Blog Tour and Review: Wish by Grier Cooper + GIVEAWAY

Title: Wish (Indigo Dreams #1)

Author: Grier Cooper

Publication Date: December 2, 2014

Genre: Contemporary (YA)

Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Synopsis:
For Indigo Stevens, ballet classes at Miss Roberta’s ballet studio offer the stability and structure that are missing from her crazy home life. At almost 16, she hopes this is the year she will be accepted into the New York School of Ballet. First she must prove she’s ready, and that means ignoring Jesse Sanders – the cute boy with dimples who is definitely at the top of Miss Roberta’s List of Forbidden Things for Dancers.

But Jesse is the least of Indigo’s concerns. When she discovers her mom is an alcoholic, it simultaneously explains everything and heaps more worry on Indigo’s shoulders. As her mom’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, Indigo fights to maintain balance, protect her younger brothers from abuse, and keep her mother from going over the edge. When the violence at home escalates, Indigo realizes she can no longer dance around the issue. At the risk of losing everything, she must take matters into her own hands before it’s too late.

Buy it Here:
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My Review:

I don't think many of my readers may know this about me, but like Indigo, I once had dreams of being a ballerina with some of the best companies. Unfortunately for me, I was never able to attend any elite studios, and eventually my bullying teachers hurt me so emotionally that I quit. I still wish that I would have went somewhere else and continued to dance, but I never did.

Ballet is the reason why I was drawn to Wish by Grier Cooper. Once you dance, it's in your blood forever. Even if you don't continue, you still love to dance in your room or learn more about it. That's why I wanted to read this. I wanted to see how dance shaped the life of Indigo. What I found is a beautiful story of a young ballet dancer with dreams of going to New York and dancing professionally but is being pulled back to help rescue her family from crumbling to pieces.

If you look at the cover, you'll see a ballerina in a dark setting, and the cover fits the plot of this novel. Indigo Stevens is a talented young dancer, and she dreams of attending the prestigious New York School of Ballet. To get there, she has to stay focused in ballet class. I loved this storyline in the book. It kind of reminded me of the TV show, Bunheads, because there is just so much that has to happen for a ballet dancer to even earn an audition. I do wish that there were more ballet scenes in this book though. I think that would have made it a bit more enjoyable.

Like previously mentioned, ballet is not the only thing that's going on in Wish. There's more. Cooper makes a very brave decision in Wish by tackling alcoholism. This is something that many YA authors avoid, but I think it's important because there are going to be teens who have alcoholic family members. There are even teens who battle alcoholism. If they can connect with a book or a character in a book, they might feel more comfortable in seeking help for their loved one(s). If you read this book, you'll discover that Cooper writes about alcoholism thoughtfully and carefully. She tells the story of two women dealing with it - the alcoholic mother and her daughter. It's a hard thing to write about it, but Cooper does this flawlessly. She mentions drunk driving in one chapter. She also deals with a lot of problems alcoholics face in great detail like violence and denial.

Wish by Grier Cooper is a thought-provoking book. I'd recommend it for dancers who enjoy reading about other dancers. I'd also recommend this book for fans of realistic fiction and emotionally heavy books. I also think that teens who have dealt with an alcoholic family members should pick up this book.

In accordance to FTC guidelines, I must state that I received a free copy of this book through Xpresso Book Tours and the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not alter my thoughts and opinions in any way.

 

About the Author

Grier began ballet lessons at age five and left home at fourteen to study at the School of American Ballet in New York. She has performed on three out of seven continents with companies such as San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, totaling more than thirty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer.

Her work has been praised as “poignant and honest” with “emotional hooks that penetrate deeply.” She writes and blogs about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area and has interviewed and photographed a diverse collection dancers and performers including Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Glen Allen Sims and Jessica Sutta. She is the author of Build a Ballerina Body and The Daily Book of Photography.

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