Books bring us together, whether it is because of the opportunity to chat about them with fellow readers or developing empathy for the characters and the situations. When a book named Instructions for Dancing leads our main character, Evie, to a dance studio, she has no choice but to face her destiny head on. However, that’s not all though—she also seems to have developed a power of foresight in love.
1. An Insight Into Relationships
Relationships are not just romantic. There are friendships and familial bonds in every story and Instructions for Dancing portrays so many beautiful—sometimes bittersweet—relationships that it is hard to not like it. Evie is hurt by her parents divorce and as a young girl, it makes sense that it has broken her heart. Similar to Evie, my parents divorced at a young age and this side of her story was what hooked me into the book. I could see the teenage me in this book.
Her relationship with her sister and the importance of friends in this book cannot be emphasised enough. All of these characters keep the story going and I loved how I progressed from chapter to chapter.
2. A Love Letter To Romance Novels
Heartbreak has a tendency to make us re-evaluate. Evie’s parents’ situation makes her look at her collection of romance novels and wonder if her fascination with them was any good at all. When love can end in heartbreak, why bother? Packing up all her precious well-loved books into a bag, Evie heads to a little free library to drop them off. Even though she is separating from them, she still thinks back to them over the course of the story.
Books and their characters never leave us alone. We might not see the books but we know the plot and will refer to it, without a lot of effort. I think this speaks to how ingrained our love for books and our hobbies become in our life. We might physically part with those things, but mentally, it takes a while. Healing has its own course to run. – Quote from Instructions for Dancing
3. A Promise of Friendship
I never imagined a roadtrip with my friends after high school or graduation, but our rituals of playing badminton on the weekends, having iced coffee on the 7th of every month, celebrating birthdays by going bowling… When these little things have been part of life for many years, breaking away from them is more scary than exciting. Evie has a wonderful circle of best friends and I loved every single one of them. There is love and anxiety there. There is the possibility of broken routines and promises but we can’t let the future dictate the present. This is an important lesson from the book, one that Evie has to learn.
4. On Taking A Chance
When we put ourselves out there, we grow! We open ourselves to learning something new and who knows, maybe we will be good at it! When dance instructor Fiona gives Evie a spot in her dance class, Evie can’t turn it down. With all the family issues, summer approaching and vision craziness, it does not seem like a bad idea to have some structured time away. When Fiona signs her up for the dance competition, she goes with the flow. There is no turning back for her! I loved Evie for her zeal and her courage. I think she will grow up to be a wonderful and strong person.
I love the cover of this book! It shows the chemistry between Evie and X really well! The book was hard to put down and it was an easy read that I liked coming back to. The cast was lovable and Evie was easy to connect with in particular. Like her, I had all these dreams about my graduation and friend circles while life runs its own course. I laughed and cried many times through this book and reflected on life and love. I wondered if Evie’s power to see a couple’s past and present was a lesson in itself. The storytelling was balanced with just the right amount of information and I loved revisiting high school through this book!
Instructions for Dancing is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up Instructions for Dancing? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.
As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met.
Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
Content Notes: Depiction of separated parents, infidelity, death, grief.
