Book Review: Phantom’s Dance by Lesa Howard

Synopsis:

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.

Amazon:

My Review:

So, Phantom’s Dance is a YA updated version of the Phantom of the Opera – I love Phantom of the Opera, more the original book than the cheesy musical, so although I don’t really do ‘normal’ YA books without a supernatural theme, I still really wanted to read this one.

From a writer’s perspective, it’s an easy read that takes you from A to B without any road blocks. The pace is good and there’s a few lovely turns of phrase in there. In my opinion though, this is really meant for the lower YA reader and so, as an adult who enjoys the genre, I was kind of left wanting and waiting for deeper characters, more intense scenes and sharper dialogue.

The front cover is okay, looks more like a normal contemporary YA, which in truth is what it is – so probably represents it well

Overall, I’d split the review into YA and adult readers (to be fair to the author) For YA it’s 4 out of 5 stars, for adults more like a 3 out of 5. If you’re expecting a cape wearing gothic read that oozes horror and venerability, you’ll be disappointed, so take it for what it is, a modern, well written YA read.