After her parent’s divorce, Evie has given up on love. Why fall in love when it always leads to heartbreak? While donating all of her favorite romance novels to a Little Free Library, Evie picks up a book, which magically gives her visions of couple’s relationships from the very beginning to the very end. After seeing the end of so many relationships, including some couples close to her, Evie is more convinced than ever that love is not for her.

The book also leads her to a local dance studio where she meets X. Evie decides to sign up for classes and is paired with X. As feelings between them develop, Evie has to decide if loving someone is worth the risk of potential heartaches. Is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?

I enjoyed this story. It has so many great characters, a unique magical element, and wonderful messages about life and love. Evie is such a well-developed and interesting character with a quick wit and a bit of cynicism. She has become a bit bitter of love, which isn’t surprising considering her parents recently divorced, and she can see visions of people’s relationships. Some of Evie’s thoughts about romance are hysterical, and I love the chapters where she talks about romance novels. She’s so afraid to give in to her feelings and fears loss more than she wants love.

X, Evie’s dance partner and potential love interest is fabulous as well. He and Evie really get each other, and they develop a lovely connection. X is a musician and the grandson of the owners of the dance studio, and his support and understanding of Evie are so sweet. They have fantastic banter throughout the story. Evie’s friends, as well as the people who work at and own the dance studio, are fantastic, especially Evie’s dance instructor Fi. She is so funny and has some memorable lines in the story! When she instructs Evie and X and says things like “Steer a little less. She’s not a large construction vehicle,” and “You’re leading her, not kidnapping her,” I couldn’t help but laugh. She has a fun and easy way with her students, and I love her humor.

The magical element (Evie’s visions) is really unique, and I love how the author delves into the positives and negatives of it. I also love the dancing element. From the practices to the final competition, the dancing is so exciting and fun, and the chemistry between Evie and X shines in these scenes. Their dates and moments with friends are also endearing and show a deep connection growing between Evie and X.

One of my favorite parts of most books is the romance, and I adored this aspect of the novel. Though the story focuses on and I loved the budding romance between Evie and X, I was also captivated by some of the other romances in the story. X’s grandparents, for example, had an epic, long-lasting, and beautiful love story, and Evie’s parent’s both experienced new love. I definitely think there are strong messages throughout the book about different kinds of love (new love, unrequited love, long-lasting love, etc.) and embracing love.

Instructions for Dancing is a great book about growing up, healing, friendship, and learning to let go of things you can’t control. Messages of living in the moment, embracing love, and forgiveness are also explored. I didn’t expect it to be such an emotional read for me, but it was. It’s cute and charming and little bit devastating, and I may have cried on more than one occasion while reading the book. I definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy contemporary YA romance and am so thankful to NetGalley, Nicola Yoon, and The Write Reads for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to #TheWriteReads and Penguin for making this book available to me as part of the blog tour!

This is the first Nicola Yoon book that I have ever read and it is good that I am definitely going to be reading her other books.

We follow Evie Thomas who has lost all hope in love since she found out the reason her parents got a divorce. It seems to her that everyone (her mother, sister and even father) have gotten over the divorce and she is the only one still holding on and dealing with her loss of faith in love. She decides to get rid of all her romance novels. All the books have built her standard of love and romance. Contemporary and Paranormal genre romances that she used to enjoy, no longer hold importance or even spark hope in her anymore. She takes all her books and donates them to the little library in her town. That is when she meets an old lady who advises her to pick up a book title "Instructions for Dancing". A book that illustrates dance sequences.
When she gets back home and see her sister, Danica and her boyfriend kissing she is instantly thrust into a vision. A vision of how their romance started and how it ends. She is immediately fazed and when her sister tells her later that she had broken up with her boyfriend just the way she saw in her vision, she knew immediately that something was wrong.
When she gets back to school, she tells her friend Martin about her vision and he is immediately intrigued. He suggests that her visions have something to do with the elusive old woman she met at the Little Free Library. He suggests that she follows the instructions on the book and visit the dance studio whose address was on the book.
This leads her to La Brea Dance, a small dance studio that specialized in group and private ballroom dance lessons. (to avoid enticing spoilers) She is enrolled in a dance competition with a handsome guy, X. X is adventurous, daring, passionate with a philosophy to say yes to everything including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he just met because his grandparents asked him to.
In learning to dance together, they had to get to know each other. Once she got to know X and how he viewed the world and his presence in it, she started to think about her new gift and how it has made her see love differently. How she had let her new gift hold her from believing in love. When they finally kissed and she saw what the future had in store for them she is heartbroken and she returns to her shell. The love she has for X has sadness and pain at the end, she could see that but was she willing to spend the time she had with him now mourning for the end of their love. Mourning for the end of them. She is faced with the sudden fear of losing the NOW because of the FUTURE.
The ending definitely made me cry and made me mad at the same time but the fact that she came to the understanding, that will things might last forever, it is better to enjoy things at the moment so that you can reflect upon them in the future.

A adorable and emotional read!

I adored the dancing element of this one and all the characters! Some great representation.

Evie’s character development throughout the book was well done and I liked seeing her thoughts on love change throughout the book.

Wasn’t a huge fan of the ending but I get why the author went that route and the romance was a little too rushed for me but it was still very cute.

Overall it’s just as great as Yoon’s other books!

Another Nicola Yoon! I absolutely couldn't wait to read this and devoured it in a day just like her previous two. I wasn't disappointed. Such a touching and tender book that will make you think about love and heartbreak and how it's not the end that the matters but the love along the way.

Nicola Yoon's contemporary fantasies are thoughtful & satisfying, but Instructions for Dancing is her best book so far

This was a quick and emotional book, as expected. I loved the magical realism aspect and the dancing parts (though I wish there were more dances).

I liked that It Evie was a flawed character with a lot of cynicism and anger. It was nice following her journey of becoming more open to love and living in the moment. Her and X were a really cute couple, possibly my favourite of the author’s. X himself was interesting and lovely and sweet.

In typical Nicola Yoon fashion, the ending was very bittersweet. I did shed a few tears but was overall left satisfied with how things were wrapped up.

Genre: Young Adult | Magic | Romance

Release Date: Expected 3rd June 2021



Evie had always thought books held their own type of magic - but recently they're just words on a page. She had bookshelves full of meticulously organised romance novels but now she's giving them all away along with her own belief in love. Since her Father announced he was leaving their family for another woman, love has lost its appeal.

But now, when she's given a beaten old book called 'Instructions for Dancing', it takes her on a completely dfferent journey to small struggling dance studio just minutes from her home where she starts to look for answers about the unwelcome gift she's starting to develop - she can see the whole stoy of someone's love right before her eyes; fro but m their first kiss to their last goodbyes and it just further proves Evies theory that love isn't made to last.

But then there's X - a tall mysterious stranger who gets roped into a dancing contest right along with her. Of course, if this was a love story they'd be married and live happily ever after but Evie knows better than to believe in love stories.



"The problem with broken hearts isn't that they kill you. It's that they don't."



Instructions for Dancing was Yoons first foray into the world of the magical, an inspiring, ethereal look at the ripples love can create in our lives with all that patented Nicola Yoon Fuzzy Feeling. We follow Evie as she goes with the tide on her journey, going wherever it may take her whether that means following strange return addesses in old books or learning to dance with strangers. I loved her and her friends right away - the love and the loyalty between them was beautiful and they all worked together to navigate the problems of growing up.

Full of hilarious cutaways with Evies thoughts about novels and the whole romancere genre which as a writer made me crease up all the way through. This story was painfully funny and sweet but full of truth - that heartbreak is only one part of love, that pain and happiness often go together and you can't keep avoiding happiness because you're scared of pain.

"Just because a thing ends doesn't make the thing any less real."



RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to Nicola Yoon, Penguin Random House Children's UK and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Wasn’t expecting this book to make me sad but here we are. I will think about that ending for a while now. I should have known Nicola Yoon would hurt my soul after The Sun is Also a Star, why am I even surprised?

This is an incredibly cute story that reminds me of a Disney teen movie. It would be great if Disney actually picked it up because this would be an amazing match. It’s a feel-good breezy book that gives you all the feels. Also, it’s very hard to put down, it’s definitely a just-one-more-chapter book. I was so engrossed in the romance and the dance classes I flew through it. I love how X and Evie gradually fall for each other. Reading about them made me so happy; they’re so supportive towards each other I can’t 😭

Despite that, I feel like I could have liked this book way more. I certainly had fun reading it but I didn’t love love it. At this point it’s not surprising for me, this is actually confirmation that while I love Nicola’s writing, I don’t really enjoy how the characters are written and the pacing of her books. This book in particular was rushed but also slow at the same time. The dance competition plot and Evie’s visions were shoved to the side more than once, and that’s a shame because I wanted more. In particular, the dance competition is very rushed, while parts with family, romance and friendships are very drawn out. I’m not saying I didn’t like reading about those, but the pacing seemed a tad too unbalanced.
I also liked the characters, but apart from Evie and X, the others were too flat for me to actually care (this especially applies to the friend group and Shirley). I loved X to death though, so that kind of made things better.

I’m sure NY fans are going to seriously love this book. It has a lot of the same elements that lots of people loved in her previous books with the added fun of a sprinkle of magic. I would say this is definitely another step up from Everything, Everything.

I did not expect to read this book and leave with so many emotions.
I love Nicola's writing and have read all her books so when I got an ARC of her newest novel I was so excited. This is the kind of book that makes you believe in love and the power of growth. Our main character, Evie, goes through a lot in a short span of time. I really liked how this book developed.

- Relatable characters and a fun love interest. Evie was cynical, but for a good reason and although I thought some of her decisions were poorly made, I could see where she was coming from. X was honestly such a cute love interest and I really rooted for their romance. It wasn't one of those books that felt full speed ahead which I liked.
- The dancing aspect was fun and Fi was hilarious. I could really picture her character and I liked how this was embedded into the story.
- The aspect of Evie being able to see the future of people's relationships also was great. It didn't feel overly complicated and it was rooted down to a reason which I liked. I won't lie, the ending nearly broke me in two though.

This is a fun, lighthearted and emotional read. I would recommend if you're in a reading slump!
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Evie doesn’t believe in love, not anymore. Romance was her favourite genre of books until a year ago when she found out her dad was cheating on her mum. Now her parents are divorced and Evie lives in a new apartment with her mum and sister.

Since finding out love doesn’t last, Evie has slowly been getting rid of her collection of romance books. When donating her last few to a local little free library, she meets a woman who encourages her to take a book called ‘Instructions for Dancing’

The book comes with an unwelcomed gift for Evie. When she sees a couple kiss, she sees their whole relationship - from the beginning until the bitter end. This confirms Evie’s newfound belief that all love ends. Determined to get rid of her new ‘gift’, she tries to return the book to the address inside and a new adventure begins.

//

This is the first Nicola Yoon book I’ve read. I had no idea what to expect but the premise really appealed to me, and I’m so glad I read this as it completely blew me away.

I loved the concept - a girl who no longer believes in love now has the ability to see people’s entire relationships play out from beginning to end. While she initially sees this gift as showing her that love always ends, she eventually realises that the end isn’t what is important - it’s the love.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I loved getting to see Evie learning to dance, navigate her relationship with her dad and slowly let X in. But the second half? Completely broke me! Wow. I had assumed Evie would eventually see her future with X but I never would’ve guessed what their future held. The ending was tragic but I loved it all the same.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Children’s UK and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

Instructions For Dancing is about Evie, a girl who has grown a sort of hatred for love after her parents divorced, and X, a musician who is the grandson of the dance studio that Evie visits after finding a book that had the studio as a return address.

This was a really nice read. It was actually refreshing to see the main character be angry and struggle about something from the start of the book. I liked the premise of how when Evie saw people kiss, she would see how their relationship will play out. It was interesting to read!

The book had a nice layout that incorporated things like lyrics and text conversations. It was a nice break between chapters.

Rating: 3.5⭐
Would I Read It Again? Yes
Would I Recommend it? Yes

I was so excited to be approved to read this book because I really loved Everything, Everything and The Sun is also a Star and this one definitely did not disappoint.

The premise of this book, that Evie can see how relationship begin and how they will end when she sees two people who are in love kiss, is really unique and I really loved it. I could not put this book down because i needed to know what was going to happen next.

Evie is not into the idea of relationships and of believing in love because why bother? Everything good comes to an end right? She’s seen it happen first hand to her mum and dad. And then she meets X by chance and her whole view starts to shift as she has to decide if the love and happiness she feels in the now is worth the potential heartache in the end.
I really loved seeing X and Evie get to know each other and it was so nice to see Evie starting to open her heart up to the possibility of love again!

Just as you think it’s all going well and it’s going to be fine that ending comes along and wow that ending kind of broke me. I don’t read many books with endings like that because I think when you read a love story you expect a certain ending and while this one was definitely sad it was also beautiful in a way.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend, especially if you loved Nicola Yoon’s other books!

Extraordinarily beautiful and absolutely heart wrenching, this YA romance will lead you on an emotional rollercoaster that will resonate long after it’s finished.

Evie used to love romance novels but her opinions on love have changed since her dad left them for another woman. In deciding to throw out her entire romance collection,she is given a book called Instructions for Dancing, which leads her to a rundown dance studio and her discovery of a new ‘gift’.

Evie, after seeing a couple kiss realises she can see the entirety of a relationship—from the moment they meet to its eventual end. Thus reaffirming her beliefs in love- mostly that it doesn’t last.

At the dance studio Evie meets X and and they begin dance lessons, in hopes of entering a competition. Will X be able to change her mind about love, or is heartbreak really as inevitable as Evie Believes?

I absolutely loved this, Nicola Yoon’s writing is phenomenal and had me hooked from the very first page. Don’t be fooled by its beautifully colourful and gorgeous cover- this book will hit you in the feels, I was literally sobbing by the end of it.

The writing is really beautiful,almost lyrical at times and the meta references on the romance genre and its tropes and plot lines was (for a YA romance fan) pretty fun.

The concept of Evie’s ‘super power’ was also really unique and I really enjoyed watching how she dealt with it, I personally don’t think I’d have been able to cope half as well as she did.

As a character Evie is incredibly relatable and it’s easy to sympathise with her frustration and cynicism, her chemistry with X (aka Xavier) was great, I sped through the book,eagerly awaiting the development of their relationship- which I was not disappointed by. Fifi was also very much a firecracker of a dance instructor- loved her!

I’d definitely recommend to any and all YA Contemporary Romance lovers and fans of Nicola Yoons’ other books (The Sun Is Also A Star and Everything,Everything) but it’s very a emotional story so be prepared to cry.

I also just want to Thank Penguin Random House Children’s Uk and Net Galley for the e-ARC.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Children’s UK and NetGalley for an e-arc of Instructions for Dancing.

This story was beautiful and absolutely heart wrenching. Isn’t it funny how we, as humans, shut ourselves off from our emotions when we’ve been hurt, or someone close to us has. I felt I could massively relate to Evie’s, basically hatred of love.
I love how the story unfolds, with the friendships being questioned when romance is involved, how you can completely change your mind about someone when you learn the truth of the things they have done. But underneath it all, you still love them the same.
The latter part of the book absolutely tore out my heart, whilst the author probably stamped all over it.
I know how the ending is, I cried through it, but I shall for a while, picture a happier ending, a longer love.

This book is definitely going to stay with me for a long while.

Nicola Yoon the author is hit or miss for me personally. This book is a definite hit. I loved the characters. I liked the plot. Short quick chapters. An excellent YA novel.