A review by shay23
Second Position by Katherine Locke

4.0

Full disclosure this is probably only the second or third New Adult book I've read. It's not my normal genre and age range but I'm a sucker for any kind of artsy storyline, including dancing, so as soon as it came through for Sunday Street Team I had to sign up for it. And I am so glad I did because I genuinely enjoyed this one.

The book follows Zed and Aly, two dancers and old best friends, four years after they stopped talking to each other. They used to be best friends and maybe something more, growing up dancing together, and then a car crash ruined it all. Leaving Zed minus a leg and Aly just as wounded in ways that can't easily be seen.

This book, first and foremost, is a love story. A story about second chances and giving yourself permission to love and be loved when you're not sure you deserve it. It's a story of passions and those passions being taken away; grief, loss, and dancing.

The love story is obviously between Zed and Aly, who both have their own demons to deal with and aren't really sure how to act around each other anymore. Everything is so familiar yet so very different because it's been four years and everything has changed. I liked both characters probably Aly most of all, and I loved that it was dual POVs so that we get to see both their sides and lives.

There is a lot of character development here, especially when it comes to Aly. I kind of hated her at first, but she grows up so much and she has so much stuff she's dealing with, but she never hides the fact that she's falling apart and she learns to be strong again in her own way, always holding on to dance even if that's what hurt her in the first place. I did love Zed too, but at points he felt the opposite, not like he was growing but...reverting. And he was a straight up asshat at parts and just made me so angry.

They have a slightly tragic love story and the author does a really good job of keeping you rooting for them because it's just SO OBVIOUS THAT THEY BELONG TOGETHER. Another thing I loved about this book is that there is some seriously good writing in it, very quotable and I would quote some of it but, you know, it's an ARC and I'm lazy. But at the same time, while there's epic quotable writing, sometimes it gets too wordy and some of the meaning gets a little lost.

All the stuff about dancing was probably the best, it made me wish I was a dancer so badly and you could really tell that the author knows what she's talking about. I loved Aly's love for dance and how it was the only thing she knew was true about herself: that she's a dancer.

Overall: I really enjoyed this book. Yes it's New Adult but it's not all about sex and drugs like some of the previous ones I've read, it's very much just about finding yourself, saving yourself and learning to move on after a tragedy you never expected to face. With stellar writing and pretty amazing characters, I'd definitely recommend it to any New Adult readers.

Would I Recommend This? Yes.
To Whom? New Adult fans
Will I read more from this author(or series)? Probably.