On Dancer is this year’s seasonal offering Annabeth Albert, a sweet, warm-hearted romance between a famous ballet dancer and the geeky admin of a regional ballet company and school who has had a crush on him from afar for years. It’s cute and the characters are likeable with some depth to them, but I didn’t feel any real chemistry there, which was a disappointment despite the author’s always excellent character work.

Alexander Dasher is a well-known and highly respected principal dancer with a Seattle-based ballet company. He’s worked damned hard to get to the top of his profession, but is under no illusions that his fame will keep him there; there are always plenty of younger, hungry dancers out there jostling for position, so having to take time away from the stage while he recovers from a knee injury isn’t something he’d have had on his bingo card for the year. But it is what it is; his rehabilitation programme is going well, his knee is getting stronger every day and he’s looking forward to making a triumphant return to the stage in the next couple of months. He’s home in Hollyberry (a small town in Philadelphia) for his father’s birthday celebration when his mentor and friend, Tavio, asks him to dance the role of the Cavalier in the local ballet company’s production of The Nutcracker. Alexander’s participation will undoubtedly help to sell tickets and raise funds for the town’s ballet school – and it will be a good way to make sure his knee is fully rehabbed and ready for his return to the company in Seattle in February. He maintains his usual aloofness when considering the request, but deep down, can’t deny that it’s nice to feel needed… besides, it makes sense to test out his knee in a less-pressured environment, so he agrees to appear in the production.

Rudy Cole has known (or known of) Alexander for most of his life (their mothers are good friends) and has nursed a crush on him since he was fifteen. His mother runs the ballet school, but her recent health scare means Rudy is currently pretty much running the show, and although he knows there isn’t the funding to make his position as her ‘assistant’ a permanent one, he enjoys the work and figures that at least he’s getting some experience that will be useful in future. The fact that Alexander Dasher is going to be appearing in this year’s holiday production is just the icing on the cake – not that Rudy expects to have a great deal to do with him, or that Alexander could ever be interested in a short, nerdy guy like him.

Although as it turns out, Rudy isn’t quite right about that. He generally closes the school once rehearsals are over, and is going around one evening when he finds Alexander in one of the studios, preparing to go through his regular post-rehearsal routine of stretching and icing his knee. It’s clear Alexander is feeling a bit down, so Rudy – after bringing him some ice-packs and pillows and making sure he’s comfortable – suggests they pass the time in playing a game of Odyssey while the ice does its job.

Alexander has heard of Odyssey but has never played it or anything like it, but figures he might as well try it – he could use a distraction – and finds, to his surprise, that he enjoys the game… and Rudy’s company. He’s sweet and kind and funny and, Alexander realises, is one of the few people around him who sees him rather than the famous dancer – and he hadn’t known until now just how much he needed that. And evenings spent together quickly become a regular thing; Rudy shows up at the end of the day with ice-packs, pillows and the game boxes, and they play and talk and get to know each other a bit more. There’s a definite spark of attraction there, too, and just as it seems as though Rudy might get his Christmas wish for more than friendship with Alexander, Alexander slams on the brakes; he’ll be going back to Seattle soon and Rudy deserves so much more than a short-lived holiday fling.

The author captures the pressures of the professional ballet world – with its rivalries and single-minded focus and intense physicality – very well, and she does a good job of exploring Alexander’s worries and insecurities about his post-injury future. At thirty-four, he knows he won’t be able to dance at this level forever, but he’s not ready to hang up his ballet shoes quite yet; although he doesn’t yet have a plan for what comes after. Like most top-flight professional ballet dancers, he’s put dance first all his life and doesn’t often meet people outside that world; the few relationships he’s had were with other dance professionals and didn’t last for a variety of reasons. He’s jaded about love and is a bit of a grouch – but Rudy’s cheery honesty, his enthusiasm, competence (and dimples) really do it for him, and Alexander can’t help liking and secretly admiring the way Rudy so easily sees through the veneer of polite indifference he shows to the world and won’t him get away with any drama or self-pity.

Rudy is a decade younger – I liked that he just rolls his eyes and tells Alexander to knock it off whenever he mentions their age difference – and has always felt overshadowed by his overachieving and successful older siblings. But over the course of the story, Rudy starts to see himself in a different light and to realise that the skills and qualities he has to offer – dedication, enthusiasm, kindness, empathy – and his love for the job he’s doing, are just as valuable as the many qualifications and high-powered jobs held by his siblings. He’d convinced himself that Alexander could do better than him – but realises he was wrong and that he’s as deserving of love and happiness as anyone else.

This is all nicely done; there’s a cute little secondary romance involving one of the student dancers – which gives Alexander some useful perspective on his own love life and enables him to demonstrate some character growth by giving some sincere advice – and I enjoyed watching his competitive spirit grow as he joins Rudy at a game night. I liked that he sees Rudy clearly and helps Rudy to get a clearer perception of himself. BUT – while Alexander and Rudy are convincing as friends, their love story falls flat because there’s just no romantic chemistry between them, and the burning attraction between them described in the blurb just isn’t there.

And that’s a big shame because there’s much to enjoy in the story overall. I’ve read all of Annabeth Albert’s previous Christmas romances – Better Not Pout is a favourite, and I liked The Geek Who Saved Christmas and the different setting of last year’s Deck the Palms. But unfortunately, the grand jeté of the romance in On Dancer fails to land.