July 18, 2014

{Blog Tour: Review} Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard


Welcome to the Phantom's Dance Blog Tour! On my stop, you will see my 5 Mustache review plus a chance to win an awesome giveaway!



Title: Phantom's Dance
Author: Lesa Howard
Publication Date: March 1, 2014






Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.

Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.

Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.


I really loved this book. I read this as soon as I got my review copy for this and just wow. I was blown away by how beautifully written.

I love Christine's determination to succeed. She has an awful stage fright and yet she chose to be a ballerina despite that. She receives help from former ballet prodigy, Erik, who lives behind a mask. Erik just made the book darker than it's supposed to be. I got chills every time I see his name. His name is trouble.

And trouble he is. He's obsessed with Christine. He lives under the theater, his room full of Christine's pictures and her stuff. He is determined to drag her in his dark world. Lesa Howard did a marvelous job of creating such a dark yet likeable character.

I can't say anymore that this book just blew me away. It's a thrilling read that I highly recommend.




GIVEAWAY:


Enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard, a $20 GC from your bookseller of choice, Phantom Mask, and a dahlia from the phantom.



I'm not the typical author. I didn't always enjoy reading or writing. While in school, I found it to be a chore I'd just as soon skip. I would rather have been daydreaming, my favorite past time. It wasn’t until I grew up and didn’t have to, that I realized reading was fun. I soon discovered that reading fueled my daydreaming. So, remembering a short story I'd written in high school, I began imagining expanding that story into a book. Before long I found I had loads of ideas for not just the short story but other books and stories as well. Fast forward a few years, a lot of studying about writing, practicing my writing, studying some more, taking classes from people who knew what they were doing, studying and practicing yet more, and ta-dah, author! In the same way I had learned I loved reading, I learned I loved writing, too. It’s just that writing is a lot harder than reading.



2 comments:

  1. This sounds so well written and I love the Phantom of the Opera story! Great review, Anette!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anette,
    I'm not sure what happened to my post, but it's not here. So let me say again that I really appreciate the the wonderful review and rating. I'm so glad you liked it. I've kind of held my breath, waiting to see how people would react to my version of the Phantom. Thank you for taking a chance on it!

    my best,
    Lesa Howard

    ReplyDelete