Theo is an talented African-American ballet dancer, but when her childhood best friend returns home after being kidnapped years ago, it brings bad memories back to the surface. Trigger warning for sexual abuse and an eating disorder. ( )

I really enjoyed this one -- I was up until almost 1am last night because I had to find out how it ended. Gut wrenching, but beautiful. ( )

Aggravatin'.

For some reason, I was hoping for a story like Center Stage or Dance Academy. However, it was less about ballet and more about pedophilia, eating disorders and adults I can only consider to be ignorant. It's hard for me to enjoy a book with a protagonist who's not sensical. There was also so little mention of the kidnapping. ( )

I didn't finish this book, too much emphasis on parties, drugs and alcohol, and not enough on dancing. ( )

While mentions of kidnapping and possibly disordered eating prepared me for this to be a fairly dark book...This was even darker and scarier than I think I was prepared for. Ballet is a driving ambition for Theo, and I was looking to read about the stresses and pushing herself to be a better dancer.
This is really not a ballet book. It's about Theo out of class, being a high school student, having a disordered relationship with food (and getting plausibly into the mindsets and body perspective that lays the groundwork for that disorder)

And whoa... there was a whole other plot thread, alluded to in the about the book... yes, a kidnapping, but some really REALLY dark relationship issues that Theo remembers in flashbacks... that I'm not putting behind a spoiler tag, because I feel it should be known about. Stuff that happened when Theo was a younger teen, that broke my heart for her, and was raw, and hard to read about.
I did not enjoy reading this, because some aspects were so scary and brutal and I felt my heart break for the characters. So... full disclosure, this is dark, and may stir up some things about bodies and relationships and coming of age, to grapple with. ( )