A powerful book, especially in today's climate. It was interesting to see what a ballerina's world is like, and what expectations she struggles with. I also enjoyed the realistic way competition is portrayed. Sometimes a tough book to get through, but an amazing read all throughout.

Really great story about Ballerina, if you liked Black Swan but want something a little lighter and not as graphic, this is the story for you. I also consulted with a friend who is a professional Ballerina and the details and history are pretty on point, which I always appreciate for these kinds of books.

Not at all what I expected, as it was marketed as a thriller. Not much suspense or thrill in this one. That being said, the story definitely holds some intrigue - passion, ambition, friendship, betrayal. A little too slow for me, but a well-developed story none the less.

Thanks so much to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for this one!

I really did enjoy this book. The stories around this sport are always so intense and I do feel usually tend to have some abuse along the way. I have avoided any stories, whether reading or streaming, having to do with this topic. Like the few gymnastics series I have also seen trailers for, as well as cheer, the underlying theme always seems to be being pushed to a breaking point. After reading this one, I am absolutely interested in more of these sport-related stories.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. While it was very well written, I was expecting a thriller and the book was much more woman's fiction mixed with a bit of historical fiction. The book was well written but it was pretty slow and very character driven. I enjoyed parts of it but overall this one wasn't for me.

I liked the story of the friendship between Delphine, Margeaux and Lindsey, and how their lives revolved around ballet. Their friendships ebbed and flowed throughout the years. But it's also about how women are expected to behave as opposed to freely expressing their feelings. I liked that feministic slant.

I liked the dual timeline where we see Delphine both as a teenager struggling with the loss of her mother and the pressures of being perfect and becoming a star ballerina, and the present day, 18 years later, where as a choreographer, she returns to the Paris Opera Ballet to develop her own ballet.

I liked that it had a darker quality to the storyline, showing the pressures and obsessions of the dancers.

I believe that if you are a fan of ballet, you will like this book.

A big thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martins Press for the free digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Requiring ultimate strength, endurance, precision and the willingness to literally give up your life, the life of a ballerina might to some look like a glorious adventure into the world of beauty and fairy tales. We watch these girls glide across the stage, perform amazing leaps, testing their balance as they place the weight of their body onto the toes of their feet.

This wonderfully done book makes the reader understand so well what indeed the life of a ballerina is like. We meet three young girls, Delphine, Lindsay, and Margaux who become fast friends at their esteemed ballet school, the Paris Opera Ballet. It's a hard life as the girls whose goal is to be a solo dancer, the main ballerina involved them in a world of pain, love, and the reminders that life is more than the dance. Yet, to these girls, it is their life.

We enter into a world of jealousy and the underpinnings of the depth many go to in order to be the best. The physical strain the training puts upon their young bodies, the condition of their feet with blisters constantly forming, and bloody sore s amassing, makes one wonder why anyone would want to do this. The girls constantly eye not only themselves but those who might eventually surpass them. Always vigilant for the next best thing, the girls are encouraged to work harder, stay super slim, and not to grow beyond a certain height.

Delphine, the daughter of a famous Prima Ballerina, knows she has a sword hovering over her as she strives to be just like her mother. Eventually, as a solo ballerina, she walks away from the Paris Opera, and ventures to Russia where she meets a Russian choreographer who enchants her, but fourteen years later she is back in Paris, recognizing what this man really is, a user, one who harbors jealousy for Delphine when she embarks on a choreographer career. Delphine is ready to once again embrace the life she had with her friends. Over the years, the girls would meet up sporadically and the friendship endured with its bumps along the way and the secret that Delphine and Margaux hold is drawing them into a territory where they know they should venture but are afraid.

The author does a fine job of conveying the many intricacies of being in a competitive arena. I did reflect on the similarities I personally experienced with a daughter who was a competitive figure skater. The drive is in these girls, they can't seem to deny the allure and attraction ballet has for them as if it is written into their souls. The devious men and women who enter their lives seemed only to be focused on one thing, a narcissistic need for them to succeed using the girls, entrapping them at times, while making their needs always foremost.

It was sad reading this story, but a totally believable story of lives ruled by passion and finally perhaps the ability to see beyond what you think you need to be. I know this book has not received glowing reviews, but for me the affinity I felt for the girls probably was enhanced by what we saw and dealt with when my daughter competed.

Ballet looks so exquisitely beautiful, yet it hides a dark secret it can often threatening the life of the people who want nothing else but to be seen.

Thanks you to Rachel Kapelke-Dale, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this intriguing book.

I had high hopes for this book and ended up feeling very middle of the road about it.

What I liked about the book:
I liked the insight into the life of a ballerina. The drive, the passion, the devotion. All for just a few coveted spots.
The strong friendship between the three main characters: Margaux, Lindsay and Delphine. The story begins when Delphine is 13 years old in 1995 and ends in 2018. The girls are still friends, they’ve made mistakes, but still have supported each other. The relationships are at times almost toxic, but other times loving and kind.
I liked the ending. It was an unexpected (if not shocking) surprise.

What I didn’t like about the book:
The story being told from all the different time periods was confusing and I don’t think it helped the story. When I finished the book, I looked at the table of contents to see how the chapters bounced around. To my surprise they didn’t. They started at 1995 and went in chronological order (skipping a few years here and there) to 2018. That didn’t make sense to me…where was all the bouncing around that I had found so tiresome? Then I looked at chapter one. After a few pages of the story from 1995, it switches to 2018, all within the chapter titled 1995! So, with each chronological year you are also getting a bit from 2018. I normally don’t mind two different time periods, actually enjoy them, I think the fact that the first time period isn’t static, it actually covers from 1995 to 2018 that makes it so much more jarring.

I would have enjoyed the story more if it just went from 1995 to 2018, with no flash forwards to 2018. Even so, there was enough to like that it definitely falls right in the middle for me.

This is billed as a thriller so that was my expectation going into this, but I soon realized it was not a thriller after all. However, it is a very strong story about a group of ballerinas, told in current day where they are adults with flashbacks to the past when they were in the company together. It is a very slow build, and again I was waiting for the thriller component to kick in so that made the slow build a little tough for me when I realized this was not that. I also expected a lot more drama given that ballerinas are usually fighting for slim pickings, have high expectations placed on them, and have a short career span. If you have your expectations set right then this is a solid book with some good drama, and I did enjoy this one overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the digital galley to review.

I love anything about dance. From fun (center stage) to dark (black swan). Reading this book wasn’t bingeworthy but looking back, I can see this as a dark limited series.

Ballet has never really interested me so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale. This is the story of three ballerina friends who have grown up at the Paris Ballet. Delphine is now a choreographer who has returned from St. Petersburg and is directing the new ballet, Tsarina. The three have secrets in their past and unfinished business.

They also have ambitions that threaten their relationships. Mixed in are their spouses, and other partners. This story also has an element of the #metoo movement that’s depicts how male dancers are treated compared to female dancers.

I liked this story. The ballet aspects were not my favorite but I liked the girls relationships, and I liked how they struggled to find a way forward in their friendship.

Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the advanced e-copy of #theballerinas.

While I think many little girls go through a ballerina phase, I was never really one of them. But this book provides an interesting look at the Paris Opera Ballet. Narrator Delphine has two timelines both past and present (well, present-ish as in 2018) looking particularly at the friendships between Delphine, Margaux and Lindsay. Recently returned from a decade in St. Petersburg, Delphine hopes to pick up those relationships where they left off in an effort to regain her own sense of self after her experiences in Russia.

It's about friendships, relationships and also self-discovery. Delphine may not always be likable but she feels authentic even when she makes such big mistakes. The tinge of murder adds to the excitement - plus the #MeToo movement fits in well here. It's more of a contemplative read than a real page-turner, which I think would make it a good discussion starter for book clubs. I wish that the epilogue was set a bit farther into the future. Delphine does grow as a character, but I would have liked to see more development from her and the supporting characters especially. The treatment of women - and how they treat one another - is really the core of this book. Though the dancing and Paris adds to it all as an enriching background, I just never found myself loving this one. It is engaging, but Delphine is just so self-absorbed that she can be hard to stomach. I think that this will appeal more to those that are interested in the dancing aspect. It was nice to see this part of Paris, though! It is not a real mystery, though, despite the tinge of murder.

Delphine, Lindsay and Margaux haven’t been together in fourteen years. Delphine has returned to Paris to choreograph a ballet at the Palais Garnier Opera House. Hoping to pick back up with her childhood friends, Delphine casts her friends in her ballet. She soon realizes that you can’t just pick up after 14 years and expect that things haven’t changed. There are some secrets from the past that won’t stay hidden and things that these women are dealing with in the present that will try their friendship.

The synopsis of this book was intriguing but really fell flat for me. I really didn’t like any of the characters. It took until 2/3 of the book before we really got an idea of anything interesting happening in the past. I feel like there should have been a lot more drama.

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

As I’m a HUGE fan of ballet and what dancers experience, this book was great! highly recommend and love the twisty interactions and lives of these young dancers versus their older selves

This complex study of female friendship, set against the backdrop of the elite and highly competitive Paris Opera Ballet, is sure to polarize some readers.

And I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Former ballerina and current choreographer, Delphine, is a highly flawed and entirely relatable protagonist, living in the shadow of her mother's illustrious career while trying to make amends for a reprehensible secret from her adolescence.

At times frustrating and difficult to read, the impossible choices Delphine faces rip the reader's heartstrings to shreds, but somehow leave you hopeful that through friendship, even the most extreme obstacles are surmountable.

The only downfall is a conclusion that is as confusing as it is unsatisfying.

This book wasn't for me and I could not get into it. It was too slow paced for me and didn't hold my interest. I had to DNF around 42%. I will try again though!

Ballet has always held a special spot in my heart, so I knew I had to read this! I loved the insight into ballet schools and it makes you really appreciate ballerinas even more when you read all they have to go through.

The Ballerinas is a story for ballet, but also a story of female friendships. The stress and special circumstances of being a ballerina puts extra stress on this three-way, oftentimes toxic, friendship. I loved seeing the growth in each female character.

The cover is stunning and the story inside is captivating. Highly recommend!

What would you do to achieve your dream? Who would you sacrifice? Your family? Your best friends? Your partner? What would you sacrifice? Your integrity? Your self-worth? These are the questions that Delphine confronts in “The Ballerinas” by Rachel Kapelke-Dale. Delphine returns to Paris to the Palais Garnier Opera House, not as a star dancer but as choreographer, after living in St. Petersburg for many years. Her hopes are to create a piece that give her recognition as a choreographer now that she is not under the shadow of famous Russian choreographer partner and to reconnect with her two best friends and her neighbor. She realizes that a secret resurfaces threatening her career and her closest friendships. What will she do to protect herself? Well, it seems like almost anything.

I enjoyed being immersed in the world of ballet but feel that the only likable character is Delphine’s neighbor, an older lady who acts like a mother to Delphine. All of the other characters are self-absorbed and dysfunctional. I feel like the plot was convoluted with Delphine’s love interests that cause the reader to lose interest about what the mysterious secret from her past was. As a high school teacher, I would not feel comfortable recommending this to students because of the graphic sex scenes but would suggest it for readers who have a background or interest in ballet.

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me an ARC.

Unfortunately I was expecting more. Expectations always seem to be a downfall of an otherwise good book. It takes awhile to get into the story and I love the ones that just jump out and hook you from the beginning. So I'm in the camp of putting it down before completion.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read.

3.5 stars. The Ballerinas is a coming of age story of three friends and their quest to become professional ballerinas at the Paris Opera Ballet. When this book was described to have Black Swan elements, I was expecting a swift, page turning plot. There was not. it was a slower, intentional read that dives deeply into the delicate female psyches, explores the constant pursuit of perfection and poise and exposes the never-ending commitments these fractured individuals must make to achieve their perception of success.