Review of Instructions for Dancing

I have loved all Nicola Yoon’s books. What did I think of her latest? Check out my review of Instructions for Dancing!

What is Instructions for Dancing About?

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon.

Published on June 1, 2021 by Delacorte Press.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.

Synopsis: Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually. As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met. Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love.

Review of Instructions for Dancing

Wow – I have loved all Nicola Yoon’s books but to me this one packed even more of an emotional punch than Everything, Everything or The Sun is Also a Star.

Yvette “Evie” Thomas is cynical about love since the break-up of her parents’ marriage. She’s even ditching all her favorite romance books at a Little Free Library! A mysterious woman urges her to take a book in return. The only one there is about ballroom dancing, so Evie takes that. Afterwards, she can see the romantic future of couples she sees kissing, a power that makes her feel even more pessimistic about love.

Since I was a kid, I’ve LOVED books in which characters have magical Freaky Friday-style experiences that turn their lives upside-down. So I really enjoyed the mini-chapters that chronicled the romances of the couples that Evie sees.

But then Evie, desperate to undo this strange and disturbing power, ends up at a local dance studio. She receives a free lesson and, before she knows its, she’s entering dance competitions with the attractive grandson of the studio’s owners. As Evie falls in love herself, all her cynicism about romance will be challenged.

Instructions for Dancing had a lot of elements: Evie’s family relationships, her friend group, her visions, and the dance lessons and competitions. I am not a good dancer but really loved the dance competition aspects of this book and wished for even more of that!

The ending was … unresolved and rather unsettling. I don’t want to say more, but things took a turn that I was not expecting. But still, I really enjoyed Instructions for Dancing and if you’ve read it, I hope you’ll tell me what you thought in comments!

Want to check out other books by Nicola Yoon?

The Sun is Also a Star is a magical book about star-crossed lovers spending a whirlwind day in New York together.