~thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free eBook of this ARC in exchange for an honest review ~
An exhilarating coming-of-age story of three ballet dancers caught in their own web of lies and dark truths that is unfortunately undermined by its choppy pace and somewhat-sloppy execution. While I appreciated reading from an own-voices aro/ace perspective, I felt that the characters' acceptance of their sexuality was overshadowed by the plethora of other equally-important topics covered, such as eating disorders, heart problems and abortion. All of this combined with three POVS and several ongoing mysteries made for a novel that simply strived to do too much. At times, I also felt the writing got in the way of the book's own message; there didn't seem to be an even distribution of each POV (which annoyed the hell out of me while reading), the dialogue wasn't all that realistic, characters often acted completely irrationally (causing stupid conflicts), and important action sequences were written about so haphazardly that I could barely discern what was going on.
All in all, this was a decent story, at the very least greatly entertaining.

This book...
To be honest, I went in it with no expectations but I really enjoyed it!
It has a very diverse cast of characters but I feel like everybody had a crucial part in the story, the main 3 being really different and unique in their own way.
I like the pace of the story, how everything unfolded as the book went on and some stuff from earlier in the book came back more closer to the end to remember us. About the mistery person, I'm usually good at it, but I honestly didn't see that one coming.
The book talks about really key problems that happen in our society and I think they're being good explored in this and I'm looking for the 2nd one.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book centers on the lives of three dancers, Taryn, Teddy, and Jaidev, with each chapter alternating between their viewpoints. Each character seemed to have something painful and hidden, whether it was disordered eating, mental illness, grief, or orientation (asexuality).

"...you've got no right to question who I am. Kissing someone doesn't mean you're not ace or aro. It's a spectrum -- and labels and identities change anyway. It also doesn't mean I'm not repulsed by kissing. It's not up to you to tell someone what they are."

I would recommend this book for someone who is interested in dance, intense characters, queer representation, and mystery with some thriller elements. It is the first in a series, so if you enjoyed this book, be sure to follow the author.

When I was younger, I loved the idea of dance schools. I read a few dance school books which I fell in love with and reread so many times afterwards! Dance was something I loved. I still do. It's a way to feel free and express yourself. When I heard about this book, I think a part of me was attracted to it because of how much I loved dancing and the concept of a dance school. It was always a dream of mine to dance at a proper school and now in some ways that dream has come true through Taryn and her friends. This book takes that idea and twists it into so much more.

I couldn't stop reading it, and read it extremely quickly! It made me cry on multiple occasions, but made me laugh too. This book was a joy, it impacted me and I got what I wanted out of it: a fun, interesting and captivating read. I became maybe a little too attached to the characters and the story definitely kept me on my toes.

I don't know how else to describe the way I feel about this book...It was just a book I think I really needed. I'm currently also reading something else and it was going so slowly and I wasn't really into it. I wasn't really into reading at all. Then in comes this book to bring the joy of reading back!

This whole world was very well-built too. It was real, I was right there with the characters the whole way through. I have built up this vision of Roseheart, and I will definitely be continuing the series.

There were a few problems though. I felt that the author was almost trying to do too much. This could be considered a problem, but looking at it in other ways you can see that it is good, it's a tough one! What I mean by this is that there was almost too much commentary and representation. There were so many topics that were approached! Eating disorders (in the dance world), adoption, bullying, homophobia, jealousy, body-shaming, death, death of a parent, racism...It just got too much! There were also WAY too many hospital scenes, which although necessary because people are ill and one of them has a serious condition, just made it feel like half the book was set in the hospital! It was almost like 'these characters need to have a serious talk so let's make someone ill so they can meet at the hospital'. There were many plot points which didn't make it hard to follow surprisingly, but did feel like the author needed things to fill the gaps.

There were a few grammar errors and typos but I'm not sure if this is just because it's an ARC? If someone can tell me about that then please let me know! There was also one continuity error, where it mentions it's nearly 3 am, then a bunch of stuff happens and it says that by the time they get back to the dorm it's nearly 3 am, which just doesn't make sense. Again, not sure if this is because of the ARC copy!



Despite all this, it was just a joy to read, as mentioned above. I highly recommend it for a light but also impactful read. I can't believe how much I wanted to constantly pick this book up!


***I will post this review on my blog, however it is only scheduled to come out at some point in the next few weeks so I can't add the link***

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. As someone who is ace, I was really excited about an aroace lead however, there's only so far that can take you and perhaps it's because I'm already quite knowledgable about it, but I found the book just talked about it too much and as a result, it felt less organic.

I know this book dealt with a lot of serious topics, and I applaud that, but in a way, too much happened there for me to really appreciate everything. I know there will be a second book, but I'm not invested enough to continue with this series and my reason is to do with my next point.

The characters. I just didn't really like any of them? None of them felt like real people beyond ballet and their own issues. Teddy got on my nerves the most, and I understand his behaviour isn't his fault, but I felt annoyed by his choices. I also didn't feel the connection between him and Taryn that was supposedly there, a consequence of them being apart practically from the beginning, so we never really got to see how they interacted before.

I give this book 3 stars because despite the slow pacing of the first half, the second half picked up and it was easy and quick for me to read the last 40% or so, to find out what happened. Unfortanately, I don't think I'll be continuing on with this series.

This review has been posted to goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4480141240?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Really expected to love this given what it's about but it just didn't quite land for me. The characters were well written and I believed the world but it felt super heavy handed in a lot of ways. I appreciate a book trying to talk about topics like being aroace and eating disorders but it didn't feel organic here. There were many passages that felt like trying to explain these things to the reader more than them just being part of the characters, especially true in one particular argument between Teddy and Taryn. I really wanted to like it and I appreciate what it's doing but the general approach ended up leaving me a little cold. That said, I can see from other comments that I'm in the minority so if it sounds like your kind of thing, give it a go.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Y'all... This was just... not good. Every single person in this book has a dead mom, dad, both, sister, brother, etc. Why? It's totally unbelievable. Both of our main characters have a significant person in their life who has died and they were each suspected of murdering that person. I mean, come on.

This story was really weird in that simultaneously nothing was happening, but also EVERYTHING was happening. I'm so confused about this entire book. The characters have almost no personality or substance besides dancing and giving lectures to each other about sexuality. There are also trigger warnings galore, so please check those out below if you're considering this book. I will not be continuing with the second book in the series.


TW:
-severe bullying
-death of a sibling
-death of parents
-death of significant other
-person hit by car
-accidental pregnancy
-back alley abortion
-vomiting
-anorexia
-orthorexia
-blacking out
-heart conditions
-attempted stabbing
-blood
-outing someone's sexuality

The Rhythm of my soul takes place at the prestigious Roseheart Acadamy, a Ballett school specialising in pas de deux. It’s told from the perspective of three dancers there: Tamryn, Teddy and Jaidev, all three of them harbouring a secret of their own.
Tamryn and Teddy are dance partners ans aim for permanent spots in Rosehearts Company but then an accident seems to destroy that chance. In comes Jaidev and at least Tamryn has another shot.
While it focuses on those three, the reader also gets to know other students and family members of the main characters.

The story is pretty fast paced and a lot happened during that time. What I like a lot is that all three secrets are resolved in the end and while the book ends on a kind of cliffhanger, it’s not required to read the following books too (if I understood correctly the other books will be focusing on the other dancers).
There were quite a few ballett terms (duh) and while I love Ballett I don’t know the meaning of them. Nevertheless the terms weren’t explained which I quite liked. I always feel that an explanation disturbs the reading pace so if you need to have everything explained and don’t want to Google yourself, better skip this book.
Two of the three main characters are aroace which isn’t something I’m familiar with and while I missed a stereotypical romance it didn’t take away from the story.
There’s also quite a bit of eating disorders mentioned, so if you’re triggered by this, don’t read this book.
What I didn’t like was that so many of these people had to mourn a death. Maybe I was lucky to not have the people around me dying but it seemed like all the relatives of dead people were in that school.

All in all it was an entertaining read and if I can get my hands on the second book, I’ll read that too.

I'm actually disappointed I didn't like this as much as I was hoping to. I'm sorry, Elin Dyer, but this just wasn't for me. I couldn't help but notice the similarities with another popular book and although I enjoyed some aspects of it, included but not limited to the aroace rep, I just couldn't connect with the characters or enjoy the writing.

This was a gripping read that I just couldnt put down. It was suspenseful with good writing, good pacing, well developed characters and a good storyline. I really enjoyed it.

Taryn, Teddy and Jaidev are all ballet dancers, and while that does not seem that special; it is. They all struggle with something, if not related to ballet. They try to work around their issues to become the best dancers they can be. Yet, that all doesn't seem enough when their future falls apart and some dangerous traits might ruin it even more.

TRIGGER WARNING: eating disorders

IMPORTANT SUBJECTS: asexuality, aromatic, loss and grief

Overall, it is a well-written book. The author has a nice way of writing, and knows how to bring harsh subjects in a respectful way. As a reader, you get sucked into the story pretty quickly. Some parts are more interesting than others, mostly related to the speed of events. Mostly the end goes a bit faster and brings plot twists pretty quickly one after another.
The characters are very divers, and at first this did not seem like an issue. It gets a little annoying later on. Eating disorders, asexuality, racism, and the themes go on and on. After a while, the plot gets buried away in messages related to society. It is awesome that the author wanted to include diversity, mostly because she did it in a world which is know for a copy-paste-feeling. However, it distracts the reader from the actual story. Sometimes it felt as if characters became more flat near the end because they only seemed related to their 'issue' or the label they got. There were several characters with (a lot) of dead family members.
If we look at labels, the author brought a lot of diversity. If we look at the characters themselves and mostly the dynamics, they are all kind of similar and after a while it are all flat characters. The main characters should be round characters. I see a lot of potential there, but it did not feel as if the author reached that point.
Teddy is such an interesting character. I would love to see more of him in book two. Mostly because his storyline is very similar to something I went through. Which brings us to the fact that this book has a lot of messages in which people might recognize themselves. Not only dancers or ex-dancers, but also people who struggle with an eating disorder or are asexual, and many more. Which is the positive side of all the labels and diversity.
The setting went great with the story. I had a clear view of this unique and expensive private dance school. Loved how it was not over the top, but still got the image it needed.

This cover caught my eye on NetGalley, and then I found myself quickly pressing the request button after seeing "aro-ace ballerina" in the description. There is still hardly any a-spec rep in books, and my library didn't appear to be getting a copy of this one, so I was very happy when I was approved to read Taryn's story. A word of caution for fellow readers looking for fully supported a-spec stories though: there is lots of aphobia that Taryn has to deal with in this book, a lot of which is unchallenged & doesn't lead to better conversations, and it comes up a lot.

There was plenty of heart contained in this story, which came across mostly through Taryn's love of dance, but also through the bonds that formed between many of the characters and the lengths they had to go to in protecting each other. Learning about the world of professional ballet through this story was interesting, and the descriptions of the dance scenes were really well done. Details from backstories were revealed slowly without being frustrating, which added to the mystery of everything in a nice way. There were plenty of complicated relationships in this book!

In addition to the drama and mystery created by the events in the novel, there were also a lot of dark and serious topics covered as we followed along with the three perspectives of Taryn, Jaidev, and Teddy. Grief, guilt, eating disorders, sexual assault, and being ostracized & scorned for one's identity are some of the themes that wove together to make up the backbone of this book alongside ballet. Some things got to be too over the top to be entirely believable, which took away from my enjoyment quite a bit unfortunately. I'm sure there are readers out there that will enjoy this level of drama, but at least it was good to learn that continuing on with this author's work is not for me. (So glad for the representation and conversations that were had around a-spec identities though!)

Elin Dyer's 'The Rhythm of My Soul' is the first book in her new Roseheart Academy series. I am a huge fan of dark academia and this fiercely competitive boarding school for ballerinas in London was the perfect setting for this gripping thriller. We follow three perspectives, Taryn, the star female ballerina in the graduating class, Teddy, her dance partner who unfortunately collapses at the beginning, likely never to dance again, and Jaidev, the talented ballerina who replaces Teddy as Taryn's dance partner.

Dyer has packed this book full of dark themes which seems to try to address every issue pertinent to teenagers under the sun. Some of them make for an intriguing and pacey plot, especially Taryn's inner battle with her twin sister's untimely death and the oxymoronic state of being aroace in a romantic ballet company. The portrayal of Taryn's sexuality is honest and I enjoyed the exploration of how she still rises to the top as a ballerina despite her romantic connection with the material being fantastic acting. Jaidev's grapple with his inner demons, and his past with his last dance partner, is also an intriguing storyline which added a great deal to the exploration of his tortured character.

On the flip side, Teddy is whiny and deluded throughout all of his chapters. He was intensely annoying and I am hoping his character development makes him more palatable in the sequels! The portrayal of his eating disorder, however, was interesting as it shines a light on symptoms which are not 'characteristically' linked to literary depictions of EDs. Oddly, there were also some issues which felt shoehorned in such as rape, backstreet abortions, and a bizarre reference to terrorism... These felt a little out of place but did not ultimately detract from my overall enjoyment of the novel.

This was a great first chapter in the Roseheart Ballet Academy series and a great introduction to a range of characters. I cannot wait for the sequel! 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
CW: mild violence, mention of sexual assault (no description), multiple characters with eating disorders (goes pretty in depth into the thought processes of one character in particular, so I might caution people who struggle with disordered eating)

The Rhythm of my Soul is a book that centers on three ballet dancers. Best friends Taryn and Teddy are students at the prestigious Roseheart Ballet Academy. When Teddy becomes injured during a performance, Taryn suddenly needs to find a new dance partner to secure her dream job. Enter Jaidev, a talented outsider with a past that haunts him. Together, Taryn and Jaidev must go through grueling training to prove to Roseheart that they deserve spots in the company. Like Jaidev, Taryn also has a past tragedy in her life she has not fully recovered from, and she’s also hiding that she is aromatic and asexual, a fact that only Teddy (who is also aroace) knows. Ballet is more cutthroat than you might think, and there are several dancers who don’t want to see the pair succeed—at any cost. Meanwhile, Teddy is fighting his own battles with physical and mental illness, coming to grips with the fact that a new diagnosis means he will never dance again.
I could not put this book down! There were so many twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was balanced with really thoughtful musings on mental illness (especially disordered eating), friendship, guilt, and sexual/romantic orientation. These are some big, weighty topics, but the author does a fabulous job addressing them thoroughly and thoughtfully. The characters all felt fleshed out, and even if they were flawed, I could understand their motivations for doing what they did. They never felt like caricatures; every character was as complex as people are in real life. It can be really difficult to find books with protagonists on the asexual spectrum (it seems like the author may have a few other books with ace-spec protagonists, which I’m definitely going to check out!), and I loved that the author included three different ace-spec characters with good discussion on how they all differed from one another. I find that allo people really struggle to understand asexuality, and I appreciated how the author showed the diversity of the label and explained sexual attraction vs. desire for romance in a great way.

The only thing that’s keeping me from giving this book five stars is that sometimes it felt like there was too much action. It felt like there was just misfortune after misfortune. I started to get a bit weary of one life-threatening problem resolving and then another immediately occurring. Some of the incidents definitely had narrative purpose, so I didn’t mind much (and like I said, I loved the thriller aspects of the novel!), but others felt like tragedy for the sake of tragedy. Without going into too much spoiler-y detail, there was one subplot in particular that involved an “offscreen” sexual assault that probably could’ve been removed while still preserving the plot and the character development. To be fair, the author seemed self-aware about how much catastrophe there was; at one point, a character remarks that they just seem to keep returning the hospital over and over again. This very well may just be a matter of personal taste, though, and this minor detail did not detract from an otherwise engaging, compelling, and thoughtful novel. Highly recommend to people who are looking for a book with thriller/mystery aspects that doesn’t skimp on thoughtful character development and queer representation.

4/5 stars

The Rhythm Of My Soul by Elin Dyer is the first in a planned series set in the fictional English ballet school of Roseheart. The story is told through the perspectives of three main characters. Taryn and Teddy have been dance partners for years, and their shared experiences, both as dancers and people on the Ace spectrum have made them close friends. As the best dancers in their year they are virtually guaranteed the coveted places in the professional troupe which are awarded at the end of the Graduation Class show. When an unfortunate accident happens during their final showcase dance, it looks like both their dreams may be over. Enter Jaidev Ngo, a talented French danseur who had turned his back on the stage in his home town but is reluctantly persuaded to give it another chance when his adoptive mother is involved in a terrible accident. Can Taryn and Jaidev learn to partner in just eight short weeks to a high enough standard? All three characters are dealing with their own struggles and secrets, some of which could endanger their health or even their lives, and the dynamics between the trio are often fraught with complications and misunderstandings.
This was a fascinating glimpse into the world of professional ballet and the dedication and determination that is required to make it to the top. The characters were sympathetic and believable, and I loved the fact that even though two of them were on the Aro/Ace spectrum their experiences and emotions were very different, showing just how wide that spectrum can be.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Really a very nice story and start of the book series. I think the cover looks really beautiful and is a perfect fit for the story. The writing style is really nice and I enjoyed reading it a lot. What I really loved was the drama, tensions and twists and the way Taryn fights for her dream even though it's a hard way. I like that it's a little darker than I imagined it to be and I'm already
curious how the second book will be.

I picked this up because I quite enjoy stories taking place in a competitive sports setting. However, I know very little about professional ballet. The author of the book claims she has consulted with actual dancers in her process of writing so I’m just going to take her word for it with anything concerning ballet.

I actually really, really enjoyed this book! The pace moved along nicely and while it is aimed at a “young adult” audience (most of the protagonists are between 17 and 20 or so) it contains some “heavy stuff” – check your trigger warnings before reading this!
Here is what I liked and what could have been a little bit better:

The characters: In this story we get the personal perspectives of three different dancers in rotation, although Taryn is definitely our main character and we get a little bit less from Teddy and Jaidev, two male dancers, who at different times are/were Taryn’s dance partners. At first, the perspective swaps irritated me, mostly because I felt like I was just getting to know one of them a bit better and then we swapped to someone else, but I got used to it very quickly. All of the three characters are likeable enough although I found each of them a bit silly and frustrating at different times throughout the book. Teddy, of course, has a truly lifechanging diagnosis happening to him which undoubtedly is not easy to accept or work through.

The drama: I don’t know what else to call it, but the plot is driven by a lot of drama. I do like that it touches on a number of different issues and problems (which double up as trigger warnings for the book) including: finding oneself on the aroace spectrum, acephobia, racism, elitism, rape, stigmatisation around (unwanted) pregnancy, abortion, survivor’s guilt, diagnosis of a serious heart condition in young & healthy athletes, eating disorders. And just to make sure it wouldn’t get boring we get a lot of these problems doubling up, so we have not just one but two aroace character, two characters grappling with survivor’s guilt and two different people with differing eating disorders. Please don’t get me wrong, I think all of these issues are worth talking about but it felt like too much for one book. As a result, many of the processes that these characters go through as they come to terms with how they are affected by various of the above do not go into as much detail as they could have. As this is a series and not a standalone book, I would have loved to see things stretched out a little more and explored in more depth. I did love the exploration of the aroace spectrum and it is fantastic to see a book aimed at young adults that highlights the diversity and fluidity within this spectrum, which is clearly also close to the author’s heart. However, the racism & elitism was mentioned in a hindsight or in passing – there is a threatening message that is misinterpreted as racism (so it was not actually motivated by racism at all) and our female main character mentions in passing that ballet seems a fairly “white” affair in general but this isn’t really explored, and a lot of ethnic and racial representation seems shoehorned into the story. It just all deserved a bit more time dedicated to it. This is my reasoning for giving it four rather than five stars, but I really look forward to future books in this series and what topics/issues they will tackle!

The Rhythm of My Soul was unlike any other book I’ve read for Crumpled Bookshelf. Elin Dyer presents the cutthroat world of professional dancing with all its darkness and yet with a spirit of hope and perseverance.

Once I got past the first few chapters of the book, I was hooked. It took me some time to acclimate with the environment and the scenarios in the book, but the wait for the thrill to begin was worth it.

This book brought many first for me as a reader. As an LGBTQIA book, it offers a deep understanding of the spectrum of human personality and existence. The Rhythm of My Soul which is the first book in the Roseheart Ballet Academy series also brings into the light the burdens of success where vacancies are very few.

The book presented something so wide that I cannot even begin to comprehend the ability of the author to pull readers into a world that is as enticing as it is dangerous.

Before I go towards the plot, it should be mentioned that the book also has themes that may be triggers for many people. These include Eating Disorders, Mental Harassment, Physical Violence, Mentions of Sexual Violence, Death, Drug Addiction, Physical Trauma and severe health conditions.

Taryn, Teddy and Jaidev are at very different places in their individual lives but are connected through various similarities and Ballet. They have all seen death closely and have been affected by the situations, and changed forever.

The story focused on the dynamics of a dancer’s path to success with all the ups and downs of the physical and mental strains it puts on the dancer. The author has beautifully painted a wave of emotions in the book through words and dance.

I am in love with Dancing, but to read a book, where it is the focal point of so many lives and has the power to make or break them is very daunting. The book almost feels like a salute to all the dancers in the world who have made it far with their talent.

The book was pure beauty. Not a perfect one, but a beauty nonetheless. The story was hauntingly beautiful and engaging. The designers of the book cover deserve praise for being able to give us a glimpse of the Taryn brought alive by Elin Dyer.

Thank You Ineja Press for allowing me to read the book and presenting such a talented author to the world.

Happy Reading!

*The review is live on Crumpled Bookshelf (2nd January, 2022)

This was a compelling read about three ballet dancers at an elite (fictional) dance academy/ company, two of whom are AceAro.

When one of them, Teddy, collapses at their end of year performance, his dance partner Taryn must learn to perform with a new partner from a different school, Jaidev, if she wants to be accepted into the company. She must also deal with a mystery person who has made it clear they don't want her and Jaidev there.

The three main characters were well-fleshed out - each sharing a love of dance and a goal of dancing professionally, but for differing reasons.

One of my favourite parts about this book was that there were two AceAro main characters, on different parts of the spectrum, and this gave the story room to explore these differences in experiences.

Both Taryn & Jaidev have faced tragedy in the past, and their grief and survivor's guilt is explored with care and tact. The final letter to Jaidev regarding this hit me right in the feels - though I can't explain more without spoilers.

Teddy's POV could be frustrating to read at times, because his thought process and goals were obviously flawed from an outsider perspective. However, they are understandable and realistic for a 18 year old who has had his life & career goals entirely flipped over, and is struggling with a newly diagnosed health condition and an eating disorder.

Now, I can't speak for the accuracy of the portrayal of a ballet dancing academy/ company, but as someone with very little knowledge of the world, this book did a good job of portraying to me the intensity and passion in these circumstances, and how this can effect the health (both physical and mental) of those involved.

A small issue was I did slightly lose track sometimes of who was who amongst the other students etc. Particularly the ones who only played a small part in the story, but feel like this is somewhat unavoidable in a story in a school setting.

But overall, this was an enjoyable read that I'd recommend for anyone looking for a story in dance setting or with AceAro characters.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

Wow. I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. And I absolutely LOVED it.
Such a fabulous well crafted story. With writing that had me flipping the pages quickly.
Such an extraordinary and surprising read. Absolutely adored this one.
The characters are utterly captivating and complex.
Overall, a compelling read that is beautifully put together as it is emotionally satisfying.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Ineja Press through NetGalley.
Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.