Pages: 304
Published by Penguin on June 3, 2021
Genres: contemporary, Magical Realism, Romance, Young Adult
Source: eARC from Publisher
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star Nicola Yoon is back with her eagerly anticipated third novel. With all the heart and hope of her last two books, this is an utterly unique romance.
Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.
As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything--including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he's only just met.
Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it's that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
Instructions for Dancing is a young adult contemporary romance with a touch of magical realism by author Nicola Yoon. I am so incredibly excited about this book because I have been in a reading slump for a couple of weeks now, and I just haven’t been able to find anything that wowed me. I tried fantasy, I tried romance, I tried contemporary ya, nothing was doing it for me. Until I picked up Instructions for Dancing. This book grabbed me within the very first chapter. I loved this book so much. It made me laugh and it made me completely bawl! If you are a fan of emotional and heartfelt young adult, you must read Instructions for Dancing. Thank you Nicola Yoon for bringing me out of my reading slump.
In Instructions for Dancing, we meet our main character Evie. Evie’s parents are recently divorced, and Evie is pretty broken up about it because she walked in on her dad with his mistress, who he is now in a relationship with post divorce with her mom. This has made Evie pretty jaded about relationships and love in general. But when she is out donating her romance books, she get “zoltared” (like from the movie BIG) and now she has this magical ability to see the past present and future of anyone’s relationship when she sees them kiss. Seeing these couples break up reinforces her idea that love doesn’t last. But Evie’s friend Martin is determined to help her get rid of her new gift, which leads her to the local dance studio. Her she finds herself partnered up with a guy- X and they are entered in a dance competition.
I loved watching Evie and X get to know each other because they are great contracts and complements to one another. I also loved Evie’s friend group. Instructions for Dancing is such a great glimpse into the lives of teens and different kinds of relationships and love. Nicola Yoon does such a fantastic job of showcasing different relationships with all of the secondary characters, and all at different stages of life. This book is really meaningful and really heartfelt. It gave me all the feels. Even sad feels. I loved watching Evie’s relationship with the concept of love change. Instructions for Dancing is a beautifully poignant read. I loved this book and I think you will too!
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I love Nicola Yoon and I can’t wait to read this! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
This sounds like a really good story; and I love books that are about dancing, thanks for the review!
This sounds great. I love when books are just a touch sad and books that make me cry are usually the best.