Tiny Pretty Things (Tiny Pretty Things, #1) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Aug 23, 2015 Rincey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, poc-author

This book was super ridiculous, but I still enjoyed it on a really superficial level. ...more

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Aug 08, 2017 Ashley Holstrom rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, author-of-color, read-harder, fiction, sports, reviewed, young-adult

Oooh, the drama in Tiny Pretty Things is INTENSE. Three ballerinas are fighting for the top spot in their elite school, and they’ll do whatever it takes to knock the competition down. Bette, the golden girl, expects to be on top. Gigi, the new girl, has to fight her way up. And June, the perfectionist, just may be the most malicious of them all. This full-cast production makes it the perfect choice, as far as poolside audiobooks go. It’s a page-turner, but with your ears.

From 8 Great Poolside Au ...more

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May 26, 2015 Molly rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-lit, kindle, 3-and-a-half-stars, i-want-to-like-you, realistic-fiction, book-riot-finds, read-in-2016, summer-2016

I'm kind of on the fence on this one. It reminds me of so many things I love, but the pacing is kind of off and the ending is weirdly abrupt. There's not much of a resolution.

I heard about this on Book Riot a LONG while back. The library doesn't have it, and whenever I was at a real bookstore with a mind to splurge, they also never had it. But I nabbed it on Kindle when the price suddenly dropped and I blew through it in a couple of days. I have always been fascinated with dance, even though I a I'm kind of on the fence on this one. It reminds me of so many things I love, but the pacing is kind of off and the ending is weirdly abrupt. There's not much of a resolution.

I heard about this on Book Riot a LONG while back. The library doesn't have it, and whenever I was at a real bookstore with a mind to splurge, they also never had it. But I nabbed it on Kindle when the price suddenly dropped and I blew through it in a couple of days. I have always been fascinated with dance, even though I am terribly uncoordinated (I have decent rhythm, but I cannot make my limbs obey!). This is billed as Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars, which is an intriguing combination. Full disclosure: while I have read approximately 500 book projects on PLL, I have never read any of the books or watched the show. I was always more of a Gossip Girl fan (just in case you thought it was a matter of taste!). So let's call it Center Stage meets Gossip Girl!

We open with Cassie's perspective: she's dancing a solo, one of the youngest in the company, mean girls are whispering, the usual. But then her pas de deux partner drops her...and we fast forward a few months (or possibly to the next school year; more on this in a minute) and Cassie is gone. We later learn that the fall broke her hip and she suffered some kind of breakdown. Now Gigi is the new girl -- a bit like Eva without the attitude and sass (she is so NOT keeping it real, you guys). The novel rotates perspectives between Gigi, mean girl Bette, and Korean dancer June (also Gigi's roommate). When Gigi lands the coveted role of the Sugar Plum Fairy -- which was of course supposed to be Bette's -- and June barely cracks the ranks as an understudy, both girls begin to obsess about knocking Gigi down a peg.

That's basically it. Gigi is the best and gets all the attention, Bette is jealous and Blair Waldorf-level crazy, and June is meek and obsessed with losing weight. The bullying against Gigi only escalates when she starts dating Alec, one of the top male dancers and of course Bette's boyfriend since the age of 6. Here's what bugged me: there's no resolution to the bullying story. Who was tormenting Gigi? It's hinted that it could be any number of the characters -- we actually see Bette do a few things, and she confesses to a few others. But then there are some pretty strong hints that (view spoiler)

Of course there's a sequel, so perhaps all of that will be resolved, but the pacing just felt off. It was hard to get a grasp on the time frame -- the book is split into fall and spring seasons, but time had no meaning. Suddenly several weeks would pass in the middle of a chapter. I could never tell how much time had passed between incidents. Since the perspective rotates, sometimes we'd see the same event from two perspectives and sometimes the next chapter would take places a month later. And then all of the bullying and awfulness comes to a climax...around the 94% mark. Like I said, there's no time for a resolution.

Also, I will fully admit to knowing very little about the professional dance world (anyone else miss that show Breaking Pointe?). However, I have a hard time believing that someone like June could function, let alone dance for hours a day. She's eating, like, half a grapefruit and some tea (and usually throws it up). I get that for someone with an eating disorder, this isn't terribly unusual. But she's a dancer! How does she have the energy to make it through her classes when she's barely eating 200 calories A DAY?! At one point, Gigi calculates that they probably dance for 6 hours a day, on average. How is it possible that they aren't dropping like flies, with all of the people evidently living on tea and grapefruit quarters? If I don't eat before a race or long run, I feel like I'm going to die...and that's only about 2 hours of activity. It doesn't seem like someone can have an eating disorder that severe, and still seemingly be strong enough to dance. There's no mention of it affecting June's dancing, and in fact (view spoiler) It just rings false.

This actually reminded me a bit of The Walls Around Us, without the magical realism elements. I feel like a bit of that flavor might have elevated this a little. Or at least it would have made the pacing issue less grating. It's a quick read, and if you can find it cheap or at the library, it's not a bad way to spend a couple of rainy days. ...more

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