Name: Molly
Grade: 11th
Title: Instructions for Dancing
Author: Nicola Yoon
Published in: 2021
Pages: 304
Rating: 5 stars
“Instructions for Dancing,” by Nicola Yoon, is a YA romance that follows a girl named Evie Thomas who has the power of seeing how a romance began and how it will end. When she sees a couple kiss, she can see their fate. There is just one thing though, Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. As she tries to figure out why these visions are happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance Studio learning to dance with a boy named X, which leaves her wondering if love is truly worth it. X is everything Evie isn’t and he says yes to everything, including entering a ballroom dance competition with somebody he just met, which causes them to grow closer and causes the lines of friendship to blur. Evie wasn’t expecting to find love, but as she falls for X, she questions her outlook on love and whether or not the possibility of heartbreak can be overlooked in the name of love. With her visions of heartbreak, she learned that there is always an end and nobody leaves unharmed, but X shows her that the present is more valuable than the future.
I really liked this book and I couldn’t put it down. I read it in one sitting and I really liked the concept. I loved how Evie started dancing because of these visions and how she was able to gain so much from them, despite seeming like a curse given she doesn’t believe in love. My favorite character is X because he is such a carefree and fun character. He gives Evie the chance to change her feelings on love and I loved seeing their relationship develop as Evie figured out how she feels. You were able to truly feel Evie’s emotions and her inner turmoil on her stance on love.
I would recommend “Instructions for Dancing” to everyone. It was a really fast read and had characters you could connect to. It was a really good YA romance, so if you like those, this is definitely a book you should read at least once. It is a strangers to friends to lovers book, so if you like these types of books, give this one a try. It reminded me a little of the book, “People We Meet on Vacation,” by Emily Henry because it had the friends to lovers trope in it and the readers were able to get an in-depth view of the relationship.
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