Oh Nicola Yoon, you sure do know how to write a book that absolutely wrecks me. From the very beginning this book caught my interest and was heartbreaking and poignant while still being funny and sweet. There is also a bit of magic realism in this book, which isn't usually my cup, but it worked really well. This book will sit with me for a long time.

Delightful teen romance with an ending to give the story great depth. Evie, senior year is dealing with divorced parents (well used theme lately) and can't understand how one can be in love and then out of love. Basically given up on hope on love until a book leads her to a dance studio where X becomes her dance partner and boyfriend. Evie has a great support from her small group of friends, all well developed characters. Evie does a lot of growing up to understand to live in the moment and also to take love when it comes, not dwell on the future

Evie is an 18-year-old high school senior struggling to come to terms with her parents’ divorce. She is angry and heartbroken. She wants little to do with love or hope. In distancing herself from these vulnerable emotions, she decides to donate all the romance novels she used to love. A chance encounter with a stranger while donating the books leaves her with a special gift. When she sees a couple kiss, she gets a vision of their relationship - how it begins...and how it ends. When her mysterious encounter leads her to La Brea Dance Studio, Evie has no idea how her life is about to change. As she finds herself getting closer to her dance partner, X, Evie has to decide if love is worth the risk.

An adorable quick read, I really enjoyed this book. So many young adults are coping with divorce and the resulting change in their parental relationships. Yoon makes Evie so relatable and even encouraging to any teenagers finding themselves in a similar situation. Sure, stuff sucks right now, but it gets better. Take the chance. Live and love while you can.

I really enjoyed the way the book ended. The twist was not expected, but worked perfectly and made the novel a much deeper read than I had anticipated. Heads up, I needed tissues.

This one comes out in June. Personally, I think it would make a great addition to graduation gift baskets, as it’s perfect for teenagers and young adults.

Huge thanks to Nicola Yoon, Delacorte Press, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

more of a 3.5!! i really loved the characters and how well thought out they were, but i kinda felt like the plot was a little too convenient and easy, the ending was really sweet though!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When I got the notification that I was approved for this title, I was thrilled. I've read Everything, Everything in the past, and absolutely loved it. Instructions for Dancing exceeded my expectations. I read it in about 2.5 hours, and it was one of the most enjoyable things I've done in a while. The premise, with Evie being able to see the past, present, and future of people's relationships is so ingenious. Evie is a girl whose world is flipped around when her parents divorce, and she decides to believe that there is no such long as true love. She bikes around Los Angeles, her massive collection of romance books in tow, and stumbles on a Little Free Library where she meets a mysterious woman who hands her a book called Instructions for Dancing, and includes an address to a little ballroom dance studio near her house. Cue the life changing events.

At the studio, she meets X, who is the grandchild of the studio owners and who has recently moved to LA. Evie refuses to fall in love, or even get to know X because she does not want to get hurt by love. From there, the novel progresses into something so moving and deep and profound. Evie and her friends are in their final weeks of high school, and trying to wrap their heads around the transitions that will be occurring very soon. This period of life is tumultuous (take it from someone about three years out from this) and it is filled with nostalgia and also grief.

Something that I did not expect was the twist towards the end of the novel. It was formulated and executed in the best way, and it provides a learning and growing experience for Evie to believe in love again. This novel tackles grief, growing up, love (but not always the happily ever after kind), and what it means to just say yes to life.

I highly recommend this for teenagers, as well as people who may feel disillusioned by love and/or life.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

NIcola Yoon has a way of making divorce, grief, and heartbreak fun and magical in her most recent YA offering.
Evie and X are the quintessential 18 year olds, navigating that emotionally charged and challenging time between childhood and adulthood. Evie is dealing with her parents' recent divorce and the broken trust it has caused between her and her father, whom she previously adored. X enters the scene coming off of his own tragic backstory. But Yoon manages to not make this feel like some tragic John Green novel, but something hopeful and sprinkled with joy and laughter.
This is was a great read!
Thanks for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. Nicola Yoon has done it again! I don’t know how she manages to write characters that I absolutely fall in love with every single time. Evie and X were both so lovely and I also loved the idea that the ending of a love story isn’t what really matters. Loved this book and hope it gets made into a movie.

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon was magical and absolutely beautiful. We follow Evie, who used to love contemporary romance books before her parents' separation turned her into a cynic when it comes to love. After a strange experience at a little free library, Evie gains a mysterious power. When she sees a couple kiss, she gets a vision of how they fall in love and also how their love story will end. Through her journey she starts taking classes at a dance studio and gets roped into practicing for a dance competition with a boy named X. We join Evie on a journey to see if she is able to put the risk of heartbreak aside to believe in love again.

I feel like I will never recover from this book. It was a love note to contemporary romances, which of course I adored. This story has so much heart and made me feel so many emotions. I love that we get to experience Evie's relationships with her family, friends, and X and all the complexities that come with them. I also love a good romance with a dancing element. Have I mentioned Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies? This will without a doubt be at the top of my list for young adult reads of 2021!

Nicola Yoon does it again! This newest addition to her collection of young adult romances had me hooked from the very beginning. Even though she includes a “magical” element in the plot line, the story is so relatable! Readers will absolutely fall in love with Evie and X and will experience their rollercoaster of emotions right alongside them in their journey. This story gave me all the feelings!

What a swoonily gorgeous YA romance! And it has that extra something that makes it rise above the quotidian. I’ve not read either of Ms Yoon’s previous novels so you can bet that they are now high up on my TBR list.

Evie does NOT believe in Tennyson’s idea that “'tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” After catching her dad cheating on her mom and the subsequent break-up of her parents’ marriage, Evie doesn’t believe that love is worth the inevitable pain when it ends. This is really brought home to her when a chance encounter with a strange woman gives Evie the power to see the beginning, middle, and end of the relationship of any couple she sees kissing. Why risk your heart when she can see that it only ends in hurt and misery?

But this is a romance, so of course Evie is tested! She and X(avier) meet cute at a ballroom dance school and end up representing the school in a dance competition. OK, I didn’t find it particularly credible that she and X become proficient, let alone potential champions, in bachata, salsa, West Coast swing, hustle AND Argentine tango in just 6 weeks but, hey, it’s a romance so anything can happen.

The author does a wonderful job of showing the peaks of joy and troughs of despair that love brings: the charming support characters, from school, dance, and family, round out the story with a cornucopia of loving relationships, from ones that last only a few days to those that last forever.

X makes a delightful dance partner as well as an amorous one, but it is Evie’s beautifully charted journey from hard-shelled love avoider to vulnerable believer that makes this such a special novel. Highly recommended for romantics and cynics alike.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the digital review cop

I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I’m a huge fan of Nicola Yoon and was so excited for this ARC. This book felt like a realistic view of life and love for a teenager who has lost her faith in relationships. This book couldn’t have come at a better time and was a pleasure to read. I would recommend everyone read this book. It offers a glimpse into what it feels like to struggle with loss and learning to move forward when you have forgotten exactly how.

What a delightful magical realism from Yoon that uses dancing, family heartbreak, and romance to button up the reader's sweeping enjoyment of this YA. Yoon does well to create intricate characters whose inner lives are lived out loud and in vivid detail. But then it has sweetness and sour. There's a book nerd giving away her romance novels to a little free library before receiving the "meta" Instructions for Dancing which sends her life in a different direction when she would rather be angry at her father for cheating on her mother and moving on.

But it's the romance and friendships and ultimately the droplets of magic that make is magical altogether.

The Quick Cut: A young woman stops believing in love ends up in a dance competition, falling for her partner.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Delacorte Press for providing the ARC for an honest review.

As much as it may hurt to hear, love for the most part ends in break. Being with someone means opening up and being honest about what you want in the future. For a girl named Evie, she learns to love again when something unexpected happens.

Evie stopped believing in love the moment her parents split up. After finding out her dad cheated on her mom, she decides to get rid of all her romance books and move on. Except she ends up picking up a book on dancing and a new ability to see how love with play out with couples nearby. Will this new ability and book end up with her heart on the line again?

This is a cute story about a girl who gives up on love when love won't give up on her. As heartbreaking as the story can be, I definitely did finish this one with a smile on my face though. You absolutely need to check your reality meter at the door though.

Evie starts the story feeling betrayed and she has every reason to. Your father just betrayed your mom and upended your entire life. Plus as a teen? Oh yeah, she angled in hard on the betrayal angle. At moments it did feel slightly cartoonish. The upside is that you do get to see her go through the whole range of emotions from rejecting love to accepting that it comes with good and bad.

Fifi the dance instructor is easily my favorite character in the book. Over the top in style and character, she has some of the best lines. I couldn't help but laugh every time she had a new zinger. If she was real, I would take dance lessons for sure.

A cute contemporary that will pull your heart strings.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

📚 Review: Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Nicola Yoon is the queen of the twist, plot twist, knife twist in the heart, casual, right?

Instructions for Dancing is NOT your typical YA rom com, it’s filled with hope and doubt, making choices, finding silver linings, and taking chances. It’s about forgiveness and living in the moment even when everything you’ve experienced begs you to stay cautious.

Evie drops all her romance novels in a little free library because she’s given up on love. If her parents couldn’t make it work, if her dad decided he could leave her, well then she’ll be better off alone. After a strange interaction at the library, she ends up with a book titled, “Instructions for Dancing” which leads her to a dance studio and X. Xavier is in a rock band, a high school drop out, and the way he looks *really, really good* reminds Evie why it’s important she stay away from him. Until they end up dancing — together.

Will Evie open up to X? Will she speak to her father again? Will her mom be okay? Why does Danica get to believe dad just left — and why is she okay with that anyway? What will happen to her friendships with Martin, Sophie, and Cassidy when the looming graduation comes?

These questions could end in hope or heartbreak, but you’ll have to read this magical story to find out. But be forewarned, the queen of twist does NOT disappoint. Take that as you will, my friends, and order “Instructions for Dancing” today!

5⭐️s

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Storygraph!

4.5 rounded up. I love Nicola Yoon. This was one of the most exciting ARCs I’ve received.

This is written so well (no surprise). This will challenge and affirm your heart.. break it and show you, you can handle it. You can handle what comes your way, and it will all maybe probably come your way somehow or another. The grief and hurt is written clearly, but more importantly so is the love. The harmony of the many beautiful-sad threads in life sings in this one.

I was skeptical about the magical realism but it was just a smidgen, a dashing, and it totally worked. It was just the amount for this book to work without jolting me from the plot and being unbelievable. I was relieved and impressed by that.

Rounded up to 5 stars because— I wanted more, and that’s always a feat.
Because black grandparents love rep is GORGEOUS and I didn’t even know how much I needed that and it made me cry.
Because quirky sweet friend group. And queer (F/F).
Because MCs black kids just being kids and living life and so matter of fact normal and no huge scary or racist moment. This is needed!! Important!! this!!!!
Because dancing!
And finally, because the MCs love had actual chemistry.. I’ve been reading so many books recently where that piece has been so flat.
This one got it right.

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

Evie used to love the idea of love. She treasured all her romance novels and believed in true love, just like her parents. When her parents divorce, Evie is devastated and decides to give away all her romance books. When she does, she meets a mysterious woman who takes her books and gives her a book called "Instructions for Dancing". This book leads her to a dance studio and a handsome stranger X. To help the dance studio, her and X enter a ballroom dancing competition. At the same time, Evie begins to get visions of the entire love stories of people, including heartbreak. As grows closer to X, she has to decide if love is worth fighting for.

This was a very sweet yet heart wrenching book. Evie is such a likable character and her and X had chemistry right away. This was a good mix of a love story but also dealt with family issues such as cheating and divorce and friend issues such as growing apart and moving away. At times, this was a fun light read and at other times it was truly heartbreaking. This will definitely appeal to fans of Yoon's other books who have been waiting for a new work from her. I highly recommend for romance fans of all stripes.

Welcome back Nicola Yoon! For those of you that devoured Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star (like me!), you should be very excited about Instructions for Dancing. With a touch of magical realism and of course, a mediation on love and grief, I was unable to put this book down and read it in one sitting.

Instructions follows Evie, a teenager who was once a hopeless romantic with a book collection to match, now a newly minted cynic after her parents’ divorce. She meets a cute rocker boy, X while learning to dance and well... starts to open back up. The pace in this book is fast — it almost feels like a montage of scenes throughout Evie’s senior year, but it always lingers in the most important moments.

Evie’s relationship with her parents (particularly her dad) seemed spot-on for a child of divorce, and figuring out how to navigate their new relationships and find forgiveness and family. While Yoon is great at sweeping and meaningful statements on love, she is also great at leaving certain strands unfinished, as they would be in real life. There are not always simple answers nor perfect happiness. As Evie says midway thru the book - “Happiness is tricky. Sometimes you have to fight for it. Sometimes, though—the best times—it sneaks up behind you, wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you close.”

The surrounding characters in this book are plentiful and wonderful — I always feel like Yoon tends to focus on the main couple, so this feels like a standout in terms of a fully realized cast, including Evie’s friends, sister, and dance instructor (among others!). I know absolutely nothing about dance but loved the process of Evie learning all of the different ballroom styles (especially the tango, of course!). Prepare yourself for a gut punch of emotions in the last few pages, and then read it all again!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.

I loved this book and I love this author. The premise was unique and was used in a creative way. For me, I kept coming back to the length of love. Is it worth it if it’s for a day, a week , a lifetime? It’s an interesting concept. Especially if you’ve been burned a few times.
This theme is true for all the loves in our life. Our parents, siblings, friends and lovers. Especially in this time of COVID, are we sharing our love or holding back.?
Now add in dancing, witty dialogue and a budding romance. I couldn’t put it down.
Enjoy!