Title: DancergirlPublished: 15th November 2011
Publisher: Harlequin
Series: (WiHi #1)
Source: eARC, thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley
A friend posted a video of me dancing online and now I'm now longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl—and suddenly it's like me against the world—everyone's got opinions.I started reading this book with absolutely no expectations whatsoever. All I knew was the basics, it was a thriller where the main character is a dancer who starts to get stalked after some of her dances appears online. To me this felt like a new topic and was one I did not pick up very frequently, but I was looking forward to getting stuck in.
My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he's acting weird. And some stranger isn't content to just watch anymore.
Ali, dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose more than just my love of dancing.
I could lose my life. - From Goodreads
Alicia is a teenage girl whose life revolves around dancing. It feel from the beginning of the book that Alicia has a fear of being spied on or watched. One of Alicia's friends, Charlie, offers to boost both of their careers, her dancing and his film making, but filing her dancing in social setting and posting the videos online for all to see. Quite quickly the attention Alicia is getting turns negative when videos of her, not filmed by Charlie, turn up online too. That's when the real stalking began.
I thought that Alicia was an interesting character and it was clear that dancing ruled her life and was her passion. Not only does she dance at her local studio she also works there. Seeing as the most I know about dancing is how to shake my thing at a club (and I'm not even sure you can call that dancing) I struggled a little when Alicia spoke about dancing. It felt a little like I was being left out of a conversation.
I thought the real star of this book was Jacy, Alicia's best friend. For my money his story and personal issues were the most interesting of the whole book. I liked some of the other characters but some of them felt quickly dismissed and never mentioned again once their specific role in the story had finished.
I thought there were some very exciting sections to this story, but at times the action did not move as fast as I thought it would. I though the action towards the end moved well and I actually overshot my lunch hour by 10 minutes finishing it off. I am not sure how I can see this novel working into a series as to me it very much felt like a stand alone book. I will be interested to see what the story of WiHi #2 will be.
I read this book and while I enjoyed it, I too wondered how it would be made into a series, as I also felt it would be a stand-alone book. Great review!
ReplyDeleteNerd Girls at Books to the Sky
I really enjoyed this! I found it unique. It will be a series where each book is about different characters.
ReplyDeleteTHE BIGGEST STORY
OF MY LIFE
COULD BE HOW IT ENDS
It’s my turn to run a Campus News crew, and I’ve put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead.
A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flag pole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda, or initiation secrets—until a student lands in the hospital under strange circumstances.
I will blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt…or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don’t trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is not important to this story.)
But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the newscast…be sure to watch Campus News at 9:00 a.m. this Friday morning.