I love ballet. My mom was a dancer and she wanted me to be one- I wasn’t cut out, but I grew up in that world so I can tell you this book was fantastically researched and accurate. I enjoyed the narrator (Delphine) and her friends Margaux & Lindsey. I loved the setting of Paris as well. The book is described as a thriller, and there were definitely thrilling exciting parts, but I found this to be more literary and character-driven than most thrillers. That’s a very good thing, in my opinion. The book starts a bit slow, but the build up is going somewhere and the second half really takes off! I thought the descriptions of the anxiety and pressure and meltdowns were so realistic and well done. I absolutely LOVED this book and I can’t wait to read more from this author! Thank you so much for the opportunity to review!

I tried to read and this book just didn’t grab me. It reminded of Black Swan. The characters are interesting but I just couldn’t get to the plot fast enough. I prefer thrillers and mysteries more so it may have just been that it wasn’t the right fit for me.

I was so looking forward to reading The Ballerinas. I would like to congratulate the author because it's obvious a lot of research went into this book and it shows. Either that or she was a ballerina at some point, but I don't think that is the case.

The world of ballet is so very cruel to those who wish to succeed from deformed feet, the damage inflicted by en pointe dancing, to eating disorders and very low self-esteem. As beautiful as ballet is to watch, it must be horrendous for the ballerinas.

From The Ballerinas: "Don't they realize, " I'd hissed to Margaux during a curtain call after a particularly grisly performance of Swan Lake fifteen years ago, "That we're all covered in the most disgusting sores under our shoes?" She's plastered her pink grin wide, grabbing my hand as the curtain went up, exposing us once more.
"Of course they know," she said between her teeth. "That's why they like to watch."

This sums up the book. It's filled with pain, drama, each character's cruelty to others, and the never ending fight to get ahead no matter the cost to you or those you profess to love like sisters.

I don't mind dark books and believe me this one turned very, very dark, but the reason I didn't rate this book higher is because it dragged in the middle and there was so much repetition that I grew bored. I also was let down by the "big reveal". When it came it was more of a letdown. Overall none of the main characters were likable. They were surface likable, but were hiding the ugly deep down.

I will say that this book did touch on a pretty timely topic - sexual abuse / mistreatment of others and it was handled in the end, which was good to see.

I do think there are many readers that will enjoy this book. It just wasn't working for me. I would recommend it to those who enjoy ballet and like reading about it from the inside, those who enjoy darker friend sagas, and women's fiction fans.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for providing an ARC at my request. All thoughts are my own.

An interesting book centered on the pressure ballerinas endure to remain perfect and the competition among them. It was also interesting the way the author wrote three diverse characters with different pressures from their private lives. Although she portrayed them as friends, they may have been as young girls, but I didn't believe they were as they grew older and became more competitive for prime spots. I thought the ending of the novel was well done and I found it surprising, so even if at times you feel like skimming the book, be sure to stay through until the end, it is well worth it to see how these women show how powerful they become and not just physically powerful ballerinas.

Ballet has always been one of my favorite things and I love reading about it. Ballet is so beautiful and so ugly. From foot deformities to eating disorders, the world of ballet is fascinating.
This book follows three dancers (Delphine and her best friends Lindsay and Margaux) as we alternate between their teenage years and their present day lives. (This gets confusing at times, as the gap between then and now begins to close.) Now in their late thirties they are close to aging out of dancing. They are all unlikeable, but reading about them was still enjoyable.
This books biggest flaw is that it can’t decide what it wants its big moment to be. There’s way too much going on. There’s a “mystery” around what happened to Lindsay years before and when it’s revealed, it’s anticlimactic and honestly a little silly. There’s the situation with Jacques, a male dancer and sexual predator. And finally, there’s the terrible ending, which really seems to come out of nowhere.
If the story connected a little better and had a better ending, I would have rated it higher.

DNF at 88%

I tried. I really tried to finish this book. But I just couldn't keep subjecting myself to this torture.

I was drawn to the cover and the promise of a ballet story. And I did get some ballet out of it. But it was overshadowed by all the drama in the life of the characters. The novel was slow-paced and drawn-out, the three friends were not likeable and I didn't manage to make myself root for any of them or even care, to tell the truth.

I was also promised some dark mystery which actually disappointed and felt very anticlimatic.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
It depicts the insular world of the ballet and the lives of 3 best friends, what they do to get ahead and the men with whom they get involved. Captivating novel.

Big thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy of The Ballerinas in exchange for my honest opinion.

I've always been fascinated by ballerinas. I had a short-lived attempt at being one when I was 5 or 6, but quickly learned I wasn't coordinated enough. I've had friends who were ballerinas growing up and still dabble from time to time. One of my favorite movies growing up was Center Stage, a movie entirely centered around New York Ballet. There's just something about it.

All I can say about The Ballerinas is wow. What a book. Even though it is a fictional story, I felt like I was reading the real-life account of three ballerinas. It was filled with emotions, description, and was so raw at times. It highlights both the glamorous and the negative. It was certainly a look into the world of ballet.

I would say this leans more Women's Fiction than Mystery/Thriller. There really isn't a mystery to it, but it does have a hell of a twist at the end!

Either way, a fantastic story about the three ballerinas and the Paris ballet.

While I did ballet for 12 years, I wasn't at this level. I do remember some of my classmates going through great lengths to lose and maintain weight. I do remember bandaging my toes, all the lambs' wool, and breaking in a new pair of shoes.

Delphine and her two best friends had been in the same company for years. Delphine had left, after being given a prestigious spot all the dancers covet, and follows a choreographer to St. Petersburg. She finally leaves him and returns home to find that things have changed. In the thirteen years she has been gone her friends have different lives. The are all aging out of the dance program, but Delphine has convinced her boss to let her offer Lindsey the starring role in the ballet she is choreographing. She owes her. Margaux is still there as protective as ever. While Delphine has stayed single, Lindsey is married to a man who adores her and hopes to a father some day to their child. Margaux is married to a woman she loves and desperately wants to have children with, but they are having difficulties.

So many different stories woven into the same narrative, Delphine's story is told in the present and in the past alternating chapters. I love getting to know these women and remembering some of my past as a dancer. I liked getting to know other characters and the effects they had on the lives of Delphine, Margaux and Lindsey.

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

An inside look of the life of a ballerina and the process it takes to make it to become a star. Three young friends who meet along the way and the different lives that they all lead as they all try to make a name for themselves. Learning just how far others will go to succeed and if they have it in them or not!

As a former dancer, I loved this book! I was expecting more of a thriller based on the description but I think this is better characterized as a literary fiction piece. The author does an excellent job depicting the discipline and sacrifice required of professional ballerinas as she weaves through the careers and life choices of the three main characters in the book.

I loved watching these women take ownership over their bodies and their lives over the course of this book.

Delphine’s mother was a prima ballerina. And that’s hard to live up to. Still, she tried. And she was mostly successful except for that may 5% more she needed to be her mom. She needed 5% more grace, 5% more beauty, 5% more talent. She seems to just fall short. Still, she’s one of the top ballerinas in school growing up. And she has two friends, Lindsay and Margaux who she shares everything with.

Fast forward to present day and she’s been hired to choreograph the newest show at her former opera house. And all her friends are there. Should be a good time, right? Except there are a lot of things that we, the reader, find out as we flip back and forth from present day to the past. And while there are good times, there are also times when best friends are secretly enemy rivals, boyfriends are deceitful and intentions are anything but pure.

The Ballerinas is a satisfying tale of female friendship, competition and sometimes revenge. It’s also a cautionary tale to always be careful who you trust, especially when all your friends and lovers, are out for what they want.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out December 7, 2021.

I requested this book from NetGalley based on the cover. I also loved the description of long simmering rage in women. I was on vacation when I started this book and I read it over the course of a day because it was so engrossing.

Delphine, Lindsay, and Margaux were students in the Paris Opera school from the time they were young. When they graduate they have about a 10% chance of being selected to join the ballet’s corps – if they are lucky. Each year as more advanced spots open up they can audition to move up out of the corps until they face mandatory retirement at age 42.

They story is told in two time frames. The first is their time in school until they move into the ballet company and their first few years there. The second is 15 years later. Now Delphine is a choreographer and not a dancer. She’s been hired to come back to Paris from Russia to choreograph a ballet based on the life of the last Tsarina of Russia. She wants Lindsay for the lead. She feels like she owes her. Why does she owe her? That’s the mystery that is explored in the past timeline of the book.

For a lot of books that would be the plot. This book keeps the surprises coming. The present timeline doesn’t exist just to explain the past. There are some major conflicts here too. How to you come back to a place where you grew up when you’ve been gone for 15 years but most of your friends never left? Can you go home again? And then, just when you think everything is resolved there is a final twist that you didn’t see coming. There is a whole lot going on here but I loved it. I like books that keep me from guessing exactly where it is going to end up.

I learned a lot about the day to day life of elite ballerinas, especially those in training. These characters felt like real women and not stereotypes. In fact the author seemed to actively set up stereotypical situations and then maneuver around them in unexpected ways. For example, there is a young, ambitious ballerina who wants to move up and many authors would have had her be spiteful and mean. In this book she turns out to be sympathetic and supportive of other characters.

There are a lot of dark themes here – rape, domestic abuse, infertility, abortion, injuries, etc. It isn’t a light and fluffy read. But it does draw you in and keep you reading.

I’m not gonna lie, when I first saw what this book was about I wasn’t too excited. This isn’t my usual read but after diving into the book I couldn’t stop reading! I really enjoyed the plot, and the book is very well written.

The Ballerinas is a perfect example of don’t judge a book by its cover. I honestly didn’t think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. I would definitely recommend this to other people. It is a great read.

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! SUCH AN AMAZING READ!!! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! THE WRITING THE PLOT THE PACE EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD! WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS AS A MOVIE OR A SHOW!

Somebody was suffering right in front of me-my friend- and the only thing thing I felt was curious interest." - from The Ballerinas

2.5 stars

So, I feel a little bit in love with this book looking at the cover, and reading the description. The book has an odd sort of split perspective going from present time to the past; but the past is in a sort of present day narration. I don't typically like dueling timelines, but this was I think the worst way to do it, because you never really get transported to the past. I wanted to hear about this friendship between these three women so badly. Most of the characeters are horrible, however. The MC, Delphine, is probably the worst- but Margaux tried to tie for it in the end. (How DARE you!) Delphine wouldn't know how to be a good friend if her life depended on it- see my quoted example. I wanted to cry at what she did to Stella. All the men are worse. Are they friends? No one really acts like it. The only redeeming character is poor Lindsay. As a thriller, it worked even less; the big reveal was such a fizzle gone flat, and the extra twist was almost comical. Was there parts I still enjoyed? Yes. I wished we could have learned more about her Medusa piece, and the newest one. I found the rehearsals the most interesting. and some of her relationship with the MC's mother, which was only breifly touched on.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with The Ballerinas: A Novel by Rachel Kapelke-Dale in exchange for my honest opinion.

Having a hard time getting into this book, I’ve put it aside a few times and picked it back up. Hoping that it’s just me with off-timing for this story, I have to admit that this story is one I'm struggling with.

It definitely starts out slow as you get to know the characters, and learn that the world of ballet is not how it looks from the outside. I didn't find much to like about the competitive world of ballet. I'm sure many will find much to like as other reviewers did, but I admit that life is too short to continue with a book that isn't working for me.

<The Ballerinas</i> is categorized as a thriller and a mystery, which it is, but not in the traditional sense. The mystery? What did Delphine, the narrator, do to her best friend when they were in high school? And why is it still haunting her?

Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsay are ballerinas. They've known one another most of their lives, having spent all their time together as students of the Paris Opera Ballet (POB). Each young girl, then woman, works tirelessly for the company eager to become a principal.

The story moves back and forth between present day and their history. It covers a wide range of years from youth up until right before the current storyline. Delphine is the protagonist and narrator. She has recently returned to Paris after a decade in Russia where she shifted from dancing to choreography. Now, as choreographer at POB, she has the chance to make Lindsay a star and prove herself. But nothing is going to plan. Delphine can't quite fit in with Margaux and Lindsay. She's not sure what to do about her first love, Jacques, who is front and center at POB. And she's constantly at odds with Nathalie, the POB head honcho.

This is a bit of a slow burn. For the first 100 or so pages, I wondered when we would finally learn what happened. It takes a long time to get there, but I eventually became caught up enough in the story that my impatience subsided. Its attitude toward feminism surprised me: initially condescending with a build toward female empowerment. I didn't quite know what to make of it, but, in its way, it was thought-provoking, especially as it relates to the roles of female dancers. Overall, enjoyed this and recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite quotes:
<i>"'Everything good is risky,' she said. 'The thing that you have to remember is that if you don't risk anything, you risk everything.'"

"'They tell you that you can grow up to be anybody you want. Do anything you set your mind to. Just hang in there, aim for the moon, and you'll hit a star--what's that saying?' She saw the expression on my face. 'Whatever, it's a thing in America. There's just this idea that you can do whatever you want. But no one ever tells you there's going to be so much judgment.'"

14 years ago Delphine left her soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet to choreograph in St. Petersburg. She left with a secret that would ruin the lives/relationship of her and her friends. Now at 36, Delphine comes home to Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career and connect with her old friends. She realizes quickly that things have changed.

I was totally pulled to this by cover/title alone. As someone who danced for 6 years (ballet mostly) it is close to my heart. This book focuses between two timelines of past and present of Delphine and her friends. This is labeled as a thriller but it is definitely in NO WAY one so don’t pick this up if that’s what you are looking for. The book focuses on the dark drive of perfection in ballet culture, the difficulties in female friendships and the way secrets can destroy your life. It is VERY character driven and slow. I loved all the French and Ballet terms used but that’s my jam so it may not be for you. I did enjoy the darkness of determination and competition that this sheds light on.

Thank you Netgalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Oh and I want to print this cover and hang it on the wall! 🩰

So many little girls dream of being ballerinas. They love the idea without knowing the truth about how hard a dancer's life really is. This book is a study of three young girls who begin dance classes at the Paris Opera Ballet. The characters are well developed as the girls progress to their 30's and remain in the dance world. The book held my interest from start to finish.
I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from St Martin's Press through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#theBallerinas #NetGalley