Random House

"After picking up a book from the library, Yvette--who has given up on love--gains the ability to see how other people's romantic relationships will end"--

Untitled Delacorte Bfyr 8961

Lamia Hajani

The premise of this book is so, so interesting. I'm dabbling in YA magical realism lately with this one and One Last Stop, and both have been riveting enough to keep my attention!

Evie Thomas' parents had a rough divorce, and Evie is left feeling jaded by love. Then, she receives the power to see people's love stories ... including how they end. This, suffice to say, doesn't help her feelings of jadedness. At the same time, she starts challenging herself to try new things and joins a dance competition with X, a spontaneous guy who balances her out well, even if she doesn't see it.

Evie's story is emotional and sweet. The book reads as a love letter to Los Angeles in some parts, too. Yoon is an exquisite writer, and I will read everything she puts out. 4/5 stars.

Sierra

"But as much as I want to, I can't stop the world from changing. Time passes. People change. Lives move on."

It's books like this that I enjoy going into blind. I thought it was going to be a happy and cheesy YA contemporary romance based on the cover and I ended up wrong to an extent. I wasn't ready to be in my feelings a little while reading this book.

Instructions for Dancing certainly has its cute moments. The main character who doesn't believe in love after her parent's divorce ends up on a fated path after a Little Free Library she donates books to offers up a dancing book that comes with the power to see people's love stories from start to finish. The book leads her to a dance studio where she decides to test her new fate and take lessons that lead to preparing for a competition with the grandson of the studio owners. Our main character, Evie, then learns that maybe love isn't so bad and takes a chance on the grandson, Xavier (AKA X). But then, the last couple of lines of Chapter 48 bursts the comfortable little bubble the book has thus far put you in when she sees her own love story with her power. 

I was a little stunned and it took me a moment to process just how quickly things changed since I was not expecting it. I should've known it had to have a little something to keep it from being too cheesy and perfect. 

Evie then realizes after some moping and self-reflection that while she can't change people's stories once seeing them and failing to prevent her best friends' story from heartbreak, that perhaps spending time with those you love and enjoying your time together is for the best. Just when she had thought love wasn't so bad, she felt like she was betrayed before realizing that all love stories come to an end, but there can be a new beginning for people too. 

This was a rather quick read that I was able to get through in just a couple of hours and I really enjoyed it. It was my first time reading a book by Nicola Yoon and it certainly has influenced me to add her other books to my TBR list. The story was cute and for the most part what I would expect of a book in this genre, minus the little heartbreaking twist of course. I loved the characters and how they both helped each other grow and rebuild parental relationships. The ending is pretty satisfying since you know what is to happen to the characters in the future.

Overall, I think this was a great book full of life lessons and a less typical contemporary romance story which made it unique. A fun read that highlights how love stories may end, but there are new beginnings to be found that can be happy as well.

Emi Gilmore 

So this book doesn't actually deserve two stars. It deserves three. I give books that were just fine three stars and that is exactly what this book is. It' just fine

But I'm petty and the ending didn't sit right with me at all so I'm taking away a star out of spite. *Insert shrugging emoji here* 

See, this book could have been amazing. Nicola Yoon is such a great writer. She could have done so much with this story. But I just felt like it was missing too much. Honestly, at a little over 280 pages long, this book was too short. The length of this book made the romance too rushed, the fantastical element of the story was brushed off to the side for most of the story, and the grand event that the story was leading up to was like two pages long. It was just so rushed. It didn't work for me. 

But then, so many things were stretched out (which didn't need to be stretched out), such as the relationship with 

Let's not even talk about how the love interest was named X. Why? What was the point? Sorry if your name is X but like I'm sorry. 

And don't even get me started on the ending. I fucking hate that ending. 

But, like, this was still cute. There was some good character development and I'm ALWAYS a slut for character development.

Kaley Catron

I did it. I did it. I did it!!! Rtfb3 is doneeeee 30 minutes away from the deadline. Now. This book was super cute, if I’m being honest I only wish there was more dancing.

Beth Livingston

Thanks to NetGalley for a eARC. I just want to say Nicola Yoon wrote an inspiring book. Instructions for Dancing is for the romantics at heart. The main characters Evie and X are adorable. I would recommend this to anyone. I'm giving this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Michele Aucutt

The beginning didn’t really grab me, but I wanted to continue to see where the story was going to take me. I did not feel that connected to the characters so it was easy to pulled from the story, which was unfortunate, because I enjoyed the piece of magical realism added to the story and really wanted to know how it would fit in to the whole storyline. There wasn’t much chemistry between X and E to begin with, in my opinion, and there were certain parts I didn’t feel made sense (not writing wise, but how a scene played out - choices characters made didn’t seem authentic).

But let me tell you, when I hit the last 80 pages or so, there was nothing that was going to break my concentration while reading this. I loved the dance competition, and really started to feel the chemistry. And then my heart my ripped out and stomped on. 

This was a charmingly intriguing read, that takes you on a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

All in all, I would read this again (even though it made me cry quite a bit throughout a good portion of the book). It’s not mind blowingly brilliant but it’s quite good.

Jayla Poindexter 

Wow. I don't know what I was expecting. This was not it but it blew me away anyway. It took me less than a day to read and its so good! This book was so cute and I loved the lesson it taught. The main characters are so awesome and the dancing was a cool addition to the story. It was also giving "That's so Raven" vibes, which is a show about a psychic. I also really loved the writing style . GO READ THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

Kathryn

“I know how this looks. It looks like we’re bantering, like sparks are flying between us like in witty old romantic comedies. It looks like the start of something. But I promise you, there are no sparks. Nothing here is on fire”.

Oh my gosh, thank you Nicola Yoon. This book is delightful, romantic, realistic (even given the magical element) and full of lessons. At times I forgot I was reading YA, at others I appreciate that I was. 

This isn’t a book JUST about dancing, this is a book about losing faith and working to regain it. Ugh my HEART. 

4.5/5⭐️

Untitled Delacorte Bfyr 8961

Reviews