WOW. We need more of these titles. My students clamor for content that actually speaks to who they are and what they care about, but it's as if the industry sees Own Voices as a niche market instead of the reality for so many readers.

I think this story had a lot of potential. Naomi is a ballet dancer and is struggling after the sudden death of her best friend Jessica. She starts seeing her everywhere her grief mentally creates a version of Jessica that pushes her to the brink and she ends up injuring herself. We are also introduced to Saint who lives in a different world than Naomi, struggling to make ends meet with a father who is terminally sick.

The story takes us on a journal with both characters battling grief and coming of age. Saint shows Naomi a world she's never known because she's been kept in her ballet bubble for so long. Naomi gives him the real support he has been needing.

The flow of the book wasn't easy and at times felt disjointed. A lot of things felt unfinished to me. The latter half of the book really picked up and it was a strong finish.

**Thank you to Wattpad Books for this ARC in exchange for this review**

Our primary character, Naomi, is a Black teenage ballet dancer who is plagued by visions of her best friend who died after being struck by a car right in front of her. This book's narrative tackles a lot of topics like race in the arts, colorism, racism, class inequalities, infidelity, parental conflict, self harming, mental health, suicide, death of a parent, etc. Loved the author's skill to dive for so many things in just one book

Naomi and Jessica are best friends and thick as thieves, until a freak accident causes Jessica's demise. Naomi is not only forced to continue dancing with out Jessica, Her teacher assigns a dance to her that causes her to rethink if dancing is even right for her. She meets Saint, who has a boat load of issues that he has to deal with, and they both become friends and confidants and are trying to make sense of what is going on in their individual lives.

Not too many YA stories tug at my heart strings like this one did. It was such a beautiful and emotional read. It highlights what some people struggling with grief deal with, as well as some of their thoughts. I was spellbound and captivated from the very beginning and well until the end of the story and beyond. I still sometimes have the characters and story swirling around in my head. This was a dazzling and compelling read.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions.

I don’t have much to say by way of review for this one. It was okay. Overall not groundbreaking but an enjoyable read.

Our main character, Naomi, is a Black teenaged ballet dancer, haunted by the spector of her best friend who died after being hit by a car before Naomi's very eyes. This book packs a *lot* of issues into one story line... Race in the arts, colorism, racism, class inequalities, infidelity, parental conflict, self harming, mental health, suicide, death of a parent, etc, and while the author seems to intend that Naomi and Saint be supporting characters to each other, the truth is that they each simply use the other to escape their own painful situations. This book had promise, but the pacing felt uneven to me, and the story line had a lot of heavy lifting to do, given all of the intense topics.

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley for this opportunity.
#UntilWeBreak

Until we break shares the struggles of grief and pushing yourself to the limit. Jessica and Naomi are two friends who both dance in Ballet. One day Jessica dies in a freak accident and it send Naomi world crumbling as she saw the accident right in front of her eyes. When Naomi returns to Ballet she is given the lead part that was originally Jessica's. While practicing one day she meets a boy name Saint who has problems of his own. They start to hang out which allows them to not think about what is truly going on in their lives.

Until we break was a good story to understand how people push themselves through grief and how some kids have to grow up faster than expected. I did like the story I just felt that some part were missing and some were weird. Jessica came back as a Ghost that only Naomi could see and they were able to fight and talk to each other. Also the typical the boy is trouble and you don't need to be around him trope was there. I do feel like the ending was like for you to create your own thoughts but that could be a bad thing.

Overall good debut novel.

<b><i>Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.</i></b>

<i>This review contains spoilers</i>

<i>Until We Break</i> by Matthew Dawkins is a story about loss, grief, and struggle, and the two teenagers who are far too young for these experiences. Specifically through Naomi, we get the unique perspective of the raw teenage experience of grief and loss, presenting itself in the ghost/hallucination of Naomi’s best friend. Naomi’s journey with grief and guilt is intertwined with ballet, something that connect her to Jessica. Her hallucination of Jessica pushes her to the point of injury, leaving her unable to dance for a certain time. It seems the injury snaps something in Naomi as hallucination-Jessica never appears again and acknowledges that it was her mind playing tricks on her. She finally visits her friend’s grave and it seems to be a turning point for Naomi’s grieving process. The injury also gives time for Naomi to question whether ballet is what she really wants to do, as she gallivants around town with Saint. There is never any clear indication it is what she wants. She goes back into training almost grudgingly, shows no passion for it, and even at the very end it’s unclear to me whether it’s what she really wants to do even as she continues to pursue it.

As for Saint, he is obviously a deuteragonist to Naomi’s protagonist rather than an equal main. As such the parts in his perspective, that were few and far between, seem out of place. They were there to tell the audience about Saint, parts of him that wouldn’t be shown through Naomi, but they didn’t really further his story. In fact, he barely seemed to have a story. Even the big climactic moment that was meant to center around him had more of an impact on Naomi’s narrative. By the end, his story does not come full circle or move forward, it’s almost exactly as it once had been, except now Naomi has promised to be there for him. Even though Naomi and Saint’s time together was as much of an escape for him as it was for Naomi, it’s clear that Saint’s purpose as a character is to further along Naomi’s storyline. Which would be fine if we weren’t given parts with his perspective or even presented in such a way that he would be a main character as well.

Overall, this book was not for me. 3 stars.

An authentic teen voice. The pressure of dance, family, and relationships . Not sure about the ending - but I do like it open-ended so I can imagine what happens. I look forward to more by the author!
Thank you Netgalley and much appreciation to the author

I loved the premise of the book. It had great potential to go a little further. While I liked the story a bit it wasn't one of my faves. I just wouldn't rec to a book club but maybe works great for some.

Until We Break started very strangely, but ended strong.

Naomi is an elite ballet dancer. She is working night and day to prepare for the Grand Prix, where representatives from the top ballet schools will see her dance and hopefully offer her a spot.

But Naomi also is grieving. Her best friend Jessica, the only other black student at her ballet studio, died right in front of her as they were walking down the street. Now Naomi has been offered a solo at the Grand Prix that Jessica had planned to dance, the White Swan in Swan Lake, and Jessica is in her head (and her room and everywhere else) telling her she's not good enough and needs to keep practicing.

One night, when she is dancing late at night at the theater, Saint wonders in. Saint is taking care of his younger brother and his dad, who is dying but refuses to stop smoking. Sometimes he goes walking in the middle of the night just to get a break. When he sees Naomi dancing, he is entranced by how she uses her body to tell the story. He uses art to cope with his stressful life, so he draws her over and over again.

Saint and Naomi eventually become friends, and go on adventures to find the life in their city, but never share all of their lives with each other until it is too late.

<spoiler>There is a lot that is good in this story. But the book begins with Jessica literally haunting Naomi, then about 1/3 of the way through, that stops. I thought I had picked up a horror book to begin with, to be honest. So much of the book doesn't feel realistic and perhaps a bit stereotypical (rich black girl meets street-wise and soulful poor black boy, they spend time together behind her parents' back, when parents find out, they tell the boy to stay away and tell the girl to pick better friends, and so on). </spoiler>

Despite its flaws, this is a decent book. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Behind the scenes of grace and beauty lurks a gruelling orchestration of competition, dedication, and pain that no dancer can escape. The infusion of ballet and artistry, and the glimpse into the inner workings that Dawkins presented with Naomi and Saint’s contrasting roles was hard hitting and raw, and an element of storytelling that I enjoyed immensely. The role of Jessica especially was a favourite in the way she echoed the dark and self-depreciating thoughts of Naomi - a dancer under pressure to be the best, no matter the cost. And boy did it come at a cost!

Dawkins has crafted with an authentic teen voice as these characters grappled with loss, grief, and a world that sought to contain them. Each of their perspectives were presented with an equal honesty and conviction, and the challenges each faced, and the growth they exhibited was thought out and clear, the swift friendship formed between the cracks providing a great tool of support and enlightenment.

While this story was told largely from the third person perspective of Naomi and Saint, there were several instances in which a scene would jump to an alternating perspective for a few moments before switching back to the leads. Unfortunately this was a letdown for me as it was a little disruptive and inconsistent with its sudden transitions that contributed little of necessity to the scenes. Otherwise, I appreciated the perspectives portrayed and the messages they were able to convey.

Matthew Dawkins craft is raw, the voice with which he speaks convicting as he delivers hard hitting messages the world needs to hear. For an intensive read about fighting to find your place in the world and what it means to break - and life on the other side of this - I cannot recommend Until We Break enough. [3.5⭐️]

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the advanced copy of this read.

This story had a lot of potential and there are a lot of good aspects to it but there are just as many disappointing aspects as well. I really loved what the story was striving for but the execution made this story just okay instead of really great.

Having done so many ballet classes until I was a teen and being one of the few people who weren't white, this story does touch on a very real reality that ballet is a competitive and very white centric sport/dance. It really brought me back to the days where we had to practice for shows and how intense everything could be. That aspect rung very true and I felt it was well done in the story.

I haven't read even the summary of the story since I had chosen this story on a whim but the fact that the main character's best friend being dead the whole time really caught me off guard and there was little lead up to it. I think there was only one instance of hunting but I felt there could've been some more. I had genuinely thought she was alive the whole time and was just a really awful person. She was such a huge focus, that the main character's mother was just a background character. I didn't expect the mother to have a larger role in the story and when she did, it made the story feel disjointed.

The mother seemed way more supportive in the beginning and almost seemed like she was willing to let the main character stop her ballet classes when things were getting too rough, like an emotional support character but took a 180 turn. If it was established earlier on that the main character's insecurities and want to be in ballet was derived from her mother rather than herself then I think this progression would've been more natural.

The writing is also really confusing. Not in the way of the vocabulary but rather the type of perspective the author had decided to write in. There are a few chapters where the perspectives jump between the characters in the span of a few paragraphs rather than the established breaking of chapters or chapters themselves which is very jarring and breaks the reader's retention.

I like the internal conflict that the main character was experiencing but I felt it could've been enhanced more if it reflected the external conflict more via reaction from what someone has said or the other main character's story paralleling hers more. The two main character's plots don't have enough contrast to really bring out each other's development but they don't have enough similarities to enhance either.

That being said, I found the story to be enjoyable to read despite some of its downsides and I'll reccomend it if customers need a good ballet story for a teen.

Until We Break is the kind of story I love to see. The leads were interesting and I am an absolute sucker for ballet related stories but unfortunately the writing was very far from what I typically read and brought me out of the story repeatedly.

The writing in this book was really superb! But I wasn't sure where this was going.
I thought with all Naomi had been through that she was planning to leave ballet. I'm not trying to give anything away, I just wasn't sure where this would end up.
Naomi is learning a lot about herself as she goes through losing a friend & then being injured.
It's a good read.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

This debut follows a young Black teen at a ballet academy academy .Naomi Morgan deals with the pressure of ballet, blossoming a new relationship with a boy name Saint , and having a hard time with her parents . It was okay.