I really enjoyed this book. As a former dancer and someone who studied the French language, I loved all the French/Ballet terminology used in this book. It's a real look into the study of ballet and I found it fascinating and well done. The novel, while it deals with many difficult issues, ends on a high note, and I really loved that. The characters were not the most likable, but even so, I enjoyed the book as a whole.

First position: Heels together

Keep yourself together



Second position: One foot is in front of the other

Be calm even as your best friend moves ahead of you



Seventh position: En Pointe

Don't forget to smile!





For childhood friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders, ballet is life. Kate dances to fill the absence of her mother's abandonment and Marine's musical precision earns her the nickname 'the pulse' as she continues her ballet journey in the name of her deceased twin Oli.


Both girls have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood and have bonded over ballet,
Would you? games, and Beyoncé karaoke nights. To survive the harsh training regimen at the Ballet School, Marine and Kate pledged to be Moon Sisters where they watch over each other in their quest to reach the coveted first place at the ballet board.



However, as the fight coveted position in the Opera's corps de ballet intensifies, Marine and Kate must reexamine their past confidences and learn what they are willing to sacrifice to be the chosen one on selection day.



The spirit of both girl's radiate like brightly burning stars. Yet, how much darkness can a light face before being absorbed completely.



Told in the flourished narrative of Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton Tiny Pretty Things, A.K. Small writes a compelling story about the underside of ballet that emphasizes on the grueling, sacrifices, and emotional commitment behind the euphoria of the dance. The author's own foundation the world of ballet is transparent in the backbone of Brightly Burning Stars.

Fits easily into the "ballet school" YA set (e.g. Tiny Pretty Things, Up to This Pointe) with its physical and emotional intensity. There is a touch of an "in translation" feel (I believe the author is French) but the writing can also be quite graceful. However, the narrative didn't do a particularly strong job of making either main character particularly likable, or of centering them in a broader world. Kate's story felt especially limiting because there were hints of outside issues that she needed to resolve - with each of her parents, with her identity as an American living in Paris long-term - but which were given little time; perhaps the fact that nearly the entire book took place inside the school and with the staff and students there was a purposeful way to show how myopic and consuming the lifestyle is, but it made me feel as if Kate and Marine were ballerina maquettes rather than true characters. I was also left somewhat unsatisfied by the ending: the issues and atmosphere which caused all of the problems only felt partially resolved. Best for readers who don't mind complex and sometimes unsympathetic characters.

**Full review to be added closer to the publication date!**

Bright Burning Stars is a raw look at a competitive ballet environment and the stressful, up-and-down friendship between to dancers.

The author's voice was so gorgeous! Really beautiful. For some reason, I'd thought it was a historical fiction so was confused by the modern references at first.
The formatting of the ARC isn't usually an issue, but I found this formatting distractingly difficult to read on my Kindle.

I was fortunate to receive a Netgalley ARC of A. K. Small’s Bright Burning Stars in exchange for an honest review. In the dog-eat-dog world of French ballet, roommates Marine and Kate have survived the Nanterre ballet school by sharing a special friendship that has survived all odds. However, in their final year, with “The Prize” of a company membership hanging heavy over their heads, the girls’ paths diverge, leading them both on a dangerous journey toward ballet fame and self-discovery. With just the right amount of French ballet terms and Parisian allusions sprinkled in, Bright Burning Stars leads readers through the intensely competitive world of professional ballet, asking questions of whether friendship can survive and what truly ranks as important in life. Mixed in with an unmistakable passion for dance, characters face real-world issues of drug abuse, eating disorders, depression, and unhealthy relationships.

To my immense delight, this novel felt much more like a bildungsroman than a novel about dance; I kept flashing back to the best scenes from the movie Center Stage with even more drama built in. While I wasn’t happy about each characters’ final choices (isn’t M. going to miss the stage? Do we really believe that Kate has grown so introspective that she recognizes her own self-destructive tendencies?), I did enjoy following them each down their divergent paths, seeing cautionary tales in both taking dedication too far and dealing with stress in unhealthy ways. Highly recommended for library purchase where realistic fiction is in high demand or where book clubs are looking for a new title.

Bright Burning Stars is a book about ballet, female friendships, and finding our own path. It's a book about ambition, dreams, and sacrifices. You can feel the competitiveness in the air, in the sweat, in the sound of ballet music. This boarding school meets ballet academy is one of ruthlessness. But at the same time, we witness this image of friendship in this desert. And we become transfixed as we watch is unfold as two very different, but  empathetic girls struggle with the balance between their dreams and their lives.

With this dual POV, Small allows us to witness two very different perspectives, Marine and Kate, and what they are willing to do to succeed and, most importantly, what success means to them. Is success being at the top of the leader board? And are they willing to sacrifice it all, even each other, to get there?

I tried to push through the first half of this book but I couldn't connect with the characters and didn't find the plot as engaging as I hoped! I tried to push myself to finish but I wasn't invested and the characters weren't interesting enough for me. I found myself getting slightly frustrated with their thoughts and wished there had been an extra kick or drama or just something within that first half that would have kept me invested. Sadly, I had to put the book away because it was getting too frustrating.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
TW: this book is about dancing and the competitive nature of it and some of the ugly things that go with it, there is drug use, struggling with weight and anorexia, and abortion.

Brightly Burning Stars by A.K. Small is about two girls in the final year of their time at a ballet school in France that will decide their dance career futures.
Kate, an American girl, has bonded with Marine (M) and promised a close bond back when they were young and new to the school that would protect each other and see them get to the end, the coveted Prize that only one girl and one boy in their year receives. Kate struggles with self-worth and makes a lot of poor life choices throughout the book. I honestly didn’t like her at all, even if I understood a lot of the time where she was coming from and what led her to her choices.
Marine is probably the most interesting character for me and the one with the most growth throughout the book. She took up dance for the twin brother she lost and is firmly tied to his memory and the could haves. She struggles with her weight and also identity because she has placed so much of her time in this school as her brother’s dream, not necessarily her own.
I liked the variety of characters, the motivations. Cyrille for example, don’t like him, but he was intriguing. Luv was a sweetheart and I want the best for my sweet boy.
While this story was a fairly enjoyable read I didn’t get anything necessarily new from it. Dancing is tough, it’s competitive, and your friends may not last as your friends for long in a school as competitive as theirs was. Was I hoping for more? Yes, but that’s my personal wants and needs. I think anyone looking for a book on dancing will find this enjoyable still.
(P.S. personal pet peeve of this book, it’s my understanding they’re speaking French at all times to each other and yet French terms are thrown constantly into the book, just... kinda annoying after awhile.)

Bright Burning Stars is the debut novel by A.J. Small. The novel is a tale set in a French ballet school, and understandably it has a lot of the plot devices we’d hope and expect for it. But it’s more than that as well. It’s a coming of age story, a story where one has to learn what is best for them, and of course the story of the hardship dancers can come across while in training.
This novel was an interesting read, though understandable it was difficult at times. It’s so easy to forget that teenagers can be put through situations like this, for the sake of their art, but that doesn’t change the truth.


Warnings: This novel deals with a lot of the heavier elements associated with any field that is highly competitive, but especially the dance field. There’s a lot of pressure about weights shone in this novel, which understandably develops into eating problems and disorders. Likewise there’s drug use, and even a scene where one of the girls has to end her pregnancy or get dropped from the program. If these subjects are upsetting to you, consider yourself warned.
Bright Burning Stars was an enchanting yet disturbing tale of two girls in their journey to be the best. This novel may not have hit me so hard had it not been the first ballet novel I truly read (I know the synopsis of many, but I’ve never actually taken the time to read one before now), or maybe it would have. I can’t honestly say. I can say that there were points where it did hit me hard.
The juxtaposition between Marine and Kate it what really made this novel powerful, in my mind. Here we have two girls, from very different paths in life, trying to succeed in something they love: ballet. They have their own struggles with the art, and different elements where they truly shine.
The difference between how they handle the stress is where things really shine. One girl took her stress outward, while the other suppressed it. One kept making the same mistakes again and again, while the other learned from her mistakes and took action to prevent it happening again.
Seeing their stories spiral out of control, both together and apart, was truly fascinating. I don’t think the story would have been nearly so compelling had only one of them been included here. The conclusion did a great job of driving their different plots home, while also tying them back together in an unexpected manner.
Despite all of this, I do wish that I had more of a chance to know them. That sounds weird, I know. But something about everything made it feel like their emotions were muted. Likely the trauma and stress, and if so that means it was well written. Or maybe it’s the pace in which I read the novel – all in one sitting one Sunday morning.
I’m looking forward to seeing what else A.K. Small will write in the future. I absolutely loved the writing style as well as the unique perspective used for storytelling in Bright Burning Stars. For that reason, I think that A.K. Small will be an author worth watching out for.

This book was a lot darker than I presumed it to be. The ballet story is something I enjoyed, although some of the random french words and phrases threw me. Overall, I did really enjoy this book and recommend it for people who like ballet stories.

BRIGHT BURNING STARS is surprisingly dark and twisty, following two young ballet dancers in their final year at Nanterre in alternating points-of-view. Nanterre trains “rats,” e.g. the children of the ballet who may or may not become a part of the elite ballet company at the Paris Opera. The children are entrenched in the culture and highly competitive environment bred from the result of their years of education where only one girl and one boy from each year are chosen to join the company. As the result of failure is equated to death, and their rankings among their classmates are constantly updated, the students are naturally very competitive with each other. The environment reeks of destruction and corruption.

Kate and Marine have been best friends for years, moving up and down around the other in rankings but not yet truly competing with each other. In this final year, with the stakes so high, they must decide how far they will go to win as well as why they love ballet so much that they have sacrificed their childhood and adolescence to it. Each girl loses herself to the school and their own psychological struggles in the course of the plot.

Very dark and twisty, this book exposes the bleak underbelly of ballet in an, at times, horrifying way. Kate is sacrificing herself to boys and drugs to find purpose and meaning in her life. She is convinced that if she dances with the boy they call ‘The Demigod,’ Cyrille, that she will be able to make it. In the meantime, she gives her heart and body away very easily. Marine joined ballet because her twin brother who died when they were younger had dreamed of ballet- she is determined to succeed for him. She is ever-aware of the flaws of her body, made even more apparent by the weigh-ins they require of her to ensure she does not gain weight and the nutritionist they have her visit to lose the 1kg she gained over a few months.

Their friendship itself has been- or has at least become- destructive with Kate overpowering Marine frequently and resulting in Marine’s further problems. This is not really a book about friendship, even though it follows two girls who are supposed to be friends. The lessons that the book holds are more about the systematic oppression and heavy weight of expectations that can lead to psychological destruction, as they are evident in ballet. Reading of this book should be placed in context by educators/others for younger readers. Books which show such challenges are worth reading for understanding; however, the healing is not as apparent and resources for teens who may face similar challenges are needed.

Warnings (which may contain spoilers) for this book would include drug use, smoking/alcohol teen use, suicide and depression, sexual exploitation, anorexia/weight obsession, self-harm, teen pregnancy, and abortion. This is a very dark, but well-written, novel, and it carries some major issues for which resources would have been helpful to show (or to include in an afterward, which may happen upon publication).

I would recommend this book for older YA contemporary readers who are looking for a darker read with gravitas. Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Book: Burning Bright Stars
Author: AK Small
Rating: 5 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Algonquin Young Readers, for providing me with this ARC. It’s so good to be working with you again.

I was shocked with this one. I really don’t know that much about ballet and the world of dance, but I do like books that show how dedicated characters are to their craft, which is why I decided to check this one out. I must say what the characters put themselves through is pretty amazing. It really makes you think about just how far you are willing to go to achieve your dreams.

I loved the friendships that the characters had. It felt real. However, not only were the characters mostly friends, but they were competing against each other, which is hard. We get to see just how the world of ballet and how it can bring people together, but, yet, tear them apart. What I really loved about the characters was we got to see them at both their best and worst. We get to see them nail that prefect routine, but make a terrible mistake on the next page. I really do like seeing this human element in books. It makes the characters even that much more real.

AK’s writing was also beautiful and packed with emotion. It is very clear that she knows her stuff and does an amazing job with explaining the ballet world to those of us who know nothing about it. I mean, I know nothing about the world of ballet and I was able to follow this book just fine. Going back to the emotion, it was just wow. This book is hard hitting in all the right places and it will leave you reaching for me. I was just stunned at the over all writing.

The pacing was good and the plot was good as well. Sometimes with young adult, there is so much time spent on the world and it throws the pacing off. This is not the case here. AK weaves in what we need to know throughout the book. It is just amazing how much ballet is packed into this short book.

I do think that this is a stand alone….I’m not sure though. I do think that everything was wrapped up very nicely. I mean, not everything is answered at the end, but that’s okay. It leaves you room to think about what happens next. It also opens up the doors to a second book.

This book comes out on May 21, 2019.

Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for inviting me on to the Blog Tour and for gifting me an E-ARC in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I’ve been obsessed with movies based on Ballet Dancer based movies . i.e. Center Stage, Black Swan, The Nutcracker. So I was really excited to be given the opportunity to read a book about Ballet Dancers, complete with a love triangle. But more so a love triangle between two girls, and the slot at Corps De Ballet. And you’ve got to have the boy that comes between them!

This was such a fun, drama queen, fluffy read, and the perfect cure for my thriller hangover! I had a great time reading this one, and I am sure a lot of young girls are going to like this one too. Not to mention how awesome the cover is, that was enough to make me want to read it!

This book is out May 21st Guys, I will put the Goodreads link below, so you can pre-order from your favorite retailer, and add it to your Goodreads TBR!

This riveting story spins a dark tale that shreds the delicate facade of ballet and dives straight into the beating heart of what it takes to become a star and what one will do to achieve it. Spun between lovely arabesques and dazzling pas de deux lurks the brittle bonds of friendship, the pressures of success, and the lures of youth finding their footing in life. A gritty surprising story for those ever fascinated by the world of dance.

In the world of Ballet, it's definitely a dog eat dog world as the only one can ever become the best, and in order to be the best, you have to strive for perfection and sacrifice everything around you from your weight , comforts of your life, free time and sometimes friendships can be broken and destroyed , all in the name of scoring that big part in the ballet shows. Best friends Marine and Kate have trained together since they were little at the Paris Opera Ballet School. For years, it has been the two of them against the world. However, they are starting to age out of the Ballet school and this year is the year of changes. The year that will make or break their career. During the year, the two girls will find themselves both in the line of the Demigod's eyes. He is the best male dancer at the academy and girls who dance with him, find themselves reaching high levels. Marine and Kate promised never to let anyone get between them, but the Demigod will as Kate first captures his interest. Of course, the Demigod has a rating system and takes thrills in breaking the hearts and souls of the dancers. Though Kate is a great dancer, her heart is weak, and we will read as she starts to isolate herself and create a bubble around herself and Demigod. Then he drops her and her ratings begin to decline, and life plummets. Then it's Marine's turn, she on the other hand as a firm determination as she joined ballet to honor her twin Oli's life. Bright Burning Stars was a tale of the inner world of Ballet stars and that to get to the top and be the best the sacrifices in life we have to take, and sometimes that means squashing the others around us. It also shows readers, that despite everything it is a true friendship that will always prevail.

As someone who loves stories about competitive boarding schools for the arts (like FAME, for example), I knew that BRIGHT BURNING STARS was going to be a fun and satisfying read for me if I took it for what it was. Told from the perspectives of best friends Marine and Kate, BRIGHT BURNING STARS is about the passion for dance, how friendships can change, and the damaging lengths some will go to to achieve supposed 'perfection'. Both Marine and Kate have their various kinds of baggage (Marine is still mourning the death of her twin brother Oli and has been fighting with body image; Kate is an American who has never gotten over her mother's abandonment), and they both felt realistic in their ups and downs and the choices they made. While I preferred the Marine perspective due to the fact I found myself relating to her more, Kate's chapters felt more complex and haunting. There weren't many surprises or twists in this book; it goes the way you predict it's going to go, and goes the way many of the stories like this do, but it was well done and I devoured it in one sitting.

If you like stories about elite schools and the students who attend them, BRIGHT BURNING STARS is a book to check out!

I read this book in two sittings! I was immediately pulled into the world of dance, and I was so intrigued by the characters.

Some reviewers are saying that this book is a bit dark and graphic, but what I think the author is trying to portray is how dark and graphic the world of dance and ballet can really be. There was teenage sex that resulted in unwanted teenage pregnancy, there was friendship and heartache, eating disorders, and other hard topics, but the author did an excellent jobs of showing the highs and lows that the dancers go through.

This book covered so many topics, and it was easy to get sucked into the world of ballet in France!

I hope you enjoyed reading about this new release!

For more reviews, check out my blog at www.sarahjuneblog.com!

Marine and Kate are best friends and each other's dance competition at their ballet school, Nanterre, in Paris, France. When they were younger they swore with their Moon Pact to either both win The Prize (a prestigious opportunity that picks only one female and one male dancer to join Paris' ballet corps) or both walk away. It isn't until they are in Division One that the reality of the matter is presented. Only one girl can win the competition; one will continue their dream while the other will pack their bags and never return.

Their once perfect bond of friendship begins to shatter as these truths come to light. They drift apart and battle separate demons that further divides their friendship into acquaintances and then rivals. Kate finds solace in cigarettes, drugs, and The Demigod, a fellow male dancer with striking looks and flawless ballet grace, while Marine focuses on improving her technique and dropping more weight from her rail-thin frame. After weeks of growing apart, Kate finds herself pregnant from a one-night stand with The Demigod who no longer wants anything to do with her, and Marine becomes paired with The Demigod (by their instructors) for the remainder of the year and starts her journey into anorexia and bulimia to transform her body into one that will rival Gia, the other female competition.

The story was enjoyable, although everything was predictable from the beginning. I knew what would result after reading the first chapter and getting introduced to Kate and Marine. When the ending arrived, I was proven right. I shared a connection with Marine since her struggle was so beautifully portrayed over the course of her year in Division One. You see her thoughts change with each chapter and how she spirals into her own worst enemy before finding her way out of the fog. She transforms into the skinniest girl in Division One and yet she still looks in the mirror and sees fat on her arms, hips, and thighs. I wish we could have seen more of her falling and rising, but since each chapter alternated between Kate and Marine we only get a glimpse into the damage she's inflicting on her body.

Kate, on the other hand, I did not like because of her personality. She claims she and Marine are best friends, but Marine is the only loyal and caring person in this friendship. Kate secretly is jealous of Marine and spites her over petty things. She is rude and manipulative to her (back at the beginning when they are still best friends) and Marine just shrugs it off. Thankfully it reaches the point where Marine realizes Kate is sabotaging their friendship by keeping things from her and purposely cutting her down (Kate is very hateful when she discovers Marine has been partnered with The Demigod) so she drifts off and finds solace in the one thing she can control: her weight.

While Marine grew into a stronger character at the end (literally; she is very selfless), Kate was still the same: vindictive, self-absorbed, selfish, arrogant, and making the same mistakes she did at the beginning of the year. I know their falling out had to be included to cause friction between the characters, but I wish Kate had transformed into a likable individual.

Thank you NetGalley and Edelweiss for the ARC.

SURPRISINGLY DARK.

I went into this book blindly reading because the synopsis was intriguing and I haven’t read any dance books before. I was really happy with how much I enjoyed it! I devoured it in hours.

This is one of those very rare instances where insta-love works. Dear independent Kate, really struggled in the boy department. And I was so angry and upset at her and for her. Her mental health is so poor and turning to boys only made things worse and this broke my heart.

Marine is the softer of the two and is completely wrapped up in her own grief. I liked how she overcame her personal struggles and allowed love into her life. Luc was way too precious and I LOVE him. He was the real hero of this story if you ask me.

On the other hand I’m going to personally destroy the snake, Cyrille. While I think the nickname “The Demigod” is a bit lame it made sense from a teen perspective. He was seriously the worst though y’all. Don’t even get me started.

The real danger is when passions rule your life. This ballet school is a deadly mash-up that kept me on my toes. I legitimately was concerned that this book wouldn’t have a happy ending. I’m grateful that the story was wrapped up and everyone went the direction they needed to.

One of the few issues I had with it was the amount of unexplained dance phrases. Anyone without a full knowledge (like myself) would be a tad confused with the dance scenes. I gathered enough, but I did get confused on occasion. The transitions to flashbacks was also a touch perplexing. I often didn’t realize we had gone to the past when the book had already come back to the present.

Overall audience notes:

Second Note: The Trigger Warning section will contain mild spoilers. I generally try to keep it free of those, but I feel it’s important to know what you might stumble across because this book has some difficult themes that shocked me and I would want others to know before reading.

YA Contemporary: difficult themes, please see Trigger Warning section
Language: a little
Romance: lots of kisses/make-outs, a few very little detailed love scenes
Violence: personal (detailed in trigger section)
Trigger warnings: anorexia, general obsession with weight, smoking, drug-use, underage drinking, self-harm, abortion, sexual exploitation, and suicide