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vannababes's review
3.0
3.5/5
BEAUTIFUL COVER
First 2/3s of the book had me hooked, but the other third kinda lost me sadly
It did remind me of a Jane Eyre retelling in a way because of the Master. He reminded me so much of Mr. Rochester, or even the Darkling from Grishaverse because his charm.
I really liked the premise, and the characters, and what was happening. If it had been written differently by the end, or even lengthened with more scenes in the manor (because that to me was where the book had strength in its passages)
I feel like this could be made into a really good movie, though.
BEAUTIFUL COVER
First 2/3s of the book had me hooked, but the other third kinda lost me sadly
It did remind me of a Jane Eyre retelling in a way because of the Master. He reminded me so much of Mr. Rochester, or even the Darkling from Grishaverse because his charm.
I really liked the premise, and the characters, and what was happening. If it had been written differently by the end, or even lengthened with more scenes in the manor (because that to me was where the book had strength in its passages)
I feel like this could be made into a really good movie, though.
_bookdreamer's review against another edition
3.0
I just want to start off by saying I don't know why this book gets such bad reviews, I really enjoyed it. It was a quick read but really enjoyable. I immediately got the same vibes as Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden series, with a touch of Frankenstein.
The story takes place in an academy where the ballet dancers all look similar, and have similar memories. They are under the care of the Master. I understand that some people took Master as really creepy but I think that was the point of it.
I finished this book in maybe two hours, it was a quick and enjoyable read!
The story takes place in an academy where the ballet dancers all look similar, and have similar memories. They are under the care of the Master. I understand that some people took Master as really creepy but I think that was the point of it.
I finished this book in maybe two hours, it was a quick and enjoyable read!
olivianoack's review
3.0
This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2017, and I am just disappointed. I'm not sure why I thought this, but I thought that The Midnight Dance was a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses. I mean, the title is about dancing at midnight. The synopsis even talks about twelve girls at a prestigious dancing school in Italy. They are practically as spoiled as princesses.
But alas, this was not a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses and I feel like I was lied to. The twelve dancing princesses was one of my favourite stories when I was a kid. I did a play of it with my cousins. I read the barbie version over and over again. I was so excited. I love books about dancing, ballet, princesses. And I got none of that.
This book was barely even about dancing. Sure, Penny is a ballerina, but this book definitely did not focus on that.
Again, I thought it was going to be a cute kind of retelling. I was shocked to find that it was more of a mystery with a small thriller factor.
Master is a creepy psychopath who runs the estate where the girls go to school. He is the whole creep factor of this book.
The book starts out with Penny realizing that her memories aren't lining up, so the book turned more into a story of Penny trying to figure out what is true and what's not and trying to find the memories of her past. I personally did not find this the most interesting. She is repeatedly having her memories altered. After every incident, she goes back through her memories, figuring everything out, and it was so repetitive, especially because I wasn't forgetting what was happening. Maybe I just don't really like memory loss books.
Since the book focused so much on Penny's memories, there really wasn't a lot about dancing. Penny spent a lot of time getting her way out of dance lessons so that she could sneak off with the kitchen boy to do snooping around the manor.
Penny discovers that Master has been tampering with the girl's memories. I really didn't understand the process of how that was possible. I also really don't understand why Cricket was able to reverse the memory alterations.
I didn't like that Penny was completely helpless to Master and that she relied on Cricket so much to keep her memories in tact.
Master was always depicted as this very stereotypical 'tall dark and handsome' kind of guy. And I admit, he was quite creepy at times. He always has his hands on Penny and I didn't like that. But he is very enticing to the girls. They see him as an out of reach love interest. Later on in the book, you find out that
There were a couple of small things that bothered me. They are just very small inconsistencies or weird things that probably should have been fixed by an editor or an person who read this book before it was published.
-Penny is the main character and her full name is Penelope. Near the end of the book, we find out that Penny has a little sister named Nella. My only problem is that her sister's name is practically in PeNELLApe. Do you see where I'm going?
-Penny and Cricket meet a boy who is a sort of thief. He steals from people and offers others favours. He says "I never shy from the chance to bring upper society a notch toward normal." Cricket follows this up with "Who does he think he is? Robin Hood?" My first question was, "was Robin Hood even around in 1879 (that's when the book takes place)? I have since googled The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and I have discovered that it was published in 1883, which happens to be four years after the book was published. Even if Robin Hood was published at the time of The Midnight Dance, I doubt it would've been highly circulated, especially because Howard Pyle didn't live in Italy until the very end of his life. I don't think this issue needs further explanation.
-Penny is riding her horse to another town. She asks somebody how far it is and the guy says 50 kilometers. I live in Canada, so I know what kilometers are like. It would probably take an hour or so to drive that distance on the highway. Penny is not driving a sports car though, she is riding a horse. I also have a lot of experience with horses and, yes, horses are fast, but they can't go fast for a very long time. I think it would probably take Penny at least a couple of hours, more if she was walking and not pushing the horse to go faster. However, the problem is that the book made it seem like she got to the town within one hour. Just not very realistic. The author definitely could have put some research into traveling by horse.
Sorry about the rant, but I don't like that kind of thing.
My overall feelings is that, while I did like the book a lot, I was let down really hard because it wasn't a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses. I know that this is my fault because they were my expectations, but I can't help but be disappointed.
Read this if you are into mystery, thriller or psychopaths.
But alas, this was not a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses and I feel like I was lied to. The twelve dancing princesses was one of my favourite stories when I was a kid. I did a play of it with my cousins. I read the barbie version over and over again. I was so excited. I love books about dancing, ballet, princesses. And I got none of that.
This book was barely even about dancing. Sure, Penny is a ballerina, but this book definitely did not focus on that.
Again, I thought it was going to be a cute kind of retelling. I was shocked to find that it was more of a mystery with a small thriller factor.
Master is a creepy psychopath who runs the estate where the girls go to school. He is the whole creep factor of this book.
The book starts out with Penny realizing that her memories aren't lining up, so the book turned more into a story of Penny trying to figure out what is true and what's not and trying to find the memories of her past. I personally did not find this the most interesting. She is repeatedly having her memories altered. After every incident, she goes back through her memories, figuring everything out, and it was so repetitive, especially because I wasn't forgetting what was happening. Maybe I just don't really like memory loss books.
Since the book focused so much on Penny's memories, there really wasn't a lot about dancing. Penny spent a lot of time getting her way out of dance lessons so that she could sneak off with the kitchen boy to do snooping around the manor.
Penny discovers that Master has been tampering with the girl's memories. I really didn't understand the process of how that was possible. I also really don't understand why Cricket was able to reverse the memory alterations.
I didn't like that Penny was completely helpless to Master and that she relied on Cricket so much to keep her memories in tact.
Master was always depicted as this very stereotypical 'tall dark and handsome' kind of guy. And I admit, he was quite creepy at times. He always has his hands on Penny and I didn't like that. But he is very enticing to the girls. They see him as an out of reach love interest. Later on in the book, you find out that
Spoiler
Master is Cricket's uncle. This is where I got grossed out. I really hate old guy love interests. I know that Penny never reciprocated Master's feelings and that Master was a psychopath, however I just can't get past that master was probably in his late thirties or early forties. I can't do that.There were a couple of small things that bothered me. They are just very small inconsistencies or weird things that probably should have been fixed by an editor or an person who read this book before it was published.
-Penny is the main character and her full name is Penelope. Near the end of the book, we find out that Penny has a little sister named Nella. My only problem is that her sister's name is practically in PeNELLApe. Do you see where I'm going?
-Penny and Cricket meet a boy who is a sort of thief. He steals from people and offers others favours. He says "I never shy from the chance to bring upper society a notch toward normal." Cricket follows this up with "Who does he think he is? Robin Hood?" My first question was, "was Robin Hood even around in 1879 (that's when the book takes place)? I have since googled The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and I have discovered that it was published in 1883, which happens to be four years after the book was published. Even if Robin Hood was published at the time of The Midnight Dance, I doubt it would've been highly circulated, especially because Howard Pyle didn't live in Italy until the very end of his life. I don't think this issue needs further explanation.
-Penny is riding her horse to another town. She asks somebody how far it is and the guy says 50 kilometers. I live in Canada, so I know what kilometers are like. It would probably take an hour or so to drive that distance on the highway. Penny is not driving a sports car though, she is riding a horse. I also have a lot of experience with horses and, yes, horses are fast, but they can't go fast for a very long time. I think it would probably take Penny at least a couple of hours, more if she was walking and not pushing the horse to go faster. However, the problem is that the book made it seem like she got to the town within one hour. Just not very realistic. The author definitely could have put some research into traveling by horse.
Sorry about the rant, but I don't like that kind of thing.
My overall feelings is that, while I did like the book a lot, I was let down really hard because it wasn't a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses. I know that this is my fault because they were my expectations, but I can't help but be disappointed.
Read this if you are into mystery, thriller or psychopaths.
nataliesboooks's review
3.0
3-3.5 stars seems fair.
I thought the beginning was stronger than the ending, especially the pacing and the eerie atmosphere. The Master was really creepy and there’s a creepy mystery vibe.
The ending relied on a lot of coincidences, and people happening to be in the right place at the right time, which is a pet peeve of mine and the main reason why I liked the beginning more than the ending.
The motivation of the villain was a little strange. Revenge for being bullied as a child? If that’s what it was, it seemed like the grudge he held was monumental compared to the offense.
This reminded me of Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young and The Jewel by Amy Ewing.
Overall an enjoyable debut and a very fast read.
I thought the beginning was stronger than the ending, especially the pacing and the eerie atmosphere. The Master was really creepy and there’s a creepy mystery vibe.
The ending relied on a lot of coincidences, and people happening to be in the right place at the right time, which is a pet peeve of mine and the main reason why I liked the beginning more than the ending.
The motivation of the villain was a little strange. Revenge for being bullied as a child? If that’s what it was, it seemed like the grudge he held was monumental compared to the offense.
This reminded me of Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young and The Jewel by Amy Ewing.
Overall an enjoyable debut and a very fast read.
livia_nardi524's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
I have mixed feelings: the plot was good, but I felt it wasn’t supported by the writing and if the characters had better development and the world/settings had been described more artfully I would have enjoyed the book much more. Flourishy writing is just my preference, but objectively speaking, the character development and arcs felt rushed and not very well developed.
theresamm's review against another edition
2.0
15/10 for this cover. This is probably the most beautiful book I've ever seen. Whoever designed this cover needs to design the cover of my novel when I finally write it. I could sing the praises of this cover forever.
Unfortunately, this book is the epitome of the saying, "don't judge a book by its cover"
The Midnight Dance has a lot of problems. Here are my top 3
1. The Exposition: there wasn't any???? I understand that the story was supposed to be confusing and mysterious, but this was amateur hour. The amount of things that didn't make sense was so crazy that the book doesn't get interesting for about 150 pages, which is halfway through this very short book.
2. The Characters: Mary Sue the girl who wants free and Handsome Love Interest the boy who wants to help her. This book also features several "this character is only in here for convenience's sake" characters. No one has any character arc.
3. The Plot: This story had a lot of potential. It kind of reminded me of Entwined by Heather Dixon but in ballet school, and that is one of my favorite books of all time. This book, however, does next to nothing with the twelve dancing princess vibes. The story basically ignores everyone but Penny and her quest to figure out what the heck is going on. Turns out it's bad stuff. She has to escape. This plot is not in any way new or inventive, and the worst part is it had so much potential. The depth wasn't there. It's just bleh.
I really really wanted this book to be good. I hate leaving bad reviews, but I also have to be honest. Just don't read this book. It's beauty is only skin deep.
Unfortunately, this book is the epitome of the saying, "don't judge a book by its cover"
The Midnight Dance has a lot of problems. Here are my top 3
1. The Exposition: there wasn't any???? I understand that the story was supposed to be confusing and mysterious, but this was amateur hour. The amount of things that didn't make sense was so crazy that the book doesn't get interesting for about 150 pages, which is halfway through this very short book.
2. The Characters: Mary Sue the girl who wants free and Handsome Love Interest the boy who wants to help her. This book also features several "this character is only in here for convenience's sake" characters. No one has any character arc.
3. The Plot: This story had a lot of potential. It kind of reminded me of Entwined by Heather Dixon but in ballet school, and that is one of my favorite books of all time. This book, however, does next to nothing with the twelve dancing princess vibes. The story basically ignores everyone but Penny and her quest to figure out what the heck is going on. Turns out it's bad stuff. She has to escape. This plot is not in any way new or inventive, and the worst part is it had so much potential. The depth wasn't there. It's just bleh.
I really really wanted this book to be good. I hate leaving bad reviews, but I also have to be honest. Just don't read this book. It's beauty is only skin deep.
spex's review against another edition
2.0
A slightly "steampunk"* historical mystery that quickly switches away from the ballet hook. After the first 1/3, there's not much boarding-school girl interaction, it becomes more about one woman's quest for the truth. A few Mary Sue elements, but I'd recommend to young mystery readers who want something a little different.
I received a free copy from NetGalley
*throw some gears on it
I received a free copy from NetGalley
*throw some gears on it
goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition
2.0
I received a copy of the book from Netgalley in partnership with the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book is not about ballet. I can’t stress that enough because I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover and the description that felt more coherent than the actual content of the book.
The choice of having the girls be ballerinas feels so arbitrary, “Master” could have been training them to be maids, assassins, prostitutes, and while the moral implications would be potentially more complicated, it would likely feel just as “background” as the rare glimpses of the ballet world.
There are two large matters at the center of the story: a boy with a bad leg who grows up to be hellbent on revenge and control (wtf) and a kind of cybernetics, “just go-with-it” mash-up of faux science and technology and animal/human integration, that could be steampunk because of the era, if it just didn’t feel so unapologetically incongruous.
Normally I try to avoid spoilers, especially for books that I want people to enjoy as the story unfolds in their own reading, but in this case, I feel like I got duped and I don’t want anyone else to get duped.
The biggest issue for me is that we’re meant to believe that a childhood of being taunted and teased by his sisters led the boy who would become “Master” to use the talents of his friend to not only replace his bad leg, mess with his sister’s head, but to eventually open up a ballet school with the specific intent of wiping the memories of orphaned or stolen girls and having a bunch of thoughtless marionettes. It’s a an interesting idea, but one I just don’t understand how we got from A-B. There’s also some strange loose ends that both me:
We never learn Bianca’s official fate- I think we’re meant to assume that she went with the master willingly because she had some physical handicap he fixed
The man we know as Beppe- dude can make people walk again and give them new lungs! And he got tricked into using his work for evil? Fine. But let’s give the man more than the cursory wrap-up that he got.
What was the master’s endgame? I kept reading because I assumed there would be a better explanation or long game as to what he wanted to accomplish, or what he wanted the girls for. But the reality was simply that he was a sick man with unattended mental issues, fixated on a wilful girl that he wanted to break. Still makes the whole world of the ballet program and the estate a bit confusing.
Overall, it was at least nice to spend time with a main character who acted with courage to save her friends, but a lot of the world felt superficial and overpopulated with the most mustache-twirling kind of villainy.
This book is not about ballet. I can’t stress that enough because I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover and the description that felt more coherent than the actual content of the book.
The choice of having the girls be ballerinas feels so arbitrary, “Master” could have been training them to be maids, assassins, prostitutes, and while the moral implications would be potentially more complicated, it would likely feel just as “background” as the rare glimpses of the ballet world.
There are two large matters at the center of the story: a boy with a bad leg who grows up to be hellbent on revenge and control (wtf) and a kind of cybernetics, “just go-with-it” mash-up of faux science and technology and animal/human integration, that could be steampunk because of the era, if it just didn’t feel so unapologetically incongruous.
Normally I try to avoid spoilers, especially for books that I want people to enjoy as the story unfolds in their own reading, but in this case, I feel like I got duped and I don’t want anyone else to get duped.
Spoiler
The biggest issue for me is that we’re meant to believe that a childhood of being taunted and teased by his sisters led the boy who would become “Master” to use the talents of his friend to not only replace his bad leg, mess with his sister’s head, but to eventually open up a ballet school with the specific intent of wiping the memories of orphaned or stolen girls and having a bunch of thoughtless marionettes. It’s a an interesting idea, but one I just don’t understand how we got from A-B. There’s also some strange loose ends that both me:
We never learn Bianca’s official fate- I think we’re meant to assume that she went with the master willingly because she had some physical handicap he fixed
The man we know as Beppe- dude can make people walk again and give them new lungs! And he got tricked into using his work for evil? Fine. But let’s give the man more than the cursory wrap-up that he got.
What was the master’s endgame? I kept reading because I assumed there would be a better explanation or long game as to what he wanted to accomplish, or what he wanted the girls for. But the reality was simply that he was a sick man with unattended mental issues, fixated on a wilful girl that he wanted to break. Still makes the whole world of the ballet program and the estate a bit confusing.
Overall, it was at least nice to spend time with a main character who acted with courage to save her friends, but a lot of the world felt superficial and overpopulated with the most mustache-twirling kind of villainy.
morganperks's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gjj274's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this book from Xpresso Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review.
This is the story of Penny who attends an elite boarding school in rural Italy with 11 other girls. This is the only life she has ever known and under the watchful eye of the mysterious master she is learning to become a great ballerina. Things seem to be going great for Penny until she starts remembering things. Memories of a past she doesn't recognise start to return and shes on a mission to uncover her secret past and find out just how she came to be in the life she is today. Throughout this novel we follow a duel timeline of then and now. We follow Penny's life in the estate and watch as the life that she knows begins to unravel. Alongside this we follow the story of Cirillo and watch who he becomes as he grows up. At first these timelines don't seem to have a direct link between each other however, as the story develops we see them merge together and this gives us a greater understanding of the events in the main story line.
Things happen very quickly in this novel. Its quite fast paced and a lot happens and develops in a short space of time. It was easy to keep up though as the author was quite clear in her writing and there was no fluff and this speed definitely helped to build up the suspense. When I first heard about this novel it was marketed as a contemporary, which isn't usually my thing. However, after reading the synopsis it felt as though there would be some mystery/suspense aspects and I was right. I would also go as far as to say there are some magical realism aspects too.
I really liked the writing style, I found it to be very mysterious. The author took us on a journey of Penny's existence and I felt invested in her story. The way we transitioned between Penny's current life and her memories was quite disconcerting which I really liked. This really helped us to experience just what things must of felt like for her. The author also did a good job of keeping up the air of mystery and suspense as we went through there were a couple of plot twists in the second half of the story, not massive ones, but enough to keep the story moving. Also twists that I didn't see coming which was great.
The characters were interesting too and fairly well developed. I liked Penny's personality, she was determined and resolved throughout the story. She always thought of others above herself and was resigned to saving everyone. I also really liked Cricket he was very sweet and was always looking out for others. I did find that Penny's sudden attraction to Cricket in the beginning was a bit off however, this is explained later on in the book and makes a lot of sense. Master on the other hand was a total master manipulator. His hold over the girls was very creepy and he is definitely up there in the great villain department.
Overall I found this story to be very mysterious and suspenseful, much more so than your usual contemporary. The reason I marked it down to 3.5* was that I found it difficult to get going again once I stopped reading however, once I was reading I found it hard to stop. It would be one I would recommend to people who love suspense and mystery.
This review can also be found on my blog at https://gemmasbooknook.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/blog-tour-review-midnight-dance-by.html
This is the story of Penny who attends an elite boarding school in rural Italy with 11 other girls. This is the only life she has ever known and under the watchful eye of the mysterious master she is learning to become a great ballerina. Things seem to be going great for Penny until she starts remembering things. Memories of a past she doesn't recognise start to return and shes on a mission to uncover her secret past and find out just how she came to be in the life she is today. Throughout this novel we follow a duel timeline of then and now. We follow Penny's life in the estate and watch as the life that she knows begins to unravel. Alongside this we follow the story of Cirillo and watch who he becomes as he grows up. At first these timelines don't seem to have a direct link between each other however, as the story develops we see them merge together and this gives us a greater understanding of the events in the main story line.
Things happen very quickly in this novel. Its quite fast paced and a lot happens and develops in a short space of time. It was easy to keep up though as the author was quite clear in her writing and there was no fluff and this speed definitely helped to build up the suspense. When I first heard about this novel it was marketed as a contemporary, which isn't usually my thing. However, after reading the synopsis it felt as though there would be some mystery/suspense aspects and I was right. I would also go as far as to say there are some magical realism aspects too.
I really liked the writing style, I found it to be very mysterious. The author took us on a journey of Penny's existence and I felt invested in her story. The way we transitioned between Penny's current life and her memories was quite disconcerting which I really liked. This really helped us to experience just what things must of felt like for her. The author also did a good job of keeping up the air of mystery and suspense as we went through there were a couple of plot twists in the second half of the story, not massive ones, but enough to keep the story moving. Also twists that I didn't see coming which was great.
The characters were interesting too and fairly well developed. I liked Penny's personality, she was determined and resolved throughout the story. She always thought of others above herself and was resigned to saving everyone. I also really liked Cricket he was very sweet and was always looking out for others. I did find that Penny's sudden attraction to Cricket in the beginning was a bit off however, this is explained later on in the book and makes a lot of sense. Master on the other hand was a total master manipulator. His hold over the girls was very creepy and he is definitely up there in the great villain department.
Overall I found this story to be very mysterious and suspenseful, much more so than your usual contemporary. The reason I marked it down to 3.5* was that I found it difficult to get going again once I stopped reading however, once I was reading I found it hard to stop. It would be one I would recommend to people who love suspense and mystery.
This review can also be found on my blog at https://gemmasbooknook.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/blog-tour-review-midnight-dance-by.html