Reverence

This book surpassed the high expectations I had. The whole setting with ballet dancers, 1980’s and Paris makes the whole story so enticing. For me living in Europe close to the Russian border and remembering the fear we had for the Soviet Union during that time and what we also feel now vs. Russia after they invaded Ukraine it made it all so much more real. The mention of the AIDS pandemic also reminded me of all the great persons we lost to that disease. Clear that the author has this time in history close to her heart. On top of the fantastic story settings, I can just gush over the language, the romance, the angst and the amazing main and side characters. I will remember and think about this story for a very long time. It is not just a romance but so much more moving me on such a deep level. Thank you, Milena McKay, for giving me this fantastic read.

I love that a book punches me in the sternum, with enough force to break into my ribcage, grab my heart, squeeze it with enough force to leave me breathless, and then releases and withdraws, and my blood pumps again, and I can breathe and marvel at the whole epic experience. I just love it, like the good lover of drama and angst that I am. I tried very hard to stay away from reviews of this book. Tried very hard to get into it with a relatively open mind. And I did, to some extent. But from the little I’d heard I suspected it’d be gut wrenching. Suspecting did not subtract from the sheer agony and subsequent catharsis of what transpires in this perfectly gorgeous story. Ballet, so delicate and so airy and so grandiosely gorgeous, is a perfect conduit to showcase the drama that hides behind every shiny surface. Ballet is not the point to me, albeit so beautiful and ethereal. Ballet is a means to an end, to showcase that behind every shiny beautiful surface may lay a story that could be a lot darker and a lot more daunting than the perfect grand jete we all see on the surface. Ballet seems like a conduit to show a seriously wide range of complicated human emotions, and behaviors. Fear and trust, fundamentally. And love. But fear. Trauma. Survival. Doing what it takes to survive and overcome. And love to understand these things, these utterly unstoppable emotions that drive one to do what they do. It takes love to overcome all pain inflicted in the road to freedom. These…