Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree for sending me this beautiful vibe of a book. This book was empowering and full of girl power. Angles, demons, magic, and beauty. A MC learning to love themselves and women supporting women in the midst of competing. A reminder of the way the world should be. We can all seek to succeed, while still encouraging the others soft d us to be their best as well.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC. I really thought I would enjoy this. At the beginning, I loved how aesthetic the descriptions were but it soon became extremely repetitive and dragged the pace of the story. It was unbearably slow. I also did not like any of the characters.

I’m disappointed with this book. The premise was amazing- Hades and Persephone? A ballerina? Mysterious island? Yes, please!

It was a bunch of purple prose. The main character was hard to relate to. I could not force myself to finish the book. Seeing that the author is bashing people for honest reviews makes it even more disappointing. Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

After finally getting this to send to my e-reader.... First of all, thank you for the opportunity to read this! Unfortunately it just fell flat for me and I could not get into this story.

Dnf @ 26%

Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for providing me with this arc in return for an honest review.

This book has such a beautiful cover and sounds so cool in theory but oh boy even at 10% I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it. So far the book is barely following the plot depicted in the summary and the plot in general is all over the place. Too many things are trying to happen at once and none of them are working.

I really wish they would’ve actually chosen a genre and a time period for this book! Alas! No one did. We’re on a magical island with “angels” who are basically the fae but why aren’t they called that? Who knows. There’s a fallen angel whose name is Lucifer and he’s known as the Devil but does this book have any relation to Christianity? Nope. We’re supposedly in modern day but there is this remote island that people can’t get to because there tickets go missing and they miss the boat and blah blah blah. Also couldn’t even figure out if this island was like a basic little village or a whole city and nothing helped to determine that. Overall, not a single decision was made regarding the plot or world of this book.

Speaking of choices, many were made for the main character, all of them horrible. Lila was a ballerina and starring in her first show when she fell on stage for the first time and that caused her to apparently get into a violent outburst with her parents which result in her being sent away to live with an aunt she’s never met before on this fantasy island, because of course. She’s also, insufferable. My biggest pet peeve in books if FMC’s who hate themselves. There’s absolutely nothing that turns me off more than having to read how much a character hates themselves and feels like they’re a disappointment in FIRST PERSON MIND YOU. I had enough of those thoughts in middle school I don’t need to read them again. Also every other character in this book is trying to help her (despite how shallow every relationship is, but that’s a different paragraph) and she just won’t take any of it.

Every relationship is so shallow. You’ve known this girl for TWO DAYS and you’re listening to her tell you that you can basically become a god? Come on now. Not to mention the weird beginnings of this relationship with her and this angel fae man who she’s seen twice like what in the world.

Also the writing style itself is so juvenile it’s honestly kind of painful. Like I know this is a book written for teens and maybe I would’ve enjoyed it in middle school but reading it at 18, it reads like a poorly written Y/N fanfiction. Also the plot itself is juvenile in the sense that there’s literally your basic high school mean girls as antagonists but there hasn’t been any mention of school except to say that Lila graduated early so who knows.

Overall, the fact that I have that much to say about this book without even reading it to 50% says a lot about it. Also if you look at the 5 star reviews on Goodreads for this book, half of them are fake accounts used to boost the book so!

Thanks NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book, the premise had all the troupes I love and in what seemed to be an interesting and different way. Unfortunately it fell short at almost every turn. I think this could be a good book though, it just needs to maybe do a few more rounds of editing to fix the randomness of some parts and the non cohesiveness of the story. It reads like it was written by creating scenes then just cutting and pasting them together and not taking the time to make things flow.

When it comes to the characters I neither like nor dislike them because I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about any of them that make them a separate character.

I was really intrigued by the concept of dance based magic but it was very haphazard and would make no sense if you didn’t know the dance terms. There needed to be a glossary or perhaps just an explanation worked in the first time the terms were used.

My favorite thing about this book are the gorgeous descriptions! Kiana’s writing is stunning and very aesthetic which might not be for everyone. Overall, I enjoyed the book!

I definitely read this book! Did I enjoy it? Probably! Was it good? No! I didn't really like Lila herself, she was very one dimensional and inconsistent but there were some very relatable moments from her. I too get angry to the point of violence, we've all been there, girl. The plot was very interesting, I love a competition and the island was so beautiful, I want to live there. I honestly felt more chemistry between Roisin and Lila than Damien and Lila, Damien felt very flat and also inconsistent. I wish there was more context regarding the magic and geography of the world we were in. The writing was also very odd and a little cringey. It felt like there were supposed to be girl power moments but they didn't really land. All in all, I enjoyed this but it left a lot to be desired.

I was thoroughly impressed with this book. This book reminded me of reading fairytales as a child and being impressed by the magic. This book was full of magic and I liked it. The story was easy to follow and it was very whimsical and at some parts dark. The ending was satisfactory and I really enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend this to those that loved reading fairytales as a child.

So... This book happened.

When I heard this book was supposed to incorporate ballet and Phantom of the Opera I was delighted, unfortunately this book was - simply put - bad.

I’ve read some reviews and can't help but agree with them - this book is just about the vibes and aesthetic, there is no substance - not to the story nor the characters.

About the characters - Almost everybody in this book exists to boost up the main character, to tell her she’s enough - which wouldn’t be bad if they had any other personality outside of that or they are there to make her feel insecure (classic and tiring mean girl trope).
Our main character - Lila is -like other characters - bland - her only personality revolves around the fact she wanted to be a ballerina and she’s done something terrible so she's evil. (And later we find out what she's done but it was extremely hard for me to sympathize with her).
And the love interest…he exists I guess
The characters didn’t feel like people.

The mythology aspect of this book was (bad) confusing: how do you have Lucifer serve a Roman goddess? It just seems so strange and the rest of the angels…I'm tired. And: “Hades and Persephone” meets Phantom of the Opera where? Where was it? There was nothing of Hades and Persephone except name drop. Phantom of the Opera? Superficial, could be done so much better.
If we speak purely on aesthetics the book is beautiful, maybe too sugary but pretty, but books are not about aesthetics, you actually need a story, a story that has some substance and makes sense, a story where the characters are more than hollow shells.
It was said the book was to be about girlhood and female friendship…girlhood is more than pretty pink dress, desserts and tea from porcelain cups and there wasn’t much of the friendship.

This book had a lot of potential. I feel bad, I really wanted to like this, I can't think of anybody I would recommend this book to, maybe to a non reader? If you’re there just for the vibes or aesthetic. Maybe you'll like it.

I can be your angle or your devil.

This book is like reading a text description of someone's aesthetic Pinterest board.

This text is gilded with overly decadent descriptions, hiding an old story behind walls of excessive sensory writing. It's reminiscent of Stephanie Garber's Caraval in that way. There is too much time spent on fleshing out and describing the foods and decorations on every table and not enough working with the characters. In a way it is fitting that everything is gilded- pretty, shallow surfaces.

This book really highlights how certain aesthetics that work in one medium (ballet) can be detrimental when converted into another. Visual media like Ballets are so decadent and meant to be experienced but when converted into text it becomes an overload of unnecessary information to further the plot.

Since the text wants to be ballet related I'll use that to explain my thoughts.

It wants to be ethereal. It wants to be Black Swan. It wants and wants but I don't think it ever *gets*. It tries to fuse the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades with Christian beings. Angels and the Devil are bizarrely present in this.

This is like if a beachy Disney Channel Original movie tripped and fell onto Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, with a heaping of cultish language.

It's a bit of an overcrowded shelf. You have to look through the abundance of way too descriptive trinkets to see the story.

| ❝ Like the sea, I have a tendency to destroy things. ❞

ʚɞ ✧˖° thoughts

BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF THEM. I don't even know where to start or what to rate this book.. 2? 3 stars? Maybe 2.5? LET'S GO WITH 2.5 rounded to 3.

Things I liked

1. The prose
The writing is very descriptive and visual, in a colorful and vivid way that made me feel immersed in the world of Luna Island. It gave off HUNGER GAME, Barbie, and Winx club vibes with all the "feminine" aesthetics.


2. Character development
As flighty and immature as Lila was at the beginning of the book by the end of the book, she finally becomes aware of her worth and finally accepts her flaws along with her good qualities. She comes to realize that competition isn't all it's cracked up to be, and girlhood/friendship is more important in the end.

3. Best friend
Sadly, Roisin has more MC energy than Lila. She actually has a purpose other than pleasing Lila, although she had her fair share of helping her out. She had personality, and her main purpose was that she lost her girlfriend to the pageant where she was a (view spoiler) and decided to participate once more to find out what actually happened to Nadine
.

4. Basic mean girl
Insert Amelia the basic "mean girl" bitchy type. She was an asshole to Roisin and (view spoiler) Eventually Amelia realizes her mistakes and apologies to both girls. They accept her apology and hangout with her. The other girls agree with Amelia that what she did for Roisin was badass and really nice. They finally accept her as one of their own and it's a sweet moment.

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Things I didn't like

1. The prose
Don't get me wrong I loved it at the beginning but then it started to get repetitive and distracting as hell (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) IYKYK. words like: Lilac. Viridescent. Iridescent. Pearlescent. Opalescent. Stiletto nails. Were over used. If I took a shot every time I heard LILAC I'd be comatose. Purple is my favorite color but I'm currently tramatized by it.

2. Stiletto nails
Okay we get it Lila has stiletto nails. We don't need to be reminded every 5 seconds. We also understand that those are the same nails she (view spoiler)

3. Misleading
How are you going to have a fantasy book that takes place in the US on a "magical" island? I was pretty thrown off that this wasn't in some cool alternate world. Persephone is barely mentioned if at all?? I don't think I read a single phantom of the opera reference or anything. There is lore but it's mentioned once and never talked about again. It wasn't really explained 100%.

4. "The romance"
Damien Lila's love interest was very one dimensional. He has daddy issues and runs away from his problems just like she does.

Basically, he drugs her, saves her from drowning , then they dance together and suddenly fall in love. They fight, and their whole relationship is due to miscommunications. He saves her in the end, and they get together?? Kinda??? (view spoiler) Honestly, she had more chemistry and conversation with her best friend. I thought at one point they were going to get together.

5. MC Pleasers
Basically all the side characters were there to cater to Lila. Like literslly if she wasn't near them they kinda disappeared into oblivion. It's like they didn't exist unless she was near by??

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚ side note
This book has so much potential but sorta fell flat. I'm keeping in mind that this is a debut book. There's room for improvement!

1.5 stars

I first want to thank Net Galley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I had a hard time connecting with these characters.
I thought this had a lot of potential, but it just fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this arc.

Everyone knows I’m a sucker for a pretty cover and interesting description and those are what drew me into this book. Normally I avoid reviews before I read a book myself, but this is one case where I think I should’ve checked out the other reviews before reading because they are spot on.

I’ll start with the story itself, because that is where I was intrigued. This book is meant to provide a sort of dark dancing fantasy on a remote island. We follow our main character Lila as she competes in a pageant to become an angel queen of sorts (not even joking). We quickly realize that this competition is more devious than it is initially teased, which is actually an ongoing thing throughout the book. The island and characters are initially portrayed as sweet and innocent with all laughter, dresses and joy. As you read on you will see where the dark comes from. I really do think this plot had the potential for greatness. If you make it to the end of the book (if this wasn’t an arc I would have likely DNF’d early on) you may find yourself nodding your head and going “ah, I see now why this is being published.” But it takes until the last two chapters to get to that point because THE ENTIRE NOVEL has Lila hiding her past and everyone else hiding things from her.

This book genuinely reads like a first draft. Lila has this habit of running away every other chapter. Whenever her friend or aunt try to talk to her she becomes overwhelmed with whatever it was she did and runs from them. The author keeps this event a secret for nearly the whole book, but it feels like there was no point in keeping this from the reader as it was just annoying. A part of these frustrations stems from the fact that Lila is all over the place. One moment she thinks she deserves to die and go to hell and the next she thinks she should be the star of the girls. At 17/18 years old of course we all struggle with our sense of self and identity, but this just read as a mess.

Even more frightening is the way all of the characters are written. I didn’t connect with ANY. I wanted to love the male love interest (Damien) but even he was so flat. I don’t want to harp on this, but I sincerely hope there are character edits made by publication.

Finally, the writing was so over the top. Every sentence had some sort of dramatic description that halted the flow and stopped any reader from being engaged in the story. I can’t tell you how many times stiletto nails were brought up.

I'll start by saying sorry, but I had to DNF this book, I tried so much to continue but it just didn't work for me.

I loved the cover so much and I love retellings but, in this book, something didn't click with me, and the writing style just didn't hit the mark.

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree for the ARC.

A bit too to close to reality…
They went shopping for dresses a lot. They’re all beautiful. The girls reminded me a bit of the girls from winx club. It was a bit hard for me to continue to read it at some point.

Between the gorgeous cover and the blurb ‘“Hades and Persephone” meets Phantom of the Opera by way of Laini Taylor, in a sensually rendered world that seethes with intrigue and indulges the senses. Welcome to Luna Island.” I was dying to read this book.

Unfortunately, I struggled to get through this read. For me, the story relies too heavily on a lack of context and an overabundance of “hey look over here,” moments that were very distracting and because of that, I felt like I hardly ever followed what was going on.

However, this story has great elements (an unreliable narrator with a mysterious past, a rural island, cult-like townspeople, and mythology) that show a lot of promise but to reach its potential the writing and overall flow could use some major work.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink | Peachtree Teen for allowing me to write an honest review of the ARC for Dance of the Starlit Sea!

Rating: ⭐️/ 5

My review was posted to Goodreads and Instagram on 6/2/24.

Thank you Netgalley for this electronic ARC

The synopsis posted was quite interesting, as I'm quite fond of mythological and classical retellings. You can truly appreciate the thought and the intent of having this novel represent a sort of "soft horror." It's filled with descriptions of Lila's environment that draws you wanting to feel the comfort of the aesthetic.

We begin with Lila connecting with the ocean, yearning for a moment of peace after she has just been sent away for a performance failure. Krystle has a great potential to write with lyrical and magical prose. Constant figures of speech that compared to sea creatures are quite endearing, and the generous hospitality of her Aunt Laina potentially drew me in. The horror however, of being an outsider in an Island that believes in strange rituals was exciting to think about, especially that a cult setting is not as popular in a paranormal YA romance setting

Unfortunately, it doesn't feel executed completely. The prose lacks depth, it serves as a distraction for the reader, instead of having the ability to immerse the reader, the focus only went on the setting and the minor details. Towards the end, it felt like I focused more on the writing than Lila herself. The transition between themes and horror felt disconnected. The plot lacked substance, and I hoped there would be more regarding the retelling aspect, it's more of a light reference to the Angel of Music, but instead it's ballet. I understand this is a YA novel, but in some parts it doesn't quite communicate as such. Instances of flashbacks are not clearly indicated or separated. Lila's intimate bond with the sea felt unclear, it made less sense that a ballerina can have such a complex relationship with the sea.

In regards with her relationship with Damien, our MMC, it's the classic "lying by omission", and "miscommunication" tropes and it made him feel bland as a character. Their romance is centered around how they are both unique and unlike anybody else? It definitely is safe to have someone that connects and relates to you, but that's not enough to solidify their relationship

Lila often focuses on herself as the source of all issues, and it felt suffocating hearing about it. Later as it advances, Its revealed that she strangled her mother. At which I stopped to wonder, does this girl have no remorse that does not center around her own guilt? I understand the pressures of being a daughter with Asian ancestry, and I am no stranger to the cultures and the beliefs, but Lila seriously needs an internal conversation. Maybe therapy instead of focusing on her nails. It was quite excessive.

Her mental instability (an understatement), however, stays consistent throughout. I pity her aunt, her ignorance towards what Lila did may be the only barrier between loving her own niece or banishing her somewhere else. There was an attempt to touch into magical realism. An additional point, the world building made the book jarring, besides the principles and the "grind until you reach the top", there was no additional attempt to expand on Lila being Chinese. It felt like an add-on and a shallow representation, along with the attempted aesthetic writing. Lila could have been fleshed out into a better character with a more complex internal struggle than matricide. Her feminine rage originated from something more sinister

Not a great example for young impressionable readers.

I am a *notorious* buy-the-book-for-the-cover type of gal. I live for the aesthetics and vibes of a book. If I see it and it sparks joy just by looking at it, you'd best believe I'd buy it.

And what did it get me? a copy of From Blood and Ash 1-3 that has sat on my bookshelf for 4 years untouched beyond the 1st book, and an ARC copy of Dance of the Starlight Sea.

When I saw this, I swooned. Holy balls, that cover is *everything*. The inverted colors of the dancer and the (dark) angel? The way they looked at each other?? The transparent lace motif??? I was already half-convinced.

When Krystle promised me POTO x Hades and Persephone, I never requested for a book so fast.

But like how your (not mine, I disown her) protagonist falls flat on her butt during a show, this book fell flat on its face.

There are stellar moments in this book when I hoped against hope this would get better. I loved how the author built each scene and how truly "aesthetic" it all was. It felt like she took a moodboard in Pinterest and translated it to words.

That's about all the things I liked about it.

One thing I hated was the violet prose. This is YA, and it's a risky move to use uncommon words that would confuse your audience easily. Yet, at the same time, it re-used so many words (like iridescent- God I hate it now) which only made it sound Wattpad-y. Again, not a bad look for a YA-focused book, but the prose, author. Pick your poison, it's poison all the same.

Second, I'm not sure why it's needlessly violent? Why did we have to be reminded that the (SPOILER ALERT)! her mom's blood caked under her nails after she strangled her to death? And be reminded time and time again, mind you. There's also a part where the Hero ripped his wings to end a curse... For a woman that had needlessly been toxic to him. We're talking narcissistic tendencies. Lila needs fucking therapy if she thinks re-enacting an abuse that traumatized someone (aka, the Hero!) is acceptable a la Lana del Rey's Ultraviolence. Only she holds the whip this time.

There are so many things she did that just made me shake my head, like creating a tornado to devastate the island she was banished to, housing a lot of innocent people, or just simply never ever thinking of her mother, who she strangled because ehe 😋

In conclusion, this book is the embodiment of Regina George. Pink. Innocent-looking. Will plan your whole social demise via the burnbook she owns.

Thank you Netgalley and Peachtree for this ARC.

Magical, powerful and encouraging

After a tragic incident, Lila’s parents decide to send Lila to Luna Island with her aunt, a heavenly and magical place where there are rarely any visitors. Lila, with her broken dreams and even more destroyed confidence in herself, tries to fit in with the island and its inhabitants, competing in a pageant: the Angel of the Sea Pageant. Full of beautiful dresses and even more beautiful girls that compete to become the High Priestess of Luna Island, the pageant turns out to have a dark secret, one that Lila is set on discovering. Turns out, the last winner lasted only one year instead of the normal seven years and there looks to be an imbalance in the island. As she hears a haunting voice from the sea that calls out to her and she discovers angels are real, Lila becomes more transfixed with discovering what’s underneath all by trying to win the competition. During this investigation, she meets Damien, an angel who she connects with on a deep level and shows her she’s enough.

“Why would anyone want to save a monster?”
“Because I know you now, and that’s what matters. You aren’t your worst moments, Lila. None of us are”.

Full of complex characters and relationships, a strong feeling of sisterhood and love that understands the good and the bad in people, this story was powerful. From the main character’s relationship with her parents to how she views sorority, I was enchanted. It mixed realistic elements with magical ones, making a new world where everything is possible. If you want a magical read, choose this one.

Overall, I give this book a 4 / 5 . It was great even though I did miss more moments between Lila and Damien. Still, I was enjoying this book and its fairly-like vibes.