Thursday, November 10, 2011

Review: dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

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dancergirl
Carol M. Tanzman
Release date: November 15th, 2011
by Harlequin Teen

Goodreads / Purchase

Ever feel like someone’s watching you? Me, too. But lately it’s been happening in my room.
When I’m alone.

A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I’m no longer Alicia Ruffino. I’m dancergirl. And suddenly it’s like me against the world—everyone’s got opinions.
My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he’s acting weird. And some stalker isn’t content to just watch anymore.
Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you’ve seen me online, I’ve trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

 *A copy was provided by Harlequin for review purposes*
 
Oh wow! For a book that I had no expectations, I ended up really enjoying it! I love when that happens. The creepy premise is what made me want to read this. A girl being stalked because of an online video – count me in!

dancergirl (very hard to not put a capital D *twitch*) starts off smoothly and brings us into the life of Alicia – Ali – who is just a regular girl with a passion for dancing. Ali is your average high school girl who thrives on popularity. Which is why she’s fine with the video that’s been posted online by a classmate, of her dancing at a concert. What she doesn’t expect, is when another video is uploaded of her dancing… in her room, alone. I really enjoyed Ali’s personality. She wasn’t perfect and she makes some bad decisions, but that’s what makes her real. I did have a problem with her having no qualms about the first video getting online, though. Sure it was taken from a classmate she knows, but he never asked if it was ok to post it online, and she just shrugs it off, then agrees to do more! See what I mean about her bad decisions? Videos online = stalker magnet! Everyone knows this. This was, however, the only issue I had with her character.

As I’m sure you guessed, there is a lot of dancing in this story. Ali has a deep love for dance; her life revolves around it. I was never as much into it as Ali, but I love dance as well. I’ve taken classes for a few years and performed at a couple of shows. So I could really relate to the dancing and the rush of performing. I got stage fright right along with Ali – I could feel it! Those part were a lot of fun for me and added some lighthearted moments to the otherwise anxious mood of the book.

Now on to the best part – the stalker plot. All throughout the book I felt chills for Ali and feared for her. It’s so incredibly easy to imagine all of this happening, that it got me very unsettled. Not knowing when someone’s watching or what part of your privacy is being taken from you – that’s incredibly discomforting. I didn’t find it hard to guess who the stalker was. I do read and watch a lot of suspense stories like this though so it’s hard to surprise me anymore. Regardless, I still thought it was a fantastic thriller with a realistic setting and gripping suspense. I’m curious what the rest of the series will entail since this one ends like a stand alone. But I’m sure I won’t be disappointed. Carol is a great author and I absolutely recommend you give dancergirl *twitch* a try.


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Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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22 Responses to “Review: dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman”

  2. Jenny

    I’ve seen the cover for this one before but never really knew what it was about, so now that I do, I’m really excited to read it! It sounds very creepy and even though you were able to figure out who the stalker was, I would probably be dense while reading and be completely surprised:) Really nice review!

  9. Carina

    A while ago this probably wouldn’t be a book I would have enjoyed, but reading your review now makes me want to read it immediately. It sounds fantastic. I love dancing, too, and a bit of creepiness in a novel is great!

    Thanks for sharing. Great review!
    Carina

  11. Mimi Valentine

    Aww, I LOVE it when you go into a book not expecting much and end up being pleasantly surprised! This sounds like such an incredible read — I just love anything that has to do with artsy characters like dancers or musicians, so you can bet I’ll be picking this one up! 🙂

    Awesome review, Giselle! I’d say I want to go into this one with no expectations like you did, but your review made it impossible to do that — in the best possible way!! 😉

  12. (: Isa :)

    Lol I hate not capitalizing titles either, Giselle. I know your pain 🙂 I’m very glad I read this review, because although I may be ashamed to admit it, this cover would not have drawn me in at all. Skip. I’m a terrible dancer, but I wish I could! This premise is really cool and I love stalker type mysteries. Great review!

  14. Giselle

    Thanks for all the love guys! 🙂

    @(: Isa :): I know I would not have picked this for the cover either and I almost passed it up but the blurb caught my eye, luckily!

  15. The Story Queen

    Haha, I love your twitches <3 LOL

    This one sounds creepy! I think it would actually be something that would interest me, I’ll have to check it out. How horrible must being in that situation be? Great review! 🙂

  16. Candace

    I hadn’t given this one much attention but your review has me convinced I need to change that! I’m not a dancer myself but I love watching dance and I love books about dance, but you throw in the aspect with a stalker and it sounds very suspenseful!

  17. chelleyreads

    i saw this around but it didn’t sound like my kind of contemp YA but i think i might just give it a try.

    thanks for stopping by our IMM last sunday. 🙂

    -michelle

  18. Ron C. Nieto

    This sounds great! Admitedly, the cover might not be the one thing to grab my attention, but as you said, there’s something very inmediate about this book: it could happen. Heck, it could be happening to someone right now! That’s what makes it so interesting, in my opinion.

    Then, there’s the fact of the bad decisions – agreed, stalker magnet, most irresponsible thing ever. But, can’t we imagine popular girl falling for the thrive of pseudo-fame? I’ve seen college classmates posting pictures of themselves that would invite a stalker fastr than you can say candy, so what chance does a high-schooler with that mindset have?

    Thanks for the great review!

    Ron @ Stories of my life

  21. KTJ

    🙁 My comment deleted itself… so here I go again! lol.

    I have this on my kindle waiting to be read from netgalley! I need to hop to it.

    I was drawn into it by the creepy also, haha gotta love the creepy! I’m really excited to see how Carol interprets dancing onto paper! I love dancing movies and have always been interested in reading a book onto it, but didn’t think it would do it justice, will be interesting to find out!

    Great Review!
    -Kate
    http://www.nomaliciousreads.com