Evie’s favorite book genre before her dad cheated on her mom was Romance books, like enemies to lovers. She decided to get rid of her collection since she saw her dad cheating on her mom and disheartened her. Evie now believes love stories are like fairy tales; you're not meant to believe in them forever. She drops off her books at a Little free library. While there she is cursed to see the endings of relationships when people in love kiss. She Finds a book Instructions for Dancing and that brings her to the dance studio where she meets X. Her visions are like movies. They go from when the couple first meets with significant points in their relationship to the final end.
Martin sophie and Cassidy are her best friends but she only tells Martin about the visions she sees when couples kiss. I like that the visions were consistent through the book and the magical element wasn’t just used as a filler. Great line is Heartbreak = love + time.
Evie and X, the boy she met at the dance studio, join together to help promote the studio in a competition. They start to hang out together because Fifi says that X and Evie need more chemistry so they should get to know each other.
X wants to be a musician and Evie can see that happening and then she sees his death in 10 months. The ending was a complete let down. The writing was beautiful, the story unique but couldn’t she suggest he go to a doctor at the very least?
I do like that parents were involved in the story both Evie’s and X’s. I loved this book and would recommend it but really wished the ending was not so rushed and sad for what felt like no reason.

What a sweet book. I can’t wait to add to my student library. This book is about love, friendship, and trust. I was surprised at the twist at the end. This book will pull on your heartstrings and I think it is a perfect book for a YA audience.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. As a fan of Nicola Yoon's previous novels, I am so excited that this book did not disappoint. As a reader, I felt love, heartbreak, friendships, and family bonds. All key themes I look for in romance novels. If you are looking for a quick summer romance, I highly recommend this one. It will make you laugh and cry all in one sitting.

This was really heartbreaking but in a good way. It had a lot of conversations about love and loss that really hit home. As someone who has lost a parent, I could see the discussions about whether or not to stay angry from both sides. Losing love is hard and grief is agony, and yet this book made you think about a lot of different aspects about them. I was expecting more of a fun romance or more dancing in the book, but I'm not mad with the story I got.

I’ve read Nicola Yoon’s previous books, and I have to say, this is by far her best book yet! I am a fan for life. Her writing is so easy to digest and made me feel oh so happy. I could have read this in one sitting if I had the time, that’s how enjoyable this story was!

While this book is called “Instructions for Dancing” and does include a dancing competition, it’s more focused on the characters rather than the dancing – and how the act of dancing brings them together. It also had a magical realism element which I didn’t expect – in a good way. I enjoyed this aspect of the story and did not see it coming.

Evie’s parents are getting divorced, and while was used to be a huge fan of romance novels, she no longer believes in love. If the two people who were most in love in her life fell out of love, what hope is there for anyone else? It all starts when she’s donating her romance novels to a Little Free Library (hello, LFL rep, love to see it!) and an older woman is also at the library – telling Evie to make sure she also takes a book. The only book in there is one called “Instructions for Dancing” – I love this is how the story begins. This is a love story involving someone who doesn’t believe in love anymore.

Evie feels betrayed by her dad for the divorce, they used to be close but now she doesn’t feel like she can trust him. This story does focus on divorce of parents and how it affects the family unit, including the kids, which I don’t often see touch upon in YA books.

Evie does have a wonderful support group in her three friends, who have all been friends since middle school. It’s their final semester of senior year of high school, and the feeling of those last months had me nostalgic and reminiscing on my own days. Time moves so quickly when you’re about to leave high school and go onto college or whatever else life holds next for you. This is great for teens who are in the same situation and might be feeling the same way.

Evie meets X at the dance studio, where she’s trying to return the Instructions for Dancing book – it had an address in it, she felt it was only right to return it! I love their chemistry right from the beginning, its easy going, casual, and they have some great banter going. One thing leads to another, and the two are partnered up for a dancing competition! Something Evie has never done before, but is up for the challenge. X is a “say yes” to everything kind of guy, a free spirit willing to try anything once. He’s a great character and well developed as Evie spends more time with him.

As per Nicola Yoon writing rules, this book has a plot twist, its its one that pulls at your heartstrings – something Nicola is fantastic at. Instructions for Dancing made me feel all the feels and I loved every second of it. Highly recommend this one!

** Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. **

This is not a love story.

This is a story of loss and heartache.

This is a story of perseverance and self-discovery.

But in no way is this a love story.

Evie Thomas has given up on love and romance after her parents' divorce. But, one day she discovers that she can see a couple's entire romance play out in her mind from start to (inevitable) finish. And, like that, her cynical attitude towards love intensifies. After all, when you can see the end of every romance, how can you believe in love? Enter X, the one person who can start to open Evie's heart again. But, like I said, this is not a love story.

Nicola Yoon has a beautifully annoying habit of ripping her reader's heart out and stomping on it in a way that makes the reader beg for more. While there were times that I found the story getting a little repetitive, I still couldn't stop reading. I wanted more. No...I needed more.

Instructions for Dancing is definitely worth picking up and reading. Just have some tissues nearby.

Solid 4 star read: Instructions for Dancing is a powerful book with just a hint of magic. Evie Thomas is the main character and she is dealing with her world changing due to her parents’ divorce. She has decided that love and romance is not possible. This leads to the strange events that causes her to be able to “see” relationships from beginning, middle, to the ultimate end. Evie is feeling like all love will lead to a broken heart.
Eventually, she meets Xavier or X. As Evie and X grow closer she starts to questions all that she believes about life and love.
While this book is not realistic it is written so that the reader can believe that Evie is seeing the visions of relationships. I was expecting a light fun rom-com, but did not exactly get that with this book. While there are some wonderful lighthearted moments, there is also some extremely sad sections. This book stuck with me for several days after reading.
This book reminded me of the lyrics from the Garth Brooks song- The Dance: “I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance.”

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.
#InstructionsforDancing #NetGalley

3.5 ⭐️
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Thank you so much to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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I really really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't click for me.
I'm a big fan of Nicola Yoon's other two books, "Everything, Everything" and "The Sun is Also a Star", but this just didn't hit where I was hoping it would.

The story follows Evie, a high school senior still reeling from her parents' recent divorce. She receives a gift from a magical source that allows her to see a vision of the beginning, middle, and end of a couples' relationship when they kiss. Evie also starts taking ballroom dancing classes with a boy named X and even though she sees how so many love stories end, she falls for him anyway.

There were so many cute moments in this book, but I was left with so many more questions. Evie seemed to take all her relationships with others for granted because of how disillusioned she is by love and that got very tiring very quickly. While I love a story that has some magical realism, her "power" was almost an afterthought that she just dealt with and then went away willy-nilly when it wasn't needed as a plot device anymore. There would be build up to these major plot points that would happen and then never have any follow up. (The ending of the dance competition is a major one for me, but I don't want to spoil it here.)
Yoon deals with some heavy topics, but only ever scrapes the surface - nothing ever got too deep. Death, people falling in and out of love, friendships falling apart...I wanted to dig into it all more than we ever get a chance to see. And of course, it ends WAY too fast and doesn't give the satisfying ending I was hoping to get. If anything, I was more frustrated after it ended than I was during the denouement.

I have loved Yoon's writing in the past, but this one just wasn't it for me. 3.5 stars for sure, rounding down because I couldn't fall in love with it enough to give it a 4.

This one was a hard book for me to rate. I like it more than my 3 star books but I don't like it as much as my 4 star books. It's a firm 3.5 but I'm rounding up because I really did enjoy the clairvoyance in here and the question of whether you should pursue love if you know it's doomed to fail.

I will admit that I think I had my hopes too high for this one. Two people in my book club loved it who rarely agree so I thought it'd be a no brainer for me. Instead, I became increasingly annoyed with the flat relationships in present time and Evie's will-she-won't-she struggle with every single problem that came her way.

That being said, I really did love the little magical power of being able to see a whole relationship play out as soon as she saw their first kiss. I think it posed a really interesting question - should two people even try to have a relationship if they know it's going to end? I mean, most of us have multiple exes out there so 1) did you expect each relationship to last forever and 2) do you regret having each relationship because it ended? It's a nice question to address in YA form and I think it teaches a sweet lesson of living in the moment and not living your life in fear of the future.

I love Nicola Yoon’s ability to make us truly experience feelings. Evie is angry. She caught her dad cheating on her mom. Now they are divorced and the dad is marrying the girlfriend. Evie gets a book from the neighborhood library, and this strange woman says some things to her. She ends up taking a book about dancing instruction. She also begins seeing how people will break up, experience hurt, and end up,alone. She decides their is more to this strange lady and takes the book to the original owners who just happened to be an lovely old couple who own a dance studio. She takes a class and goes back, she is invited to do competitive ballroom and join an ametur competition, they happen to have a dance partner for her…the owner’s grandson. Can Evie make through the hurt to experience that love is a complicated and messy experience?

The Sun is Also a Star is one of my favorite YA books, so I was really hoping I would love Nicola Yoon's newest followup.

Maybe I am over reading YA at this point but I couldn't get behind this one. It was very gimmicky and the "twist" towards the end gave it such an emotional tone that I felt like was NOT present in the rest of the book. It felt disjointed and I honestly didn't get any chemistry from either of the leads. Lots of telling and not showing which drives me nuts.

This book completely blew me away. I didn’t know what to expect going into it and I was pleasantly surprised.

This book follows Evie, a high school senior who has decided that she doesn’t believe in happy endings anymore. Her father has recently abandoned their family after cheating on Evie’s mother, destroying Evie’s perception of love. When Evie decides to donate all her favorite romances to a local little library, fate places a new book in her hands.

This book has Evie following the address inside the book to a dance studio where she meets Fiona, a fiery dance instructor and X, the dance studio owners’ grandson. Evie gets talked into competing in a dance competition with X as her partner and begins seeing life through a new lens.

This book has one of my very favorite elements and that is a touch of fantasy in a contemporary novel. The fantastical element introduced in this book is Evie develops the ability to see the past, present, and future of a relationship when she sees a couple kiss. I found this element fascinating and I was intrigued to find out the fates of characters in the book.

This book also tackles really big topics that teenagers have to deal with. Graduation, saying goodbye to friends, discovering that your parents are actually people. I thought all this was handled wonderfully. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a romance that’s not really a romance. It was perfect.

Thank you so much @PenguinTeen & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 03 June 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Evie is dealing with the aftermath of her parents divorce & she has all but given up on love. She decides to drop her well loved romance books off at a LFL where she meets a mysterious old woman. After this encounter she has the ability to see glimpses of relationships (what happened, what is happening & what is going to happen) whenever a couple kisses.

WHAT I LIKED:
- the core message of just because something doesn't last, doesn't mean it isn't worth it now
- short snappy chapters kept me flipping the pages
- the fact a Little Free Library plays an integral part of this story

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the entire concept of seeing peoples fates just didn't feel flushed out enough for me
- didn't find myself caring about Evie & X's relationship
- had a very Disney movie channel kinda vibe
- the pacing overall just didn't work (it felt rushed & too slow all at the same time)

I am at a loss. I honestly don't know how to rate this book.

First of all, the cover (and even the blurb) does such a disservice to the story. It's beautiful (as is the story tbh) but it sets you up for thinking this is a light fun story. It. Is. Not. It is messy and complicated and heartbreaking and inspiring. What it is not, is light and cute.

Evie is a teenager in age only. She feels a million years older than she is. I actually think her behavior is more college age than teenager- but as it has been awhile since I've been a teenager- maybe it is an accurate portrayal. We meet her at a heartbreaking time for her family. An event that has made her no longer believe in love. I think this aspect of the story- while important- is what I struggle with the most. Without going into details that would spoil the story, I think it was not handled great. Especially the position she was put in and her actions with her sister. And that is all I will say about that. Other than to say, families and relationships are messy and complicated and while I don't particularly love the family story line- I do think it is realistic.

The bulk of the story is Evie dealing with a "magical" power she gets during her time fo heartbreak to see the romantic storylines of people she meets. Meaning she sees how they met and moments they shared- and how the relationships end. And Evie, in her current disillusionment of love- struggles to see all the relationships end (even those of people who she loves). At the same time, by mysterious means, she is led to a ballroom dancing class where she meets X. X is also struggling and the two pair up to learn to dance and participate in a dance competition.

I wish the relationship with X and Evie was fleshed out more. I felt their friendship deepening but I wish I felt their relationship deepen more too. But honestly, I loved them and rooted for them. They are both old souls and you can't help hoping they'll get their faith back.

Would you take a leap of faith in love if all you ever see is how it ends? Something Evie struggles with. The lessons she learns and the path her relationships take will both make you believe in love and also break your heart.

If I went into this story expecting a deeper emotional book I think how I feel right now would be totally different. Instead,, I went in thinking this was a light fun read and I was left wishing it had been lighter and more fun. But the story is good. The case of characters and side characters are mostly good (I wanted more Dani and Martin!) and the ending is one that I won't forget for a long time. It is, in fact, a beautiful love story. So even though it isn't what I expected (that cover really is misleading) it was definitely worth the read.

This is my first book by Nicola Yoon but it definitely won't be my last. I might just ignore the covers for now LOL

Instructions for Dancing is a book that hit me in the feels. I read it in one sitting, and felt utterly destroyed when I finished. That being said--Evie has given up on love. Her parents recently got divorced. Once an avid romance reader, Evie decides to donate a majority of her book collection to a free little library. Upon meeting an old lady and taking a book on dancing in exchange for her donations, Evie finds out that she can now see an entire couple’s relationship (including how it ends) when she sees them kiss for the first time.

I loved the magical element to this story. It’s not a major part of the story, but I loved seeing all of the different relationships and vulnerabilities of being in love. The characters are unique and funny. The commentary on romance is both comical and insightful. The love interest is adorable and I loved the message of living in the moment. The ending, while heartfelt, destroyed me. I highly recommend this story if you like rom-coms with a dash of magic.

I received an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon was a great read. I featured it as Book of the Day on all my social media platforms, and I’ll include it in my monthly roundup of news releases for my Black Fiction Addiction blog.

Mid read mini review: A love story for cynics. I'm digging it so far. Could not put down. The right level of fluff and angst and a tiny bit of magic all mixed together.

Completed Book review

In terms of writing, I very very very much enjoyed it. In terms of chemistry between the main couple, they were no Flutie/Darling or John Green protagonists or even the two main characters in Yoon's Everything, Everything, whose names I cannot remember for anything.

But. Evie's voice was DELIGHTFUL and reading it felt exactly like falling in love as a teenager, with the friendships and the questions and the wondering. And even if Evie and X were no Kaz and Inej, with the fraught history with death and torture and sex slavery where even reading about fingertips touching are enough to set the heart pounding, they were a lovely couple to watch fall in love. PLUS, all of the Dirty Dancing parallels. (Essentially my introduction to ROMANTICAL MOVIES.)

No complaints here, will heartily recommend to teens this summer who like romance with sadness mixed in.

This book. This book is one that will break your heart while convincing you to believe in love all at the same time. It's a book that made me need to take a break from reading because I just needed time to process all my feelings.

I thought I knew what I was getting into with this book and in some ways I was correct, but it was also so much more and all too many levels of heartbreaking. This is nowhere near as warm and fluffy as I anticipated, but it was almost for the better?

This book is about Evie who used to believe in love until her parent's marriage fell apart and she was left second-guessing everything she thought she knew. A mysterious encounter while donating her beloved romance books leads her to possession of a special book and even more special powers to see the highlights of a couple's relationship. In hopes of figuring out why she now has these visions, she follows clues in the book to a local dance studio where she meets X and finds herself roped into an amateur dancing contest as his partner. She attempts to resist X, a boy who's motto is to always say yes, because if the visions have taught her anything it's that she was right and love always ends in pain and heartbreak, but maybe he'll be able to show her it's all worth it.

Part of me wishes I had warning for how this story was going to go and if people want to know I'll tell them, but it doesn't change the heart of the story or the journey that Evie goes on and the love there is on all sides.

CW // cheating (discussed, prior to start of story, not involving main characters), death of a teen (accident, prior to start of story, not main character), character death

Full rtc on my blog!

I loved this.

This is the first romance I've ever read, adult or YA, that acknowledges "just because it didn't last doesn't mean it wasn't real." Not only does it acknowledge this fact, it celebrates it. This was such a quick, delightful, heartbreaking, and UNIQUE read. The characters are delightful. The magical realism is delightful. The whole book is delightfully sad and delightful.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

What happens when you suddenly get the power to see how romantic relationships end, yours included?

That’s how the main character’s story begins: Evie is a teenager who has lost all faith in love after her parents’ divorce. Then one day a mysterious old lady gives her a book called Instructions for Dancing, and suddenly she finds herself with this weird supernatural gift— from her point of view it’s actually a curse— which in turn will lead her to eventually decide if love is really worth it, despite all the potential heartbreak and hurt.

The fear of love that Evie feels and all the themes surrounding her and X’s story, are something I could relate to on a personal level. Love is scary, love hurts you and disappoints you in so many ways. But love is also one of the most powerful feelings out there, it can change a person, make them stronger, better. One must only be brave enough to take the leap.

Nicola Yoon has created a lovely yet heartbreaking story with two adorable leads. I appreciated the chemistry between Evie and X, and how real the different aspects of Evie’s life felt despite the bit of supernatural thrown in. I only wished it hadn’t all felt so rushed, that the side characters and the several relationships as well as the themes would have been given more time to be further explored. I believe it would’ve given more depth, which the story needed to really stick with you.

If you are into stories that can both break your heart and mend it, this book could be for you.

⭐3.5~4-/5
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Ringrazio Penguin Random House e Netgalley per la copia digitale in anteprima.

Cosa succede quando all'improvviso hai l'abilità di vedere come vanno a finire le relazioni d'amore, compresa la tua?

È così che inizia la storia della protagonista: Evie è una teenager che ha perso ogni fiducia nell'amore dopo il divorzio dei genitori. Poi un giorno, una misteriosa donna anziana le regala un libro dal titolo Instructions for Dancing, e all'improvviso la ragazza si ritrova con questo strano dono soprannaturale — lei lo vede piuttosto come una maledizione— che a sua volta la porterà a decidere se l'amore ne vale la pena, nonostante il rischio di soffrire e rimanere con cuore spezzato.

La paura nei confronti dell'amore che Evie prova e i temi che ruotano intorno alla storia di lei ed X, è qualcosa che mi tocca molto da vicino. L'amore spaventa, l'amore ti ferisce e molto spesso ti delude. Ma l'amore è anche uno dei sentimenti più potenti che ci sia, può cambiare una persona, renderla più forte, renderla migliore. Bisogna solo avere il coraggio di correre questo rischio.

Nicola Yoon ha creato una storia adorabile e allo stesso tempo dolorosa, con due protagonisti carinissimi. Ho apprezzato la chimica tra Evie e X, e il senso di realtà nei diversi aspetti della vita di Evie, nonostante quel pizzico di elemento soprannaturale.
Avrei voluto però che non fosse stato tutto così affrettato, che i personaggi secondari così come i temi affrontati avessero avuto più tempo per essere esplorati meglio. Credo che la storia avrebbe assunto più profondità, ciò che le serviva per lasciare davvero il segno.

Se siete interessat* a storie che possono spezzati il cuore e anche guarirlo, questo libro potrebbe fare al caso vostro.

⭐3.5~4-/5