#Ballet Orphan: A Prequel by author # Terez Mertes Rose is Book #3.And reading as a stand alone is fine. A story of the desire to be loved combined with a mysterious storyline....
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, # Terez Mertes Rose, and # Classical Girl Press

If you love ballet, this is for you. A view of the side of the curtain most of the audience will never see.

Thank you to Classical Girl Press, Terez Mertes Rose and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The storyline and characters seemed interesting and I love ballet but unfortunately I couldn't get into it. DNF.

I enjoyed a lot this reading. It was fun, easy and so touching. This is my first novel from Terez Mertes Rose, but I surely will put her other novels on my the, and I'll recommend it to anyone who loves books and ballet.
If you aren't a dancer I'm not sure you enjoyed this reading too much, because it's full of details about the life of a dancer, even steps, and references to the history of some of the greatest ballets, also from some popular ballet schools and companies. This is also my first novel related to ballet, and I'm fascinated!
Thank you so much to net galley and editorial for letting me read this book.

This book was very hard to understand at times. The characters were just a mishmash of confusion and hard to keep straight. The story surrounds a ballet academy and its students. At times I was honestly confused as to who the dancers were and who the teachers were the way it was written. It is mainly a coming off age story about April, a ballet orphan who throws herself into dance after losing both parents. It explores her coming to the academy as well as what I took to be her first year. There are plenty of twists and turns (no ballet pun intended) including a psycho ex ballerina, overzealous dancers, injuries, engagements...an overall great story!

This is a great behind the scenes view of the dance world where the author places the reader in the heart of a struggling ballet company looking for renewed success. The main character April takes us along on her journey as she transitions from an established New York ballet company to a principal dancer with the West Coast Ballet Company which has come under a new director. She is met with reluctance and hesitation from the West Coat Ballet dancers while striving for their acceptance and her place within the company.

This novel has all the typical themes one would expect to find in the dance world – competitiveness, strength, passion, pain, heartbreak, jealously, sacrifice, friendship and family and the author hit each one on point. The author did a good job of developing each character and displaying the range of emotion each one faced. The themes are well -developed and the reader really gets an understanding of what it is like in the competitive world of dance aside from the beauty and artistic presentation we are only privy to when seeing a performance. The author also did a notable job of balancing the use of technical aspects of ballet versus explaining it in a way the reader would understand. There is a glossary of terms in the back of the novel which is a great addition and allows the reader to embrace the entire story.

The actual plot could have used a little more development. The author developed a strong foundation and build up to later events, however the story did not completely execute. It felt a little rushed at the end. The author did circle back and provide an outcome with each character which was well-received and a nice conclusion. It would have been welcomed to see more of the actual event that occurs (no spoiler) and the resulting consequences both on the characters themselves and the ballet company.

Overall, the novel was enjoyable and keeps the reader engaged. It is a prequel to later books in the series, but it was not a requirement to have read the others in order to capture the interest of and relate to this novel. The pace moves quickly, and it is an easy read. The novel offers readers a new appreciation for the art of dance and the sacrifices that dancers endure to reach the height of success. The only disappointment is that a reader was not able to witness an actual performance as detailed in the book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. Jealousy, subterfuge and the rigor of being in a ballet company in San Francisco. Good behind the curtains read.

Thank you to Terez Mertes Rose, Classical Girl Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

I really enjoyed the other "Ballet Theater Chronicles" books, so I was very excited to read this prequel. A very good prequel to the other books, and a must read if you're a fan of ballet.

I have a soft spot for books about the behind the scenes world of dance and ballet, and this read was a lovely addition to that genre. Here, it is 1990 and April is a ballet soloist in New York when her mom dies just two years after her dad's death. She's trying to rebalance her life when she gets a principal offer at a struggling San Francisco ballet company. A new life in a new city seems like an exciting prospect to her, but the other dancers are wary of both a new dancer and a new artistic director. Then, there's a troubling former dancer with an explosive past. While technically this is a prequel novel, I found it easy to get into as a newbie to the series. Here, she realizes the sacrifices that are necessary to make her professional dreams come true and her desire to be loved and protect her chosen family. This reads quite quickly with engaging language and tone. It's a fun read about the behind-the-scenes world of ballet. It's vulnerable, authentic, fun, and engaging that I very much enjoyed.

I LOVE dance movies. Always have, always will. Even with the bad acting and lame storyline, the dance part always gets to me. The best one ever - The Center Stage without a doubt....cant even count the numbers I have watched it. ⠀
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But this was the first time I have read a book about dance, more correctly, ballet. It was an interesting experience, I have to say. The book was solid, even though I did wanted more of...something. More action, more drama, more plot. But what surprised me is how this book felt like home. It spoke the language I understand. You can see the author was a dancer herself because she knows all the facts. And I was immediately transferred to my early 20's when theatre halls were my second home, where dancing was a life I chose to educate myself for, and where being on stage gave all the feelings of excitement, thrill and magic. I was there. I know all the dancers dramas, I've been through them all. Starting fresh, proving yourself, coping with jealousy, dealing with management, killing yourself on rehearsals, glowing on performance nights and hanging out with your theatre friends.⠀
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Love. Passion. Pain. Disappointment. Ecstasy. Betrayal. Sacrifice. Addiction. That is what being a ballet dancer means. It is the worst life and it is the best life. And the author manages to present it amazingly well. ⠀

Big thanks to NetGalley and Classical Girl Press for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to Classical Girl Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of Ballet Orphans.
I love reading about ballet studio/company rehearsals and the drama that accompanies. I devoured this fun book in a day, and highly recommend to others who enjoy reading about the dance world. The descriptions of the movements in the featured ballets such as Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty were detailed enough to remind me of exact stagings I've seen. Some of the casting dramas, etc. may seem overblown to others but were realistic to me. The author uses ballet vocabulary extensively and appropriately and also includes a glossary for readers unfamiliar with the terminology. Although this is the third book in a series (written as a prequel), I did not feel that I was missing anything, having not read the other two books.

I enjoyed this book! I felt like the narrator’s voice was clear and consistent, and the story was good. I learned a lot about ballet and appreciated that the narrator was an adult, not a child growing up in the ballet world - it was a different perspective. The story was a little bit predictable but overall enjoyable.

3.5 stars
Any dance book makes me so happy! There was an unnecessary subplot that just made the story over-the-top dramatic. Reading about the inner workings of a floundering dance company is interesting and drama-filled enough. I liked the tension of an outsider falling in love with a newly promoted principal dancer, exploring conflicts that you don't really think about. Will definitely be going back to read the first two books in the series.

April's mother has had a stroke. She has already lost her father. Vincent,April's boyfriend,is also part of the ballet and has a catty female after him. I liked the characters,dialogue, descriptions,. I liked being in the ballet world.