Title: Audition
Author: Stasia Ward Kehoe
Genre & Age Group: Contemporary, romance, poetry, young adult
Goodreads Synopsis:
When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she’s deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem’s muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she’s chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.
Source: Public library
How I Found Out About It: By browsing through books at my public library
As I used to participate in dance classes and I love watching the art form unfold, I adore reading stories about dancing. In addition to this, the premise of Audition sort of reminded me of that of a book I really enjoyed called Tiny Pretty Things, and thus I was tempted to try it.
Audition, despite its Goodreads average rating of 3.32 stars, was a fun and fast read. For those who do not mind reading stories in verse, you will breeze through it and adore its lyrical writing just as I did, but if you despise poetry, then consider yourself warned.
To briefly summarize the story, it follows a teen girl named Sara who earns a ballet scholarship in a completely new city- and lifestyle. Soon enough, she meets and gets to know her choreographer Remington, and figures out that she has become romantically attracted to him. But then she decides to take up writing as her new passion- is she about to throw away her dreams of dance? Or will Remington step in and save it all- or will he be thrown away as well?
If you want complete honesty, the characters weren’t the strongest point of this book. They could have been a lot more developed if the writing wasn’t as emphasized. I liked reading about Sara in the moment, but as I write this, it has been almost 3 weeks since I’ve completed the book, so she no longer sticks out. Rem was cute though; I’m not going to lie, but still unmemorable.
The plot is easy, breezy, and amusing to follow. The writing, as I touched on before, is in verse, allowing readers to flip its pages quickly and absorb happenings with ease. This may be a tome of around 450 pages, but I was able to complete it at the speed I would with a book of 250 pages.
To sum everything up, I had quite a good time with Audition. Although its characters were notably forgettable, I appreciated the romance, plot, and writing style. Would this book pass an audition for my favourite book of 2017? Unlikely, but I’d still recommend that readers looking for books about the legendary art of dance paired with daring romance give this one a spin.
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