This book was so overdescriptive and overwritten it was exhausting.

I'm sorry to say, but someone must've kindly told the writer, who has a degree in English, that her prose is so overwrought it's ridiculous, surely? When I first tried her work, I found hers was the purplest prose I had ever read since some French classics, and that she had neglected characterisation and plotting in favour of being so absorbed in finding the next precious words to string together. In Nocturne, Wees has hardly improved on the pretentiousness or the purple.

The first thing you notice is the propensity for using a dozen words where one would suffice and needless wanderings that add nothing to the plot, and that the author overdescribes everything from the colour of the sky to a character's retching to the appearance of snow on a coat, and what's worse, can't create an emotion without going all purple prose and telling us everything about it, with analogies and metaphors that make you feel annoyed for how shallow they are and leaving you with the impression of a whiny main character that can only think of every single thing that crosses her head or her field of vision as if she's some addict to hallucinogens that absolutely has to describe every single little detail. And she comes off as empty, with no depth, no personality. A blank canvas to pour lovely-sounding but ultimately superfluous phrases over. Grace Dragotta has the quality of a receptacle mixed with a human camera.

Then, whilst you're wading through that purple prose mudlake all huffing and puffing, you try to make sense of the plot, which suffers from authorial lack of focus. What is the story here, really? What does this story want to be? I don't know, and I wonder if the author does, too. At first, it looks like Beauty and the Beast, but then all this has of B&B is Grace's imaginings about her patron being a "beast" and a "monster," and him being called La Rosa ("the rose"), which is too thin to be B&B. Is this Phantom of the Opera? It would appear so from the mysterious patronage for a talented artist, but then it's clear that La Rosa is no Erik and Grace is no Christine. She's not been chosen because he is a great connoisseur of ballet that wants to help an unsung talent shine, and she doesn't have an exceptional talent either. So, what is this?

Is this Hades and Persephone? It would make sense, it does make sense as such, what with the Underworld and the kidnapping and the souls, but then this male lead is... how to put it, Death that can be killed. Does that make sense? No. Then, is this Death and the Maiden? Gotcha! You think you've finally hit on the plot driving this... and then there's Death's brother and his love and something about souls needing a guide that can dance and sing them to their proper places in the afterlife and Grace killing Death to become Eternal Life... Are you there still? Have you understood? I haven't, either.

So, this isn't Beauty and the Beast, isn't Phantom of the Opera, isn't Hades and Persephone, and isn't Death and the Maiden. It's shreds of all of them ripped off and sewn together to form a quilt your dog would be offended to be offered to chew on. This has no coherence at all, no goal, no sense, no story to tell. Which is most likely why it's so overdescriptive and overwritten and why all the early reviewers strenuously zoom-in on the lush prose. If all you want is pretty words and no plot, then this is for you.

But not for me. I wanted a story, not to be treated to Alyssa Wees' command of the dictionary or any frustrated poet dreams she may have. I wanted to know Grace, which started interesting enough as an orphan girl in Chicago's Little Italy and ended up being a stereotype of Italians and ballerinas alike. I wanted to see her struggle due to the tragedies that took away her brother and her mother and left her to live off of playing violin in the streets, but we hardly get a few lines of that before she walks into a ballet rehearsal like a sleepwalker and the ballet instructor immediately adopts her and teaches her ballet for no reason at all. Everything is so extremely easy for Grace it defies believability. Nobody threatens her as a homeless child, nobody tries to take advantage of her innocence, everyone just adopts her instantly, and the only people who don't like her is the other ballerina that's her rival for the Prima Ballerina position. Even her patron makes it so easy for her: she's not the best dancer, Emilia is, Beatrice is also implied to be better, but Grace is selected to be the Prima Ballerina because her patron said so. We never see any hints of Grace's talent if any before Mistress bestows on her the title of Prima Ballerina Assoluta, which in real life is so rare only a few ballerinas have got it after a lifetime of dancing, but Grace gets it at merely seven years as a dancer?

The relationship between La Rosa and Grace, that would make for a good Death and the Maiden plot if it had been done well, is also strange. La Rosa doesn't kidnap her, or rather buy her like some expensive pet, because she's a great ballerina, doesn't kidnap her because she's beautiful, doesn't kidnap her because she has an arresting personality. No, he is obsessed with her death. Oh? Death is obsessed with her death, does that mean Grace's death is somehow so very beautiful in a macabre sense or something? No. Death is in love with Grace keeping her death in her heart, because apparently everyone else keeps theirs elsewhere! How does this ever make sense, I'll never know. And then, she ends up killing him, which makes even less sense. I mean, he's Death incarnate! He's not a Koschei the Deathless, who was ultimately a sorcerer that could be killed. He's Death, but somehow he can die. How do you even kill Death itself unless you are God? I'm getting a headache trying to make sense of this mess.

I found Death's brother more interesting, and wish his story with Catherine had more page time instead of being merely filler and a way to serve the heroine's nonsensically manic finale. I can't even describe that ending, not because of spoilers, but because of how utterly overdone and confusing it is. Suffice to say I won't recommend this book to anyone.

Rating: 3.75/5 Stars

Grace is finally getting what she's dreamed of, becoming the prima ballerina in her company, but when she meets her mysterious new patron, she discovers there is more to this world than meets the eye.

This story felt like a fairytale. The author's imagery was absolutely delightful! It kept drawing me deeper and deeper into Grace's story. And I definitely did not see some of the twists coming at the end.

I really enjoyed the characters, especially Grace and her friend Emilia. I loved watching Grace learn how to use her love for dance and music not only to help her through her own struggles but to help others too. I was rooting for her the whole way through.

If you're looking for a story reminiscent of Hades and Persephone, look no further! It combines the feel of myth, magic, and mystery as Grace meets and deals with forces bigger than herself.

As always, CWs:

-Character death
-Some kissing / fade-to-black scene

This is not my usual type of review for starters, because this book was “different”
So, I will be rating by Star system alone, with an explanation.
2 stars for that absolutely “STUNNING” cover. Whoever did that artwork is phenomenal! Any girl would love to have that over their bed.
2 Stars for this book reminding me of Rhianna’s song “Disturbia”. I absolutely love that song. So, I had to have enjoyed the book. It was just a bit, “different”
Wees just went all out with this book...

Thank you NetGalley/Alyssa Wees/Random House Publishing Group.Ballantine Del Rey/ For this eARC in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are of my own volition.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance (a wish! granted) to read this book before it comes out. I also like to add: thank god I read this now than paying 20 dollars for a mess.

This book is probably one of the most bizarre books I've read in a while about 'death'. I expected something Phantom of the Opera inspired, since that's what you would think. A 'mysterious' benefactor? Or maybe something bit like Trilby or The Red Shoes? No. Not, not quite.

There is this girl, she had a very bad and traumatic life. Her mother died of illness, her brother was shot on the streets of Chicago in the 40's, and she became an orphan playing the violin in the streets. She also had an obsession with ballet and wanted to be a ballet dancer. So she wandered over to a ballet / opera house, creeped on them for a while until they adopted her and she became a girl in the company.

Over the years she has been hoping to get a prima role. Until one day, it happens, but she ends up getting a patron who starts obsessing over her, buying her gifts and roses. She is not told who they are, but one day she decides to spy on the person who keeps to their box and it's some weird demon with claws and a hooded cape.

This is where it gets messy. Apparently Death is obsessed with this girl - it's never really clear why other than that he fell in love with her 'death'. He starts stalking her and wants her to marry him. He takes her as collateral to his house (Death lives in a townhouse) which is also a gateway to the land of the dead and makes her dance and dance. He has a butler dude who basically is all 'you should not be here, you should deny him' which causes some issues.

I think the problem is that there is a lot of different things grabbed from various 'man in love with a frail, innocent girl' angle. Phantom, Beauty and the Beast, Hades and Persephone, the Maiden and Death, the list goes on. But it's wrapped around in this shit story about a ballerina who has not an ounce of personality and spends so much time moaning and moping about her dead brother and mom. The violin aspect which is also something the author wanted to focus on means little to nothing to the plot, other than she can play. The obsession that death has with ballerinas is ... important, but it's just so weird and apparently he needs her to dance to summon the souls so they don't go wandering all lost in the land of the dead.

The ending is also weird too. Like it's some kind of nod to something? Dunno know what the nod was, it was lost on me and I didn't grasp the outcome.

I've read better stories that have to do with Death. Save your money on this one before purchasing it.

This book is REAL MAGIC! Glorious and competitive world of ballerinas, kingdom of death consisted of lost souls in pain, an unconventional retelling of Beauty and the Beast sets in 30’s Chicago! I’m absolutely sold! This is more than I expected!

Once upon a time a girl was born in the thick of a plague: her name is Grace Dragotta : she grew like a weed in the garden of death, stubbornly clinging to the soil in the midst of so much tragedy. She got through the Mafia murders, the depression and the hunger. At young age she became orphan, losing her brother and mother.

She plays her violin at the streets to earn money. But only escape from her tragic reality is dancing. Then suddenly her dream to become a famous ballerina comes true!

Under the protecting wings of the mistress, she becomes the prima ballerina of Near North Ballet Company.

She thinks she earned this position with her hard work but she realizes she’s chosen by a mysterious patron named Master LaRosa: a prince who finally supported the ballet company and saved it from bankruptcy in exchange of giving Grace the position of prima ballerina.

Then Grace finds out she has to live with her patron to shoe her appreciation ! She is driven there, sleeping through the way, finding herself at an eccentric mansion located probably in Hyde Park.

From now on she’s going to eat his food, wearing clothes her master will provide. She’ll have access her master’s gallery, library and gardens. In return she will only dance with him: one waltz every Sunday at midnight!

As Grace tries to earn her freedom, she finds herself drawn into this mysterious beast who holds her free will into his hands, taking her to a dreamland called Nocturne where she dances for painful souls.

She can be the queen of this wonderland if she accepts to marry with her master. But what if she may have more lose than her freedom by accepting offer. Will she obey him and give her heart to see her loved ones again at this mysterious land? Will she dance for her master forever?

Overall: this is book lyrical, so unique, tragic fairy tale, heart wrenching fantasy! I absolutely loved it! Especially the epic ending took my breath away!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine/ Del Rey for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Phantom of the Opera meets Ballet?

This story kept me spellbound until the very last page! Nocturne is a perfect magical story set in the dead of winter

I just couldn’t remember it this book down. It was sooo good and beautiful; from amazing word building, intriguing plot and amazingly written characters. It’s definitely a full 5 stars read for me.

I loved this whimsical fairytale! Amazing writing and prose with great world building that had me feel transported.

Nocturne, by Alyssa Wees, is a fever-dream fairytale of a book, and I loved it!
The setting, 1930’s Chicago, was delicious, and the world building surrounding it was so complete and magical—I can’t wait to delve back in.
The main character, Prima Ballerina Grace, was a delight, and I loved watching her navigate depression-era Little Sicily—almost as much as I loved the delectable twist at the end of the book!
4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks very much to Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Nocturne was an absolute beautiful fairytale that I couldn’t stop reading. Grace was such a likeable MC and I couldn’t stop myself from rooting for her. This story is beautifully woven with its detailed descriptions of places that I truly felt THERE. The twist at the end I did not see coming and the ending was very satisfying!