Instructions for Dancing
Meaningful
Sweet
Surprising

Instructions for Dancing

Nicola Yoon2021
#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. 'An endearing, affecting portrayal of the journey of love. Everything Yoon touches turns to gold... this cinematic supernatural romance will be no exception' Booklist 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? 'A story of love's unpredictability and the importance of perspective that unfolds with ease and heart' Publisher's Weekly 'A remarkable, irresistible love story that will linger long after the reader turns the final page' Kirkus 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
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Reviews

Photo of Iben engeseth
Iben engeseth@skalprovealese
4 stars
Aug 17, 2024

A good ya romance book. Easy to read despite dealing with heavy themes.

+1
Photo of Bria
Bria@ladspter
3 stars
May 31, 2024

I didn't know this was gonna break my heart :/

Photo of Isabella
Isabella @iscbella
3 stars
Mar 13, 2024

This book is very quick and easy to read. Although there were times where I felt disconnected with it, I still liked it. I wish we got to see more of the relationships though. I opened this book expecting a very light book, and I guess it is, in a way. I just didn't expect the twist, and I liked it. I guess it is bittersweet, hopeful, joyful? There were parts where I wished we got to see, but I liked the message of the story. Definitely a good book to read for a quick past time. I wouldn't say this book was a favorite, but I enjoyed it.

Photo of sam
sam@sammiev
5 stars
Feb 8, 2024

just finished. i'm crying and feeling so bamboozled anyways yay love

the light hearted ya became a heavy hearted towards the end but still a wonderful read

love the magical element where evie develops the superpower to see the future of couples!! such a fascinating premise that i've never read about before

“love is too small, too singular a word for the feeling it’s trying to hold. just one word isn’t enough, so i want to use them all. sometimes i think love is the reason language was invented.”

Photo of Raven K
Raven K@readsbyrae15
5 stars
Nov 5, 2023

okay so this book was totally not what I expected. ya know what I didn't expect any of it at all, not even gonna lie. i love Evie and I love X. the dynamic of their relationship is just..chef's kiss. didn't expect to feel a lot of emotions either. with that being said, this is definitely a book I'll remember. I learned a lot tbh. loved every part of it 💕.

Photo of Kelsey Munson
Kelsey Munson@munnyreads
4 stars
Oct 11, 2023

Finished this in one sitting. Such a delightful and heartfelt read. I thought this was just going to be just another cute YA contemporary romance, but there is more than meets the eye with this. My heart hurts, yet I am happy.

Photo of Madhuri Kasam
Madhuri Kasam@madhuri_reads
4 stars
Sep 4, 2023

It was one more of that Nicola Yoon's magical.writing. She is my absolute favourite. I love YA mostly because of her.

Photo of kels
kels@kelseysoderberg
4 stars
Sep 3, 2023

ouch

Photo of bree
bree@breeklo
3.5 stars
Jul 23, 2023

i heart nicola yoon. her first book that didn’t make me sob like a maniac

Photo of Charlsy Sekyere
Charlsy Sekyere@charlsy_s
3 stars
Jun 30, 2023

⭐️3.5 A 3.5 read that leans more towards a 4. Despite liking the book and thinking it was perfectly fine and sweet, I couldn’t bring myself to give it a 4 or 5 stars as I didn’t LOVE it as much as other YA Romances that I have read and adored, especially Black YA Romances such as ‘Love Radio’ by Ebony LaDelle and ‘Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl’ by Joya Goffney. It's just that I didn't have that giddy feeling when reading this book like I did with the other Black YA romances I've mentioned, which is a shame since this book was on my TBR list as my most anticipated read of this year. However, I did enjoy some aspects of the book, hence my rating. I enjoyed the magical element in the book. Additionally, I appreciated the message that love can be accompanied by heartbreak, loss and grief, but in the end, the experience of feeling love is totally worth it. No matter how the story ends, love should be experienced head-on and given with all that one has. Overall, the discussion on love was very well done by Nicola Yoon. For the most part, I found this book to be enjoyable to read and hold it in high regard. I would also certainly recommend it, as I believe it is worth it and deserves its Goodreads rating.

Photo of — lae
— lae@zumyan
2 stars
Jan 30, 2023

what this story lacks in plot and writing, it makes up with interesting characters. or, to better say, interesting love interest. god, X has my heart. the writing was corny and the plot didn’t hit as much as i’d hope it would. the concept of this book is cool, this book could’ve been something. it wasn’t that something. i know the end is supposed to be hopeful and remind you to hold on to your loved ones but? after telling us the whole book how your loved ones will either leave you willingly or by death? it was depressing to say the least. though i’m also terrible scared of losing the ones close to me, so maybe it’s just a me thing. it’s an okay book. entertaining and engaging enough to finish it so bonus points for that.

Photo of Jean Alfonso
Jean Alfonso@jeanmz
3 stars
Jan 23, 2023

I expected a lot. Maybe because ingon sa tiktok na painful jud kaayo sya but I didn't cry at all, LOL. I mean, it's sad, but not THAT sad and murag expected kaayo nga mao to mahitabo ahhahah. Anyway, I'll give three stars because it was nice.

Photo of lea da silva
lea da silva@ellaskindness
5 stars
Jan 22, 2023

when you are heartbroken, it is hard to believe you have a chance at love or even believe that love is worth the risk. you tend to believe you are outside of it. i truly understood how evie felt, like she had to step away from it. love is complicated, sometimes painful, sometimes unrequited, sometimes grand, sometimes absolutely beautiful, sometimes all of the above all at once. i have always been a hopeless romantic so i have cherished Nicola Yoon’s work because i feel like she understood my world. she understood what love takes, didn’t shy away from it, didn’t judge people too harshly. Nicola Yoon is a fantastic writer, everything she write is full of compassion and love. she pours it in absolutely everything. this book included. this is a book filled with hope, filled with patience, filled with gentleness. being in love is always a leap of faith, trusting someone else is always a leap of faith. it is always, always scary. losing the person you love for whatever reason can stop you from even trying and the main thing you can learn from this is to try anyway, get hurt and love wholeheartedly. instructions for dancing is a perfect book for the heartbroken, people who are in love, people who found the one they consider as the love their lives, people who haven’t found that person just yet, people who are only trying to love themselves a little bit more. this is a perfect book for anyone who wants to give love a chance no matter which form it takes. thank you Nicola Yoon, once again, for sharing your love and pouring into this book

Photo of Ellen Beathe
Ellen Beathe @ellen_beathe
5 stars
Nov 3, 2022

** spoiler alert ** One of my favorite books so far. Incredibly sad but the theme and lesson stays throughout the whole book. Still not sure if I liked the short summary ending or if I would've liked it in more details For me the ending was to sad. I like that it’s Realistic, but a bit too realistic for me

Photo of Nad
Nad@weebna
2 stars
Oct 24, 2022

2,5⭐️ I was expecting something else. It had some interesting moments but overall it’s not a book I will reread. The ending was so random as well…

Photo of Cheri McElroy
Cheri McElroy@cherimac
5 stars
Sep 5, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This may be labeled YA, but it has beautiful lessons for everyone. Evie is struggling with her parents’ divorce. She no longer believes in love. Then one day she is given a book by a stranger, and weird things start happening. She ends up going to a dance studio where she meets X. As she learns how to dance with X as her partner, Evie begins to grow. I don’t want to give too much away. But read this book. The writing is wonderful, Evie is relatable, and the themes of pain, grief, and love are beautifully explored. Above all, always say yes to the dance.

Photo of Tia Roydhouse
Tia Roydhouse @teastexts
4 stars
Aug 29, 2022

This book made me fall in love with the idea of love, the fact that it can be scary and lovely all at the same time. Then knowing how things end can make love all that more terrifying. The love that is between X and Evie make my heart swell!

Photo of sofia !
sofia !@girlthatreads4fun
4 stars
Aug 29, 2022

i did not see that last part coming- this was so darling i loved so much

Photo of Gretchen Sartele
Gretchen Sartele@gretchenplz
5 stars
Aug 25, 2022

I wasn’t sure about this book in the beginning but dang. Dang, dang, dang. What an excellent book. Really got me.

Photo of Ashley Harris
Ashley Harris@ashcash
4 stars
Aug 24, 2022

As a child of divorce, this book really hit home for me. It taught me many lessons, one of them being how to love again. I would recommend this to anyone who has struggled with love.

Photo of sydney
sydney@sydneyd05
4 stars
Aug 17, 2022

how dare this book end like that? i knew it was going to be painful because of her visions but i never expected THAT

Photo of Shereen Evans
Shereen Evans@fellexya
3 stars
Aug 15, 2022

This was a cute book. The characters were enjoyable and the story has a good message. Evie has a unique gift when it comes to couples and seeing how they will end up. It didn't leave a memorable impression on me. The pacing of the book would be slow and then speed up.

Photo of june
june@aledfrances
4 stars
Aug 14, 2022

I’m glad this book doesn’t rely on the romance but it relies more on Evie’s storyline about her perspective of love

Photo of mars opal barry
mars opal barry@marsybarsy
3.5 stars
Aug 13, 2022

a little slow but good overall

Highlights

Photo of Shantel
Shantel@raineorshan

“Love is the question and the answer and the reason to ask in the first place. It’s everything. All of it”

Instructions for Dancing

Nicola Yoon

Photo of Alessia (Taylor's version)
Alessia (Taylor's version) @ale40

Happiness is tricky. Sometimes you have to fight for it. Sometimes, though—the best times—it sneaks up behind you, wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you close.

Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

People who say it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all have never really loved anyone and never really lost anyone either.

Page 271
This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

I can't answer your questions, Evie. I don't know why we lose the people we love and how we're expected to go on after we lose them. But I know to love is human. We can't help ourselves. The philosopher-poets say love is the answer, but it's more than that. Love is the question and the answer and the reason to ask in the first place. It's everything. All of it.

Page 249
This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

today I‘m proud of you. finally you dance with your heart.

Page 243
This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

Love is too small, too singular a word for the feeling it‘s trying to hold. Just one word isn’t enough, so I want to use them all. Sometimes I think love is the reason language was invented.

Page 218
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

Yes, falling in love requires a leap of faith. But people only jump because they don’t know what the ground looks like. They believe their landing will be soft.

Page 133
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

Does «don’t banter with extremely hot and possibly smart and interesting guys who are very definitely players» count as a philosophy?

Page 73
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

What I’ve learned over the last three weeks is that all my old romance novels ended too quickly. Chapters were missing from the end. If they told the real story —the entire story— each couple would’ve eventually broken up, due to neglect or boredom or betrayal or distance or death. Given enough time, all love stories turn into heartbreak stories.

Page 51
Photo of Brooke Barnett
Brooke Barnett@jdog123456

it's a crime that houses like these exist in a city with so much homelessness.

Page 11

Los Angeles is where this is set and this quote supports that by the sheer truth of LA.

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

We’ll have danced for hours and hours. We’ll have made love. He’ll have taught me how to play guitar and to love music as much as he does. He’ll have told me that he loves me every single day. Some days I’ll know that I’ll be okay. Some days I won’t know that at all. One thing I’ll know for sure: love can last forever. Now, he spins me around. My arm travels down the length of his. Our fingertips brush and it feels like I’m going to slip away from him. But I don’t. At the last second I curl my fingers and our hands catch. And then I do the thing you’re supposed to do when you find love. I hold on.

Page 314

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

The problem with broken hearts isn’t that they kill you. It’s that they don’t.

Page 285

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

In darkness there’s still hope. Some hidden thing in the places you can’t see. Grief to me feels like an endless landscape of white light. No secrets. And no surprises either. You can see clearly all you have lost. Everything that’s no longer there.

Page 281

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

The philosopher-poets say love is the answer, but it’s more than that. Love is the question and the answer and the reason to ask in the first place. It’s everything. All of it.”

Page 279

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

“Here’s what I think. If you get very, very lucky in this life, then you get to love another person so hard and so completely that when you lose them, it rips you apart. I think the pain is the proof of a life well lived and loved.” “That’s a shitty answer,” I tell him. “Yes,” he says. “It is.”

Page 278

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

I don’t feel anything at all. The opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s death.

Page 269
Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

In loving memory: Xavier Darius Woods. The date on it is ten months from now.

Page 267

Nooooooooooo (Ebook, pages not accurate)

This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

the top two buttons that snag my attention. They’re unbuttoned, and for a second I see my fingers unbuttoning a third and a fourth, until— “Evie, you ready for this?” he asks just as I’m getting to the fifth button. Yes. So, so ready.

Page 253

Girl, I don’t blame you 👍😂 (Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

I fall asleep thinking about the fact that even though I’ve been trying to deny it, I’m in love with Xavier Darius Woods, and I have been for a while now.

Page 248

I think we all are (Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

How else to explain how ridiculously hot his whole chest-abs-stomach combination is? X without a shirt is very nearly fatal.

Page 238

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

He tugs me to my feet and then picks me up and twirls me around. I yelp and hold on tight while he laughs into my hair. “We do okay?” he asks. “Amazing,” I say.

Page 218
Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

She faces the mirror and begins swaying to a song in her head. “X, when you dance you must lead her into her passion. You must seduce her mind with your body so that she is yours for the taking. And Evie, you must give yourself to him—”

Page 216

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

Given enough time, all love stories turn into heartbreak stories. Heartbreak = love + time.

Page 67

(Ebook, pages not accurate)

Photo of Princess Twasam
Princess Twasam @bookishminds

Dad clears his throat. Right. Introductions. “Dad,” I say, “this is X. X, this is my dad.” Dad guffaws. “Your name is X? Like the unknown variable x?”

Page 186

That’s what I said ( ebook, pages not accurate)