24 January, 2016

REVIEW: PRETTY DANCER by Cora Graham

Title: Pretty Dancer
Author: Cora Graham
Series: -
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 325

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SYNOPSIS: Meet Lilly - talented dancer, quick mouthed, take no shit tough girl who's also good at hiding the fact that she's scared. She doesn't believe in true love or happily ever afters. Unless you count the unbreakable love she has for her overprotective, bullheaded twin brother, who also happens to be her knight in shining armor - which she doesn't. Kind of hard to love when you can't trust, and trust was something that got shattered along with the rest of her years ago. A lot was taken from her at a young age. She's never gotten over it as much as she's just refused to deal with it.

Her twin brother and quirky best friend are the only ones she lets see her true self. Her only dream is to get accepted into The Elite Academy of Dance and spend the rest of her life dancing on a stage, away from all that haunts her. To her, that's easier than dealing with the demons from her past and the scars they left on the person she has become today. She's more than willing to tuck all those dark and nasty things away, and go on pretending. Never hoping for anything more. Never allowing herself to feel.

That is, until a certain guy walks into her life like he was always meant to be there and refuses to go away. He turns her world upside down and confuses her to no end. He makes her wonder if there really is something more worth fighting her demons for. But then a secret comes to light that has her questioning if her shattered heart could have been saved all its hurt so many years ago.

A story about a girl who fights to overcome her past and dances her way into the future she wants. And maybe, just maybe, along the way finds a way to trust again, to love again.

Love, Humor, Passion, Artistry, a story of acceptance.

A copy of Pretty Dancer was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Cora!
Lately I've been reading a lot of contemporary YA with romance and (some) dance... hmm I've enjoyed them so far but I need a break, you feel me? Besides... I have exams *dies*


THE WORLD: Normal world. High School (aka hell for some people).

CHARACTERS: The main character is Lilly, girl who always stands up for herself, is a good dancer, has good grades, etc but has no boyfriend because a) she has never liked anyone and b) her twin brother Luke is super duper overprotective. Lilly's best friend and partner in crime is Andrea and she has so much sass! I liked her a lot. We also have the interesting male interest, Carter, who is supposedly the "bad" boy though now he's trying to redeem himself by being nice. The story is basically Lilly trying to get into The Elite Academy of Dance by preparing her solo while maintaining grades and figuring out her feelings for Carter. Plot-wise there is not much although there are a few "secrets" readers have to discover.

LOVE: Yup, there is love. Two couples and both cute. No triangles (thanks!) and no insta-love either.

PLUS: It's an okay book. It's entertaining so it serves the purpose. I also liked Andrea's character the best and Lilly's POV was also nice!

MINUS: It took forever for Lilly and Carter to get over their sh*tty mistakes and lifes seriously... they must have had serious trauma.

OVERALL: 3.5 stars. So yeah, it was okay, fine, but not one of those to wow (at least for me). Could be nice for some light reading in between expected books or so :)


 


What did you guys think about PRETTY DANCER?