This book was lyrical while familiar like sinking into a steaming hot bath after a long day surrounded by exotically-scented candles. At the core of the story is one of learning how to both forgive yourself for the mistakes that you've made and forgive others for the mistakes that they have made. It is a long, hard journey for Lila to learn that lesson and to embrace herself with all of her flaws as well as realize that the people she loves and struggles to please are imperfect as well.

I will admit that, at the beginning of the book, I was rather tired of hearing about her big mistake and how secret it was. Honestly, it seems pretty obvious to me what that mistake had ended up being, and once the layers were unpacked around it, I ended up being correct. Where this book shines however is with the characters' connections with one another. There are genuine connections there, ones that are forced to endure some pretty crazy things, yet manage to endure beyond that.

The writing was beautiful. It really added to the magical realism vibe that the story had going while not extending its visit past the point that most readers would enjoy. It is also obvious that Krystle blended together the stories of both of her cultures while building this world, and it works really well, adding yet another dimension to the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree for the ARC of this book. Opinions are my own, and spoilers have been avoided but may be hinted at!

“Ballet makes me feel like the ocean—silently unfurling with all the rage I’ve buried deep down, yet still manifesting in something beautiful. For those few moments, with all eyes on me, I’m heard. Ballet tells stories, and this is how I tell mine.”

If you’ve ever wanted to read something that feels like “Never Let Me Go” by Florence and the Machine, but sung with the teenage girl rawness of Olivia Rodrigo (wearing a glittery lilac dress and angel wings), with a dash of Black Swan, this may just be your new favorite book. If you’re saying “I’ve never even considered that very specific combination of things BUT NOW I MUST HAVE IT,” then… you’re welcome!

Much of Dance of the Starlit Sea feels very unique (an angel cult leading a pageant! Hell at the bottom of the ocean! Ballet magic!), but it also feels joyfully nostalgic in a way I can’t quite place—maybe for the “Let Me Be Your Wings” scene in Thumbelina, maybe for the hopefulness of playing princess that Lila feels when she peruses angel-spun dresses, maybe for the paranormal romance books I grew up with.

That said, while the book is described as paranormal, it feels more like fabulism, with magic that’s not so much systematized as it is a living, breathing part of the setting. Luna Island is all whimsy and marvel. The angels are reminiscent of folktale characters, living both separate from and among humans, with secrets and mysterious agendas of their own.

This book is a sensory experience, with all the frills (and ruffles!). It’s rose-tinted, campy, shimmers like the sea, and drips gold starlight. The ideal reading experience would be under a soft pink sunset, illuminated by twinkling fairy lights, surrounded by jasmine and seashells, listening to the waves crash. The lush, lyrical prose is evocative and immersive, transporting you to Luna Island to experience all its enchantments—Petals Tea Shop for afternoon tea, Luna’s Love Shack for angel-silk dresses, Heaven Divine for enchanted perfumes—and being lured into the mystery of the angel cult at the heart of the island.

Lila’s raw, emotional narration and inner conflict make her a compelling protagonist—one who, at times, breaks our hearts with how undeserving she feels of love, happiness, and gentleness. She is an “ocean of a girl” who believes she is as dangerous and violent as the sea, and much of the book serves as a metaphor for her conflicted emotional state: the tumultuous yet gentle sea (which she sees as friend and also enemy), her dancing that she both despises and loves, the glittering angels and the darkness that calls to her. She carries deep shame for a traumatic past action, which is one reason she feels unworthy of love. Because her trauma is tied to ballet, her dancing is an act capable of breaking her, but also healing her—a unique and authentic portrayal of trauma.

The book touches on important themes of representation. One reason that Lila needed to be perfect as a ballerina was because she didn’t see other Asian American lead dancers while growing up: “Girls like me don’t show up in fairytales.” As Lila investigates the mysteries of Luna Island, she also uncovers more about her family’s background as immigrants. Some of the most beautiful moments come when Lila struggles with how her complex ideas about being unlovable have been informed by her parents’ own unhealed generational trauma: “In my culture, mothers show their love with a plate of fresh cut fruit—grown with love, selected with care, washed until pure, perfectly sliced, and arranged into a flower. I destroyed the love she offered because to me, her American daughter, a plate of fruit was never enough.”

The relationships in the book all serve Lila’s growth in different ways. The comps to Phantom of the Opera and Hades/Persephone manifest through the Devil calling Lila to be his bride in Hell, at the bottom of the sea. Damien has a sweet romance with Lila (and serves as a kind of Raoul to the Devil’s Phantom). Their relationship is that of two people finding safety in each other’s arms, learning how to trust again, and supporting each other to follow their dreams even when challenging or painful. Admittedly, my favorite relationship is between Lila and Roisin, who are in many ways each other’s true love, fighting for each other in their darkest moments.

On Luna Island, there’s a persistent undercurrent of horror, especially surrounding the treatment of women and girls. Beyond the cult of angels is the island’s pervasive cult of beauty. While the pageant defines girls through a set of essentialized qualities (beauty, faith, grace), the book ultimately contests that definition by suggesting that, whether you’re a beauty queen or a Queen of Hell, shared experiences of girlhood are capable of binding people together. Without getting into too many spoilers, some of the themes this book grapples with are the sacrifice of women’s bodies, the instrumentalizing of beauty as a natural resource, the objectification of women as beautiful possessions/ornaments, and the possibility of becoming free through collective healing from patriarchal woundings.

I would highly recommend Dance of the Starlit Sea for YA readers looking for lyrical fabulism that employs a lush oceanside setting, angels, and ballet magic to explore themes of generational trauma, patriarchal norms of how girls and women should behave and appear, and how those wounds can manifest in a teenage girl and her ability to feel worthy of love. Sometimes, like Lila, we all need a reminder that we deserve love, and this book just might be that for you.

Coquette Core or all the cores?

I got the aesthetic(s) right away. The cover is also so beautiful, it drew me in and then the description had me diving in.

The first few chapters caught my attention quickly, keeping me engaged but then I realized everything was really surface level. The characters were more description than personality. It needed more depth outside the aesthetic vibes.

I quickly started to not like the FMC who was woah is me I did something terrible and will continue to bring it up. Instead of being sent to therapy our FMC gets sent to a cult like island. I mean honestly this jarred me.

Anywhoooo there are a lot of odd things in this book. It kind of felt like a simulation where everyone is an NPC. Lots of dancing around but never landing.

I think with depth and substance this could be good. This is really just a vibe read and not for me.

the cover is very pretty and that’s what attracted me to the book. but dnf , not what was advertised, writing leaves much to be desired.

Depressingly, this did not work for me. I LOVE lyrical writing, but it was backed up by zero character development, world building or plot, and hence....it was bad.

3.5 stars. I really liked this! I loved the voice and the beautiful setting/aesthetic, but I think certain things about this book—like its repetition, its focus on random details (like the MC's nails) didn't work for me. As well, I wasn't fully obsessed with the romance (but perhaps the comp titles set a high bar for me), or the fem friendships in this book. But it was extremely fun to read.

read a bit of it & heard some other stuff too, thank you for the arc I truly appreciate it but I don’t think this book is for me

The advertisement painted the book one way & then once you’ve read it it’s completely different.

thank you netgalley and peachtree team for proving me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

dance of the starlit sea. what was that? no reader trusts tiktok recs but i got this one from twitter and i regret it immensely.

i gotta say that the author had a good marketing, sad that it was all lies. the cover? amazing but it doesn’t match the plot line. the blurb? catchy but when u read the book, it isn’t it. the tropes? kinda different from usual since it’s ya paranormal but yeah they don’t match. i was promised “the beauty of girlhood and the power of sisterhood” & “definitely meant for the barbie girls who never grew up, fans of cult classics, the sansa stark stans, the TS reputation girlies” but got none of that. and lets not mention all the repetitive phrases.

i’m really disappointed because it could have been such fun and amazing read but in reality it was really shallow writing. apparently the author has been problematic so it’s just a no for me. and lets remind ourselves that reviews are meant for readers <3 not everybody can take criticism in the good way so just don’t read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Given the circumstances surrounding reviews for this book, I would like to preface my review with the fact that reviews are for readers. Unless a reader directly invites/tags an author, authors should not be looking at reviews.

Now that's out of the way, here are my thoughts on this book.

DNF at 30%

This book has such an interesting premise but is plagued with an overabundance of metaphors that make very little sense. I found myself constantly being pulled out of the story, as there were so many lines that were nonsensical.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I did not have a great time reading it.

If you like stories that are very heavy on metaphors, and are more vibes than plot you'll probably enjoy this book.

there's been some buzz about the author's comments about negative reviews on this book, and so i just want to say: hi kiana, if you're reading this, i swear this is not hate. in fact, i'm probably your intended audience! i'm chinese <i>and</i> a ballerina, what's not to like? but the fact remains that this book is just not a good book, and i want to share my thoughts.

it saddens me to see how writing can be so superficial sometimes. when you pick up a book, you expect to be transported into a world of fantasy. you're expecting to see a deeply thought-out plot, fleshed out characters, each and every word a true experience from the author's hands to yours. kiana krystle's dance of the starlit sea achieved none of that. it's not that i'm saying krystle didn't work hard and love this book- it may very well be that she thought it was her greatest work, and it's very evident that she loved creating it from her social media, but what it lacks is true substance. behind all this flowery prose, there's nothing that connects you to the characters.

frankly, i think it's astounding how this made it past editing at all. the problem is that krystle's writing is so painfully centred ONLY on the images and aesthetic she's invoking that all else falls to the backseat. plot coherency, character depth and reasonable development are tossed away in favour of invoking pretty images. sensations. the most important thing to her, in her view, is probably the aesthetic it comes across as. balletcore, cottagecore etc. girlhood. 'i'm just a girl', 'how i love being a woman' trends etc. i can guess why- because aesthetics are trending these days, with everything made into a ‘core’. it makes this book easily marketable. all those tiktoks about convincing you to read a book based on their aesthetic- that's the niche krystle wants to find. but the more she tries to focus on these aesthetics without being willing to fully commit and put substance in her writing behind all that glitter and confetti, the more the quality of the book degrades. it's all so ingenuine.

i guess it's not entirely her fault because part of writing is thinking about how to make your book appeal and marketable to readers, and she's just following the trends. but i can tell she genuinely does not care about girlhood beyond the things featured here, like makeup or dressing up, or at the very least, she doesn't try and show that she cares in her writing. she may have loved writing the book, but it doesn't seem like deep thought was put into any of the more challenging themes the book tries to tackle.

for a book that's marketed for girls, marketed exclusively for women and people who identify with being feminine, this book is woefully weak in both presenting and developing female characters. from the inherent misogyny of the 'i'm not like other girls' trope in the beginning of the book to the underlying condescending tone krystle uses whenever describing female characters other than lila (the lead), as well as the way ALL of this book follows the stereotypical structure of the one female best friend that's kind and every other girl apart from that is a bitch who needs to be 'shown kindness' by the female lead, this book is miles away from the girls' girl image it tries to project.

you cannot write a book you claim centres on the themes of girls supporting girls and girlhood and simultaneously utilise inherently misogynistic tropes to pit girls against one another. it just doesn't work that way. it's not 2014 wattpad anymore. it is even worse when you place your main character somehow on a pedestal, claiming her to be 'kind' and 'brave' enough to change the rest of the female cast when she has barely interacted with them beyond arguing with them. it does not make sense— both narratively and literally.

i've always had a problem with treating girlhood as a trend. it's all fun and games and saying things like 'i'm just a girl' (which, admittedly, i do partake in), but the thing is girlhood is more than that. it is an incredibly nuanced and complex time of life where we grow into ourselves. to reduce it to a trend and capitalise on it's momentary popularity is to reduce it to a fad, a passing fashion, when it's so much more. nothing about this book delves into the complexities of coming of age and the difficulties that accompany it. like i've said before, here girlhood is trivialised- everything tiktok presents to you and nothing more. a series of images of pretty little lace dresses and tea parties and high heels. traditional femininity. if you were to tap on the pages of this book it would sound hollow, because it is, and there is no deeper meaning to this likeness of girlhood at all.

what else is there to say? for a book that prioritises aesthetics over substance, it is exceedingly difficult for readers to connect with the characters. it's all too easy to get caught up in purple prose (which this book definitely has masses upon masses of) but it's equally easy to get so carried away the rest of your story falls short. and even in this regard, dance of the starlit sea lacks. you can tell krystle put a lot of work into her prose, but precisely because she tried so hard, it becomes repetitive. there is a limit to how much one can write before words and phrases start repeating. this book has a HUGE problem with repetitiveness, too. phrases concerning lila's 'stiletto nails' and her heart 'speeding up' float around every 5 pages. the descriptions of her dresses lose the wow factor once you realise many of these words are recycled.

dance of the starlit sea had a lot of potential with that premise. but unfortunately i do have to say i think that synopsis severely oversold the quality of the actual book. with a lot more work, perhaps this would be enjoyable. but even for me, someone who by all means should've had a much, much easier time connecting with the story, it's simply... not.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for this free copy.

DNF at page 26, or, the end of the first chapter. I was so so so so so looking forward to this book, for a sweet, aesthetically ‘no thoughts just vibes’ sort of low stakes beach side Ghibli-esque slice of life novel.

Here are my thoughts in order of appearances.

“A burst of florals hypnotizes me towards the cottage.” This sentence makes absolutely zero sense. It’s missing a verb. Hypnotizing is like, a passive verb? Hypnotizing leaves you vulnerable to other verbs but generally. . . if you are hypnotized, you just sit there waiting for direction. “A burst of floral (scents?) is hypnotizing, and leads me towards the cottage.”
OMG okay so the plot is wild. Her parents literally sent her to go live with an estranged aunt, who hasn’t spoken to the family in eighteen years. On her birthday? After just a few pages, it’s already extremely weirdly angsty? Like, this sounds so tremendously youthful. “My parents are not just mean that they sent me away, they sent me away ON MY BIRTHDAY” mean.
And then, still reeling from “I did something horrible and my parents sent me away” there’s a ball. Which only happens every seven years for some reason.

Luna Island rarely gets visitors, the aunt says. Yet Lila has a ferry ticket. Ferries. . . apparently visit? Often enough? To print tickets? To an island that’s mysterious and no one goes to? Yet, the island is literally within eyesight of the mainland. And no one goes to it? Even though later it apparently looks like a quaint little French village, I guess they imported everything with angel magic or something?

And then, Lila apparently talks about how comfortable she is going between “reality and the otherworld.” And it turns super weirdly suicidal? “ciff sides, the open ocean, coaxing me to follow.” And even though this hints towards something magical and supernatural about her, I’m getting a really deep uncomfortable feeling. She goes from wildly violent and abusive to self-hating and suicidal and I feel like the author (is the character a self-insert?) should go talk to someone about this because this isn’t healthy.

“She tosses back the beach waves fanning her neck.” What does this even mean?

Aunt Laina literally said this ball happens every seven years, then the following page “We usually have months to prepare but one town meeting and bam! Only a few days notice.”

How. . . do you have a tradition. . . that’s every seven years? And no one is prepared??? How does anyone have only a few days notice? Oh, it’s literally just “we are breaking tradition and having a ball RIGHT NOW right when our main character is sent to this weird island ON HER BIRTHDAY after something horrible.” Like. It’s so extremely obviously “I’m not like other girls” special.

I’m struggling to know how long after Lila arrives to the island and her aunt’s home is this present narration actually occurring. Did she just get there? The book opens with her flopping down at the shore, thinking about drowning herself, and then she’s going to sit and have a tea with her aunt. . . and then her aunt is like ‘here’s a fresh $100 go buy a dress btw there’s some pageant tonight it’s also your birthday but I’ve got to leave you alone after just telling you how horrible it is to be alone on your birthday it’s okay if it’s retail therapy oh there’s a boat leaving the dock at 8pm you’ll figure out where it is don’t be late k laters”

Also, apparently this island is trapped in some complete cottage core world because EVERYONE is “parading down cobblestone steps, wearing long pastel dresses and carrying bouquets of bright flowers tied with a bow.”

Oh my god, teenagers greet each other with ‘good tidings.’

The girl hatred here is just wild. I picked up this book because I wanted the sweet and cute aethestics. But the first girls we meet, they are dripping with the worst ‘mean jealous girl’ vibes. They put each other down while dress shopping. Lila is apparently better than them because she’s ‘seen the same girls in competitions.’ So. This book is going to seriously be a ‘cute, wonderful feminine aesthetic’ used to hate on girls and show girls in the worst, most sexist light??? No thanks.

The thing with the angels really kind of caught me off guard, too, because this ends up giving me some serious Christian vibes that give me a complete ick. Later, when Lila’s father basically accuses her of being a demon??? Ick.

Also, Lila goes dress shopping. . . at a ‘famous’ dress store whose dresses have literal /magic/ in them. And they are less than $100.

Also, for a girl who is taunted as a tourist, everyone seems very eager to spill about these angels being real, even though one character literally says “it’s out little secret on the island.” How can it be a secret if you tell everyone. . . especially someone you point out is a tourist??

There is a LOT of self-hatred, I mean really vile horrible self-hatred and constant suicidal ideation that really runs counter to the lush imagery and playfulness of a cottagecore-esque town. Honestly, this girl needs some serious help and it’s weird that the message is ‘suppress how evil you are’ and not like ‘omg I really need help.’

HOW can a ballerina literally do ballet moves THIGH deep in the ocean, with waves that are crashing into her? HOW does one pull of an arabesque?” A series of pirouettes. . . “ IN THIGH HIGH WATER as ‘the ocean plummets into me.’ HOW HOW HOW HOW

OMG and I had to DNF when the main character. . . literally rips out her mother’s throat. On page 25. In vivid descriptions of blood. “Digging into the delicate fruit and dividing its flesh, destroying its purity and all my mother’s collected love. I began clawing at my mother’s throat.” “My mother struggling for breath on the ground.”

“Maybe if I were a better ballerina, my parents would’ve wanted to keep me.”

UGH MAYBE IF YOU DIDN’T RIP OUT YOUR MOTHER’S THROAT WHEN YOU MADE A MISTAKE AT A BALLET AUDITION!?!?!?

Why is no one sending this girl to get therapy!? Something THIS violent happens ON STAGE and no one sees this girl needs serious intervention?!

“That night, I realized I would never be the person my parents wanted me to be. With my hands still covered in blood. . . I swore to keep my demons buried.”

UHHH WHAT?!

The violence described in the assault on her mother is just way too much for me. This was marketed as a sweet, cute love story surrounded in lace and flowers and beautiful, lush descriptions. The tone is all over the place. Literally one second the most visceral description of seafoam (seafoam is described at least seven times in this opening chapter), but then the second, gregariously violent imagery of blood pouring onto the ground as the main character ‘claws’ at her mother’s throat.

Instant pass. Wow. What a miss.

This book was very disappointing. The writing was "not it"... and the information going around about the author is problematic...

The atmosphere is definitely the star here. Dance of the Starlit Sea is like a cotton candy cloud landscape painting with a dark, swelling sea underneath. Krystle includes an abundance of imagery. She paints a vivid picture of the landscape, the scenery, and the magic. This book is full of descriptions of beautiful pastel gowns, food and tea, flowers, dancing, and more. You can feel Kyrstle's love for both imagery and dancing in her writing, which I enjoyed. I also liked the theme of grappling with wanting to be nice and feminine while dealing with feminine rage.

Unfortunately, everything else hides behind the atmosphere. I love a good atmospheric book, but the Dance of the Starlit Sea is lacking in character and plot. A lot of both ended up being repetitive. We constantly have Lila getting upset, running away, or running after another character, and then being told, "Don't be upset! You're special!" This scene happens nearly every chapter, but in a slightly different manner. The dialogue doesn't flow very well. And the main villain felt very out of place in this kind of story. Overall, this story had a lot of potential, but it didn't come together for me in the end.

Thank you to Krystle and the publisher for my ARC!

The prose in this book are beautiful. You are swept away to the most stunning, sea side town and are met with some of the most intriguing characters. The romance in this book is swoony worthy.

"I may be beautiful, but I'm not honest, and I've never been good."

DNF at 45% basically, but I skimmed to the end and read a blow-by-blow summary from a friend. The writing was quite good at times, especially the descriptions (when they didn't get lost in meandering metaphors), but unfortunately, everything else fell short. The characters' motivations and actions were so confusing that I often literally couldn't tell why they were doing what they were doing, I was just staring at the page with a math lady face trying to come up with any conceivable reason for their behavior. The MC drew so many unbelievable conclusions about how she had been rejected, how her parents hated her and thought she was a failure, how her angel boyfriend was trying to sabotage her; she had NO BASIS for any of those beliefs. The dialogue was in dire need of another round of editing, too. (I mean, everything was in need of more editing, but the dialogue was especially egregious.)

I hope whatever situation happened with this author/editor doesn't repeat itself, because I think Kiana Krystle has some potential and it was sadly squandered in this case.

The writing style in this book was just not for me. It's mostly world building and little dialogue. Everything is described beautifully but you learn so little each page about this story. I felt like I was reading the opening sequence to a shojo anime. This is a young adult novel, so for a younger reader who had this same fancy pink aesthetic they would enjoy getting lost in the world. I just favor more plot and dialogue in the book I read.

Where to begin. Let's start with Pinterest. Who doesn't love a Pinterest aesthetic? Who hasn't been sold a book based on its aesthetics? I'm pretty sure this is all of us, and Kiana Krystle knows that. This is why Dance of the Starlit Sea exists. Lila is sent to Luna Island by her parents after a nebulous terrible thing occurred to get her shipped off to her aunt. Lila is filled with self-loathing, but she's given a hundred bucks and told to get a dress for the upcoming ball celebrating the pageant select girls will be competing in for Angel of the Sea--a great honor! So her journey begins into Luna Island--a cottagecore Pinterest aesthetic come to life. The scents, the sights, the feels. It's all very rose-heavy, with breezy chiffon dresses with poof sleeves and make up tutorials and tea parties. Whatever. That's all fine, even if it's so heavy it all just slides off the page because eventually we have to get to the meat of the story, which is buried somewhere under all of these flowers and dresses, it's just hard to see and when you finally see it...it is incomprehensible.

The best way to describe this book is that it reads like a first draft. The plot is very start and stop and nonsensical, the conversations do read like NPCs in a video game and often do not connect or make any type of sense, motivations are confusing or lacking entirely, and Lila and Damien's whole relationship is repetitive conversations and reactions. Lila swings wildly from morose to enraged during every chapter. Damien, the love interest, is a one-dimensional character with one-note he can play over and over again. The worldbuilding is very Christian-coded, but feels halfway built to try to convince readers it's not. It just doesn't work on multiple levels.

Several people have mentioned the purple prose in the vein of Laini Taylor, and that does somewhat fit, but here even the prose is confusing. It manages to make what should be easily describable events impossible to understand. On top of which, the author uses certain words in ways that make no sense all the time, which is distracting and makes one wonder if she had a copyeditor or if she simply ignored whoever was gently telling her that's not how exorcisms work.

I do want to say it's not the girly girl cottagecore aesthetic that is the downfall of this novel. It's that it takes precedent to the things that make a book work: character motivation, dialogue, plot, cohesive storytelling. It's just not there. On top of which, there are interesting themes about girlhood and overbearing parental expectations that get lost in all in the roses. The author focuses on how people are worthy of love even if their parents make their love unachievable or conditional, which is nice, and somewhat works, but there's so much repetition of Lila learning this lesson and seemingly forgetting it at every turn that it becomes background. I was also disappointed in her discussion of girlhood and her refusal to interrogate surface-level beauty even when the set up is right there--the devil loves pretty things, but why? We never know. It doesn't connect to anything. Meanwhile girls are given this pinterest aesthetic to achieve and can never break free of it, so what is girlhood in the end?

End verdict: this book doesn't make any sense. I hope the author takes some of the critique this book is getting and applies it to her craft, because I don't think she's a bad author. I just don't think the book went through the development it needed.

The two stars are for some nice descriptive passages (as a gothic/sweet lolita I am all about the bows and pearls!) and interesting themes (let down by poor execution).

This reads like it hasn't been edited, developmentally or copy-wise. Character motivations and through lines jump around, words are used just incorrectly enough to make what are clearly meant to be effervescent descriptions confusing to get through, and the choice to withhold information from the audience about Lila's past and the island until it's convenient prevents the reader from forming a deep connection with anything happening. The dialogue in particular is wooden and reads like NPCs in a video game dumping quest line information. Young YA readers or big fans of angel/devil paranormal books may enjoy this as a quick read and not mind the flaws.

Four shimmering, flowery, sea-dusted stars for this atmospheric fantasy that packs some surprising punches!

When this book begins, our main character is in a very bad place. Caught between self-loathing and anger, she is unmoored after being cast to the island for a mysterious offence. But things aren't quite as they seem on this perfectly pastel paradise...

I've seen a lot of negative reviews for this one, and I hope that I can encourage someone to pick this up—because this book does have an audience, and it absolutely deserves all the love. It does carry liiight tones of Hades and Persephone, but I'd trend more toward House of Salt and Sorrows or The Belles. This book lingers in the beauty of elegant writing and endless imagery, just as the island trends toward the overly saccharine. I think the other did a great job of including undertones toward the objectification of women in our society and the over-purification of beauty. We follow a girl who is, at her core, an incredibly messy and turbulent character, and I think that's beneficial to know from the beginning. But following her on her long, hard journey of accepting herself for who she was and allowing herself to partake in love and gentleness was very beautiful. There was just enough of the island's eerie devotion to the angels to make it clear that this is more than just a romance. This is a novel of friendship and self-acceptance, of the complicated ties we have for our family, of the impossible pressure women are placed under, and even some hints of racism in the ballet world. I thought Kiana was incredibly wise and insightful with all the things she was trying to execute.

I do have a few complaints. Lila, the main character, was difficult to follow because she had such constant mood swings. She was very mercurial and this made her motivations difficult to pinpoint, but I almost wonder if that was the author's intention and an even more fascinating layer to add to the conflict of the book. The love interest, Damien, was also very difficult to love because he seemed very one-dimensional to me and I just couldn't find myself getting close to him. Despite this, I absolutely loved Lila and all the lessons she learned, and I really do think that there are some beautifully-done themes in this book. If you're looking for something a bit strange, almost feverish in its beauty, with a powerful message at its heart, I urge you to pick this up when it comes out!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I was provided an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree Teen. Opinions are my own.

"Dance of the Starlit Sea" promises things that readers of romantasy these days would enjoy—everything from balletcore to coquette, French-esque town, glittery summer, and Barbie magic. But rather than a book with pleasing aesthetics, it's more like pleasing aesthetics in a form of a book.

First thing first, shoutout to the illustrator for the manhwa/Webtoon-like dreamy cover.

I enjoy reading no-plot-just-vibe novels that—while it doesn't take you to a rollercoaster ride—serves you a 3-d experience of being in someone else's shoes. I got to understand their wants, needs, desire, fear, likes, dislikes, their world, people they love, lesson they learn. From the premise, I conclude that "Dance" would be that kind of book, but I notice there are two things missing (plus one additional note) that hinders that experience to take place.

1. Willingness to open up

By reading fiction, I believe we readers have privilege to access character's (that maybe also author's) inner thoughts and "communicate" with them. Through Lila's story, we only chat about how beautiful a world can be and that's it. Lila does share her struggle about being a third generation Chinese American and how her dreams clash with her parents', also how she can be such a wild child ("ocean of a girl" in her own words), but not with intention to connect with readers. Like there should be something deeper but she isn't willing to be fully bare. She hides behind her beautiful face, beautiful dance, beautiful dresses. I need to see her blistered feet and heart if she wants me to feel for her too.

2. Contrasting colors

The universe of Luna Island is depicted as enchanting, mysterious, and straight out of Pinterest board. Some of my favorite flowers, scents, pastries, and hues are painted in a way they are prepared for princesses to get cozy; it reminds me of Korean or Japanese comfort/healing novels where the characters are chilling and solving really low stake mystery. If "Dance" stops just when we learned Lila was trying to adjust to her new life, then continues to where her healing journey begins by meeting the locals and revealing the secret of Luna Island's beauty (love, acceptance, just pure wholesomeness), I wouldn't mind being surrounded by floral fragrance and sunset seaside colors until the last chapter.

Turns out there are sirens and sacrifice, dark-winged angel and underwater devil, battle of the heavens, pageantry—even though this one is too mild to be considered competitive, and overall cult-ish atmosphere. However, the colors present when bad things happen are too pretty to set the horror tone. The reds are not bloody or rusty or blackish but vermillion, scarlet, ruby. The greens are seafoam and jade and emerald. I didn't recall any browns other than tea or coffee? The lack of contrast is further reflected not only in colors but also in characters' tone and personality (they sound nearly the same and their conversation feels not coming from their personality and motivation), making it jarring and often taking me out of the story.

+ mystery side
In the beginning Roisin and Lila make a deal to investigate what happens to Nadine, but when Lila knows the answer, she doesn't tell her but dwells on another adventure. I was kind of confused, because I thought that plan is one of important plot points.

This book is heavily visual, moodboard-y, and niche. Unfortunately it isn't for me, the renowned pastel emo girl among my peers (LOL sorry for the cheesy nickname blame it on my friends) but maybe if you're currently looking for something much lighter than Shea Ernshaw's "The Wicked Deep" in which there are moon-inspired island and magical shops and lush writing style but minus the eerie plot twist, this could be your next fictional escape.