Blog Tour: Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small

BLURB:

Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they’ve formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they die? Cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic would make them shine, too? Neither girl is sure.

But then Kate gets closer to the Demigod, even as Marine has begun to capture his heart. And as selection day draws near, the competition—for the prize, for the Demigod—becomes fiercer, and Marine and Kate realize they have everything to lose, including each other.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. No payments made between me and the publisher.

I saw this book on NetGalley, I got curious right away. I honestly don't know much about ballet because to me it sounds so girly. I never tried enrolling to one of the ballet schools either. I just know that this type of dance is beautiful I always imagine watching one live though, maybe I will try one day.  Also, in our family, only my youngest sister tried having ballet classes when she was in grade school and I go with her practice sometimes. Watching those little kids dance are the cutest thing ever.That's my little memory about ballet but to me this book is interesting enough to catch my attention. The blurb actually got me, I was curious on what will happen to Marine and Kate. Friendships and sacrifices, I wonder what would win?

Ballet, friendship and ambition, in my opinion, these three are the main focus of this. Bright Burning Stars is a good book, fun to read and of course there are some parts that you will annoy you like any other books made, but that's what makes it exciting right? There's no such thing as a perfect character. The book shows us what would happen once the ambition takes over and clouded our heads. Things you do for something you badly wanted to achieve? it could be insane plans. I liked the main characters; Marine, she's kind, innocent and amazing. She sacrificed some parts of her because she wanted to honor Oli, her twin. She's the best friend of Kate and they both liked the same person, Cyrille the Demigod. Her other best friend is Luc who looks after her every single time. Kate, she's kind but ambitious. She's from USA and will do anything to fit in, to be number one. She's a different kind of trouble. Marine & Kate had a pact, that no matter what happens they will stay together, but with every thing that happened in the ballet school, every challenges, things are getting shadowy. The real question is that, will they still regain friendship or will it be destroyed? That's what the readers needs to find out. To me, the book is sort of challenging because there are some terms that I had to Google because, like I mentioned earlier, I am not really familiar with ballet.

Anyhow, Bright Burning Stars is a good young-adult book. This is the first book of A.K Small and I suggest this to people who likes dancing, music, ballet etc. I enjoyed and learned a lot of terms from this book though. I can also imagine their movements like I'm watching them live. 

Lastly, I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and of course A.K Small for this amazing book. I am looking forward for more A.K Small books. 

My Ratings

A.K. Small was born in Paris. At five years old, she began studying classical dance with the legendary Max Bozzoni, then later with Daniel Franck and Monique Arabian at the famous Académie Chaptal. At thirteen, she moved to the United States where she danced with the Pacific Northwest Ballet for one summer in Seattle and with the Richmond Ballet Student Company for several years. She’s a graduate of the College of William and Mary and has an MFA in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not writing, she spends time with her husband, her puppy, and her three daughters, and practices yoga. Bright Burning Stars is her first novel.

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