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.

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.

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.

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.

I only wanted to like this, I only wanted to love it, but no, I couldn’t just do that, this book was my addiction, I was obsessed and I adored it, it’s amazing, fantastic, I don’t think there’s a word hyperbolic enough to express how much I liked this. I love Beauty and the Beast so much, so to see this give tribute/vibes of this and the darker Phantom of the Opera was just a heavenly delight, I can’t get enough of characters like Death real fully fleshed characters, there need to be more for me because this I’m here for the likes of Death and Sleep being personified so much more. This is magical, fantastical, beautiful, it’s got some twists you won’t see coming and that end, this is just a haunting and every perfect tale.


I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone, Del Rey for the ARC. Here I leave my honest review.

The book is so beautiful and feel so magical. With all the ballet, violin, sleep and death. I really love the story. I like how mysterious it is and I can't expect anything to happen. It kind of slow paced because we know this mysterious patron after 30% of the book.

I love Grace, I love how strong she is. She determined with her dreams and her life. I also love her relationship with Master La Rosa. It is beautiful even though it really sad. This book has a twist I never expect, I never expect something to happen like that to Grace and Master La Rosa. And I'm hurting with them. It so sad even it is so good. I can't get rid of this sadness even with what Grace has done to fix everything, I'm still sad about what happened between Grace and Master La Rosa. Still wishing the ending would give me good news but no nothing. I can't accept the ending at all....

Chicago, 1938. Grace Dragotta, a ballerina of the Near North Ballet, has been chosen for the lead role of the Firebird, a Russian ballet. However, her dream of becoming first ballerina is not what she thought it would be, especially when she attracts the attention of the company’s new patron, Master La Rosa, who attends every single ballet, but remains always a shadow. And when Grace starts to discover the Master’s secrets, she realize that she may finally get what she’s always wanted, but at what cost?

Nocturne is a haunting and enchanting fantasy with fairy tales elements. The protagonist is Grace Dragotta, who is very well-drawn and well-developed. At a very young age she’s already suffered incredible loss, having lost her mother, brother and a close friend. Becoming first ballerina means losing her best friend who is leaving the company to get married. And then Master La Rosa appears and he seems to be able to give her what she wants most.

Nocturne is a beautiful retelling of Beauty and The Beast mixed with the myth of Hades and Persephone. It is a unique, dark, and tragic tale about death and lost souls, about loss and freedom. The story is very well-written with such evocative and beautiful descriptions that kept me completely immersed in the narrative and with an ending that was emotional, unexpected, and perfect all at the same time. I loved every page of it!

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.

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.

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!

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 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.