Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an early copy to read and review. All of these thoughts are my own.

I want to start off by saying the book wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t good. I feel like the main character Grace literally had no personality. I feel like throughout the whole book she didn’t want to deal with her issues especially getting over the death of her mom and brother and she seemed borderline obsessed with her best friend. Yes, death is sad and you can grieve but literally the whole books, she whined about it. I also feel like it didn’t have much of a plot. It talked about death and sleep being against one another and then at the end death dies?? And then she becomes death?

It didn’t really make a lot of sense to me. I feel like this book should have been edited better as well. Someone should have tried to find a stronger plot, added more emotion to the characters, and stopped using fill in words. A lot of the wording in this book wasn’t even needed. I felt like needless words were just put into the book to make it longer. More thought should have went into this because I feel like the potential was good.

I liked the magical element it was trying to have. I liked the idea of death trying to find love with a mortal. I just didn’t really like much else about it. I mean them being ballerinas was cool and all but I just don’t think the story and everything that happened, went well together.

Thanks again for the review. 2.5 stars rounded to 3!

Dancing dreams come true but come with unexpected consequences in Nocturne by Alyssa Wees.

Grace’s life has been filled with various hardships and losses, but she’s still kept her dream of being a ballerina alive and after being orphaned she chooses to make a home for herself in the Near North Ballet Company in Chicago. Through years of training and catching up to be as skilled as the rest in the company, Grace is happily surprised by the bittersweet news when she becomes the new prima ballerina, taking over the role from her best friend who is leaving the company. But Grace’s dream comes with strings attached in the form of an enigmatic patron, Master La Rosa; bargains were struck on Grace’s behalf for her to live with Master La Rosa with a weekly midnight dance appointment with him, yet she will still dance with company in a new production. While within the walls of La Rosa’s house, she begins to pick away at the secrets he’s keeping to satiate her curiosity and discontent with being essentially trapped by his whims and, in doing so, discovers that darkness that frightens contains a beauty all its own, realizing that there may be another way to attain what she’s always sought.

Written with ample description in flowery language throughout the text, the basics of the story’s frame are presented with frequent forays in to memories of Grace’s past to fill out the narrative from the outset; once Grace’s position in the company is established and the relationships she has with the others outlined, a significant portion of the book is complete without progressing character beyond barest sketches and there’s not much action of note, leaving the entire book feeling like a rather expository attempt to combine other fabled tales. Once Noctem is introduced fascination for the fantastic, mythic aspects of the story was piqued, but there was a disappointing lack of development in this area and instead it was presented cursorily among a rather hazy blur of Grace’s practice and sleep; a further exploration of this realm, as well as fleshing out the dynamic and history between Death and Sleep, and how Grace factors in their interactions to more thoroughly address the underlying why of her involvement in their bargain, would likely have yielded a more interesting and satisfactory story.

Overall, I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nocturne is a story about a young ballerina that gains the prima position in the midst of losing her closest friend in the dance company. She also finds out she has a mysterious patron and their relationship remaining in good standing is the only thing keeping the company afloat. But, she doesn’t even know who he is.

The prose is described as lyrical in the description, but, for me, it was too much. Nocturne was very wordy when it didn’t really matter—it was wandering and lyrical for no real reason. I’m a big fan of lyrical prose when the prose packs a punch, but I didn’t get that from Nocturne.

I also didn’t like that Emilia was romanticizing Master La Rosa when they first find out about him. Grace is only, what, like 20? And if he knew her from her time on the streets and fell in love with her then (seven years ago) she would have been 13. That’s a hard no from me.

Some timing when Grace first arrives at the house is confusing. She says dinner and dancing is only on Sundays, but she slept through the first Sunday so she had to dine and dance on a day that wasn’t Sunday. Presumably a Wednesday, since it was the day before she went back to rehearsal and she says that there is only one more day before the weekend. The dining and dancing on a not Sunday and then her saying later that the dining room is only open on Sundays seemed weird to me.

The last 25% of the book was great! The pacing, the twists, the ending—they were all perfect. I’m glad I stuck with it because it turned out great, but I was hard to get through the first three quarters.


Thank you to NetGalley, Del Ray, and the author, Alyssa Wees, for the opportunity to read and review Nocturne. All thoughts and opinions are my own. It gets 3/5 stars from me. I would recommend Nocture to fans of Robin McKinley and Erin Morgenstern.

This book was a cross between a fairy tale and a nightmare. I was intrigued by the premise. Grace is an orphan who has been supporting herself as a ballerina during the depression. She longs for more in the world even though she has become the prima ballerina of the Near North Ballet. She is excited but afraid now that her best friend and the former prima, Emilia is leaving the company. Grace also needs to secure a patron for the ballet to make sure the company is successful. Only when a patron is secured Grace's life is going to change forever.

The writing is interesting in this book and not at all what I was expecting. It is a short read and flows quickly. However As I was reading the first third of the book I could not tell that it was a fantasy. When Grace finds her patron the book takes a dark turn and is full fantasy. I liked the beginning but honestly the book just got a little strange for me. I would recommend this for anyone looking for something different and unlike other novels.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m an absolute sucker for any kind of fairytale retelling and this felt like a cross between beauty and the beast and phantom of the opera to me. The writing in this is absolutely beautiful, and really set such a gorgeous scene of Chicago in the 30’s. As someone who danced most of their childhood that really resonated with me. I very much enjoyed this.

An enchanting and captivating retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with enough twists to keep the ending a revelation. The magic is set in 1930's Chicago, though the city is only a walk-on character, not integral to the plot. While I am not well versed in ballet, I assume the terms are being used correctly and a reader familiar them could better visualize the action and be even more drawn into the magic. Overall a very enjoyable read.

I really, really wanted to love this book, but in many ways, it fell flat for me. A Gothic "romance," <i>Nocturne</i> follows a (quite likeable!) protagonist named Grace Dragotta, a ballerina, who has captured the attention of a mysterious patron. I saw comparisons to The Phantom of the Opera, and I was ECSTATIC. Unfortunately, this did not end up offering the same draw to me.
To start, I can at least say that the prose was stunningly beautiful. There were so many sentences I had to stop and reread because they were written in such a beautiful manner. This was extremely atmospheric and found such a hauntingly beautiful setting in '30s Chicago. I could read prose like this for hours.
That said, the prose was the best thing about it to me. In fact, I DID read the prose for hours, and it felt like all I was really gaining from the novel was beautiful use of language but slow pacing and an underdeveloped plot.
The fact that the plot was slow isn't necessarily what deterred me from loving this; it's more that this book felt like it was entirely exposition, and I kept waiting to learn something more, something integral about these characters. I've finished this, and I still feel like I'm waiting for it to really pick up speed. The last 10% contains the bulk of the action, but it doesn't feel like the culmination of an entire novel should. Though part of me would be content to read the way Wees writes for hours on end, objectively too much page time was devoted to imagery and detail. I'm all for a slow read if the characters draw me in, but I don't think they were fleshed out enough.
I'm giving this three stars because, while it's not for me, this book is definitely not without merit. There is absolutely an audience for this book. There's so much about this to draw readers in that the weaknesses within this story don't make it undeserving of a chance.
Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I was very happy to see I had received this arc! Nocturne hit the spot for me. I’ve been craving a more classical kind of story, and I enjoyed reading Grace’s story. This is a quick read and sometimes I think I read too fast… in the middle especially, it’s easy to start skimming because the pacing feels slow and I was eager to get back into the action. But overall I really liked this and I think fans of Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera will love it!

In Nocturne, Alyssa Wees tells the story of a newly-appointed prima ballerina, Grace Dragotta, with a mysterious patron. Part ballet and part fantasy, Nocturne evokes at times the Hades/Persephone story, at times Beauty and the Beast, and at times Phantom of the Opera.

Wees writes with beautiful prose, and moments of Nocturne are very artful, but in the end, this novel focuses a lot on aesthetic without fully developing its character or story. There are pretty setpieces that lead to nothing, and the story includes many scenes that feel inexplicable. As a result, the characters do not feel fully realized. Ultimately, I think that Nocturne would have been better as a novella, where its mythic, fairytale qualities could be cut and polished to a brilliant shine. As a full-length novel, though, Nocturne gets lost in itself..

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for an advance readers copy of Nocturne. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine for the advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book had some strengths, but also a lot of weaknesses. The prose in this book was hauntingly beautiful. I have so many quotes underlined that I would love to share, just because of how beautifully it is written. I was completely immersed in the world and able to picture it in vivid detail. Not only was the world described, but the character's feelings and thoughts as well.

However, the writing was the only intriguing part of the book. The plot was unoriginal, an odd mix between Beauty and the Beast, Hades and Persephone, and Phantom of the Opera. The characters had no depth, which made it hard to care about what was happening to them. The romantic plot line fell flat, ironically the most unbelievable part of the magical world. It felt like the author wanted to just write beautiful descriptions, but pretty writing is not enough to make a book great.

i’m not sure how to rate this because it goes both ways for me. i feel like i kinda got increasingly uninterested during the second half, and i grew more disconnected from the story. i found myself skipping the incredibly descriptive paragraphs in this book. i don’t know if i’d say it was overwritten, because there still were some beautifully written sections in this ! i’m not sure if i’d consider this a beauty and the beast retelling, because it was like a mixture of so many different things. a bunch of random plot points started happing during the last 10% and also just so much happened during the second half. i felt like a lot was going on, and i wanted more of some characters and less of others. still, i enjoyed the themes and plot of this story. the beautiful cover drew me in as well as the description (ballet, magical realism, and just everything). it had darker themes than i thought it would, and i wasn’t as fond as the themes of death (plus the portrayal of death personified) and such in this book (also just the dude’s name being master la rosa, i don’t know why). overall, i would give this 2.5-3 stars. i could see someone else really enjoying this. this just wasn’t for me, and that’s okay !

thank you to netgalley and ballantine for providing me with an eARC of this book !!

When I saw the cover of this book, and read the description, I was over the moon. Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast are some of my absolute favorite classics. The cover of this book is beyond gorgeous. Unfortunately, there was something about the writing style that I just could not get into. And the overall story just didn't hold my attention. I'm a huge fan of all things macabre and bizarre so I'm not sure what exactly about the story was difficult for me to connect to. I really thought I was going to love this one to Death (pun intended) but it fell a little flat for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

The cover of the book and the synopsis caught my eye from the start. Such a beautiful cover! The story started out really strong and I loved the entire first half. The last half of the book just wasn't for me. I know many will love this story and all the twists. I still recommend it for fans of fantasy.

Nocturne by Alyssa Wees is a haunting, unique, lyrical fantasy.
I stayed up all night to finish this beautiful tale.
Nocturne totally blew me away. I seriously could not stop reading.
When I had to stop reading to adult, seep or eat, I thought about this book!
Atmospheric, a spellbinding story, and writing that was just completely captivating.
The setting, 1930’s set in Chicago was done amazingly, it was like I was standing there watching it all unfold right before my eyes!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own”

Random House, Ballantine & Dell,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, BookBub, B&N, Kobo and Waterstone closer to pub date.

An absolute stunning and hauntingly beautiful tale. I was blown away by the creativity of Alyssa Wees.

This book as being marketed as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, I think it needs to be looked at as its own story. I'd say it's more of a Beauty and the Beast inspired story than a true retelling. The writing style is gorgeous. The imagery it conjures is both dreamlike and haunting.

Our main character Grace has lived a tragic but fascinating life. The flashbacks of a childhood during the Great Depression mixed into a strange fairytale setting was one of my favorite aspects of the book. The combination of fantasy and historical is always a genre I like and I thought this was very well done.

As for the plot, I don't want to give too much away but one thing that really resonating with me was the theme of death throughout. It comes up in many different and unsuspecting ways. I can't say too much but the outlook on death was a refreshing one that we don't see to often in media and it really made me think about life and morality.

This book is for readers who enjoy dark fantasies and enchanting prose. And for any ballerinas out there as well!

Nocturne spoiler free review

“He is as handsome as a handful of snow melting in your hands, cold and shimmering, and as tall as a dream that goes on and on until morning.”

4/5⭐️’s

Firstly, I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Del Rey books for send me this eARC of Nocturne!

To me, there is nothing much more magical than a theatre and reading about this ballerina and her journey with Death and Sleep was SO magical. I definitely picked up some Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, and even a little bit of The Haunting of Hill House vibes. This story was eerie, magical, and romantic.

Something that I loved about this book is that the author took the time in the beginning of the story to really explain our MC and everything that she has been through. There were times that I was just so SAD. Finally, after all she has been through, our MC gets her big break, but at what cost?

Overall, this story was incredibly written. It was so lyrical and at times, I found myself having to take a break to ponder what I had just read and all that it meant. I would suggest this book to readers that are fans of eerie romances that will have you questioning what is going to happen next.

I received a copy of Nocturn from netgalley in return for an honest review.

A ballerina, a young woman who has spent her life as one of the cohort, dreaming of dancing her heart out as the prima ballerina, but not believing it will happen because even when whispers that her best friend (the current prima ballerina) is retiring as she knows there are other ballerinas that are technically better than her. Then a benefactor makes a large donation, and she finds out only as she’s whisked away that it’s in return for her going to live with him and dance a certain part of a ballet he created, and that everyone Sunday he wants to dance with her.

From there magic and love mix together and our ballerina finds herself falling in love while truly only wishing to continue practicing her art, whether it be the ballet she’s slowly through the years come to resent because of its rigidity but she’s learning to love again in the arms of The Master, or her violin that seems to give people near to her dreams of their death.

Personally, what I found myself drawn to was the lyrical way this book is written. I won’t write any quotes as the publisher asked any arc readers not to, and as the book is months away from release, I wouldn’t want to for fear it’d be changed, but honestly, I think that the lyrical way is perfect for the overall way that this book is written. It helps evoke the music that is supposed to be playing through the entirety of the scenes, and that I feel moves the main character.

Sometimes I’d stop reading and I felt like some of the scenes were still blowing through my head, parts of it still playing through my mind, words dancing to form scenes, and feelings of how she looked back on that moment in time. Those brief moments of joy, or of disgust, and the overwhelming moments where she just seemed to be stuck in melancholy.

I think it works with someone whose true loves were dancing, art, and expression through music, and playing the violin, creating music.

I honestly never really believed her love of The Master. She only really seemed to love him once he could offer her something she really wanted a chance to truly express herself through dancing instead of having to dance to someone else’s steps.

So, when I should have been biting my nails over the men, I was just irritated over both of them, and just wanted her to get her chance to truly express herself in her preferred method of art instead of being something to trick or beg.

But overall, while the story could seem a little slow, and the romance not that interesting to me, I did love the book, its lyrical quality, its exploration of character, and its reflection on art and what it can mean to someone. If that sounds interesting to you, I’d suggest looking into it, and keeping it in mind as it comes closer to the release date!

Not quite traditional reading fare for me, but every so often a fairy tale seems like a good idea. A very adult fairy tale, of course, in content, but still…
And so, this gothic adventure/romance made its way onto my reading list.
Nocturne is essentially a mash-up of The Phantom of the…Ballet, Beauty and The Beast, and the myth of Persephone.
It’s nicely done, magnetically narrated, and of course, as is de rigueur these days, with a strong feminist message. And a strong female protagonist to boot.
Young as she may be, Grace Dragotta has dreams and the drive to follow through on them. She wants to be a prima ballerina and soon, suspiciously soon, gets her chance, albeit under a patronage of a mysterious dark figure.
Soon she ends up living with him and slowly but surely unraveling his secrets, while engaging in a complex emotional web of ambitions and desires.
The tale borrows entirely too heavily from its inspirations, so it’s difficult to speculate upon its originality, but it’s clever about mixing and matching its elements, well rafted, and reads quite nicely. Entertaining enough for something different. Thanks Netgalley.

I've loved Alyssa Wees' lyrical style since reading The Waking Forest a few years ago. Nocturne was very reminiscent of The Waking Forest's eerie atmosphere, although the plot is completely different. Nevertheless, I really liked the way Wees blurred the lines of dreams and reality as well as past and present. This book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast to some extent, but the story of the Little Bird play is also included, which is an original story that ties in nicely with Beauty and the Beast.
I wasn't sure what to think of Master La Rosa at first, and it became clear that it wasn't supposed to be your basic love story. I think the ending, while somewhat open-ended in terms of Grace and Master La Rosa's relationship, was very fitting.
Even though I read this in August, I think it's the perfect wintry read. I really, really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more of the author's ethereal prose. 4.5/5 stars.

A solid 4 star book that kept me invested the entire way through. The pacing felt weird at some points but overall was not a big problem for me.