Holding on to Alex

by Misao Hoshiai, Margaret Way

Alex's life was moving in a dream direction. A beautiful primaballerina with a promising career, she had long ago sacrificed many things including her first love to pursue her dream of dancing on theworld's most prestigious stages. When fate strikes Alex a terribleblow, a devastating injury leaves her unable to dance. As if the loss of herhard-earned career wasn't enough, Alex is shocked when the first visitorto call on her in the hospital is Scott the man whose love she denied topursue her dream to dance. Will fate strike another devastating blow to thefallen ballerina, or does Scott have something more to offer her than aregretful look at a long-lost love?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Harlequin, Graphic Novels, Josei

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

See also 星合 操

Reviews

[Mmmhhmm · Rating 1 out of 5]

hoo boy... what a trainwreck. I know that an aggressive guy can come off as super appealing, but Scott was a total wanker from page one of this book. From the way he throws his weight around, to shaming Alex for simple choices (calling her a traitor cause a teenage girl isn't ready for marriage???), cheating on his current gf, acting as if Alex moving to Sydney is like moving halfway across the world (this mofo is RICH and there's no reason he can't go with her????) nearly raping Alex more than once, for being sexually aggressive with a TEENAGE girl when he's well into his twenties... so much ick ick ICK

And while I am a fan of that 90's style manga look, some of the art in this is just awful. The horses look bad, the single black person looks god awful, the single older woman looks awful, the facial expressions are laughable, the opening shots of Australia are just bad...

[Turibio]

ok

[Lauryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cheap art and bad writing

[Gracie H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

not really my cup of tea. male lead was to possessive, also didnt like the age gap with the female lead being a child when they first met. I was not happy with the ending, I'm always for the girl choosing her career before the guy and she ended up with the guy 😮‍💨 the art was really pretty though

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly more steamy romance manga for the older teen set. Would have loved if the ending was a little less old fashioned but this was published in 2005.

[Arely · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hated the way Scott treated Alex. Making feel guilty for wanting to pursue her dream while trying to make their relationship work. And the fact that it took him so long to realize how important dancing was for her tells us that he never really cared to get to know her. And then she has to leave her dream behind to be with him? I'm totally okay with woman "choosing" to leave their careers to become wives and mothers, but I felt like Alex only did it to please Scott, and because he wouldn't even try to find another way to make their relationship work. Maybe I'd feel different if I read this story another time, but right now I'm very sensitive when I see man clearly mistreating woman (he wasn't even that sorry and didn't even apologized for being a jerk). I wonder why I'm still reading Harlequin. Probably for the rare titles with great (or decent) male characters.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story and the novelty of reading it 'manga' style, although one more picture of Alex gasping with wide opened mouth and big, bright eyes, would probably have me screaming. Not quite sure I would have given up my dreams quite so easily, although as a horse lover, I liked the idea of the farm. The pictures were excellent and familiar from oh so many Japenese cartoons and anime.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was like reading a regular Harlequin Romance, but everything was resolved much faster.

[Emi えみ Takami 鷹見 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5