Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star Nicola Yoon is back with a new and utterly unique romance.

Evie is disillusioned about love ever since her dad left her mum for another woman – she’s even throwing out her beloved romance novel collection.

When she’s given a copy of a book called Instructions for Dancing, and follows a note inside to a dilapidated dance studio, she discovers she has a strange and unwelcome gift. When a couple kisses in front of her, she can see their whole relationship play out – from the moment they first catch each other’s eye to the last bitter moments of their break-up.

For Evie, it confirms everything she thinks she knows about love – that it doesn’t last.

But at the dance studio she meets X – tall, dreadlocked, fascinating – and they start to learn to dance, together. Can X help break the spell that Evie is under? Can he change Evie’s mind about love?

My Thoughts

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Instructions for Dancing is told from Evie’s perspective. Evie is going through an incredibly difficult time in her life, dealing with her parents recent divorce, the upheaval that comes with moving house, and the distance that has formed between herself and her father who until this point had been her rock, and a best friend to her.

Evie also realises that all of her favourite romantic comedy books are a complete and utter lie, as she has witnessed first hand that love is not something that means forever. This prompts her to pack up all of the books she once enjoyed ready to take them to the free library not far from her home, and it is whilst Evie is doing this she comes across the book ‘Instructions for Dancing’. Whilst trying to return this book to its owner, Evie finds her life taking her on a journey she never expected.

This was an absolute gem of a story, and it had the magical element added to the mix which made the story all the more intriguing, and allowing Evie to reinstate her belief in love once again. This book is so much more than a love story, as Evie also gets a new insight into the relationships she shares with her father and her friends which have previously felt rather strained.

Evie is one of those characters you feel connected to right from the start of this fantastic story. She has faced several difficult situations in her life, all of which have knocked her confidence and her belief in a life filled with love and acceptance, so it was such a joy to follow her journey as she began to explore the possibilities before her in life.

The story is written in such an intriguing, immersive way I found myself reaching for it several times throughout the day, desperate to return to the world in which the author created. The storyline is perfectly paced and has a delightful plot that keeps you invested to the very end. Each of the characters have well fleshed out personalities, with individual traits and flaws that make each of them all the more realistic to the reader. This is a fabulous story that I fell in love with.

Praise for Nicola Yoon:

‘Gorgeous and lyrical’ New York Times

‘Powerful, lovely, heart-wrenching’ Jennifer Niven

‘This extraordinary first novel about love so strong it might kill us is too good to feel like a debut’ Jodi Picoult

About the Author

*Thank you to Dave at The Write Reads, Penguin Books and Nicola Yoon for providing me with a gifted copy of this book in return for my honest review. All thoughts are entirely my own and not influenced in any way.*