(2/5⭐️) DNF.
Sparrow is a high school ballerina struggling with demons of her past (her mom’s death when she was a child), as well as an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. This story is about how she deals with these things while being a high schooler and ballerina who has a bright future ahead of her.
This was a disappointing read. I’ve read five or six ballet books, having authored one myself. I suppose I was expecting a lot more from this. There are so many deep parallels that can be drawn with ballet and physiological issues. I don’t think the author did a good job there. I had to stop at chapter six after reading some icky-feeling boyfriend abuse scenes. Moreover, the story was very disjointed, skipping over all the events I would have felt were important, leaving me confused and feeling like I had missed something.
Unfortunately, I did not find myself invested. The relationship between Sparrow and Tristan King was so rushed, that there was no development between them. It went from sudden meeting, to first date, to abusive boyfriend. I found myself unable to understand why Sparrow would put up with such treatment. She kept saying it was because she loved Tristan, but I wasn’t able to see that because I was not part of any development of love between them.
I wonder if there was a reason the author wrote this in such a disjointed way? Perhaps she was trying to draw parallels between trauma victims and confusion/missing swaths of memory and information, but I think she could have done it in a better way.
The relationship abuse I witnessed between Tristan and Sparrow left me feeling depressed, icky, and even anxious. It also felt really overplayed, like the author was trying too hard. All in all, I didn’t find myself enjoying a minute of this book and had to put it down for how upset it made me feel. I like to read for enjoyment and captivation. I felt neither of these.
Also, there wasn’t a lot of actual ballet in this book so if you’re hoping for more ballet, I’d go elsewhere.
Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC. I did my best to give it an honest review based on the six chapters I read. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the book for me.
Sparrow is a high school ballerina struggling with demons of her past (her mom’s death when she was a child), as well as an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. This story is about how she deals with these things while being a high schooler and ballerina who has a bright future ahead of her.
This was a disappointing read. I’ve read five or six ballet books, having authored one myself. I suppose I was expecting a lot more from this. There are so many deep parallels that can be drawn with ballet and physiological issues. I don’t think the author did a good job there. I had to stop at chapter six after reading some icky-feeling boyfriend abuse scenes. Moreover, the story was very disjointed, skipping over all the events I would have felt were important, leaving me confused and feeling like I had missed something.
Unfortunately, I did not find myself invested. The relationship between Sparrow and Tristan King was so rushed, that there was no development between them. It went from sudden meeting, to first date, to abusive boyfriend. I found myself unable to understand why Sparrow would put up with such treatment. She kept saying it was because she loved Tristan, but I wasn’t able to see that because I was not part of any development of love between them.
I wonder if there was a reason the author wrote this in such a disjointed way? Perhaps she was trying to draw parallels between trauma victims and confusion/missing swaths of memory and information, but I think she could have done it in a better way.
The relationship abuse I witnessed between Tristan and Sparrow left me feeling depressed, icky, and even anxious. It also felt really overplayed, like the author was trying too hard. All in all, I didn’t find myself enjoying a minute of this book and had to put it down for how upset it made me feel. I like to read for enjoyment and captivation. I felt neither of these.
Also, there wasn’t a lot of actual ballet in this book so if you’re hoping for more ballet, I’d go elsewhere.
Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC. I did my best to give it an honest review based on the six chapters I read. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the book for me.