There is a reason why childhood friendships last the longest. Because you grow up knowing everything about each other. It is the time where you don't put masks on when you are meeting people. It is the time that you are extremely innocent and passionate. When you are jealous of your friend, you don't stop loving them and get them out of your life. You watch them do better than you from a distance. When it becomes too much and decide to hurt them, you hurt them good. But your friend won't be doubting you, yet you will live with the weird feeling in your chest for the rest of your life. Childhood friends are not disposable like friends you make when you are older.

These three ballerinas are friends like that. They became friends when they were studying at the prestigious ballet academy in Paris. They were the creme de la creme of their class. As much as they were best friends, they were each others' competition. And when the stakes were high, they did things people their age wouldn't do. That changed their lives forever: it wasn't something you can see from outside, but their internal worlds were shattered.

It was a good story of friendship at every age, but it wasn't free of any triggers. Story is also heartbreaking a bit because how innocent feelings of one were abused by some heartless predator and how secrets if confessed earlier might have saved years of heartache. If you are interested in stories on friendship or mother-daughter relationship, you'll like this one.

I was disappointed by this one. The cover is beautiful and I loved the premise, but I was expecting more twists and turns. I guess I thought it would be more of a thriller, but actually it was a woman's journey finding herself. Not necessarily bad, just not what I expected. The main character was also hard to put up with , since she remained unlikeable for too long.

I enjoyed this book, despite going in with no knowledge or real interest in ballet. It centers on Delphine, who returns to Paris after spending 13 years in St Petersburg, to reunite with her 2 best friends and a prestigious ballet company (of which she was formerly a member) as a new choreographer. She has lost touch with her 2 closest friends, Margeaux and Lindsay, and they struggle to get re-acquainted while keeping secrets from the past. The book is told in Delphine's POV and goes back and forth from present time to various stages in her adolescence and early 20s.

The book started a little slow for me- I felt that I had to keep calibrating myself to the timeframe when it jumped around. However, once I got about a third of the way through, I couldn't put it down. It's really a beautiful story of friendship,. ambition, love, and growing up. Delphine is a flawed character but it's easy to empathize with her and to see her grow as the story continues.

The ending was satisfying and gave us a bit of a twist. I found myself missing these characters as I moved on to the next book.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read and I'm glad I picked it up, despite my concern that I might not be interested in ballet. I recommend you pick it up too- just be warned that you might read until 3 am once it really gets going. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a look in the highly competitive world of ballet. A world that places physical perfection above all else. It is a story of three ballerinas in Paris each determined to become a premier soloist. Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsay struggle balancing their passions for dance, their individual ambitions, untold secrets and the complex intricacies of friendship. The past and present are woven into each of their stories as they navigate aging and seek to find who they are when they are no longer principal dancers. I will definitely recommend this book to friends and family.

I expected this book to be more about ballet with the comparison to Black Swan, but it isn't really. This more a story about Delphine and her relationship to her friends, to her neighbour, to her past. This is a book about coming to terms with losing dreams. The real core of the book becomes very clear at near the end of the book, and I won't spoil things for you as it is a powerful conclusion and I found it very satisfying.

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I was never a dancer but I have always heard that being a ballerina is HARD. In #TheBallerinas (by #rachelkapelkedale ) we get to see life from current and former dancers - Delphine comes back to her old company to write a ballet for them, and gets to see some of her very old friends, Lindsay, Margaux, and Jock. Not surprisingly, she quickly gets swept up in memories of the past and trying to reconcile then and now.

An easy read with a good storyline.

Thanks to @netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review
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So this book I really wanted to love. My first attempt at reading it was a bust. I was about 80 pages in and I just wasn't drawn into the story. I took a break and read another book and then came back to it. I'm glad I gave it another chance because the end was quite good. I will say that it didn't really get going until about 200 pages in though. I was really expecting more to happen but the bulk of the excitement was probably only in the last 50 pages. I didn't hate it, but didn't love it either.

"The Ballerinas" is an incredibly rare book: A novel about ballerinas *for women*, from their perspectives.


What's good: The writing is typically lovely, although at times a bit overwrought. (Like a cake with that sometimes has too much icing!) The categories are three dimensional, and none of them are perfect. The writer's familiarity with the Paris Opera Garnier (as well as the references to St. Petersburg) are good for taking yourself on a mental vacation.

What's iffier: ?? I'm having a hard time with this one. Yes, there's some extra ~drama~ at moments, and some plot elements are guessable, but I found the entire book a very pleasant ride.

What a lovely story of full of dancing, friendship and personal growth. Dual timeline with there being present and past chapters. So very lovely and Rachel did a beautiful job bringing this story to life.

If you are a dancer or not, great novel. If you are a dancer you may understand so much more.

"Blonde or brunette. Spit or swallow. Virgin or whore. Men are always trying to get us to pick a camp,..".

Someone that understands humans: "We are all stuck in are own stories...".

Takes awhile to get into the story but when you do you are engrossed.

Loved the "Little Girl Blue" reference as it is not a major Janis song.

This is indeed a story about the ballet industry but more about the trials and tribulations of what that life acrries with it. The push for perfection, the need to be the best at all cost. This is the story of three young girls, Margaux, Lindsay and the main voice Delphine. They became fast friends until thing go horribly wrong.
I would not classify it as a thriller but it is engaging and kept my interest and I did not see a resemblance in the other titles it has been compared to.
If you pick this one up wanting a book about the sacrifices made in the name of "Success" and your looking for a story of women at both their best and worst because of pressures outside of their control, than this book is for you,
Rachel Kapelke-Dale has clearly done her research and her writing is both beautiful and flawless.

Extremely enjoyable!

Ballet is really having a moment isn't it? In the past five years I've watched several shows and read several books about it. Many more than I recall in years past including my childhood which seems prime ballet book age. I was expecting a thriller for some reason--maybe because it was described as "Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive"--and I wouldn't say it was that. I would say it is a darker look at a very competitive female dominated activity. I really loved the scene setting.

True friendship is hard to find but once you do it can weather so many storms and be so rewarding. The world of dance makes that all the harder to accomplish so kudos to Rachel for telling this story.

This book started off slow, and the dual timeline threw me off. The character development made up for that, the plot line was very interesting.

#BlackSwan meets #SexandtheCity in this dramatic, deep, and dark tale of three ballerinas nearing the end of their career in Paris, struggling with decisions of marriage and family versus career goals and dreams, lost love and uncontrollable desire, and a bombshell of a sex scandal - this one is characterized a #thriller but I would say it is more of a powerful, deep dive into the beauty of friendship, the art and culture of dance at an almost cult like level, and the lengths we are willing to go to get what we have sacrificed everything for. Brilliantly written and as bittersweet and emotional as watching an actual dance, this one is a slow build but overall was a solid read. This one hits the shelves on December 7th and cannot be missed.

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Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsay dedicated to their lives to ballet and are among the best in the world, having spent their entire education and career at the Paris Opera Ballet, desperate to one day be the best of the best. Bestfriends, a dark secret and bad choice lingers between then, one that forced Delphine to flee to Russia and leave her life as a dancer to pursue choreography.

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More than a decade after Delphine’s flight to St. Petersburg, Delphine returns to Paris as a choreographer, and realizes that nothing is the same - particularly her relationship with her bestfriends. Attempting to create a timeless piece, she is forced to reckon with a potential new lover, the loss of her mother and the betrayal of her father, and the knowledge that she may never truly be able to mend the past and pick up the broken pieces.

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And in the end? Ballet may turn out to be a deadly game. Turns out Paris is not always a good idea.

In the ultra-competitive world of Parisian ballet, three childhood friends will find out what lengths they are willing to go in pursuit of perfection. Billed as Black Swan meets Luckiest Girl Alive, I think the former is the more apt (and flattering) comparison thematically. While there are certainly mystery elements to the plot, the narrative's strength lies in its female characters are their relationships with one another.

In the past, we are first introduced to Delphine, the daughter of a former star ballerina, and Margaux when they enter the Paris Opera Ballet as young impressionable students. Lindsay, an American transfer, soon completes their trio but also provides the stiffest competition they have yet to encounter. In the present, Delphine returns to Paris after an extended absence to choreograph a new ballet. Now in their thirties, the three women will attempt to rekindle their relationships, so long as their secrets stay in the past.

The Ballerinas boldly attempts to question our ideas of desire, friendship, and womanhood. The dual timelines are occasionally jumpy and the major confrontation is somewhat anticlimactic, but the character developments provide a driving force that lead to a satisfying conclusion. In media that seems to constantly pit women against each other, The Ballerinas stands out as a testament to the power of supporting and nurturing female relationships even when competing interests are at play.

When will there be a ballet book that is about something other than the ballerinas stabbing each other in the back. For those that enjoy that tale, this book offers that and some other plot twists enough to keep me reading until the end. I just want a different story from the ballet world

This highly character driven drama thriller gives the reader an inside look at what being a ballerina is. The author immerses the reader into what goes on when the curtain goes down, blisters, warts, misogyny and all.

I found myself more fascinated with the world of behind the scenes ballet than I did with many points of the plot. But the slow character development and even slower narration was well worth where the story ends.

This book seemed to give a keen look not only into ballet and life as a female in this industry but the misogyny portrayed seemed metaphorical to what contemporary women face in almost any industry. Like light or no.

I give this book 4 stars and recommend it to thriller, mystery thriller, and ballet lovers alike.

The characters though not relatable to me a 40 year old non dancing out of shape mom, are endearing in ways that make you want to know more about them; and the POB (Paris Opera Ballet). This book hits all the marks and would be 5 stars if less predicts of an ending and faster pacing.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC to read.

Could not finish this book. I tried and tried, but I found it so going. I could not get past the first chapters. Dreaded going on and could not force myself. I would not recommend unless you have insomnia. Put me to sleep.

This book was very slow to start, so slow that I got to chapter 21 and decided to skip to the last two chapters just to find out what happened. The last two chapters were significantly more interesting that the initial 20. Something major had happened. I was intrigued enough to back track 2 chapters then 2 more. These last several chapters of this book were really pretty good. Had the rest of the story moved at this pace, I might have given it another star. However, I quickly became bored with the dark ponderous tone of the first half of the book.
The novel focuses on the lives of three ballerinas who went to school together in Paris then were selected for the ballet company. Their careers and lives go in different directions. Basically, they had a rough time with their careers. Being a professional dancer did not work out as the women had hoped when they were all training together. I did not find this to be a thriller with exciting plot twists, as the teaser promised. The only thrill was toward the end, and it was very quickly resolved with minimal development.
If you are very interested in ballet, you may like this more than I did. I am former figure skater, and ballet is often part of a skater's training, so I have a passing interest in people who become professional dancers (and skaters). The book was well researched. It includes plenty of detail about ballet. However, I am not knowledgeable enough about the subject to know how much of it is accurate. I can pick out a minute error in a skating book, but not in a novel centered around ballet.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ACR in exchange for my honest review.