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. We were a crew once. and we ruled the clubs. Separately we were insanely good; together we were unbeatable. F--king on fire. I was their girl, and they were my breakers. Until they did something they promised they never would: broke my heart. I will continue to scream from the rooftops that this is one of the most inspired, innovative, and creative approaches to storytelling I’ve ever read. Bea has taken a visual art form, a physical act of expression, and breathed life to it through words. The symmetry of the role of dance is not lost on me- in Freestyle we see our characters forge a powerful and life altering connection of a dance. In Lyrical, dance is the catalyst to REconnecting. In Book 1, dance almost operated as another character, a tangible presence that wrapped these characters in a warm embrace. But Bea explores dance in a different way- in a lyrical way. Here, dance serves as the emotional catalyst for every turning point in the story. Our characters grow, they hurt or heal, and our plot progresses because dance inspires it- because dance DEMANDS it. These characters struggle to express themselves in words- that's not the language they speak- so they speak in the way that only they can understand. With movement.

Speaking of Pen's friends, I need to move onto Clancy...I really didn't like how she was portrayed throughout this, unlike the last book. She seemed to just be an unnecessary character in this which was annoying because I loved her in the last book..but you can't have it all, can ya? I just love when a book/series can do that, it pulls you in from the get go. This is definitely an unexpected book, that is addictive, and captivating. Before I knew it, the seconds, minutes and hours went by and I become so absorbed in these characters story that I didn’t want it to end. Let’s just say, thank goodness that this is a series.Until one day it all goes to hell and they all end with their heart broken, feeling bitter and resentful. OF COURSE, that also means we get some SCORCHING heat. HOT MAMA, Bea has been holding out on us- and lord, she delivers. The chemistry here is just so delicious- a beautiful balance of emotional and physical intimacy. And throughout, a few of our characters get to shine- Xeno in particular gets some character growth moments here we’ve been anxiously awaiting, and they do not disappoint. Along the way, these characters have all had their own growth arcs, and I love how Bea has united their arcs now into the growth of them not as individuals but together. The power of the chemistry in Breakers, though, really comes from Bea removing the veil from these men. We see them fully, uninhibited and hearts on their sleeves, for the first time. Which means we also see and feel the depths of their love for Pen in a way we haven’t yet- and OH MY, it is beautiful and even more intense and meaningful than I had imagined.

The reason why it didn't hold my interest was because nothing interesting was happening , it was too plain for me in the beginning and now I am too bored to continue it further. I am planning to leave this series here. I really loved the first two books of this series so I'll definitely read a few of the other series of this author because she does write some amazing books , but for this series , I am done. Like all her stories, her titles have meaning. It is no accident that Breakers is the title- this books about the crew identity, about the Breakers family. In dancing, a breaker squad is like one living organism. A bunch of individual dancers with their own strengths and roles who are united by one steady beat, a shared rhythm, and somehow (in good breaking at least) those individuals merge into one, with no one more or less important or more or less central. Moving as one, breathing as one- each dancer an extension of the other. THAT art, well that is what Bea replicates in this story. Lyrical set the stage- it was about an emotional catharsis, about the messy act of reconciliation, a story about the weight of healing. They started to confront their pain, confronting each other. And now, now in Breakers, these characters we love have to figure out what to DO with all those feelings, and how to grow together after so many years of growing apart. About finding the strength in their unity instead of the years of trying to find the strength to recover from their fractures. BREAKERS is about the unit, reforming their family, becoming ONE. Of course, our individual characters still grow, still confront past hurts and current insecurities, but the overarching arc of this story is about becoming the crew- figuratively, of course, but Bea has always so cleverly told their stories in dance. Their progress, their growth can always be tied to their artistic expression, so we also get to see them LITERALLY move as one, too. And it is total magic. In dance, but also in heart, crew that pulses to the same rhythm, the crew that beats as one. I mean, i get that Pen was resenting them for being part of the Skins, but she always described them as the boys she loved, she even knew that despite their agressiveness sometimes with other people, they would never hit or hurt her, so why didn't she tell them something??? Of course in that time they were 16 and "just friends" but if she got that uncomfortable how would the idiot not know it was not okay or nice???Book Genre: Academic, Adult, College, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Dark, New Adult, Polyamorous, Reverse Harem, Romance, Sports, Sports Romance

It was also frustrating reading this book. I knew the author wanted to keep the reveal, about why Pen did what she did to the guys, towards the end but I really wanted her to explain it to the guys halfway through! Everyone was just getting hurt and upset and expressing their feelings and thoughts only through dance, whenever someone wanted the truth, and although those scenes were well written..the 'peacemaker' in me wanted to call TIME OUT on all their asses and make Pen confess!! Each character danced their feelings perfectly. They were able to impact you by the moves they made with their bodies. You could FEEL everything. This author was able to portray the art of dance in word form. Truly mesmerizing. 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. Um... ok, I have a question here... Um... WHAT THE F*** HAS SHE DONE TO BE SO AMAZING? Like... Yeah, she has attitude (or have had) and all, but, like...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.