Hello everyone!
Our book is yet another choice by BookSirens, because I can't seem to keep away from the site, and there are just SO MANY good ARCs to be found and read!
Plus, considering most have a read time of 60 to 90 days, what could be better?
You usually get less time when you check a book out of the library!
Which means I tend to putter and browse around there quite often, and I think tonight's book was suggested to me through an email once, but I didn't actually get to it before I found another from the same author, read that one first, fell in love with their style of writing, then backtracked to the original I had.
I know, super unoriginal of me.
BUT I finally got round to reviewing it on the blog, so let's not waste any more time.
The stage calls, and the slippers are getting antsy in Adagio.
Bree M. Lewandowski seems to have written a lot of books I'd never heard about, so I may be doing a deeper dive into her bibliography sooner rather than later, particularly because even if I don't always agree with the execution of things, I usually love the writing so it's nonetheless enjoyable.
Plus, I've always had a soft spot for ballet books. This goes back to the collection titled Sadler's Wells, which I still need to find in English to read again.
But I digress!
Lidiya, our heroine, is a ballet dancer and teacher at the Metropolis Ballet Theater (Metropolis? Clark, do you have time to watch performances in your busy superhero life?) with her father in assisted living because he's suffering from a debilitating disease that's slowly taking away his motor functions.
She's also the star of the upcoming show they're putting on, and shocked as anyone else when her male counterpart walks, which means they have to find a replacement, and yesterday.
This is where Patrick comes in.
Pat USED to dance ballet, but then he got a girl pregnant and she didn't exactly take care of herself during pregnancy, ended up committing suicide afterwards, he was left with a baby girl who wasn't and never would be fully developed.
But he stepped up - would have stepped up, had he known earlier - and became a single father with his brother helping him along the way, which was when he quit dancing.
He's enticed back to both help with some classes as well as take on the lead dancer role, and he and Lidiya click (and lightly clash) almost immediately.
And, as is rather average between dancers the way I understand it, they also follow that fantastic chemistry to see where it may lead ... because once the promotions and the show actually starts, everyone and their Victorian grandmother are as in love with the main dancers as they seem to be turning out to be, or at least they're in lust I'll say.
First hurdle though: the baby, which Lidiya is totally shocked by when Pat declines coming up to her apartment until they talk about it, so then she flounces off in a huff. They get over that one eventually and she meets the little girl, too, but that's not even all.
She accidentally overhears that Pat probably isn't staying with the theater after this show, as he's only really doing them a favour and will be leaving after the run of it.
Then she has another major drama queen act because ... if he leaves the theater there are no cell phones, no internet, and definitely no coffee shops to meet at. His front door and her front door are also always closed afterwards, you know?
This translates into their performance, but eventually Lidiya stops being a bratty cat when she thinks something bad happened to her father (hospitalized previously) and Pat drives her there, during which time they can finally clear the air entirely between them, and also because it was an administrative mistake - dad's fine - she can breathe easily too.
And thus, the book ends on a kinda-sorta happily ever after, with Pat actually deciding he might stick around the theater to teach more often, and Lidiya getting her cake and eating it too, even though no one really understands why they couldn't be together if he weren't part of the troupe.
Fin!
I said this before in a review but, Bree M. Lewandowski has a way with words, no matter what subject it's about.
A very ballet-forward book, Adagio might be a turn-off for readers who aren't as familiar with the dance and all it entails in the background of big productions. While I've never danced it in my life, I've been lucky enough to at least read more than my share of books featuring it, so I wasn't exactly out to sea with it.
It's a straightforward story, with a lot of thought obviously having been put into how to make the characters relatable and real when they're only people on the page.
I adored Patrick and while the circumstances of HOW his daughter came to be were ghastly, the fact he rallied, wasn't afraid to go to therapy, and basically did the best he could for her speak of just what kind of man Ms Lewandowski painted onto the page. Couple that with him also looking fiiiiiiine and, well, you've got yourself a winner.
As for Lidiya, I liked her at first ... then she all of a sudden got super shocked an outraged that someone who was looking to be just a hot fling and she'd only known for a week, tops, hadn't immediately spilled his guts out about having an infant daughter. That one already kinda threw me for a loop, but then the cherry on top of the cake came when she got so incredibly mad that he was leaving again after his two weeks on the show were done. I'm not sure I understand her anger - just because he wouldn't be at the ballet didn't mean they couldn't have a relationship? Also, he wasn't obligated to tell her anything?
So, overall, Lidiya did not make me like her. I feel like she was much too young and vapid and absolutely too over-the-top for Patrick, but one can hope that in the fictional world they get to live happily ever after.
The side characters weren't quite as well-rounded this time as with the other book I read, but I will say that I enjoyed reading the book overall, as always loved the writing, and breezed through it in one sitting. That's a fairly good recommendation if I ever heard one.
A very ballet-forward book, Adagio might be a turn-off for readers who aren't as familiar with the dance and all it entails in the background of big productions. While I've never danced it in my life, I've been lucky enough to at least read more than my share of books featuring it, so I wasn't exactly out to sea with it.
It's a straightforward story, with a lot of thought obviously having been put into how to make the characters relatable and real when they're only people on the page.
I adored Patrick and while the circumstances of HOW his daughter came to be were ghastly, the fact he rallied, wasn't afraid to go to therapy, and basically did the best he could for her speak of just what kind of man Ms Lewandowski painted onto the page. Couple that with him also looking fiiiiiiine and, well, you've got yourself a winner.
As for Lidiya, I liked her at first ... then she all of a sudden got super shocked an outraged that someone who was looking to be just a hot fling and she'd only known for a week, tops, hadn't immediately spilled his guts out about having an infant daughter. That one already kinda threw me for a loop, but then the cherry on top of the cake came when she got so incredibly mad that he was leaving again after his two weeks on the show were done. I'm not sure I understand her anger - just because he wouldn't be at the ballet didn't mean they couldn't have a relationship? Also, he wasn't obligated to tell her anything?
So, overall, Lidiya did not make me like her. I feel like she was much too young and vapid and absolutely too over-the-top for Patrick, but one can hope that in the fictional world they get to live happily ever after.
The side characters weren't quite as well-rounded this time as with the other book I read, but I will say that I enjoyed reading the book overall, as always loved the writing, and breezed through it in one sitting. That's a fairly good recommendation if I ever heard one.
xx
*image not mine
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