancers in Izzy’s troupe speculate about whether Lillian’s group had the rights to that choreography; someone else says it was probably old enough to be public domain. You can’t even tell us what choreography it is? What kind of music they danced to? What they wore? One single thing about their performance?
Are you wondering about the other performers in this competition? Don’t bother. You’ll get the names of the groups and what kind of dance they do, but you won’t really meet any of them or get more than the vaguest description of their performances. They simply exist because a reality competition show has to have more than two competitors.
Did you come to this review hoping to read about the actual romance? TOO DANG BAD, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT DANCE!
Ok, just kidding. The romance was fine, I guess? It’s been almost three weeks since I read it. Basically Lillian is a one-night-stand kinda gal who thought she’d never see Izzy again after their hookup and now whoops, they’re on the same TV show, it’s time for forced proximity! Lillian and Izzy both have to overcome some assumptions about what they need to do for their respective dance companies so they can make room to do things for themselves. There’s character growth, there’s hot sex, there’s not enough dance.
The writing was also fine. Like I said, if you’re not a dancer, if you know nothing about the burlesque scene in Portland, if you don’t have opinions about appropriate venues for inexperienced amateur dancers, and if you don’t really care that the reality TV show has the laxest security of any such show in the history of ever, you might enjoy this.
CWs and TWs: Lillian’s whole arc is shaped by the institutionalized racism in the ballet world. There’s mention of homophobia and sizeism. I seem to recall there’s plenty of cursing. And of course there’s sexual content. Izzy also grew up with a neglectful mother and is processing her trauma from that.
Format and Source: I read this as an ebook borrowed from Pierce County Library System.
Book Bingo Prompts
SBTB Summer Romance: Reality TV. This book does center around a reality TV show even if it just really felt poorly implemented.
Book Bingo Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 17 out of 25 prompts complete. 2 bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 15 out of 25 prompts complete. 1 bingo.
SAL/SPL Adult Summer Reading: 11 out of 23 prompts complete, 0 bingos.
SBTB Summer Romance: 2 out of 24 prompts complete, 0 bingos.