4.5 stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed this galley edition of Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon. It explores the emotional components of love- the risk, joys, losses and gains involved when one loves another. There is a mystical aspect involved as Evie has visions of the trajectory of others' love stories. This is intermingled with her feelings about her parents divorce and her father's remarriage.

A light read, time wise, with some emotional underpinnings that will definitely make you pause and think.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House/Delacourt Press for the free galley edition of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you loved The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, you're in for a treat, because I'm positive you're going to love this too.

It's a beautiful YA romance that delves into the question of if love is worth it if you know it will end - does the happiness outweigh the pain when it's over? I think this is a question a lot of people struggle with, and it's one that's raised for the main character when her dad cheats on her mum and they get divorced. Then she starts seeing the course of people's relationships, including the ending, when she sees them kiss, which leads to a journey of character development that I think was so well crafted. In the end, this is a melancholical but uplifting story.

2.5 stars— I was actually really enjoying this one for the most part! I finished it all in one go because I found the characters to be charming and cute. But I just really wasn’t a fan of the twist. I didn’t come into this expecting to leave a broken mess and though the overall message is nice, it’s not something I particularly enjoyed. But other than the ending it was a good book!

What a remarkable story! Dynamic characters like Evie...I love her character. How would you feel if you could see how a relationship starts and ends? WHAT?! An interesting premise that kept me involved the whole time. My heart went on an emotional rollercoaster the entire time. I highly recommend to this who loves a new, fresh YA novel.

This is exactly the kind of hopeful gem we need in 2021! Nicola Yoon writes wonderfully complex female protagonists (I saw some similarities between Evie and Natasha from "The Sun Is Also a Star"), and she handles the pain of divorce and second love with sensitivity and grace. Even the acknowledgments made me tear up!

My mind right now... it’s just so much to take in.

Evie Thomas is still suffering from her parent’s divorce. She doesn’t find the joy she used to in reading romances and she doesn’t believe in love, period.
All of a sudden she’s able to see couples' futures and how their love will end: death, distance, loss of love, etc.
This freaks her out and she goes on a journey of “going with the flow” to get rid of this new power! THIS BRINGS US TO X (we unconditionally love X. He’s perfect in all ways btw).

Guys. . . this story was beautiful. I was definitely gasping for air at 3am whilst crying by the end.

Instructions for Dancing makes you think about choices that, when asked, have a very obvious answer but, when having to live through it, suddenly aren’t so simple anymore.

My brain and heart are still slightly recovering so if you could just give me a minute to heal and go snatch this book on it’s publication date (JUNE 1ST, 2021!!!!!!), thanks.

Obviously I’m a huge fan of Nicola Yoon so I was over the moon to find out that she’s releasing a new book! WHOOP WHOOP!!

Evie Thomas does not believe in love, especially after watch her parents, two people who had a beautiful story, fall out of it.
But one afternoon when she suddenly gets the ability to see someone’s entire love story, she can’t see this new ability as anything but a curse. It opens her eyes to her newfound truth, love HURTS.
By chance, she finds herself in a dance studio and suddenly she’s signed up for a dance competition. Her partner? X- a guy who never says no to what life has to offer to him.
As the two start to get closer and closer to the dance competition, Evie starts to wonder. Is love worth the risk?

Okay, I am going to be completely honest. I wasn’t a huge fan of this book at first.
The main character’s attitude was not my favorite, and her constant mood switches and despair infuriated me.
But then I tried understanding it from her point of view, and I realized how bleak the world can look like when something negative happens in your life.

Evie is the epitome of a broken-hearted teen. The world hurts and life doesn’t seem to look up, you know nothing but misery. And for that, my own carefree outlook wanted to despise her. Yet, I still found her relatable and understood her range of emotions- especially after reading the author’s note at the end.

The relationship in the book is unique. When you combine a thinker and a freedom planner, it’s bound to be interesting.

So if you’re wanting a story that’s like nothing you’ve ever read before, that digs into the highs and lows of relationships and the actual reality of love, then I recommend you check this out!

(Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book in return of an honest review)

My heart is broken and I have all the feelings after finishing this book which I could not put down!
Evie is ripped apart after her parents get divorced, she decided to even give away her beloved romance novels.
Suddenly, Evie has the ability to see couples entire relationships from start to finish, confirming her beliefs love isn’t real.
Evie finds a dancing instruction book in a little free library, the book belongs to a local dance studio that Evie starts attending. She meets X, soon she starts falling for him.
This is definitely my favorite book by Yoon, this story is beautiful and had me in all my emotions.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for my advanced ebook copy.

"Instructions for Dancing" by Nicola Yoon
Publication Date: 6.1.2021

Evie Thomas, a high school senior, no longer believes in love. It's not real. If love existed, then her parents would still be together. She gives away all of her romance books to the Little Free Library in town. While there, she meets a mysterious woman who tells Evie to read the book "Instructions for Dancing." But then, Evie can foresee a kissing couple's entire relationship, from the beginning to the breakup, and this just reinstates her believe that love isn't real.

Evie is drawn to a local dance studio and begins learning ballroom dancing, her partner, X, a gorgeous high school dropout musician. She notices that she is learning about herself, and she is falling for X! After agreeing to enter a dance contest to help the studio, Evie needs to decide if she can believe in love again.

It's been quite some time that Ms. Yoon published a novel, and this one did not disappoint! Fast-paced read with a simple but powerful message, plus a focus on dancing! I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC for my honest opinion.

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This was a cute book. There was humor and some teenage rom-com, which I enjoyed. I didn't like the ending though. I know it was a major point of the "why is this happening to me?" but I wish it had ended differently.

5 stars.

"Just because everything is different now doesn’t mean we didn’t love each other once. Maybe we will again."

Not only did this book make me stay up til 2 am to finish it, it also had the audacity to give me a puffy face from all my late night crying the next day. I desperately needed some help from Dr. Danica to get my face back together.

I surely did not expect this level of a pull from a romance book but Nicola is incredible at yanking at the heart strings where you least expect it. I see this in all her books, even the happy endings are twinged with sadness. Even the sad endings have a bit of hope in them. To write a ending where Evie chooses to stay in love even when she knows X will die... there was nothing more beautiful and bittersweet than that.

I liked that there was no "gotcha" moments. Her visions did come true. Her dad did cheat and get remarried. Her friends did break up and the group didn't last. But even in all those cases she is able to see the good side in it. The past and all the beautiful memories they shared. And I think that's the true magic of this book, to show that no matter how painful the end might be, the love in the middle and beginning is worth it.

Disclaimer: I got this ARC in exchange for an honest review from @NetGalley!! All opinions are my own.

AHHH THIS BOOK WAS A HIGHLY ANTICIPATED 2021 read and i'M so happy it lived up to my already high expectations. Full disclaimer: I'm a huge Nicola Yoon fan. Evie doesn't believe in love and X believes in saying yes to everything which includes entering a dance competition with a strange girl he just met. This is an ADORABLE rom-com book!

Evie is a high school senior with a gift (or a curse) - when she sees a couple kissing. she can see the past, present, and future of their relationship. Add that to her father's new life with a new woman and Evie's pretty down on love. But a mysterious encounter at a Little Free Library leads her to the La Brea Dance Studio and entry into a dance competition with partner X. Slowly Evie learns to trust her heart and open herself to the Argentine Tango, and to embracing life!

What a beautiful book this was! Having never really experienced lost loves and grief the way that Evie has in her life, I had a hard time relating to her struggles. Then, I read the note that the author left at the end about what was happening in her life at the time she was trying to write and it all came home. I loved this lovely salute to enjoying life in the moment. Sometimes that's all we can do.

Nicola Yoon does it again! I devoured this book! This is an easy and light read, which is everything you want in a good romance book. Typical with Yoon, there are strongly developed characters. Evie is reeling from her parents’ recent divorce. After catching her father having an affair, Evie shuts out those she loves. Here enters X, who is grieving the loss of his friend. That death has taught X to appreciate every moment with those you love. What a combination of characters! With a bit of magical realism, these characters are brought together through dance. You’ll fall in love with these characters as your heartstrings are pulled.

I read this book in one day. And although my first reaction to it was a total delight, I finished it with my heart a little broken. This story is cute and tender, but it will also leave you in tears.

Essentially, Instructions for Dancing is about this - how do you allow yourself to love, when you know this love will almost always leave you miserable?

Evie is already skeptical about love when she finds out her parents' marriage ended because of her father's infidelity. But when she miraculously acquires an ability to see any kissing couple's future, her belief in love wears out even more, because she witnesses every love story's end. The same miraculous fate leads Evie to a ballroom dance studio, and there she meets X, who, somehow, is destined to teach her a lesson about love, but what lesson is it?

There are many aspects of this story that I loved - for one, how no one in YA has had dance lessons in a plot before? How? That's a gold mine right there. Dirty Dancing-redux! Secondly, the touch of magic was just right - the replays of people's love stories was a tremendously successful gimmick (which I can't say about Instant Karma, where the magical realism bit was wasted).

All in all, Instructions for Dancing is a touching YA story, which you can tell, came deep from Nicola Yoon's heart (just read her afterword). I personally would have shuffled some parts around for a better story flow, but you know me, I always have something to complain about.

This will be a great companion to E. Lockhart's Again Again.

P.S. I liked this novel, but I think it has a terrible title.

Endearing, enchanting, and bittersweet. This is not a love story that you walk away from believing in love everlasting, but instead, about living in the moment and opening yourself to life's possibilities.

A sweet, touching, heartfelt story that draws you in with the characters and their depth, and the wonderful plot!

I really, really loved this book. It was a quick read but impactful. The characters were relatable and I loved them. This was a really wonderful book. It was sweet, sad, thoughtful, funny, and delightful. I will book talk the hell out of it.

Wonderful. Magical, Bittersweet. These are just a few of the words I would use to describe Nicola Yoon's latest book: Instructions for Dancing. This story is very fun and mixes contemporary & fantasy extremely well. I love the different writing styles Yoon uses throughout the book to tell the story (future visions, texts messages, etc.). I loved the main character, Evie, being a cynic in regards to love. I love X and how cool and great of a character he is. I love the romance between X & Evie. I love that this is not even scratching the surface of everything I adore about this novel. I think that anyone who reads this book will find at least one thing about it that just fills them with pure joy. I know I did & I hope you all will too.