Blog Tour: Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard ~ Review + Giveaway! (INT)

Welcome to my blog stop of the Phantom's Dance blog tour! 

I loved this book and am so glad to have been able to be part this tour. Also don't forget to enter the giveaway below! =)

Title: Phantom's Dance
Author: Lesa Howard
Publicaton: March 1st 2014 by Boot in the Door Publications
Genre: Young Adult ~ Retelling
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5

Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.

Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.

Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.

Not surprisingly, I loved Phantom's Dance. I'm both a huge fan of The Phantom of the Opera and retellings so this book was a hit for me. The start was a bit slow but it soon turned into one amazing story that I couldn't stop myself from reading.

Christine: She was a great character to read about. She was determined in her dancing, kind to everyone—even Erik— and on top of that she felt real to me. I really liked her voice in the book.

Raoul: He wasn't much in the book but I love how he was there for Christine when she needed him the most. Most guys would probably run the other way. So, yes, I liked him very much.

Erik: What can I say about him? At first I felt sorry for him with what he said he went through and I did like him. Just like Christine I was intrigued by him. And then I started getting quite creeped out and unsettled by his fixation on Christine. I loved the way the author pictured him, though. 

So, obviously this book is based on The Phantom of the Opera and it stays pretty close to the story. I loved that. Like I said before, I'm a huge fan. But even so it's a seperate book all on its own. You don't have to be well known with The Phantom of the Opera or love it to enjoy Phantom's Dance, in my opinion.

Overall, Lesa Howard created an amazing story with realistic and intriguing characters. The writing was really good too, which is a major point for me in books. The plot was excellent and I was devouring the last ten chapters like crazy. I just had to know how it would all end—It was that exciting! And the end was pretty damn great. You won't be disappointed!

About the Author:

Facebook | Goodreads

I'm not the typical author. I didn't always enjoy reading or writing. While in school, I found it to be a chore I'd just as soon skip. I would rather have been daydreaming, my favorite past time. It wasn’t until I grew up and didn’t have to, that I realized reading was fun. I soon discovered that reading fueled my daydreaming. So, remembering a short story I'd written in high school, I began imagining expanding that story into a book. Before long I found I had loads of ideas for not just the short story but other books and stories as well. Fast forward a few years, a lot of studying about writing, practicing my writing, studying some more, taking classes from people who knew what they were doing, studying and practicing yet more, and ta-dah, author! In the same way I had learned I loved reading, I learned I loved writing, too. It’s just that writing is a lot harder than reading.

Open internationally - Ends July 29th

Signed copy of the book
Phantom mask
Dahlia from the phantom
$20 gift card to book seller of choice

a Rafflecopter giveaway