Instructions for dancing by Nicola Yoon

Getting to know the narrator, Evie Thomas, is an experience. She is disillusioned, cynical, clever and tough. She no longer believes in love and has thrown out her romance novels in disgust. Evie is in her final year at school, with no clear idea of where she will go from here – her life has imploded.

Yoon sets her novel in Los Angeles and the La Brea Dance studio. She expertly holds the reader in the closed position and leads through the story to reveal passions, slow dances, courage and self-awareness. The reader will fall in love with the characters in this novel. Yoon has infused her characters with a vitality and depth that intrigues and captures the reader’s heart. While unashamedly a romance, this book has depth and invites the reader to question the meaning of life. Should you say yes to everything?

There is a lot of wisdom and pain in this book. Overall, the reader reaches the last page immersed in hope. While there is evidence that life does bring misery and adults are imperfect, the joys of relationships and life surmount them all. This is an uplifting book that you will want to read in one sitting.

You’ll find the book trailer here.

Themes: Loyalty, Relationships – friends and family, Divorce, Romance, Ballroom dancing.

Linda Guthrie