It was impossible not to fall in love with Instructions for Dancing from the get go. Evie is a high school senior whose parents are getting a divorce and she has completely given up on love. While she is quite jaded about love for someone of her age, it makes perfect sense considering her parents.

I loved the little bit of magic and how it helped shaped Evie's love and life choices. It was unique, different and added a wonderful element to the story, even though through Evie's eyes she never saw the good. I also appreciated that there was nothing Evie could do to change an outcome, it just was.

Instructions for Dancing also includes a strong supporting cast in Evie's love interest that she doesn't want, X, her gang of friends, her sister and her parents. She had so many different people in her life supporting her, even when she didn't want to admit it (as in the case with her dad).

The ending almost broke me, but I can't say more. Just know there were tears and Yoon really packed a punch into it.

The premise of this book is so, so interesting. I'm dabbling in YA magical realism lately with this one and One Last Stop, and both have been riveting enough to keep my attention!

Evie Thomas' parents had a rough divorce, and Evie is left feeling jaded by love. Then, she receives the power to see people's love stories ... including how they end. This, suffice to say, doesn't help her feelings of jadedness. At the same time, she starts challenging herself to try new things and joins a dance competition with X, a spontaneous guy who balances her out well, even if she doesn't see it.

Evie's story is emotional and sweet. The book reads as a love letter to Los Angeles in some parts, too. Yoon is an exquisite writer, and I will read everything she puts out. 4/5 stars.

The "Everything, Everything" author asks the question, is it better to feel "big feelings" with the potential to get hurt or is it better to protect your heart?

Beautiful, funny, sad, this is everything. These people have flaws and we're going to love them anyway. And that cover is gorgeous.

A nit-picky thing: too much reliance on taxi cabs for Los Angeles. That's just not a thing. At least one of these high school seniors would be driving their own car.

Love this author even though the books are YA, they’re always good stories with good lessons. This is her first book in 3 years and she didn't disappoint.

I absolutely loved this book. It had very cute moments that I look for in YA romance, with some fantastic snark from the main characters. All of the characters are so fun, they all add something great to the story line. It's not a typical happily ever after, even a little sad at the end, but it still felt like I was left with some hope. Absolutely recommend

I absolutely loved this book. My favorite Nicola Yoon book so far. Great for fans of YA contemporary romance. There is love, sadness, dancing, and lots of funny moments too. Get ready for some epic dad jokes about tacos lol.

I loved this book. Nicola Yoon is a masterful writer and creates such lovely characters. This book felt so different form your typical YA book but it was so well done. I feel like it shows love and happiness so well but also heartbreak. I loved this book and I hope others will too!

Thank you to Netgalley & Random House for the advanced ARC ebook as well as @PRHAudio for the complimentary audiobook!

This is my third book by this author, the first to of which I absolutely adored. This book is much different than Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star, in my opinion. This is more magical realism, which if I am being completely honest is just not my favorite. However, I did enjoy this book overall. I thought it started strong, dragged a bit in the middle, and was very, very good at the end. I did not devour it the way that I read her first two, but I still thought it was well-done and a worthy YA read. X is so super cute, and I really enjoyed Evie’s friends, too. Y’all know I’m a sucker for a good friend group in a book!

Is it my favorite? No. Is it a 5 star read for me? No. Would I recommend it to others? Yes. Would my students love it? Absolutely!

I would like to thank PRH Global and Netgalley for an ARC in an exchange for honest review. All thoughts expressed are my personal opinion.

Score: 4.5/5

Nicola Yoon's writing is like butter and I was so captivated I finished this book in almost a day.

This book was so much more than your average happy hopeless romantic meets cynic love interest; it's an exploration of love, grief, death, and the true worth of living with your heart open. After reading the acknowledgements (yes I read those too) my heart tore itself up, it is so beautifully haunting that Yoon managed to write such a profound book in the midst of one of her darkest periods in life, in the middle of terrible grief.

I'd say this is a mixture of Disney's Soulx 2001's Save the Last Dance.

Do I recommend? Yes

I LOVED this book. I loved both of Nicola Yoon's other books and this one is even better. I went in expecting a quirky cute young adult book, and I got all that and more. I laughed, I didn't know what to expect, and I couldn't wait to read more. One caution: I cried way more than I thought I would. Maybe it was the lack of sleep from a canceled flight and hours spent in an empty airport but this book gave me all the feels. I would love to go back in time and start it all over again if I could.

Teen fiction, Black author - Another funny and sweet story from Nicola Yoon about a Black teen with complex problems. Keep the tissues handy!

Synopsis:
Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.

As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything--including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he's only just met.

Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it's that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?

Review:

I was expecting a fun, summery romance because of the cover but NO. I'm not going to spoil what happens but WHAT? How could the author do this to me?

*breathes deeply*
Attempt to write a coherent review after my brain has been skewered so cruelly:


The characters were super great! Evie, our main character doesn't want to believe in true love after her dad cheats on her mom, and her family is torn apart. She's cynical, funny and at times warm and loving. She meets X through a dance program, and they end up becoming more than friends. X is pretty much everything that Evie isn't: Optimistic, agreeable- and he even has a 'say yes' policy to everything. The side characters such as Evie's friend group and X's grandparents were so warm and great too. No complaints on that.

The story set up was very, very good. I loved the somewhat magical elements in there, and even though seeing relationships end was sad, it was also interesting to see the entire progression of them. I also loved the dancing aspect of the story! It made me want to learn how to dance also (which we all know I shouldn't be allowed to do haha)

The pacing and writing style were great, though I wish that it was maybe a little shorter in the middle, and a little longer in the end, like to explain more thoroughly what happened!

But overall this was so fantastic, and Nicola Yoon really doesn't disappoint.

P.S. Prepare to sob.

Anticipation: 4.5: This premise is everything and I love Nicola Yoon
Enjoyment: 5: What is feelings

--> 4.4 (yes, I know I'm v. specific) stars

This book was such a fun and cute read and I will be recommending it to all of my friends immediately.

Queen Nicola does it again! She is truly a master writer. The skill she has at weaving a love story through all the ups and downs, and to tie it up neatly at the end? What else is there to say. She is phenomenal, the characters she creates are amazing and human and flawed (Evie and X are no exception), and it makes you root for them the whole way. This was an awesome love story!

Incredibly moving and surprisingly deep this Noble exceeded my expectations. Nicola Yoon seems to get better with each and every single one of her books.

I have loved everything I’ve read from Nicola Yoon, and this book is no exception. It starts out a bit slow, and you think you know where it’s headed. But it packs an emotional punch I didn’t see coming. Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Thank you to @netgalley and @delacortepress for the advanced copy.

I don’t know. That’s my review. I just don’t know. I really enjoyed most of this book. I think the issue was my expectation - I thought it was going to be a YA romance and that’s what I went in expecting. It wasn’t. Ultimately - I really like the story that was told but I had made up an ending that I liked better. That isn’t the book’s fault though. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING by Nicola Yoon has a bit of supernatural effect combined with learning to tango in a properly provocative way. Yoon, author of several young adult novels including Everything, Everything, introduces readers to Evie and to X (short for Xavier). Reeling from learning that her Dad has been having an affair and wants to get re-married, Evie ends up taking dance lessons and discovers that she has an unusual ability to see the future for kissing couples. X is an aspiring musician and grandson of the owners of the local dance studio. The two are paired to compete and help promote the studio. She is generally more reluctant while he wants to "live in the moment" and say "yes" to everything. In classic Yoon style, the two reflect that "the time we get is the time we get" since "life almost never turns out the way you think it will." Both main characters and their many friends are appealing and INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING is a quick read. As Evie says about events in the novel: "It was beautiful. But it was sad, too. Both things, and at the same time. I don't know why so much of life is like that." Well-deserved starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.

I absolutely love Nicola Yoon's writing, so had high expectations for this new novel from the author. I was not disappointed.

Main character Yvette's (Evie) parents are recently divorced, and she had discovered her father with "the other woman." Her mother asked Evie not to tell her sister, Danica, and Evie decided that she no longer believes in love. Consequently, she clears her bookshelves of her formerly favorite contemporary romances, and when she is headed to drop the last batch at the local library, remembers her library is closed. Instead, she winds up at a Little Free Library, where she has a conversation with an odd older woman, who insists she take a book from the library after depositing her own. The only book in the library is a book on dancing, with the address of a local dance studio in it.

Shortly after this meeting, Evie starts having visions - when she sees a couple enjoying a kiss, she suddenly can see events of their relationships from the beginning to the heartbreaking end, starting with her sister Danica. On the advice of one of her besties, she goes to return the book to the dance studio, and ends up roped into participation in a ballroom dancing competition with the grandson of the owners, Xavier.

As always, Yoon's pacing is excellent, plot development unfolds beautifully, and the cast of characters well-developed. I really enjoyed the book and the ending was unexpected, but satisfying in its own way.