Summary: Theo Cartwright is an amazing dancer, and she has secrets. When her childhood best friend is found after being abducted for four years, she doesn’t know if she should tell. One of her secrets involves her ex-boyfriend, and that’s who they think kidnapped Donovan. Her other secret is that she has a crush on Hosea Roth, but he already has a girlfriend. While trying to wade through the guilt of Donovan’s capture, and trying to keep the semblance of a normal life, Theo forgets to eat sometimes.
This story was so beautifully written that I felt like I was flying through the pages, I read this so fast. The language is completely understandable; however, at some points I was confused, but that was because how things were being revealed. It wasn’t all at once, it was like the longer Theo thought about Donovan and his captor, the more memories it would bring up.
One thing that angered me was Theo’s eating disorder. I don’t know why she thought that she would need to starve herself to be good at ballet. That’s not how it works at all!! The way she would describe food made me hungry too. I could practically hear her stomach trying to eat itself from starvation.
The chemistry between Theo and Hosea was delicious and so adorable! I thought they would’ve been an adorable couple! I was sad when that didn’t happen. I think the author was also trying to hint that there’s a stereotype for black women being the “side girl” and that shouldn’t happen. Theo was amazing and beautiful, but that apparently wasn’t enough for Hosea to break up with Ellie, his presumably white girlfriend. I was so mad about this, I wanted to smack Hosea. You can’t have your cake and eat it too as people like to say. Theo and Hosea had this connection between them, inspired by their love for ballet/music respectively. When they were together they seemed to bring out the best in each other. I really wanted them to work out, but I love when a girl can admit that she’s strong enough to believe in herself without the help of a man.
Overall, I loved this book and swam through it was ease and speed. It was amazing. I will definitely be looking for other books this author may have written, as well as more with main characters who are not white. I think they can offer a unique perspective that I myself may not consider and I want to be as open minded as I can. I would recommend this book for older teenagers, as well as fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Armentrout, Sarah Dessen, and realistic fiction in general. Really this is an awesome book and I highly recommend it to anyone, especially dancers.