Dominique's life in Trenton is pretty dismal - working at her single mom's laundromat and going to school, that about sums it up. There's no money and nothing to look forward to. Her dream of becoming a dancer just has no way of coming true in the reality that is her life. But then she ends up on a field trip to Carnegie Hall and one look at violinist Ben changes her trajectory. Her crush - and his passion for life and music - are going to make the streets of New York City move to a different beat. And it will change everything.
First off, there are a lot of elements to this story that made it an uncomfortable read for me personally: instalove, (believable? meh, it's so hard to do well) so much dishonesty, clear and undiagnosed mental illness. I just never felt like I could settle in and LOVE their love. And the story never really sorts through all the huge consequences from the dishonesty and the mental illness, the resolution is way too "and oh look it's okay now." Which, as a NOT young adult, rubs me the wrong way.
HOWEVER. I really did enjoy reading it. I love New York City stories and I love reading about people that are passionate about something (especially related to the arts) and
POSSIBLE SPOILER
I do appreciate mental illness being a topic in books for young people but I don't so much like it being a plot TWIST, necessarily. I wish we could've delved into the that more.
I wanted to finish it and I liked the resolution enough, I just wanted more.
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