Delphine and Margaux have been in the prestigious Paris Opera House since they were young girls. When American Lindsay joins them as a teenager, they immediately see her as a threat--more beautiful, more flirtatious, and potentially even a better dancer. Despite their rivalry, the three become fast friends. Then Delphine surprisingly quits her soloist position to move to St. Petersburg with her lover, a choreographer.

More than a decade later, Delphine returns to Paris, hoping to resume the friendship where they left off, but she finds her friends changed, and her position as a choreographer for the company less secure than she thought. As Delphine navigates her future while still dealing with the remnants of the past, she must accept how much her past informs her future. More than a book about ballet, the novel explores women's friendships, rivalries, mother/daughter relationships, and a woman's right to govern her own body. There is so much more depth to this book than I imagined looking at the gorgeous cover. #TheBallerinas #NetGalley

The Ballerinas plays out like an epic ballet in itself.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my eARC for review!
If you're interested in ballet, this slow burn story will hook you instantly. Dual timelines take us from the Paris Opera Ballet training school with Delphine, Margaux and Lindsay as teens, to 2018 as with Delphine as a choreographer.
Delphine Léger is the daughter of the company's most famous star, and her voice takes us through events trending toward dark and destructive; retribution and revenge.
Readers become immersed in the nearly-obsessive world of producing top ballerinas, and the expectations upon them.
This isn't a thriller, but rather a portrait drama of these unique lives and the turns taken while striving for perfection.
Debut author Rachel Kapelke-Dale clearly knows the world of which she writes, and she does so with strength and beauty.
The Ballerinas may not be for everyone, but as a dance fan I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recommended!
For release on Dec. 7.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author Rachel Kapelke-Dale. This was a great read for me. I never knew how much I liked reading about dancing but I did know that I liked reading about woman striving for the best and knowing that they have haters and competion sitting in the shadows. I do not want to give anything away about this book. It was good and a people should read it.

I’m sad I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would. The world of ballet has always seemed so interesting to me but the story just moved so slow and I grew bored as I was reading it.

Delphine left the Paris Opera Ballet at 23 - leaving behind her career as the prima ballerina with the company. Thirteen years later she returns to choreograph a ballet. She hopes to reconnect and make up with her best friends Lindsay and Margaux. In duel timelines, the book tells both past and present of the friendship.

I love ballet books. Although I never had an opportunity to take one dance lesson = I have had a lifelong obsession with dance and especially ballet. The competitive world of a ballet company, the friendships, the loves, and also the revenge - are all present here. Although I had a difficult time getting into this book, I enjoyed my visit to the world of dance.

Rachel Kapelke-Dale's THE BALLERINAS is the story I desperately needed to read. Transported into the glittering, razor-edge competitive world of the Paris Opera Ballet, talented and broken young women devoting their lives to dance, and the people who direct, teach, oversee, and ultimately control what looks effortless and perfect on stage, but requires punishing, ruinous, terrible prices of everyone involved. I loved being in Paris, learning about a world I know nothing about, and reading breathless too late into the night about an imperfect woman with ambition, talent, and a drive to make up for her mistakes before it's too late. I received an early reader copy of the novel and this review is my unbiased opinion.

I had to give up on this one, as I feel like I was deceived. I went in expecting a twisted thriller, and maybe it gets more exciting later, but I was just…bored?

Thirteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet and moved to St. Petersburg. Now 36 years old, Delphine has returned to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career. She hopes to finally make things right with her former friends, Lindsay and Margaux.
The story goes back and forth between then and now, and completely immerses you in the cut-throat world of professional ballet. This is story of friendship, competition, and revenge. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found that it kept my attention throughout. There were a few parts that went a bit slower than others, but I think it was a really good book overall.

Delphine, Margeaux and Lindsay are three ballerinas in the Paris Opera Ballet. Through Delphine, we get a glimpse into the pretty and not so pretty of what happens within the ballet world. This story is exquisitely detailed as the drama unfolds through dual timelines. The details do lead to the story being a bit slow moving, at least for me. The dual timeline was a little bit choppy for me as well and I found myself flipping back pages to see what time I was in. I did enjoy the scenery and the glimpses into the ballet world as the dance world is always one that fascinates me as an outsider to dance. There are mentions of self harm, sexual assault, bullying, cancer, infertility, abortion and attempted murder. 
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

Reading "The Ballerinas", I was reminded a lot of the YA series "Tiny Pretty Things", but for adults. "Ballerinas" is set in Paris, and goes back and forth between the main character's past and current life. She did something really bad to a friend of hers in her past, and is trying to fix it as an adult. There's also a lot of *TW* adult/minor sexual relationships in this book, and that is covered in a major way. It will probably stick with me for a while, just because of some of the events that occur and my own past. One thing I disagree with is that I believe Audrey Hepburn was right, and Paris is ALWAYS a good idea.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for gifting me a digital ARC of this novel by Rachel Kapelke-Dale - 4 stars!

Delphine, Lindsay and Margaux are best friends going through training for the Paris Opera Ballet since childhood. Delphine has reached elite soloist position with the company when she abandons it and her friends to move to Russia, taking a secret with her that would upend the women's friendship. She returns home years later hoping to repair the relationship with her friends, but the secret among them threatens that.

Alternating between the story of their childhood through the present time, this is a look at the fiercely competitive ballet world as well as a look at women's roles in society. Friendship and secrets play an integral role in this book as does examining relationships with others in general. While the first part of the book was a bit slow for me, it picked up and I loved the ending. Delphine's understanding and awareness of the importance of a good apology at the end was really amazing and I will be thinking about this in my own relationships!

The Ballerinas is a novel that tells the story of three women that met at the Paris Opera Ballet School and became friends. The story is told changing back and forth between the past in their teens and present when they are in their mid 30’s. I found it a little slow to start and a dark view of the world of ballet. I know the ballet world is very competitive but I feel like the only side often told is the dark crazy side of it. I did not find the characters likable and I am not sure I would label this as a thriller. I enjoy the ballet and really wanted to love this book. Thank you NetGalley for this chance to review this book.

I am a big fan of this book. I love ballet as a setting--there's so much room for emotion and darkness and raw energy and I think Kapelke-Dale captured that well. This was a group of characters that frustrated me with some of their choices, but I grew to really love. The storylines were a bit predictable, but didn't make the book less enjoyable. I will say the first half moved SO slowly. It took me forever to get through it and I considered DNFing because I wasn't sure what the actual plot of the book was. Once I got to the halfway point, though, it was like a switch flipped and all of a sudden there was some conflict and some forward movement. I wish the entire book had been paced that well. I enjoyed the flashbacks to the women's adolescent years and the way that they informed who they are as adults as well. Overall, a really enjoyable read that I will definitely be recommending.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance reader's copy.

3 stars
A well written decently good book. I was not drawn into the story as I hoped I would be. There is definitely a market for this book!

Lackluster first half and clunky second half

The Ballerinas focuses on three women: Margaux, Lindsay, and Delphine, three dancers who have grown up together. After an extended absence, Delphine returns to Paris to choreograph a ballet, giving her an opportunity to reconnect with her besties. Can Delphine make amends with Margaux and Lindsay for what happened in the past?

The first half of The Ballerinas was rather slow. The second half of The Ballerinas was a mixture of topics that didn’t seem to blend well together.

Some things that didn’t sit well with me:
1) Delphine waxes poetic by stating that all she has in the world is the friendship of Margaux and Lindsay. Um, Delphine, you haven’t seen these women in 13 years! They clearly aren’t that important to you if you never bothered yourself to see them.
2) Stella. I have no idea why this character was even in the book other than to provide some over the type Lifetime Movie style feelings. This character felt quite random. Also, if my mother figure texts me, I would drop everything to answer her, certainly would not blow her off for a date.
3) I am going to scream the next time I read about an “enlightened” female character who thinks that having unprotected relations with someone while not being in a monogamous relationship is a great idea. Barf muffins! The character in question would talk about her body, blah blah blah, and then she exposes it to viruses and infections? Face palm.

Overall, a fair effort by the author, although earlier this year, there was a book entitled The Turnout which was also partly about the ballet which is much more entertaining.

When a book is comp’d to BLACK SWAN and your love of all things ballet and France are put into one there are no other words to describe the anticipation and thrill of reading a book about all the things you love.

This book is described as a thriller and the first half of the book while atmospheric (yes) and well written (also yes) and immersive (also yes) it was hardly the page turner or must read vibes that is expected of a thriller. The main character delphine spends the first half alluding to an incident that happened between her best friends Margeaux and their American friend Lindsay years ago and never hints at it that entire time. Delphine then goes off and chases a choreographer to St Petersburg in Russia only to come back later and fall right back into her old self: whining, wanting the same dancer she wanted when she was a teen and being an all around terrible friend and neighbor (her one friend who could’ve helped make her Likeable Delphine uses and discards at her own will).
Margeaux and Lindsay (the secondary characters) also come off rude, unlikeable and leave little for the reader to root for.

I gave this book 50% and after that the plot wa so slow, not moving forward and Delphine was not doing anything to redeem herself that I put it on my DNF pile.

It was unfortunate because I was so excited for this book but it just didn’t resonate with me on any level; very clearly I was not the reader for this book. I will say the prose is great, great description and thematically there was lots of potential.

I too was hustled, bamboozled, and led astray - this blurb is 👀 not it. The blurb describes a book that's supposed to be a dark, threatening, fast paced thriller, but that's not at all what was delivered. Learning more about the ballet world was interesting, but the pacing felt incredibly off, and then the story just wasn't believable with characters going from messy and mean to besties again and literally killing someone out of nowhere for ~friendship~. The writing isn't *bad*, it just wasn't what I expected based on the blurb so I left disappointed.

A tantalizing, entertainment, thrilling debut with enough twists & turns to leave you reading late into the night. I highly recommend this book.

This was a compelling and insightful book about friendship and what it takes to succeed in a competitive career in the arts. Delphine, Lindsay, and Margaux are best friends who met training to be members of the Paris Ballet. Delphine, whose mom had previously been a star with the Paris Ballet, becomes a soloist but then leaves the Paris Ballet and the city to move to St. Petersburg to pursue a new relationship and a potential career as a choreographer -- and also to flee a secret that could devastate her friendships. Thirteen years later, Delphine has returned to Paris, working on choreographing a new ballet for the Paris Ballet that she hopes will launch the next phase of her choreography career. Delphine is also hoping to reconnect with Lindsay and Margaux. But she finds that while she has been away, Lindsay, Margaux, and her former colleagues have all moved on, even as the secrets from the past continue to haunt her life in Paris.

This book is an impressive debut -- offering a story that grips your attention and interesting perspectives on several important issues. Highly recommended!

A ballet is refined and beautiful. It’s an exquisite art form polished to perfection. But behind the scenes, it looks much more dour, and I’m not talking about the ballerina’s bruised and battered feet. It’s an insular world built on competition, jealousy, and dark ambition. The only way to the top is at the expense of fellow competitors.

Delphine, Lindsey, and Margeaux quickly bond during their training at the Paris Opera Ballet. Although friends, they are competitors first and foremost. The novel unfolds in two parts. One moves from teen years forward following their training and bond through the trials of preparation, as each aspires to become the next star. The other follows the three in differing stages of adult life, suddenly thrust back together on the same stage. It’s obvious that the years have not been kind to the friendship. The mystery of what transpired to create the shift unfolds slowly and steadily.

Kapelke-Dale does an adept job of showcasing the cutthroat nature experienced behind the curtain. Perfect pirouettes begin out of destruction and determination. The training, dedication, and competition that goes into the most graceful arabesque is well examined through the three main characters. As someone who has enjoyed the beauty of the stage, I was equally enamored by this novel’s look at the inner workings that companies and dancers go through to get to the stage worthy point.

Up until the half point of the novel, it appeared the author’s messaging was in regard to the tumult women suffer in order to get ahead. But at the half way mark, the messaging seemed to shift to that of misogyny and patriarchy, with strong “Me too” vibes. As much as I appreciate the exploration of the multiple themes and consider them timely and necessary, I didn’t feel as though the storyline had enough depth with which to properly discern each issue brought forth. To me, the continual addition of a new component within the many themes muddled the overall message.

Though not an upbeat read, I do not think the comparison being drawn between this book and Black Swan is accurate. Not only is this book not as dark as Black Swan, it also doesn’t hit the mark of a true thriller. Instead, The Ballerinas lends itself more closely to character driven women’s fiction.

Thank you Rachel Kapelke-Dale, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.