I hadn’t heard about the Academy of Stardom series before I joined TikTok. But as soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to read it. I love dance movies, but I haven’t read many if any dance books, and I didn’t know what I was missing. This series won’t be for everyone. It’s dark, it includes a reverse harem and there are many triggers and content warnings that you will need to be aware of. But if you don’t mind them, then I suggest you give this series a go. 

As I said this series does include dark themes and a reverse harem, to add to this it is 18+. The Academy of Stardom series follows Pen as she begins her time at a new dance school. What she didn’t expect to see was the boys – the men that changed her life, but also tore it to shreds. Now back together, Pen has to decide if she will forgive, if they can forgive her and if they can love each other again. 

There will also be small spoilers from the series in this review. I tried to keep these at a minimum, but as I am talking about the whole series, it did become a little hard. So there might be a few here.  

Content and Trigger Warnings: Abuse on and off the page, death, gun violence, sexual assault, drug and alcohol use, violence and dubious activities. 

I didn’t know what to expect from the Academy of Stardom series. I hadn’t heard of the book or author before I picked it up. But I kept seeing it all over TikTok and I knew that I needed to give it a go. I’ve been slowly trying different romances and that makes me really excited. And this series took me by surprise. While I didn’t love and it’s not my favourite reverse harem that I have read, it’s still such a great series and not something that I have seen before. 

As I said the first book in the series Freestyle begins with the protagonist’s, Penelope or Pen, audition for a chance at a new life, at a dance school. What she doesn’t expect to see are the men that not only changed her life for the better but also ruined her. It was a really interesting contrast; Pen’s reaction to seeing Xeno, York, Zayn and Dax again – she couldn’t decide if she loved them or hate them – and that made everything much more interesting. And they couldn’t decide how they felt either. 

Pen and her men have a messy past and this is truly a love to hate to love romance and it was done so well. You could feel the tension with all of them. From the hatred and hurt that they all felt, to the love that they had. Freestyle is more about setting up not only the world but the characters and their relationships. While there is a lot that happens, it’s built on some fantastic characters development. Flashbacks play a great deal in the first book, and it leads to the reader not only knowing Pen and her men, but also knowing what broke them apart. 

Photo by Henrique Junior on Unsplash

I really enjoyed Pen as the protagonist. She was really easy to get along with and I just felt like I could read about her life for ages. There were times where I just wanted to give her a hug and then there were other times where I wanted to make her see what was happening. Pen went through a lot before this series even started. And gosh, is it thrown about here. 

Xeno, York, Zayn and Dax are all very different from one another and I really enjoyed that. I have found that sometimes when I read reverse harems I get confused on who is who. But I didn’t feel that here. At the start, it took me a while to understand who was who, but it honestly didn’t take long and wasn’t a big deal. I loved that they all not only had different personalities. But they danced differently too. It just made everything that more exciting. I don’t really know who exactly my favourite is, but I do have a soft spot for Dax that is for sure. 

The romance is a true love to hate to love romance. There is so much angst and angry between Pen and the boys and it’s true hate at times. So much so I could feel it. But you can also see much they love each other, it’s why they hated each other so much. But once they let go of all the hate, the lies, the secrets. It was hot and very spicy. I’ve been reading more and more reverse harems over the last few months. Some I haven’t liked, some I loved. And this one I really did enjoy. Pen had such a different relationship with each of them. And this made for such interesting dynamics. Things weren’t just hot when they have sexy time, but when they dance – damn. 

Photo by Markus Gjengaar on Unsplash

As I said this series is dark. And while the first book is the tamest of them all, it’s in Lyrical, book two that things start to heat up. And I don’t mean just with the group. Things start to get much messier and much more dangerous. And as each book goes on things get darker. It’s not one of the darkest books I read, but it deals with some pretty heavy things. Including mafia and gang ties. I wasn’t expecting certain things that happened in the book, but that made it so much more interesting. I didn’t know what to expect. 

A great way that Pen and her men’s past is explored is through flashbacks. Normally I’m not a massive fan of them. I feel that it can take away from the story being told and I don’t feel as connected. However, I didn’t feel like that in the Academy of Stardom series. Nearly all of the flashbacks had their purpose. They mattered. And while I didn’t love all of them, I can see why they were used. 

The writing and dance terminology was a little up and down for me. I know the basics of dance, but I did feel like it took me a while to understand what was happening during the dance scenes. There were times where I had to re-read a sentence a few times to understand how the body was moving. One thing that Bea Paige did very well is that she knows how to write emotions. There were quite a few times throughout the whole book, but especially Finale, that really got to me. 

Photo by Charly Pn on Unsplash

Overall, I had a great time reading the Academy of Stardom series. It’s hot, spicy and full of lots of tension. It’s a great reverse harem and no one gets left behind. Academy of Stardom is a great mix of dark and light. There are some pretty horrible things that happened throughout the book, but there are also some pretty amazing things. Pen was a fantastic protagonist, and her men are just as great. If you are looking for a new and exciting series to start that is intriguing, different and spicy – then pick this one up for sure. 

Have you read the Academy of Stardom series by Bea Paige? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? What are some romance books that you have read recently and loved?