A tale that that will appeal to young kids particularly if they’ve been through a move themselves where they find their entire life uprooted.

Ziegler perfectly captured adolescent angst, mean girls syndrome and the competitive spirit that comes at this age when it seems like all that matters in life is the next big win.

It reminded me a bit of the spirit from the Bring it On movie series only about dancing instead of cheerleading. She provides lots of details so you get a feel for how dance classes go along with their competitions, types of costumes and the intense rivalry that is created under these circumstances.

Even if you have little to no experience with the dance world Ziegler provides enough that you can still enjoy the plot, follow along with the characters and not get lost in the minutie. She even delves into the relationships between mothers and their dancers; everyone loves seeing moms trying to live through their kids.

It’s not a perfect story, at least from an adult’s point of view. The characters feel stereotypical but that didn’t stop the Bring it On story from becoming a franchise of six movies, a musical and even a book though it suffered from the same problem. As an adult I wish she had made the characters more diverse, given them a more well rounded set of interests and hopes but for the age group it’s directed towards I don’t think they’ll care.

If you have a dancing fan I’d recommend picking this up so they can enjoy diving into one of their favorite subjects.

Like it (celebrity penned works) or not (usually I don't) Ziegler is a major figure in the tween world of social media. Kids will be looking to read this book and as there are not many titles that cover the competitive world of ballet, dance, gymastics etc. I thought I should. Full confession, I have a twelve year old ballerina and had her read it too. We both liked it, thought the main character, Harper, was sympathetic and committed to her dance. We didn't like the echoes of Dance Moms in the petty behavior of the parents and some of the rival dancers, but did like the positive messages of friendship and sibling support. It is apparently the first in a trilogy and my test reader said she would read them. The book skews to the younger reader and as a different kind of series book, I will be adding it to our collection.

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