Hi Blisses,
TITLE: Instructions for Dancing
BY: Nicola Yoon
GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
PUBLICATION: June 3rd, 2021 by Penguin
TRIGGERS: divorce, cheating, mention of death, grief, alcohol
NOTES: I received an e-ARC from the publishers and Blog Tour host via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I’m so embarrassed to say that this is for a blog tour. I’m too late but still I need to thank Dave from @The_WriteReads for including me in this #UltimateBlogTour. This tour is for a book by the one and only, Nicola Yoon. Spoiler alert, this got a five-star rating from me, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts about it.
So without further ado…
BLURB
Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.
As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met.
Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
LINKS
Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon US | The Book Depository | Barnes and Noble
ONE-SENTENCE REVIEW
Instructions for Dancing reminds me of my first dance: sweet, adventurous, phenomenal, unforgettable!
REVIEW
Young Adult Contemporary is not my genre, as I don’t forget to mention every time I review or feature a YA Contemporary book. But Nicola Yoon is a trusted author of mine. I love all her past works.
Instructions for Dancing features Evie. This is a very character-driven book so let’s focus on Evie. I love Evie so much. I found her so relatable, even though I haven’t really experienced most of what she had. I don’t even dance, not the way she did. But I found her so real and everything she went through. I felt for her. She doesn’t believe in love anymore because of her parents’ divorce and the fact that she doesn’t read romances anymore because of that made me really sad. But as the story went, she really grew as a character. I saw her became the better version of herself as she lets new experiences and new people in her life. It was so heartwarming.
Dancing was a big part of Evie’s story, obviously. As I said, I don’t dance except a few times in school dances. I loved how the dance was used as a theme here, a metaphor to Evie’s journey. And wow, I don’t usually get amazed by dancing, I mean I loved the Step-Up movies but not to the point I would wish I knew how to dance. But here…The author really made dancing such a fun and passionate activity. I could feel every feeling that the characters had while dancing. They went alive on the pages. And that dancing scene at the end? It was so intense and very well-written. Though if you’re thinking that there will be dancing in every chapter, no, there isn’t. To be honest, there were less dancing than I expected.
The characters, starting from Evie were very well-written too. I love Evie’s mom and sister. I love her friends. Despite being just side characters, they also shined on their own, especially Martin. I hope he gets his own story. I also love Fifi, one of the dance instructors at the dance studio. She is so hilarious, though she is very serious most of the time and eccentric. And lastly, Xavier or X. I absolutely love this person. He’s like a sunshine with a very positive disposition in life. He is so charming and fun. He is so cool and has that bad boy vibe. He and Evie on the dance floor is an explosion. Their chemistry is amazing. I love them so much.
Another theme this book has is the magic. Yes, this isn’t your usual young adult contemporary. Evie has some power. As the blurb says, she had a vision when she saw two people kissing. I mentioned that YA contemporary is not my genre and maybe the reason why I love Instructions for Dancing is because it has magic realism in it. I liked how the author used this element in this book. It surely made the book more special. As usual, I loved the author’s writing style. It’s very descriptive and the scenes just go alive on the pages.
RATING: 5 blissful pages with lilies
If you love heartwarming, cute and funny stories, then you’ll love this. I highly recommend this book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicola Yoon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Instructions for Dancing, Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star. She is a National Book Award finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book recipient and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. Two of her novels have been made into major motion pictures. She’s also co-publisher of Joy Revolution, a Random House young adult imprint dedicated to love stories starring people of color. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the novelist David Yoon, and their daughter.
Have you read this book? Or planning to? What do you think of it? Let’s chat.
Lili's Blissful Pages 
Fantastic review!
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Thank you Ellie. 🙂
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