I was interested in this book because my daughter danced for many years growing up. Starting in third grade my daughter was noticed for her dance ability outside the small dance studio she attended. That brought us to BalletMet Academy where she danced for many years and the academy fed into the BaletMet Dance company. This meant the academy students were able to audition for roles in performances such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. We loved watching her dance and like Lindsay in the book she might not have always had the exact technique but she came alive on stage. While reading this book I couldn’t help but reflect on my daughter’s days with BalletMet.

About the book
Delphine dances for an academy that feeds into a POB, Paris Ballet. Her mother was a star with the company for many years. Despite Delphine’s physical shortcomings she was admitted into the academy. Her best friend was Margaux and later Lindsay came along from America and the three of them were inseparable.

Their personalities were very different but all three of them shared the goal of wanting to climb the ranks of the academy. When there are only two slots open for the soloist spot their competitive side rears it’s ugly head and things become more sinister. The story is told in a dual timeline. In the opening scenes we see Delphine 13 years after she left Paris to pursue a career as a choreographer and to marry a Russian choreographer. She had returned to POB this time as a choreographer. She wants to make up for mistakes she made in the past but much has changed since she left and not everyone is excited that she is back. Three lives will be changed forever with Delphine’s return as well as the future of POB.

The other timeline we see is when the girls were growing up and dancing for POB together. We seet their bond and the events that test their friendship. This book deals a lot with women finding their place in the ballet world amongst men and having control over their own bodies. It also has to do with ambition and the lengths we have to go to especially as women to be taken seriously. This book is about ballet but there are many more layers such as the female friendships, women having control of their own body, and finding their voice in a world where males primarily dominate.

The Ballerinas is a story of female friendship. Delphine Leger and her friends share a deep and troubling secret. Delphine left the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg only to return several years later. She hopes this will be a new chapter in her life but she soon learns secrets never stay buried.

This book was fine. It was a little confusing with all the time jumps but the characters were interesting enough to hold my attention. The mystery was compelling and while the plot flowed in a lot of different directions overall this was a decent read.

My apologies for getting to this one a bit late - but wow. I really enjoyed it.

While I don't think it is quite a thriller, it definitely has an aura of suspense. I love reading about the cutthroat world of competitive ballet. There truly is something so sinister about training with these people together - but, at the end of the day, knowing they are your competition.

While it was a bit slow at times, I loved how detailed this story was. Just when you thought you uncovered the climax or the twist, there was more ahead. And that ending!

Overall, this was a slower, but so gratifying story that I wish got more hype!

Overall great story idea. Enjoyed looking into a ballerina's life. Enjoyed the complexities each individual character dealt with and the relationships between them - their internal struggle. With that said, I didn't like any of the characters, with the exception of Stella, and I felt that there was no maturity/growth for any by the end of the book. It felt like the story was leading there the whole time, but the characters never quite got there.
I took off stars because the beginning, middle, and end themes did not match up. The start felt like it was introduced as a mystery thriller - a ballerina rivalry. I was anxiously waiting for the big reveal. The reveal fell flat. Did not live up to what it was built up to be in the beginning. I actually was so underwhelmed that it almost made me stop listening.
Then the whole back and forth between past and present led no where. As it was happening I thought it was going to lead up to something bigger, but like the big reveal, although informative and somewhat interesting, really it was just a deeper insight into Delphine's life.
And then ending... well, I thought it went too far into the "huh, well that just happened" and was a little too random.
Great narration.
Loved the cover. Totally what drew me in.

I was excited to pick up this book because I like books with strong women characters set in Paris and with some twists and turns. At times, the writing pulled me in and I could visualize the scene and the city. Other times, I felt myself plodding through the book and it took me awhile to finish it because I would lose interest along the way. Part of the reason for this is not only are all the male characters extremely unlikeable and/or abusive, I realized I did not really care for any of the women characters either. So sometimes I was pulled in with empathy, identifying with the characters but in the end felt I did not really care what happens to them. There were many points in the book where the suspense builds for a big unveil but then I wasn't certain if that was supposed to be the big twist or if there were others -- in the end, I was not fully satisfied but do want to say there were beautiful passages within the book even if it did not all hang together for me.

At first, I was not sure exactly what I was reading but I was willing to give it a try. Boy did this book bring a surprise as I continued to read it. This is a story about a woman and how she moves through her life that includes family drama and some mental abuse from teachers, peers, and the ballet world. With all this, the story shows the depth of friendship and how in the end it all comes together. Even though it at times is a little slow give this story a chance especially if you are looking for a women’s fiction story.

Thank you @stmartinspress, @netgalley, @booksparks and @rachelkapelkedale for this gifted book for an honest review. My reading buddy and I both enjoyed the book.

Review of The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This was a really interesting read for me. I am fascinated by the dance world so I’m always willing to check out books related to it. The characters in this one were borderline toxic (with a few crossing the one past borderline) and the drama was booming. It was not as suspenseful as I was hoping and I wouldn’t classify is as a thriller.

Quick synopsis: Delphine has grown up in Paris and danced with her two best friends Margaux and Lindsay. The dance school is extremely competitive but they make it through and become company members together. Then the competition gets even more serious. Delphine has a secret she is struggling with and decides to move to a Russia with her lover, a choreographer who came to Paris. There she takes up choreography herself and in the present day has returned to Paris to choreograph a new show but also to renew her friendships. But she finds everything snd everyone much changed since her departure.

We had a great buddy read discussion about this one yesterday. This looks book is another in #theyearofnetgalley challenge for me! Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the copy of this one.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Rachel Kapelke-Dale for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

A trio of ballerinas met as a students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. She became close friends and keep this friendship though years of school, performances and long distance as one of them took a placing in St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre as a choreographer. Many years later, they reunite in Paris and live through another tragedy that bonds them together even more than their past.

Rachel Kapelke-Dale raises awareness about the ballet as a cruel discipline, about the place of men and women, about their power and what is happening when nobody sees, how sexist and how elite the whole establishment is. The relationship between powerful people (directors, board, etc) and dancers, friendship and betrayal, love and hate - the ballet is a little world within the whole world with its own rulers, benefactors and victims.

I think the message that the author tried to relay is powerful and very important. I have never thought about the issues she mentioned within a ballet world. What I saw was a perfect picture of the stage, performance, but I have never gave a though what was underneath all that. For making me ask questions and listen - I am eternally grateful to Rachel Kapelke-Dale.

Character-wise I think the author did a decent job, the girls came alive through pages, they lived and laughed, did some trouble and then payed for it. They seemed real - I could easily imagine this trio in any school. Plot-wise it was ok, with flashbacks and present narration the story built itself to be quite solid and interesting. I can't say I was always super engaged with it, it was just fine.

I am looking forward to read more work by Rachel Kapelke-Dale.

This is a book about more than ballerinas. It's about friends, secrets, and how powerful time can be.

The book wasn't extremely surprising, but it was entertaining none-the-less. We've all heard the stories of what ballerinas are willing to do to be the best. The women in this book are no different. Things are never the same when you return home. You cannot visit the past, but the past is always applicable in the present. I think this is painfully obvious in this book. I enjoyed the characters as well as the plot twist. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

If you enjoy dancing and dark books, this is perfect for you.

I loved this fast-paced psychological thriller. Kapelke-Dale sheds a light on the world of professional dance and uncovers the ugliness behind the tulle and satin. Elite performers exist in another plane, single-minded and selfish to the outside world, but the author made the women relatable. She explores the dark side of ambition, the complexity of female friendship, and the power struggle between men and women. My only quibble with the book was the in the dramatic climax at the end—it was a bit over the top. But it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of this absorbing read!

I enjoy a well written book about the arts. When I saw the ballerinas on the cover I just knew I had to pick it up. This is my first by this author and she did not disappoint. I enjoyed the storyline and the character development. Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this - it was like a "what if the girls from Center Stage continued on with their careers" book haha. I listened to the audiobook and found it easy to keep up with the back and forth timelines. I was interested in each girl and their individual problems and I really enjoyed seeing how a prestigious company would handle a #metoo scandal.

I also liked the additional layering of how men see women as objects, even when they appear to be respectful of their careers. Sure, not all men are like that, but I find it highly believable that Jack, Daniel & Dimitri would think of their own egos and wants before any woman's. (Sorry if I'm misspelling any character names. No idea since I listened to the audiobook.)

I was also satisfied with the ending - it was somehow all wrapped up and somehow not, and yet, that was totally fine. I liked that through it all, the good and the bad, Delphine, Lindsay, and Margeaux continued to really see each other.

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did but I really did. It was an informative look into the world of ballerinas, and while every character had major flaws that stuck out, everyone was memorable in their own way. The dual timelines provided insight into the character developments of the main characters, particularly Delphine, the narrator of the story. The ending threw me off a great deal, though, and there were some parts of the books that felt more unrealistic, particularly in the last 3-4 chapters of the book that didn't leave a great taste in the mouth but I still would recommend this book to others. You'd enjoy this if you're a ballet-enthusiast, if you enjoy settings in Paris, and character-driven books on complexity of long-term female friendships.

The Ballerinas was my first book by this author, and I definitely recommend it! It was difficult to put down and I stayed up way too late to keep reading.

The Ballerinas was one of my most anticipated reads of the year ever since I saw the ballerinas on the cover when it became available on Netgalley. I was super excited to have received a copy from BookSparks! I will say, I loved the imagery of Paris an The Paris Opera Ballet throughout the book. The author has a way of making you feel like you're in the studio, on the stage and dancing in the book. The challenges Delphine, Margaux and Lindsay face are all too real and represent the real issues in the dance world. I liked how the characters were written and the back and forth between the timelines worked for me and added to the dimension of the book. I REALLY wanted to absolutely fall in love with this book but in the end I found it a bit predictable. Maybe that's because I was a ballerina myself and I know all too well the types of scandals and horrors that happen in the ballet world? I'd still recommend this book I'm just not sure what genre I would have it fall under.

Everything beautiful has an ugly side.

Delphine has long since moved on from her ballet dancing career, preferring to bring her ideas to life rather than embodying someone else's. She jumps at the chance to return to the Paris Opera Ballet as a choreographer, ready to be independent after working closely with her ex-boyfriend in Russia. Reunited with her best friends Margaux and Lindsay, Delphine can't help but feel awkward and out of place, crushed under the weight of a secret that could ruin them. The ballet company swells with secrets, tensions, competition and the darker side of the industry. Greatness comes with a price, and losing it could cost them everything.
I chose to read this eARC and listen to the audiobook at the same time. I really loved reading about the ballet dancing and imagining it in my mind. I have always had an appreciation for the beauty of ballet, despite knowing that the performing arts industry harbours a hidden darkness. The characters in this story were passionate and driven, and I felt they were very well portrayed. Ell Potter was the narrator for this audiobook and I found her voice very soothing and relaxing. I liked how she changed her voice for different characters and how perfectly the voices went with their personalities. I really appreciated this novel's strong messages about female empowerment, strength, friendship, and forgiveness. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys powerful women's fiction.

This one was a tough one to rate..it truly is a 3.5, and I imagine if you love ballet, it would be even higher.

This was written BEAUTIFULLY. Even as someone who isn't into ballet, I felt myself immersed into this culture and never felt like I didn't understand what was happening because the author did such a great job of going over it all...BUT that also meant that I really felt like the first 40% of the book was nothing but ballet talk-plot development for sure, but I kept questioning myself...okay, how is this a mystery-how is this a thriller? Then you hit about 60% in the book and everything starts to unravel. It almost felt like it was two separate books. But I did enjoy that last 40% of it and that's what led me to put my rating right in the middle.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy of this book for an honest review.

I loved the ballet aspect of the story and I was fine with the unlikeable characters because I expected them to be unlikeable. However, this book has so much crazy drama in it that I just wanted it to end. Way too much of a rollercoaster ride of drama. However, even though this book was quite for me, I would recommend to fans who like their books heavy on the drama that's a bit over-the-top!

This was not my cup of tea despite the description having me think it was right up my alley. I came in expecting a thriller in the ballet world, but it was a rather convoluted story with minimal thrills. I found this to be a bit boring at times, which was 50-75 pages longer than it needed to be. It was alright, but I didn’t really enjoy this one. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting book. I was drawn in by the premise of students at the Paris Opera Ballet, but it very quickly felt like a soap opera. If something dramatic could happen, it did. It wasn't for me, but I do think that there are definitely people who would enjoy it!