Book Review: Dashing All The Way by Chelsea Curto

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this site. Your purchases help fund my content and come at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

When I say this is one of the sweetest holiday romance books, I’m not even kidding. It’s now on my all-time best books list, and I’m probably going to be recommending it to everyone I know.

First things first: there’s a 14-year age gap between the female and male leads, and the female lead actually dated the male lead’s son a few months before she actually meets the male lead himself.

At first, he knows who she is, but she’s kind of in her own world (injury and all), and he doesn’t make any moves. He’s upfront with her about everything before their relationship even starts.

Now, I know that both the age gap and the whole “ex-dating-his-son” trope can be pretty polarizing in the romance community, but honestly, I don’t mind. This is fiction, and as long as it’s not illegal or problematic, I’m here for any romantic smut I can get my hands on.

The plot starts with the female lead’s (Margo) boyfriend cheating on her, which leads to a breakup. After that, she hasn’t been with anyone, but before they broke up, her ex told her that she’d never be able to run a marathon.

So, she decides to train for one, just to prove him wrong. She’s stubborn like that, and I loved it. Margo is determined to show everyone (especially him) that she can do it, and that petty motivation makes for some fun moments.

Our male lead, Funny, is a paramedic—he works in emergency response—and he first notices her when he sees her from afar while she’s still dating his son. But he doesn’t make a move, even though he’s intrigued. 

The turning point happens when she collapses in his arms after one of her races, and that’s where everything begins to change. They meet again, spend more time together, and before long, things heat up between them.

Now, with age gap romances, the common selling point is usually how the older partner is different from anyone the younger character has been with—refreshing, mature, all that good stuff.

But honestly, I don’t think we need to be reminded of it every minute. That’s kind of what happens here, and it gets a bit tiring. Every other thing that comes out of her mouth is about his age, their jokes are about his age, and even he makes comments about how much older he is. It just felt repetitive.

It felt like the book was focused a little too much on their age difference, which is already established from the beginning, and it became a bit redundant. By the end of it, it felt like the main theme was constantly shoved in our faces, and after a while, it became more annoying than endearing.

As for the rest of their conversations—almost every one of them has a sexual undertone, and I’m not complaining about sexy times when they’re well-done. But when every single conversation between the leads ends up being about sex or leads to sexy moments, it starts to feel like the plot is almost secondary. The steam is definitely there, but it feels like that’s the only thing the book is offering after a while.

In the front matter of the book, the author lets us know upfront that the book doesn’t offer much in terms of plot, and it’s basically all about the steam. While I get that, we spend a lot of time with Margo and Finn, and I did grow to love them both. 

Still, I could have done without the 50+ pages of them hooking up over and over again. They’re already together before the 80% mark, and the book promises all steam with no plot, so I thought it would be shorter, but it ended up being almost 200 pages. It’s not a bad thing, but it did feel like a lot of filler without much story development (when this could have been done).

The book was sweet, and I liked seeing how they both integrated into each other’s lives. Margo gets involved with his family, and he becomes a part of hers, which was sweet. 

But honestly, with all that time spent on these little moments of them falling in love, I feel like the plot could’ve used more development. The marathon that the female lead is preparing for in the beginning could’ve been tied into the story more meaningfully, and that would’ve given us something else to follow besides their relationship blossoming.

For me, once the couple gets together, it’s hard to keep the momentum going. After the buildup, the remaining 40-50 pages feel like they could’ve been trimmed down or used to further the plot.

The characters, though, were great. Finn is a paramedic, but he also moonlights as an audiobook narrator—he’s even one of the Margo’s favorite narrators. 

Now, I have to admit, I’m terrible at connecting voices. I can hear someone on the phone or in a recording and never recognize them in real life. But the female lead does, which proves she’s way smarter than me. 

Margo is a teacher who’s dedicated to her work and is incredibly stubborn and determined. Once she sets her mind to something, she’s all in, and that trait really drove the plot forward. She wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted, and I loved that about her.

The setup of the book was really nice, too, with all the secondary characters—her friends, his friends, her family, his ex—it felt like a true community around them, which is always a big win in Christmas romance books. I love that sense of belonging, family, and friendship, and this book delivers on that.

So, if you’re into age-gap holiday romances that are full of steam, dirty talk, and spicy moments that aren’t fit for public reading, this one’s definitely for you. 

It’s a fun, steamy ride, and while the plot could’ve used a little more depth, it’s still a sweet, satisfying read for fans of holiday romances.