This review is part of Melody’s Summer Reading: Diversity Spotlight. Enjoy!
Second Position by Katherine Locke
Release Date: April 13, 2015
Publisher: Carina Press
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Source: Bought
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Four years ago, a car accident ended Zedekiah Harrow’s ballet career and sent Philadelphia Ballet principal dancer Alyona Miller spinning toward the breakdown that suspended her own. What they lost on the side of the road that day can never be replaced, and grief is always harshest under a spotlight…
Now twenty-three, Zed teaches music and theatre at a private school in Washington, D.C. and regularly attends AA meetings to keep the pain at bay. Aly has returned to D.C. to live with her mother while trying to recover from the mental and physical breakdown that forced her to take a leave of absence from the ballet world, and her adoring fans.
When Zed and Aly run into each other in a coffee shop, it’s as if no time has passed at all. But without the buffer and escape of dance—and with so much lust, anger and heartbreak hanging between them—their renewed connection will either allow them to build the together they never had… or destroy the fragile recoveries they’ve only started to make.
Second Position is one of the most thoughtful romances I’ve ever read (and I’m a non-romantic so that’s saying something). Locke doesn’t hold back as she writes about characters with issues that still have such stigmas around them and the love that holds these pained people together. Anorexia. Alcoholism. Addiction. Miscarrying. Grief. The weight of the grief on both Zed and Aly is so refreshingly true to the real world and what makes following these two so captivating is that in all that they go through both together and apart, they always find their ways back to each other, ready to lift the other up. And that is so beautiful.
This exploration of unconditional love and building another person up, being there or giving them space when they fall, being what is needed as tenderly as one can even when the other person may not quite be there yet… this novel really goes there. And I appreciate that so, so much.
I also loved going back and forth between Zed and Aly’s POV as we journeyed through their rekindled relationship after tragedy. This journey was heartbreaking but at times it did bring a smile to my face and even made me laugh. The writing is sharp and clever and lyrical at times… my goodness some lines just absolutely blew me away.
As a former dancer and as the daughter of a mother who was a professional dancer, I really appreciated reading a book about dancers and really appreciated the research that went into making these characters not just three dimensional but authentic. All of the elements of this story were so fluid and intertwined beautifully. Job well done, Locke! I’m interested in seeing what happens in the sequel, Finding Center which releases August 17th. Good thing I don’t have to wait long. Second Position was good and I’m expecting Finding Center to be even better. If you’re thinking about reading this book soon in anticipation for the sequel’s release, be sure to check out the prequel, Turning Pointe which really wowed me!
Second Position by Katherine Locke is available today.