Description
A stand-out new YA romance from the number 1 bestselling author of Everything, Everything - this is Dirty Dancing with a supernatural twist.
Evie is disillusioned about love ever since her dad left her mum for another woman - she's even throwing out her beloved romance novel collection.
When she's given a copy of a book called Instructions for Dancing, and follows a note inside to a dilapidated dance studio, she discovers she has a strange and unwelcome gift. When a couple kisses in front of her, she can see their whole relationship play out - from the moment they first catch each other's eye to the last bitter moments of their break-up.
For Evie, it confirms everything she thinks she knows about love - that it doesn't last. But at the dance studio she meets X - tall, dreadlocked, fascinating - and they start to learn to dance, together. Can X help break the spell that Evie is under? Can he change Evie's mind about love?
Review
Everything you want in a YA romance, plus so much more!
Evie used to believe in love, but after the sudden break up of her Mum and Dad’s seemingly perfect marriage, she just can’t believe in it anymore.
Out go all of her old favourite romance novels, but with that comes a book swap and Evie ends up with a book called ‘Instructions for Dancing’. This leads Evie to a struggling dance school, where she is paired with the owner’s grandson X, to enter a competition that could lift the club’s reputation, and ultimately save it.
The trouble here for Evie is two-fold - first, Evie suddenly sees a couples Beginning, Middle and mostly End, whenever she witnesses them kiss. This keeps happening and makes Evie believe that all beautiful beginnings will inevitably have a devastating ending. Second, X is really the perfect guy, and how can Evie not fall for him, even if she already knows how it will end?
With a beautiful group of characters, this story shows that love and life are worth taking a risk on.
Themes of love, relationships, changing family dynamics and hope, make this a wonderful, warm YA novel, that also has a few twists along the way! A great story for teenage readers.
Reviewed by Rob
