Today we are happy to welcome authors Ariel Tachna & Nessa L Warin to Love Bytes!
Ariel and Nessa stop by on the blog tour for their co – authored release “Dance Off“.
They share an fantastic post about the origin of Dance Off incl some great clips !
There is also a giveaway you can participate in.
Welcome Ariel & Nessa 🙂
Dance Off
By Ariel Tachna & Nessa L. Warin
Blurb:
On the reality show Dance Off, pro rugby player Olivier Gautier and Olympic swimmer JC Webster each have one goal in mind: to stay on the show as long as possible to earn his charity of choice maximum exposure and a larger donation. As the competition heats up, their goals expand to catching each other’s interest, but Olivier is firmly in the closet and plans to stay there. JC is willing to be discreet, but not to hide forever.
Starting a romance with another man is challenge enough for any celebrity, but doing it under the microscope of reality TV—and one majorly intolerant costar—is even harder. Add in meddling dance pros, JC’s overbearing family, and the need to play up chemistry with dance partners to win America’s hearts, and JC and Olivier’s time together is looking more and more like a recipe for disaster.
As the pressure to stay in the competition mounts, JC and Olivier must face their inevitable separation at the end of the show as well as decide whether a relationship as complicated as theirs can survive in the real world, outside the bubble of the set and practice studios.
The Origin of Dance Off
Dance Off started, rather unsurprisingly, because we were fans of the show Dancing with the Stars. We used to watch it together, though not physically. Ariel lives in Texas and Nessa lives in Ohio, so we’d take our laptops with us to our couches, turn on the television, and chat with each other online while we watched the show.
The book was born during Season 14 of the real TV show. Roshon Fegan was one of the stars, and he had this astounding ability to be this bouncy kid one minute and then step onto the dance floor and transform completely. In his Argentine Tango, especially, he was a man during those few minutes, despite being very much a kid before and after.
Roshon Fegan & Chelsie Hightower – Argentine Tango by Codebear2
When the idea for Dance Off was born, we wanted to capture that ability to transform on the dance floor in one of our characters, and Roshon became part of the inspiration for JC. JC is older, so he’s less of a gangly kid, but he has Roshon’s ability to transform on the dance floor.
The other thing we noticed in Season 14 is how unbelievably hot the Argentine Tango is. Here, watch Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd’s version.
Then we started thinking about how amazing it would be if someone similar to Roshon, though a little older and a little more compact, were to dance the Argentine Tango with someone like Donald, only a little younger and a little less sure of himself.
And that was a story that had to be written.
So we set out to capture that image, along with the way that we fell in love with the most unexpected stars on the show (we never would have believed that we’d end up rooting for Rob Kardashian, for example) and the great dynamics that come with an ensemble cast like that. But really, the main motivation was to capture the image of two men dancing the Argentine Tango together.
Like this.
Or this.
Or this.
But really, can you blame us?
restaurant that had been converted to a dining room for the cast, hooked his
fingers over the molding at the top, and leaned forward a little to stretch his
chest muscles. It hurt with the good kind of pain, and he stayed on his toes
until Chelsea came up behind him.
knocking him off balance. “Some of us want to eat.”
stumbled forward. “I forgot to stretch my arms before coming up.”
downstairs.” Chelsea grinned and started making a sandwich from the deli meat
platter on the island. “The more we practice, the better you’ll be.”
as far as Olivier was concerned, the perfect anodyne for four hours of dancing
in shoes that felt like they were solid steel. He figured whatever Chelsea had
spent the morning doing to her partner, she needed to keep doing for another
several hours so Olivier could get another such view at the end of the day. “What’s
this about being stiff?” he asked as he took a plate for himself and prepared a
sandwich.
straight back to work.” JC took four bottles of water out of the refrigerator
and handed them around to Chelsea, Olivier, and Tricia. “I think I should take
time to stretch so I can move in the morning.”
still got four hours of rehearsal this afternoon. Everyone will be exhausted by
the end of the first week. It’s just the way it goes.”
training after we’ve had a break post championships,” Olivier said. “Yes, it’s
eight hour days, but we aren’t lifting weights or running drills.”
Swimming is very repetitive once you learn the right way to move. This is
different.” JC pulled his arms across his chest one at a time, stretching them.
The pull of muscle felt good and let him relax a little as he took a long
swallow of water and picked up his sandwich.
like it if you could move in the morning.”
muscles beneath his T-shirt and then forced himself to concentrate on lunch. He
still didn’t think it would be worse than the start of off-season training, but
that didn’t mean he intended to let anyone get the best of him. “You didn’t
stay here at the house last night,” he said to JC after a few minutes. “Do you
live nearby?”
live in Texas when I’m not training. My aunt has a house here in LA, though, so
Mama and I are staying with her.” He ducked his head as he realized he’d just
admitted he’d brought his mother with
him, and he tried not to think about whether he was more embarrassed because it
was Olivier or not. “She’s a huge fan of the show and insisted. My aunt said
she could stay too, and, well….” He shrugged, trying to play it off.
Olivier replied. “Don’t disappear every night, though. We had a good time
sitting around playing cards last night. Tyler says tonight he will teach me to
play rummy.”
JC chuckled ruefully. “There’s no way I can stay around tonight. If I miss it,
I’ll never live it down. You, uh—” He bit back the urge to invite Olivier over,
though he knew his mama would love it. “Let me know how the rummy goes. Maybe I’ll
stick around later in the week, and we can play.”
the game without JC present to see him embarrass himself. “You should bring
your mama to watch a rehearsal. I’m sure other couples would let her watch as
well.”
think Chelsea would appreciate Mama trying to give advice when I’m just
learning the moves.”
yet,” Chelsea said. “I’d hate for you to be embarrassed.”
grinned. “She loves dancing, and she’s watched every episode of Dance Off. She’ll probably try to give
you advice about what the judges like and what gets audience votes. I wouldn’t dare let her watch other couples yet.”
said with a wink for Tricia. “I could use all the help I can get.”
to give the audience what they want. I already have an idea for your costume.”
Olivier shirtless. It’ll make all the girls swoon.”
back, but he’d worry about convincing Tricia of that if it actually came up
with the costume department.
as she bumped her shoulder against his. “I’m sure all the girls would love to
see your abs as well.”
his amusement and failing. Dance Off
was different from swimming, but shirtless was shirtless, and on the ballroom
floor, he’d still have on pants and shoes. “Dripping
wet in a Speedo, mind you. No outfit you put me in could possibly be more
revealing than that.”
her partners wore in previous seasons.”
tempt me, Olivier thought, but he wasn’t quite ready to share with
everyone else just yet. He didn’t know Tricia and Chelsea that well, and while
he knew JC was bi, he didn’t know how JC would react to anything more than the
light flirting they had done so far. Olivier was willing to find out, but not
when they had an audience.
everything have to be appropriate for children?”
definitely gotten some well-concealed enjoyment out of watching some of his
teammates climb out of the pool at the end of practice or after swimming in a
meet, but there was no doubt that families of all sorts had watched them in
competition. “No one objected to the Speedo when I won races.”
Chelsea said. “People expect you to be mostly naked and soaking wet at a pool.
Not while you’re dancing.”
keep everything in line. They do a fabulous job with fitting everything. We’ll
probably have the first meetings with them tomorrow so they can take
measurements.”
Olivier said. He finished his sandwich and his bottle of water. “But now it is
time for more practice, yes?”
the recycling bin under the counter. “Come on, JC. Time’s a-wastin’.”
bottle in the bin and followed Chelsea out of the dining room, pausing to touch
the top of the doorframe as he passed through. “Don’t work too hard, Olivier.”
If they had known each other better, Olivier would have sworn that last little
stretch was for his benefit. As it was, he was left hot and bothered thinking
about it without any way to do anything about it.
oeil,” Olivier muttered. “We will show them how to do the cha-cha, n’est-ce pas, Tricia?”
doesn’t. Come on. Let’s get back to work.”
I love Strictly! A sacrosanct saturday evening viewing in the autumn!
The dance video’s were great, the guys dancing the tango were amazing and the dancing was so powerful
The book sounds just up my street
Thank you for sharing those videos. I’m not much into watching dancing shows on tv but I enjoy viewing clips of them on youtube. The books looks and sounds fantastic. I’ve added it to my wishlist.
sounds like a unique story and a great read
Thanks for the post and the excerpt! This sounds great!
I really enjoyed both of them and look forward to reading more.
Looking forward to this read! Thanks for the chance!
This sounds like it’s going to be a great book!
I loved the excerpt and the post. Thanks for the look at your newest book!