I grab my backpack and consider telling her the truth. That the books don’t feel like they belong to me anymore. That love stories are like fairytales: you’re not meant to believe in them forever.

Instructions for Dancing (From ARC, quotes may have changed in publication copy)

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Children’s, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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?

I loved The Sun is Also a Star, so when I saw that Yoon was coming out with a ballroom dancing story, I just knew I had to read it, and it did not disappoint. Once again, Nicola Yoon has surprised me with another unexpected take on a romance story.

Instructions for Dancing follows Evie, a high school senior who gives up on love after her dad left her mom for another woman. She knows where love leads: an inevitable broken heart. And after she’s given a copy of a book on ballroom dancing, she gains an ability that confirms her suspicions. Every time she sees a couple kiss, she has a vision of their entire relationship from beginning to end. These visions don’t change Evie’s opinion on love, but when she follows the trail of the power-giving book to a dance studio, she meets someone who may be able to change her mind: X. 

While on the surface, this may seem like just a love story, it is so much more than that. It’s an emotional, heart-wrenching, beautifully-written tale of the importance of love. Yes, all things end, even love, but it’s not the ending that matters. When it comes to love, the only thing that matters is that it was there at all, and I loved watching Evie come to that realization. She was so closed off at the beginning, so jaded and controlled. But then X enters her life, and he’s the opposite. He’s a free spirit. He goes with the flow and takes risks. Bust despite their differences, they have great chemistry and fit really well together.

I loved so many other things about this book, but it’s hard to go into them without spoiling the ending, which was the most powerful part of the book. It definitely secured Nicola Yoon a spot on my “auto-buy” authors list. What I can say is this: if you’re looking for a book with great, diverse characterization, immersive descriptions of ballroom dancing, a little magical realism, and that will give you all the feels, look no further than Instructions for Dancing.