While this story covers a lot of the same ground as other novels about ballet schools and young dancers, I really enjoyed it. Marine and Kate, best friends and rivals for the top ranking at the Paris Opera Ballet School, are complex enough characters that I enjoyed spending time inside their heads. It's kind of a typical story about friends drifting apart and becoming consumed with their own problems and insecurities and secrets, all set in the emotionally heightened setting of a competition. You get all of it: drugs, boys, sex, disordered eating, mean girls, gossip, rivalry, other bad decisions, triumphs, and failures. Yes, it's melodramatic, but it's about teenagers at a residential school for prodigies, so OF COURSE it's melodramatic! I think anybody into ballet and/or who is a teenaged girl is probably the target demographic for this.

I've seen other reviewers complain about the "double French," but it made perfect sense to me and would also, I suspect, to anyone familiar with ballet. While the setting is Paris, the book is in English and the ballet terms that would be in French--whether you're dancing in the U.S. or China or Russia--are in French. Nobody is ever going to translate "coup de pied" into English. This is not weird and I wasn't expecting to see reviews point it out.

To start off, I found the cover of Bright Burning Stars to be absolutely stunning. Then, the synopsis had me hooked. However, the book did fall a little short for me. I am not sure if it is because I know next to nothing about ballet or if it was the story itself. I thought that the main characters were very well thought out, I just could not relate to them. Each time one of the girls would fall "madly in love" with a boy I would cringe.

There was definitely a lot of constant drama as well. From the competition and ratings to health issues and eating disorders to romance and backstabbing there was no shortage. The story line moved at a decently brisk pace to keep the reader from losing interested. Although, I did find myself a little confused with the linguistics of the book. From the "double" French to the ballet terms, I found myself having to look up a lot of things.

All in all, this was an entertaining read. I found the location and the school to be very interesting. I had no idea that there was so much competition and practice that went into ballet at that level.

This book gives a look into the underbelly of the beautiful spectacle of ballet. Its delicate and gorgeous to watch, and we see art like Degas' dancing girls and marvel at how good they are at so young an age - but what is really happening behind the scenes? Stark at times, like a flourescent bulb in a concrete basement, this book still manages to leave you with a sense of hope and joy in the art of ballet.

I am always a fan of ballet stories and they must be good to live up to my high expectations. This book kept me involved from the first page to the last... Even though the plot was flimsy... I feel like you really need to have a dancer's background to really understand a lot of the terminology of this book, but I'm sure someone who has never put on a pair of point shoes can understand just well.

What I loved about this book was the explanation of the dances and how deep it went into the dancer's world. Its something that I love and am deeply passionate about.

The bad stuff was the dark nature of the ballet company and how the whole plot revolved around how depressing the dancer's life is. There was sex that meant nothing, oops a pregnancy and drugs passed out as long as you twirled in your birthday suite.

Even with all the sad truths plastered on the page for all to see, I was still really interested in the story. I guess it's like a train wreck, horrific, but you can't stop looking.

This book was heart wrenching and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. The characters and the story were compelling.

The things that drew me to Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small were the beautiful cover art and the fact that it was about dance. I have a history in jazz dance, and felt like I would be able to relate to the characters. I never realised how tough the life at a high level ballet school could be, though. This is definitely not something I could ever do. However, after I got over the initial shock of the way of life at Nanterre, the story felt longwinded. There was a lot of the same and the things that did happen were quite predictable (accidental pregnancy, anorexia, an honourable ending where the main characters rekindle their friendships again, I saw it all coming from the beginning).

The characters in the book evolved a little throughout the story, but not as much as I would have liked. I wished that more would have been done with Cyrille’s character too. He intrigued me from the beginning. Is he a serial killer? Possibly a rapist? But he turned out to be no more than an asshole. Missed opportunity if you ask me.

For people who love dance, and are familiar with the complicated French names of steps, this could be a good book. I personally had trouble forming an image of the story in my mind, especially the parts where intricate ballet dance pieces are described. I tried to make it easier for myself by reading the main characters’ chapters , which are written alternatingly from both points of view, in different accents. Marine’s I read with a British accent and Kate’s with an American one. Especially in the beginning this was helpful, since the stories ran very parallel to each other. Additionally I looked up some of the variations on YouTube, but I didn’t benefit from it as much as I would have liked.

In conclusion, I would say that the right audience would enjoy Bright Burning Stars, but most people will probably not appreciate it as much. It is a typical high school story with an intricate layer of ballet added on top.

There were moments where I thought the scenarios a bit outlandish but overall I think the majority of readers will enjoy this. It was ambitious, strong characters and a picturesque setting.

ok. ok. I love a dance movie/book, so when I skimmed the description on NetGalley, my brain understood "French ballet boarding school" and downloaded it immediately.

This was...fine. I liked the ballet stuff, though there's not much here that's groundbreaking if you've ever seen/read any other dance movie/book. Eating disorders? Sexually charged dance partners? Gross ouchy feet? You don't say. But that stuff is all done well, if you're into that kind of thing, which I am.

A linguistic pet peeve: this is set in France, the characters (except one) are French, they're presumably speaking French all the time but we're reading the dialogue translated because, you know, that's how books work. Except sometimes a random French word is thrown in the dialogue. So what's that, like, double-French?? (SOMETIMES this is for a specific phrase with the purpose of translating the difference between that and a similar English idiom, which makes sense for the American character, but sometimes it's just like bonjour or whatever, and like, why.)

Overall: a good read for fans of dance stuff, but not outstanding.

I enjoyed Bunheads and Black Swan, so this book grabbed my attention from the blurb. The story is told in two POVs from dancers in an elite ballet program. Sure, there are some clichés, but there are some difficult topics addressed, nonetheless, such as eating disorders, teen pregnancy, suicide, depression, and emotional abuse. I found it to be an engaging coming-of-age story, and the scenes unfolded in a way that could lead this to being made into a movie. The cover is a great fit for the story, as well.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley, but I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

I love books about ballet and find that whole worth rather fascinating, so I was really excited to pick this one up. But I was left just a bit underwhelmed. While I do love books about ballet, I have yet to find one that explores the subject, the world, the dancers in any unique or new way: here was have the same tropes we see in every ballet book, from deadly competition to stuggles with eating disorders, unhealthy levels of commitment to the craft, and always, one super-hot lead male dancer that all the girls want to be with. While there's nothing necessarily wrong with this (and it all seems rather believable considering that it is, again, in every ballet book ever written) I was longing for something more here that I just didn't get. If you've never read a ballet book before, but you are interested in the subject, I think this is as good a place to start as any. But if you're read through a few and are hoping for something more, you might not find it here.

Marine and Kate have been best friends forever but only one can win The Prize. What will each girl be willing to do to win? Can their friendship survive to the end? As the Demigod starts to fall for Marine, Kate tries to use him to climb the scoreboard and get one step closer to "The Prize". Both girls are haunted by losses in their families and each has to find a way to cope with the loss in their own ways. They both have to answer the question, "What are you willing to do to win". This book was excellent. It was well written and kept me enthralled to the end. I would definitely suggest this book to my students.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this title!*

Marine and Kate have been best friends since they began at the Paris Opera Ballet School years ago. Now at the top form, they are competing for The Prize - a career dancing with the Opera's prestigious corps de ballet, which is only given to one boy and one girl each year. When the body of a student is found in the dorms, the friends start to seriously question their commitment. Would they cheat to get the prize? Would they die for it? Would they seduce the #1 male dancer in hopes to partner with him?

As the competition gets fiercer, the emotions run high, and the small fissure between the best friends widens into a gap. Can their friendship survive the strain of their final year, the pressure, the boys?

*My Notes* I am not an athlete, but I love to read books about people who are, and these ballet dancers are absolutely athletes, with the competitive drive and the drama that comes with absolute ambition. This story absolutely sucked me in, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened. I look forward to seeing more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

This book focuses on the darkness associated with ballerinas and the ballet life as well as the decline of a female friendship. Marin and Kate are in the same ballet group at their prestigious ballet academy, both striving to be the best and Win "The Prize."

But it all comes with a price: unwanted pregnancy, anoerexia, depression, emotional abuse, to just name a few.

I took off a star because Kate drove me crazy. She made all the wrong choices at all the right times and it was frustrating to me!

A gutsy, grueling look into the world of competitive ballet. It’s like Tiny Pretty Things was mashed up with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, with a dash of Black Swan thrown in for good measure. This one will appeal to readers of all genres.

I really enjoyed this book and read it very fast. I was not sure what to expect from this book and really requested it based on the beautiful book cover. I really enjoyed reading about these two very different friends struggle through a difficult school and how they learned what they really needed from life.

A lyrical and compassionate coming of age story set in the grueling and competitive world of elite ballet school. The protagonists struggle to maintain their friendship in a high stakes world. Issues such as teen pregnancy, eating disorders and suicide are delicately handled. An ultimately disturbing portrayal of teens struggling to survive without the benefit of adult or professional help.

I received this book in return for a fair and honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the early E-ARC of this book. This was an interesting book about competition between friends in the world of ballet. Sometimes the cost of what we want can be higher than what we want to pay. Competition nearly destroyed the friendship between the two main characters and changed their lives profoundly.

An intense story told from two POV. I don't know how much of the school is real (though I suspect most of it is) . I'm left hoping the methods used aren't really necessary to produce high-caliber artists. Decent writing though sometimes I felt character development was told, not shown.

Ever have one of those books that didn't quite match up with what you'd hoped it would be? "Bright Burning Stars" was that for me. From the cover art (gorgeous) and the mysterious plot summary, I had hopes of something magical and fanciful as well as ballet-themed--a ballet version of "The Night Circus," if you will. Unfortunately, that was not to be. "Bright Burning Stars" is the story of dancers in an elite program that will ultimately send two dancers to the corps of the Paris Opera. Our story follows two best friends through the program. What's problematic: The book seems to cover every cliche of other dance books/television programs. So, here we have eating disorders, issues of sexuality/identity, backstabbing, unhealthy levels of commitment, and of course, romance with the male lead. All things that I have read before (for example, "Tiny Pretty Things," another YA dance novel.) Even the setting, Paris and the amazing beast that is its Opera Garnier, is barely present. (I will give the author credit, because I am definitely seeing Paris in my head when I think of this book, but I feel like a lot more could have been done with it and particularly, the Opera. Using French words alone isn't enough.) In short, the book was okay if you're looking for some dance fluff, but aughhh, that very evocative cover made me hope for a lot more.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. I !ike reading about ballet - the struggles, the intrigues and the successes and this book did not disappoint. Good story.