Nocture is a beautifully written novel, that at one point genuinely made me put it down in shock. There is a twist that made me reevaluate the entire story to that point, and it added a whole new level of enjoyment to the book for me.

The relationships we see in Nocturne are complex and engaging, there is a level of realism within them - despite the fantastic setting - that gives them added depth. They make me feel more for Grace, the narrator, than I would have otherwise. She can be highly unlikable at times, self-centered and vain, but essentially she is human. A single human girl trying her best in a world that isn't always easy for her to traverse. She is young and headstrong and at times a fool, but written sympathetically for that, and I certainly warmed to her as the novel progressed.

Nocturne relies heavily on Grace, as the other characters, outside of her main relationships, can seem at times incidental.  This is not a criticism though, as these characters as shown to us a Grace herself sees them - in the way of her ambition, or fuelling it. The glimpses we get of Chicago are similar, in that the city is both a backdrop to Grace's life choices and the reason for many of them.


Without giving away too much here, this is a fantastical and magically spin on Beauty and the Beast, playing with the ideas of what makes men beasts, and beasts men. At times whimsical and others gripping, Nocturne is a slow burn that turns into a conflagration.

Nocturne is a retelling of Phantom of Opera meets Beauty and the Beast.
It is a story of an orphan girl Grace with a tragic past living in Little Italy in Chicago, Grace is a ballerina in the Near North Ballet Company. When a mysterious patron enters her life, it changes everything.
The story sounds interesting and promising, and the book started good, it is intense with dark secrets and mysteries, I was so intrigued. But then the writing became overdescriptive and a bit repetitive, especially after Grace's meeting with her mysterious Patron, it felt like the character development and plot were neglected in favor of whimsical prose. Nonetheless it was interested enough that I read it till the end because I was curious to know how Grace will deal with Death and Sleep. The ending was not what I expected but it felt right. The strong point of the story was Grace's friendship with Emilia, I loved how they supported and cared for each other even when they were rivals in their ballet company.

This gothic, fantastical tale of a lost ballerina swept up in a battle between Sleep and Death is written almost as if it is set to music, brimming with poetic language.

It reads like a dark fable, at once a caution against the kind of burning ambition that can consume us and an invitation to chase it. I love the main character, Grace, who is driven and hopeful (if sometimes misguided) despite her terrible childhood, and pours her dreams into her art. I also appreciate the sweet follow-you-anywhere friendship between Grace and Emilia, and the tentative, fragile romance between Grace and Master La Rosa.

I love the subtle references to how the stories we surround ourselves with shape our longings – in this case, Grace leans heavily on fairytales, so sees her enigmatic patron as a beastly prince, and spends Sundays locked in rapture at church, so brings reverence to how she dances and plays the violin.

Readers looking for a fever-dream novel of floaty words, dancing girls and faraway places will be enthralled and fly through this novel when it releases later this month.

Beating the odds, orphaned Grace has just fulfilled her lifelong dream of being named prima ballerina. She even gains an enigmatic patron, Master La Rosa. But all is not as it seems. He is more than he seems...

1930s Chicago is brought to life with this story. A lyrical journey in beautifully strung together words, the 1st person POV showing an undercurrent of melancholy, an intensity of emotion, while building the world with the inviting musings of the protagonist. You could say the tone is theatrical, which suits the premise, unexpected small details adding to that.

Full of long-winded sentences, some carrying you away in floating pathways of enchanting images, some of them you wish were shorter and/or had different editing, for they lose their impact. A quirky weaving of words and sentences that mostly works and makes the narrative creative and original. There were glimpses of brilliance, though I did get impatient wanting a brisker pace for parts of the story. There were moments where I was swept away and others where I was lost. I must mention that there is a twist at the end that I particularly enjoyed.

Emilia is a shining example of what a friend should be.

This is about exceeding ourselves, our forced limitations and our expectations. The 'prisons" that are inflicted on us or we lock ourselves in. The cruelty of obsession. A blending of Phantom of the Opera & Beauty and the Beast vibes with a goth heart, somehow eerily romantic. Without a doubt a haunting tale.

I really enjoyed this book! It gave me all the Beauty and the Beast as well as.The Phantom of the Opera vibes, and after I finished the book I saw that the book was said to be perfect for those two. The plot was enjoyable, as were the characters. I did find the plot to be slow, and there were times when I really minded. All in all still an amazing read!

An enchanting and lyrical tale about death and sleep and the dangers they hold. There were sections where I felt the pace slipping a bit, but overall an enjoyable read

Firstly thank you Netgalley for sending me an arc of this book.

I’ve tried writing this so many times. I was excited to read this. The story sounded great but I just can’t make up my mind, it’s confused me a little.

Firstly there was no real fairytale type plot until almost half way into the book and even then quite hit and miss.

I love a book that is quite descriptive but this was perhaps a touch to much, I’m the sense that at 55% it was still just about the main character as a ballerina with not much else going on, I nearly stopped at this point.

I feel being set in the 1930 in Chicago this could have been an amazing extra with more detail of the era.

The last half whilst I got the fairytale type book I wanted I was confused.
Was it beauty and the beast?
Was it hades and Persephone?
Was it phantom of the opera?
I just felt this book could hsve had so much more potential .

Many Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the digital review copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
I have very mixed feelings about this book, the synopsis sounded so perfect that I couldn’t wait to get into this book. Firstly, I loved the plot, Grace is lonely and vulnerable, sweet and naïve, and she doesn’t deserve what happens to her. It does have some fairy-tale elements, and at some points, it’s almost like a gothic dreamscape. However, the novel is utterly unbalanced from being over-descriptive to nothing happening at all. The romance was also lacking, I didn’t feel like there was any chemistry at all, especially with what the master asked her to do. Overall, this book fell flat for me.

A fantasy about a ballerina, definitely not my usual genre. But for me it was magical, beautifully written and wonderful storytelling. This was definitely not what I was expecting it was so much more. Loved it!!!!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Nocturne
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Alyssa Wees
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Fairytale
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 21st February 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3.75/5

”Stars burn—and burn out, she had told me once, as both warning and comfort, and it was true. I had burned, and burned to ashes, but now I would rise from the ruins of myself, and this time my flames would sustain me rather than consume. A dove is a beautiful bird, but a phoenix—a firebird—cannot be caged.”

This story was a fusion of fairytales to create its own unique, beautifully spun tale. Nocturne is a lyrically dark Beauty and the Beast x Twelve Dancing Princesses x the Slavic folktale of the Firebird with elements of The Pied Piper and the Danish folklore story of The White Dove. There were so many layers to this story and I felt as though I was in a feverish dream whilst reading it.

The writing had me spellbound. It had such an ethereal, eternal quality to it, lending the plot an eerily and hauntingly beautiful overtone. Honestly, this writing is pure talent, I’m glad I read it just to experience the storytelling.

I’m going to be blunt; the romance was completely lacking in the story. I felt no chemistry between Grace and the Master. There was a dark yearning but I wish I could have been more invested in them as a couple, this would have allowed me to pump more of my emotions into Grace’s choices in the story. I think because it reads like a fairytale, there is a certain detachment. It’s also marketed as adult but it felt more YA to me. Lastly, the setting was 1930s Chicago but that didn’t feel relevant to a story that felt so timeless.

🧚🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much for Del Rey UK and Netgalley for the e-copy!

Have you ever felt like you are destined to be a prima bellerina? Maybe when you were a kid, you might have played games, being a dancer. I sure did! I used to do ballet dance for 14 years - so when I tell you this book was a walk down memory lane with the additional magical elements, I am telling the truth. I absolutely loved this story and Grace.

This story was just like a dream: enchanting, mesmerizing, haunting and fantastic. Everything is possible in this surreal fantasy.

We follow Grace, who is struggling to become a prima ballerina in a dance company. She is coming from a poor background, but with great ambitions and bigger dreams. A mysterious patron, the Master leads her and guides her to this other reality, that makes everything enchanted and dream-like.

I wish I could read more from this world and tell you more, but I am afraid of spoiling anything, so I leave you with this: read the book and experience the atmosphere, the magic and how dreams become a reality.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for allowing this.

This book contains so many things I love so was primed and ready to adore this book. The setting is one I enjoy, it’s got ballet, violins, elements of fairy tale and gothic horror. However, the overall narrative just didn’t quite work for me.

It felt a little unbalanced. There were times where it was very over descriptive, with entire paragraphs describing things that only needed a sentence in a way that was quite jarring and took me out of the overall narrative. On the other hand there was content I really wanted to hear more of, and it was glossed over.

The choice of 1930s Chicago as a setting was a clever and interesting choice. The way this is presented as a culmination of so much death worked within the context of the story. I thought this was a great choice but we didn’t see the setting explored enough. This made the story feel unique and I wanted to see more of it.

Our protagonist Grace would have benefited from more character building. There were some good foundations but we didn’t see enough personality. She has very little agency in this book and is just being told what to do. She seems to be dreaming of escape no matter where she is, but doesn’t act on it. She’s a wonderfully talented individual, a ballet dancer and violinist and there was an undercurrent of anxiety that could have been explored more. She had the makings of an interesting character but it was too paper thin. This wasn’t a long book so there was definitely space to give us more depth on Grace and the setting which would have helped the author’s wonderful ideas come to life better.

The book is in three parts. The first part I found quite dry and it felt too long in the overall structure of the book. The second part was best and started to build some great tension to the narrative, this is where we start to see the overall ideas of the book come to life and this for me is where I felt most engaged. The third part however, was confusing. The ending felt quite rushed and chaotic.

I thought the author had some really fascinating ideas within this book and there was a lot to like. I just needed more character and world building and less description of details that didn’t add to the story to have really enjoyed this book.

Brilliant, other worldly, I love anything ballet based and this was a dark twist on that world! Such a good read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed Nocturne.
It was beautifully written and I really loved the story.
I definitely recommend this book!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful book that I couldn't put down. For some reason I love reading about ballerinas during the winter months and this didn't disappoint.
Beautifully written with a storyline that left me breathless at times and well developed characters that I loved.

An interesting concept, a story that felt a little bit different to what has been written before in this genre.

Unfortunately I found this a trudge to get through, the language very difficult to get through at times, long descriptive passages that don't really add anything to the story and I really did struggle with the protagonist and her lack of personality, I didn't feel like I knew her at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book.

Headlines:
Little bird and the beast
The veil between worlds
Darkly delicious

I saw this book being likened to beauty and the beast and phantom of the opera, having read it, I can see these themes but Nocturne is truly its own story. It was a book full of mystery, twists and turns eroded by darkness and fog. I really enjoyed the dark vibe, occasional horrorish vision and twisted tale it evoked.

The main character, Grace was an orphan of sorts, having experienced life of familial tragedy in the 1930s hardships of Chicago. Grace was a ballerina in a struggling dance company. However, this wasn't only Chicago, there was a foggy veil between two worlds. That otherworldly place was sometimes scary but it became familiar and a place Grace came to want to exist in.

The other main character was the Master, her patron at the dance company. He was a mysterious, unseen character, in a private box at the theatre, sponsoring Grace for an unknown reason. How this story and relationship played out made me trepidatious for Grace but I came to settle into how things evolved. I hated the house, though and I didn't trust the Master's assistant.

Things got pretty messed up through a unique storyline as the two worlds collided and enmeshed. I couldn't put the second half of the book down. This isn't a neatly tied up story but there's a cleverness and authenticity in where this tale ends.

Thank you to DelReyUK for the review copy.

A fantasy where a ballerina is from a poor background but gets her ambition to be the prima ballerina. I will not say any more, for fear of spoiling the story, but this is a beautifully written book and I do recommend it highly. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.