Holy wow. This is, like, a teenage drama TV show in book form — it's tense, intense, and populated with larger-than-life characters. Most of whom are the kind of teenager we tell ourselves we never were / would never become, but Bette and June are scarily relatable even if I really don't believe I would ever take actions as extreme as theirs. I can't even hate them, because the authors have done an incredible job of making them nuanced (though of course that doesn't excuse all the sabotage and backstabbing). And they do balance out Gigi, who is a cinnamon roll too precious, too pure for this cutthroat ballet academy.

As someone who lacks the coordination / body control, discipline, and (to be honest) talent to ever dance more than casually or for fun, I really love reading about ballet. And really anything where the main characters give everything to their passion, especially sports and [visual] arts, with bonus points if there's a dorm / camp component so that the characters can literally eat, sleep, breathe their chosen focus. So this ticks all the boxes, with can't-look-away developments — I wouldn't call them twists, but they're darkly fascinating — balanced with softer moments between friends and between romantic partners.

And the ending. Wow. It's a good thing there's another book because I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS.

content warnings:

Spoiler

eating disorder (binging & purging, on-page), physical & verbal / written bullying, infidelity, mentions of racism & homophobia, sexual harassment, mentioned relationship with large age gap & power imbalance

rep:

Spoiler

half-Korean American MC, African-American MC, gay & possibly bisexual secondary characters, WLW secondary character