Nicola Yoon
Delacorte, 2021
304 pages
Grades 8-12
Romance
Evie is pessimistic about love, especially after she catches her beloved father cheating on her mother. Once a fan of romance novels, she now sees the realistic ending to "happily ever after". Evie stuffs a chunk of her romance novel collection in a Little Free Library, when a strange old lady insists she take a book in exchange titled Instructions for Dancing. Unexpectedly, the book possesses magical powers and Evie can now see the history of a relationship when people kiss: from the jubilant first meeting to the painful break-up. In order to shake the curse she visits the dance studio mentioned on the book, where she meets X, the grandson of the owners. The studio is on tough times and Evie and X are recruited to learn to dance and enter the Los Angeles armature ballroom competition. Through their grueling, yet intimate, practices romantic feelings begins to emerge. Is Evie willing to take a chance on love? Meanwhile, she must also come to terms with her father's new romance and her relationship with him, as well as the shifting dynamics in her friend group. Graduation looms and with it inevitable life changes. Is Evie ready to move forward?
Nicola Yoon is a YA darling. Her first two novels are best sellers and she has a huge following. I liked her first book a lot, her second book mostly, and the third book, honestly, was a bit of a disappointment to me. On the plus side: it reads rather quickly, is a lot of fun, has a great concept and I honestly liked both the main characters. As fan and former student of ballroom dancing I love that the characters in the book delve into this wonderful world. This also was a negative for me in that I didn't believe that a couple who never danced can do well in a city-wide competition after only a couple of months. It lightens the efforts of folks who spend years training for such an opportunity. I also felt that Evie's abilities to see the history of people's romances, which should have been the main plot, often got pushed to the back-burner. I really hated the ending-which had to offer Evie her somewhat happy ending, choosing to love against the odds, even though a surprise twist reveals tragedy. Teen girls love a good cry and will eat this up and-after all-they are the audience. Perfect for a day at the beach, give this to the young romantic in your life, along with a box of tissues.
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