The premise of the book is solid and sounds similar to some by Ruth Ware or Tana French - a close-knit group of friends, a secret that could ruin everything... Unfortunately, this book did not live up to the premise. The characters were one-dimensional and unlikeable. It was difficult to understand how their friendship stayed "strong" during their years apart when it seems that they didn't really know, or trust, each other at all. The "relationship" between Jock and Delphine is touched on throughout the novel, but when events transpire to break that relationship, it's not as explosive as it should've been. Overall, this book had tremendous potential to cover important topics like feminism, discrimination, competition, and body issues in ballet, sexual assault, etc. however, the author just scratches the surface of each, tackling too many to really give the reader a powerful connection or message.

Welcome to to cult-like world of ballet. We’ve all seen The Black Swan and the driven, backstabbing reality of what a dancer has to do to move up in the ranks. This story is about 3 girls who start on that trip together and how their paths divide and cross over an expanse of 14 years. The author flips back and forth between the past and the present to see how their relationships were brought into fruition.
You see how they try to be “normal” like other women their age but their love and desire to dance
supersedes all the milestones in life other women want or experience. They will do anything it takes to get to the top.
The friendship of these main characters withstands time and circumstances. Their connection/obsession to be a ballerina can be understood only by them and as a result outside relationships are hard kept.
There is an underlying “ MeToo Movement” that also propels this storyline. Too many men hold sway on their advancement and how they come to that realization and their subsequent futures brings the book to it’s finale.
An interesting behind the scene peek into the lives and minds of ballerinas.

I enjoyed this book! Finding the balance between commitments to the ballet as well as friends and family, but ultimately finding your true self. This was a story that kept me hooked and I have already recommended to others.

Told from alternating timelines, The Ballerinas is the story of Delphine, ballerina turned choreographer and her lifelong friendship with Margaux and Lindsay, both current members of the Paris Opera Ballet. Delphine has just returned to Paris from Russia and is keeping a dark secret...I really enjoyed the various plot lines in this book including the mystery, the fight against misogyny, and the complexities of female friendship in the cutthroat world of ballet.

This book was just ok to me. The story was slow and just seemed to take forever getting to anything interesting. I really wanted to love it and tried but just couldn't.

When you describe the book as Black Swan meets Dare Me, I’m immediately intrigued. It starts out with Delphine returning to Paris, after a long stretch as a choreographer in Russia, to create a new piece for her former company and reconnect with her old friends. This is best described as a slow burn thriller, but I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed for 90% of the book. There is an incident in the past between Delphine, Margaux and Lindsay that altered the course of their ballet career paths, but there was a lot of build-up for something the felt a bit or insignificant until the very end when it’s revealed just how much that event impacted them and what they are willing to do. Overall a good book, but felt a little too long or drawn out to truly hold my attention - I stopped reading and picked it up just to read only 1-2 chapters at a time instead of devouring it in a single sitting.

Rachel Kapelke-Dale vividly brings to life the cutthroat world of the highly competitive Paris Opera Ballet Company in her new novel The Ballerinas. The Ballerinas take us inside the loving, yet ruthless friendship of three young girls all competing to rise in the ranks of their ballet school while somehow not letting their friendship fall to pieces at the same time. Vacillating between present day and the past, The Ballerinas takes us from the time the girls - Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsay - were the top students at the world-renowned Paris Opera Ballet School to now, where they find themselves in their late 30s, still struggling with actions and feelings of the past. The Ballerinas is a testament of strength and perseverance, friendship and self-preservation, love and hate. In all, it is beautiful and haunting at the same time.

The storyline of this lyrical novel swirls around a secret - something insidious that happened when the girls were students at the Paris Opera Ballet School that changed their lives forever. The novel's main character Delphine (always described as the nice one of their friends group) is back at the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) after spending over a decade in St. Petersburg, but this time she is not dancing on the stage - she is returning as a choreographer. Her best friends Margaux and Lindsay still dance with the company, but as they near 40 years old, their time in the spotlight is rapidly burning out. Delphine is determined to make a name for herself at the POB while also righting the wrongs of the past, but she soon discovers that there is something darker at play behind the scenes of the ballet than what meets the eye.

Descriptive and glittering, yet at the same time harrowing and ghastly, Kapelke-Dale's The Ballerinas is immersed in everything ballet and will captivate anyone who loves the art form. Brimming with technical detail and the blood, sweat, tears, and toil that goes into being a premiere ballerina, this novel is intriguing, captivating, and informative. The descriptions of life as a young girl vying for one of the few spots in the oldest ballet company of the world is where this novel truly shines, and I found myself fascinated by the work and commitment that goes into being a top dancer. Furthermore, I loved the descriptions of life in Paris, and fell in love with the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. The Ballerinas is heavy both on ballet and French aesthetic, and is a feast for the ears and eyes.

Though not as intriguing as the finer points of this novel - what it is like to be a young woman fully devoted to her love of dance - the relationships between men and women and the role that men play in the world of ballet is an integral point of The Ballerinas. As unappealing as the men of this novel are, they are necessary to this story, which examines how men marginalize women and at times, even influence and dominate in an art form devoted primarily to the beauty and skill of the finer sex. There is much to be said here about misogyny and the exploitation of women, making this a timely and relevant addition to the literary fiction genre.

I'm not sure I can honestly say what I was expecting from this book. In fact I'm still on the fence about it.
I wouldn't really call this a thriller, but it was a very eye opening book about the word of ballet.

It took me a while to really get into the book and even once I did, it was still a little hard for me to follow. I think that took away from the enjoyment of the book.

I did like the characters and finding out about their world though.

Thank you #Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC

My daughter has been in dance for several years, so the premise of this book was very intriguing to me. The book is marketed as a thriller, but I found that part of the story to be pretty weak. The timeline was written confusingly in that even when we are in the past, it is written with present day perspective so it takes you out of the story. The first half of the book is slow, but the second half picked up and was a fast paced read, but while the synopsis was interesting, the actual reveal fell flat to me. .Overall , I did enjoy the book and I loved learning more about ballet life, but it was a three start read for me.

Ballerinas was interesting for someone who really understands and loves ballet. With an enormous amount of melodrama, sometimes it slipped over the edge and was hard to follow. Generally speaking, I did enjoy this a d felt the characters were well developed. If you’re a devoteé of the ballet you’ll find this enjoyable. It’s a cross between Black Swan and The Turning Point !Thank you net galley for the chance to review this book before publication.

The Ballerinas is the surprising debut novel by Rachel Kapelke-Dale ... surprising because it's so good! I loved the characters. They're so complex, neither all good nor all bad, but a mix of both, exactly like we all are.

This novel sucked me in from the first page and gave me many a sleepless night as I stayed up far too late reading.

The Ballerinas is extremely timely in today's social climate of Me Too and female empowerment. I loved everything about this book and can hardly wait for the author's second novel.

I am appreciative to Net Galley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

This book honestly makes me thankful that I didn’t continue a dance career after injuring my knee at 16. I’ve always loved dance (jazz & lyrical) and now that I’m older, a fascination and love for ballet. So naturally, I was very excited to see a ballet book to read! But man, being a ballerina is hard. Constantly worrying about body image and taking down the competition no matter who it is, would be exhausting. But ballet is beautiful with its lyrical movement and costumes; it takes sacrifice to do beautiful things.

Kapelke-Dale writes realistic characters given their life situations. She makes you want to root for Delphine to figure herself out and succeed in anything she wants to do. There is definitely a feminist tone to the whole book where women take back their control from not very likable male characters. But that’s pretty much the point. Struggling, failing, and then succeeding. So is life. It’s a book you want to keep reading and find it hard to put down! Also, everyone needs a Stella in their life.

*I do think there should be a trigger warning for abortion. Baby loss is so significant these days that it’s only fair to the readers to know upfront.*

As a dancer, I was interested in the title and premise of this book. I loved Black Swan and The Luckiest Girl Alive so I was curious how this was compared to the two. Although it took awhile to determine where the story was going, by the second half I enjoyed reading about all the drama associated with the ballerinas and the dance company. A lot of scandal and covering up to keep up with appearances as can be expected in an industry such as this one. There were several characters to keep track of and the jumping back and forth between time lines was a little confusing. I liked how at first we didn't know exactly what happened between the girls years ago and how history repeated itself at the end. I did not expect the final scenes at all, but I feel like it definitely says a lot about the pressures on women especially when it comes to choosing between family and career.

Some books leave you speechless. This is one of them.

Of all the compliments I'm about to give this book, one rises above the rest: the writing is impeccable. Kapelke-Dale's writing style is so captivating and compelling that any qualms about reading a story about ballerinas will disappear after the first chapter. I made a note to myself halfway through to check out Kapelke-Dale's previous works and was stunned to find out this is her debut novel! With writing this smooth and vivid, I would've guessed she's a few books in already.

These characters are well-rounded and so hauntingly real that they transcend the page. Admittedly, I had issues with the main character's choices in the beginning but was relieved to see her transformation by the end. There was no obvious orchestrating/foreshadowing/blueprint/whatever you want to call it - every character's decision was their own, not the author's.

Big issues over gender inequality, freedom particularly over one's body and decisions, the Me Too movement/sexual assault are all covered beautifully here. The blurb compares this to "Dare Me", "Luckiest Girl Alive" and the film Black Swan and I'll offer another title/media to the mix - "Big Little Lies" by Liana Moriarty, particularly for the last half of the book for its emphasis on female empowerment and strong female bonds/friendships. (And for the twist at the end regarding a death.)

All the critiques I had while reading were addressed and smoothed out as the story progress, except for one - the pacing in the beginning. Personally, I could do without quite a bit of the flashbacks in the first half because most felt distracting and at times, it felt like there were two stories fighting for attention and it was confusing. The book really comes alive after the 45-50% mark where the pacing kicks up to a sprint and it's hard to put down.

The cover art is simple but gorgeous and subtly symbolic. It would make for a great eye-catching conversation piece for window displays.

This book is gritty, captivating and heart wrenching, and is an absolute winner. I can sense this being a big hit once it's released and I think it will fare very well if it's adapted into a limited series/mini series.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me an ARC to review. I'm about to pre-order a copy and can't wait for the release in late December this year!

Thank you to the publisher @stmartinspress , the author @rachelkapelkedale and NetGalley for my copy!
Ballet is the most grueling art form, and this novel explores the damage women face in the quest to be a star as opposed to their male counterparts.
Delphine, now 36 and a choreographer has returned to the Paris Opera Ballet after 14 years in St Petersburg and has to come to terms with the fact the people she left behind (mostly her two best friends Lindsay and Margaux) have changed.
I thought that "Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive meets Dare Me" really hit the nail on the head, though it's less of the former and more of the latter. The alternating story lines got a bit hard to follow for me, and I wish we saw a bit more of the school age years so I could understand the girl's friendship. I didn't really understand how Lindsay became part of the group.
The author is clearly knowledgeable about ballet and the book is very well researched, but that may have caused it to be a slower read. I'd really encourage people to follow it through. I didn't see the end coming at all!
4/5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I enjoyed this book but it did not live up to the expectations I had from the blurb and the comparison of Black Swan. There was no big thrill mystery genre in it for me, it felt more like a high drama and informative ballet.

You’re introduced to 3 ballerinas who all are different but fighting for the same thing when young, being a star in Paris Opera Ballet. Delphine moves to Russia at age 23 and eventually comes back as a choreographer. Margueax is still in the company trying to figure out her life with her biting attitude and Lindsey the American is still fighting for her chance to be that star. It’s a slow take at first and the true “thrill” picks up when you’re 80% in.

I enjoyed reading the details of what happens in the background of ballets and studios and the politics of it all. The character build was really strong and you connect with all of them well but ultimately it’s about the fight for these women and how everyone has problems and overcoming them. I was disappointed to have the synopsis sound more exciting than the book itself. Regardless, it is a well done novel with a good end and feel good sisterhood kind of friendship shown through.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

i loved reading this book it was a great friendship story... i really dont know that much about serious ballet, but i found the ballet parts very interesting.. the friends are all ballerinas and have been friends since their youth... 2 of them have a secret that colors all the years following...... its interesting to see how this unfolds.... i will def be interested to see other books by this author!! thanks for letting me read this book!!

A gorgeous and captivating affair of a novel, focusing on three aspiring ballerinas and the lengths they would go to in order to bring their artistic dreams come true. The beautiful and descriptive setting made me feel as though I was present there... But underneath all that beauty, there is always a streak of evil present...

Wow, this is a really powerful book, and as I wipe away some tears I'm shocked this is a debut novel! I know next to nothing about the world of dance (now I do), but I know a little about female friendships and how they can be extremely strong but also emotionally toxic when things take a turn for the worse. Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsay are all ballerinas when we first meet them at the age of 13; they must compete for places in order to succeed and will stop at nothing to ensure their own progress, even if it means stopping someone else (even a friend). Alternating between their childhood and their 30's when Delphine is a choreographer, and Lindsay is cast in the lead spot, we see the turmoil, the adulation, the missed chances, but above all, the ties that bind female friendships. Kapelke-Dale speaks to so many relevant issues; love, betrayal, jealousy, blackmail, marriage, pregnancy, and parenting; overall it's just a lovely story about how we choose to live our lives in the face of adversity and the challenges we must overcome to find our own truths and live the life we were meant to appreciate.

One of my favorite types of book: books about ballerinas. Even better, ballerinas in PARIS. I love books about the hard, grueling side of ballet because I don’t think most people realize what a difficult industry the ballet industry is. In fact, it’s just as bad as the modeling industry. It’s cutthroat, brutal, full of fake friends who will backstab you to come out on top, people who pick apart your body, at least 5 hours a day of dancing, pushing your body and feet past what it should ever handle on a daily basis. You put yourself through all of this, just for a teeny tiny minuscule chance of success (fewer than half of them make it to company and even then, most dancers end up as one of many ballerinas in the background. The chances of stardom are really against you). Ballerinas know of all this and they know their odds. Therefore, no one does ballet unless they genuinely, truly love it. It’s cutthroat unlike any other sport. I love books like this which show how ballet isn’t just glitz and glamor. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know this. In fact, I myself didn’t know it until I read a similar YA book about ballerinas several years ago. Since then, I’ve never seen ballet the same way, and this is the reality of it.

My main issue was when I got to about 50% of this book, I was like, where is this going lol. Halfway through is plenty of time to set the groundwork for where the story is going, yet at that mark, I still had no idea what this book was even about or what the point even is. It was just day to day life of ballerinas and friend drama and such. I could not even tell you what the central conflict of the book or what the point was. This book just didn’t seem to be going in any direction and it made me want to quit early on because I had no urgency to find out what was going to happen at the end because there was NO REAL PLOT. I also found the too frequent skipping timelines confusing. I would be reading it and forget which timeline I was on, past or present.

This book just didn’t have enough urgency to make me want to continue reading. To be honest, if this wasn’t an arc I probably would’ve dnf’d it. All in all, it wasn’t a bad read, but it wasn’t interesting enough to be enjoyable for me. Not enough happened plot wise and too much of it lacked direction.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.