*Full Review*
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review!
"The good, the bad, the past, and the future."
The Midnight Dance follows Penny a young ballerina who lives in a castle with 12 other young women all under the care of Grand Teatro and Master. Who control pretty much every part of their lives. (multiple ridiculous rules that don't make sense until later on in the book.)
Penny and the other ballerina's can't remember much of anything from their old lives and seem to be in an almost dream-like world most of the time. That is until Cricket touches her hand and she suddenly has a memory. After that, she is freaked out and starts questioning everything about the world she has grown used to.
With the help of Cricket, she is able to get over some of her fears and start having memories again of her family.
Overall I really loved this story. It wasn't at all what I was expecting considering it is published by swoonreads I was expecting romance to be the main part of this book, instead it was always in the background like it should have been for a change! Penny is one of my new favorite characters. Even though she had a lot to be afraid of she kept pushing through it to find out the truth. She knew something wasn't right and she wasn't going to let anyone stop her no matter how hard they tried. (looking at you 'master')
Master is one of those characters that simultaneously terrified me and held my interest. I needed to know why he was doing this to them. (still a little confused on this part.) He will do anything to keep the girls under his thumb, and is extremely obsessive about each of them. It is actually rather terrifying when you think about what he put these young women through and how so many people just went along with him.
"He doesn't love us. He wants to control us, make us his toys."
Also, how was he even able to do this? It was partially explained but I need more understanding considering the Grand Teatro ended up being helpful I was really expecting some explanations and was a little disappointed when I didn't get them. As for Cricket and Penny, I really liked them and was so happy to see Cricket not take out his frustrations about 'master' on her. He knew she couldn't help it and he did his best all while letting her slowly come to terms with what was happening. They make such a good team together and I wouldn't mind getting a novel with both of them helping the other girls come to terms with what happened to them as well.
"The thought of all this analysis, the medication, and serums, made her nauseous. They weren't dolls."
The side characters I absolutely adored as well, the last 25% of the book I couldn't get enough of and I wish there had been more! (Don't I always when I love a book. I can't help it I'm greedy for good friendships.)
"Distorted as her past had been, it made her who she was today. It gave her strength. It made her whole."