Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . .
Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed.
Published: 14th February 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Goodreads : Click here
Series: Book 1, Dance of Shadows
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
My Review 9 out of 10
What I loved about this book....
Where to start.... I absolutely adored this book. In keeping with many of the books I have read this year, the theme of this book was completely new to me. Ballet dancing, I have to admit, is something that I would not have normally picked up as I have never been the dance/ballet type of person. What drew me into this story was the sister aspect, Margaret going missing and her sister Vanessa wanting to find her.
There is a lot of description in this book, particularly about the ballet and the school, which I was so glad about. Being someone who did not know a lot about the world of ballet any help there was greatly appreciated. I loved the fact that when I had finished reading this story, I felt like a knew a little more about the subject and was even inspired to check out some ballet on the telly! Alongside the ballet aspect of this story, there is also romance and a bit of mystery. I won't go into the details as I do not want to spoil the story but the mystery part of the story was what I enjoyed the most. There are a lot of mysterious characters and mysterious happenings going on around Vanessa and the ballet, the journey to the end of the story was definitely very bendy - questioning different characters and wondering what was going on around the next corner of the story. It definitely kept me on my toes!
There are some really great characters in this story. First off, there is the main character Vanessa. It was clear from the beginning that she was a gifted ballet dancer and was able to follow in her sister's footsteps, even when she did not believe that she could. There's more to Vanessa than what meets the eye and I have to admit that I did not figure it out until near the end of the story. Other characters that I really enjoyed reading about was the mysterious ballet teacher Josef and the popular handsome Zep.
What I was not fond off....
The only thing I could possibly put under this heading was the fact that the beginning of this story was a bit slow to start off with for me, waiting for something big to happen, but it really didn't take too long to get sucked in and absolutely loved the remainder of the story.
Overall...
Absolutely adored this story... A lot of really fantastically mysterious characters and a plot that keeps moving right up until the end. Cannot believe the cliffhanger at the end and the fact that I will have to wait a while to read the next instalment lol!....
Best wishes
Debs
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