I finished this book a couple weeks ago, and was pleasantly surprised! It was poignant, original, and touching. Plus, you get to learn about Antarctica, and let's be real, that's pretty cool.

Obviously, this is a great book for anyone who is stuck on Plan A. But the protagonist Harper's full on tunnel vision desire to become a professional ballerina isn't necessarily something many people relate to.

However, I saw this book as being less about what happens when Plan A falls through, and more about what it means to do what you love without letting inadequacies overwhelm you. And that failure, or what we perceive to be failure, is ok.

All in all, this is a fabulous book about a teenage girl learning to live a healthier, more balanced life, and coming to a fuller understanding of her identity as a person and an artist, and while the romantic subplot was a tad cheesy, this is still undoubtedly a five star book. ( )

This book may be the one to break my streak of "meh" books this year. So good.

I used to love ballet books and this one gave me all those same feelings as before. Harper's (not named after the author) journey of personal growth and actual journey to/in/during Antarctica's Winter Over are interposed with the story of how she got there from San Francisco. I will be buying this book for the high school. I am fascinated with the story of the South Pole and have studied a bit of Shackleton's journey so that also helped. ( )

Harper Scott and her best friend Kate have had a plan since they were tiny tykes just starting ballet classes. They will graduate early from high school, audition for the San Francisco Ballet, be hired as ballerinas and share an apartment together. But despite all her hard work and dedication, the plan falls apart. So Harper finagles a way to get to Antarctica for six months.

Really? This story line is so ridiculous that I made myself dizzy rolling my eyes. Harper is so focused on her PLAN, that she can’t see what is so obviously wrong. But she’s only a teenager. It’s the adults around her that I find so irresponsible. From her teacher, to her parents, to the “scientist” who is her supervisor in Antarctica, none of them seems to have a clue what is wrong. And then there are her long conversations with the ghosts of Shackleton, Amundsen and Scott.

On the plus side, Harper does mature (a little) over the course of the novel, and while she makes some foolish mistakes she does eventually learn some important lessons, and by the end seems to – maybe – be on the path to a happy and fulfilled adulthood. ( )

At the beginning of reading Up to this Pointe, I had a little bit of trouble getting into the story at first as it is told from two alternating perspectives ~ one being before the San Francisco try outs and the other perspective being after the tryouts. This issue soon worked itself out for me and after about the second chapter, I was hooked!

I enjoyed reading this book! It was interesting, at times gut-wrenchingly sad and at other times sweet and funny.
I have to admit I probably went through about a third of a box of tissues while reading it. For some reason, I really like reading books that get me all worked up and emotionally committed to the story and it's characters. So Up to this Pointe ended up being just my cup of tea!

Thank you to Random House Publishers and Netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. ( )