DANCE OF SHADOWS by Yelena Black

Dance of Shadows
Yelena Black

Rating: F
Release Date: 02/12/13
Synopsis:
Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . . 

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed...

My thoughts on the book:
Dance of Shadows is just dull, for lack of a better term. The synopsis sounds great, and the concept is amazing. However, the execution is terrible. The pacing is off, the characters are one-dimensional, and the writing is sub-par. I started this book expecting a unique and intriguing novel and ended up bored to death and irritated. 

Vanessa is one of the dumbest characters I've ever read. Not to mention she has no personality. She insists on doing stupid things repeatedly when the answers are right there in front of her. She trusts the wrong people constantly, she can't figure out ANYTHING for herself, and to top it all off, she's obscenely bland. She is an awful character, and I found her impossible to relate to OR root for. I can't even remember most of the other characters names. Justin is also bland, and he doesn't stand out, and neither does Zep. Josef is pretty much a carbon copy of Justin and Zep. There is not a single character in this book that has a personality. The lack of character development is unbelievable. 

The pacing for this book is extremely slow. The world-building and place development are non-existent. The writing is awful, and the author seems to love the smell of sweat... yuck. Thinking about some of the supposed steamy scenes still makes me nauseous because of all the sweat sniffing and such. If I hadn't been to NYC several times, then I would have had no idea what the city looked like. Black tells us NOTHING about New York. I certainly didn't feel like I was there, which is probably a good thing, considering all the sweat. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book to my worst enemy, and that's about it. It's seriously bad. The only redeeming aspect is the concept, which the author completely destroys with the horrible writing, lack of character-development, and lack of world-building.