ALA Booklist (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

June, Gigi, and Bette are three students at an elite ballet academy in New York, in brutal competition with each other for lead roles. Told in the alternating voices of the girls, the novel explores each dancer's vulnerability and internal conflict. June is secretly starving herself, trying to be the lightest and best ballerina while simultaneously coming to terms with her identity as half white, half Asian. Gigi, for whom the very act of dancing could spell death, struggles with feeling confident in her beauty as an African American dancer among her mostly white classmates. With an emotionally abusive mother and distant sister at home, Bette teeters on the edge of stability, and her isolation leaves her unafraid to do anything to claw her way to the top. The academy is thick with treachery, scandal, and jealousy, as is Charaipotra and Clayton's fast-paced plot. Appealing both to dancers and drama lovers, this engaging, pulpy read skillfully explores a variety of issues, from sexual orientation to ethnic identity to single-parent households, in a glamorous, high-stakes setting.

Voice of Youth Advocates

This book, in alternating chapters, describes the intertwined stories of three students at a prestigious ballet academy. The girls all face extreme mental and physical challenges because of the rigorous dance training, the fierce competitiveness among students, and the demands of their individual personal lives.Unfortunately, there is no clear sense of why ballet is worth this torture. The beauty of the dance and the satisfaction of hard work are only hinted at. Gigi's story has the potential to explain what makes the experience worth the pain, but even she loses that emotional fulfillment in the literal struggle to survive at the ballet academy. Without the overarching theme of the value of ballet as art, the story drags tediously as similar emotionally unsatisfying situations play out again and again. The book abruptly ends where the story started, with more unanswered questions about a fourth girl, another student who falls victim to outrageous bullying. All that said, the book could prove to be very popular. One of the strengths of this book is its compulsive readability. It is also a beautiful example of diversity in characters and settings. There are definitely readers who will enjoy this book, especially those who enjoyed Pretty Little Liars and other high drama efforts.Debbie Kirchhoff.

School Library Journal (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

Gr 9 Up-In the competitive and cutthroat world of pre-professional ballet, three young women are putting their hearts and souls on the line to be the prima ballerina at the American Ballet Conservatory (ABC) where they live, study, and dance. The book is narrated by Gigi, June, and Bette in alternating chapters, each of whom has something to hide that could ruin their chances at landing the perfect roles at ABC this school year. California girl Gigi is new to ABC and is hiding a serious heart defect that could end her dreams before they are even realized. June's mother has continually threatened her daughter with the prospect of forcing her back into regular school. But June will stop at nothing to move beyond being an understudy and to find out her father's identity. Bette, previously the best dancer at the school, is now being outshone by Gigi. Will Bette go back to her bad girl behavior and force another student to leave under suspicious circumstances, like she did to a former star? All of the protagonists are playing with fire, and they certainly can't trust anyone. In this guilty pleasure read, teens will be glued to their seats until the heartbreaking, cliff-hanger conclusion, which promises more to come in this drama-filled world of ballet, boys, and bad girl antics. References to sex, drugs, and alcohol are peppered throughout. Diversity is organically spotlighted here; many different races and body types are represented. VERDICT A fun and fast read that will appeal to fans of "Pretty Little Liars" and "Gossip Girl." Traci Glass, Eugene Public Library, OR