The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

 
The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Delphine ditched her soloist position in favor of learning to choreograph ballet with her boyfriend in Russia, she thought everything in her life was finally falling into place. Several years later, she returns to the Paris Opera Ballet as a choreographer and ready to kickstart her career. Everything will be the same as it was when she left, right? Except everything is different, and Delphine faces setback after setback as old secrets begin to surface. 

Told in dual timelines, we follow Delphine from the time she first meets her two best friends in ballet school leading up to the present as we also follow Delphine in the present after her life begins to implode. In the past, we see how close she once was with Margaux and Lindsay as well as how her friendship with them eventually became the distant and bitter friendship she has with them today. I thought it was an interesting story full of drama between friends and family while facing the pressures of the ballet world.

While this is described as a mystery, it is actually a contemporary adult fiction novel with a smidge of mystery thrown in. The core of the story are the lives of Delphine and her two best friends as well as how the dark side of ballet drove them to become the people they are in the present. I really like that many of Delphine’s relationship problems with friends as well as her mother figure are the result of her own actions. While she does have problems due to other people’s actions, it was good to see her face the results of her own actions and force herself to try to make a change if she wants to keep these relationships. It was also quite interesting to see the number of characters who are not what they seem in both good and bad ways.

All in all, I think I would’ve been disappointed about this not actually being a mystery novel if I didn’t like the story so much. At some point, I forgot that this was supposed to be a mystery and was fully enjoying the story for what it is. If you’re looking for a good contemporary novel that’s heavily character driven, I think this will be a good read for you. However, if you are looking for a contemporary mystery or a something that is primarily a mystery novel, I would recommend passing on this.