{Review} Phantom’s Dance by Lesa Howard @LesaBoutin

Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard
Pages: 342
Published by Createspace Independent Pub on March 1, 2014
Genres: contemporary, Love & Romance, retelling, Suspense, Young Adult
Source: ecopy from Author

Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.

Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.

Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.

Phantom’s Dance is a contemporary re-telling of Phantom of the Opera. The story was great. I thought Lesa Howard had a beautiful dichotomy in her writing between the young, upbeat, and sweet feel of the teenagers in the story, along with the dark vibe that is the Phantom. Fans of the Phantom of the Opera should not mist Phantom’s Dance by Lesa Howard. It was really cool to see the Opera and music get substituted with dancing. They so often go hand and hand, but Ballet is an excellent art to see woven into the story of the Phantom.

Christine moves to Houston to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. She is clearly an excellent dancer, but things in her life are holding her back from moving up to join their second company. I will admit that I didn’t know very much about the technical side of Ballet, except for a few phrases I have seen thrown around in movies and tv. But Lesa Howard made the world of dance so easily accessible for her readers. I never felt lost or ignorant of the art. And the hard work that these dancer have to go through made me admire Christine so much. She is such a dedicated and hard worker. 

I really enjoyed Raoul and how he was introduced in the story. He is a football player that, along with his teammates, go to the dance academy to learn some techniques to help with their flexibility and to make them more resilient towards football injuries. I thought that was brilliant. He is such a wonderful guy. Sweet, dependable, and so understanding with Christine. I loved how he was really there for her when she needed him. He was something that she really needed in her life. I liked him a lot more than the Raoul from the movie version of the Phantom that I watched.

Phantom’s Dance also worked in some step up- esque type dancing, which was another cool and unique add on to the story line. Lesa Howard really knew how to make this book interesting and engaging from start to finish. Phantom’s Dance made me smile, creeped me out, and surprised me. It was a solidly good read. Fans of dance and of Phantom of the Opera should check it out!

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2014 Summer Reading Challenge
• COYER
• Summer Surge Read A Thon

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