This was a beautiful but heart-breaking novel. Sparrow is a talented ballerina with a difficult past who becomes the victim of a violent assault at the hands of her abusive boyfriend. The story follows Sparrow both before and after the attack as she struggles to rebuild her life as well as following the perspective of her best friend and dance partner Lucas who secretly adores her.
Despite the difficult subject matter I found the book addictive and very readable due to the writing style and I fell in love with the characters of Lucas and Sparrow and with their family and friends. I don’t read many contemporary books and I was only drawn to this because the main character was a ballerina – now I intend to read more books like this as I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.
E-Arc received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Number of Pages: 368
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Tor Teen
Age Range: Teen
Book theme: Dating & Sex
Author: Mary Cecilia Jackson
Language: English
Street Date: March 17, 2020

In the tradition of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, Mary Cecilia Jackson's devastating but hopeful YA debut is about a ballerina who finds the courage to confront the abuse that haunts her past and threatens her future.

A strong and gripping story told by different people. Savannah Darcy Rose, Sparrow to her friends, a young girl with tragedy in her life from a young age is a promising ballerina. Ballerinas must hold in the pain and not show it and so must young girls with abusive mothers. Sparrow has always held everything in, hidden away from her family and best of friends. Lucas is her dance partner and knows her best but he can’t even make her acknowledge that Tristan is not a good boyfriend. Sparrows story is told, but from her side she is not telling you everything from the beginning. Lucas tells you what he sees and what he feels.
Can Sparrow find a way to tell her story after such tragedy?