Title: It’s Only Dancing
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Genres: Romance/Contemporary
Pages: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Copy: ARC from publisher
Availability: Available Oct. 6th
Summary: It’s the summer before her senior year of high school and Kat (Kitty to her family) planned to spend it reading good books, working on her college applications, and enjoying her independence. Instead, she’s stuck for an entire month with her family at a camp in the desert in Southern California.
When she stumbles across a staff party on the first night, she’s jealous of their joyful, uninhibited dancing. She hasn’t danced like that since two years ago, when she was forced to quit ballet, which she once loved more than anything. She’s determined to leave dance where it belongs — the past.
But Jordan, the handsome and magnetic hip-hop dance instructor, keeps dragging it into her present. As Kat begins sneaking around and lying to her parents to spend time with Jordan, she’ll have to ask herself — what is she willing to risk to finally feel free? And is it possible her feelings for Jordan could reignite her love for dance?
Review: Full disclosure – I’m a huge Jasmine Guillory fan, having read and own all her books, so you know I was excited when I found out that she was writing a YA romance. I had high expectations for this novel as Guillory can write an exceptional story that is full of heart. I was not disappointed. There were moments were I was angry at the events in the novel and even shed a tear at a heartwarming moment between Kat and her parents. The fact that “It’s Only Dancing” is a reworking of the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing really had me excited because I remember going to the theater when I was a teen and falling in love with the movie. I was wondering how Guillory would retell the story with modern teens in a modern setting. And reader….she did the thing. This was an excellent adaption of a beloved movie.
The concept of families traveling to “camps” for the summer is a forgotten notion, but Guillory makes it work as Kat’s parents are able to work remotely (and really, I think this concept is something that should come back). It’s the summer before Kat’s senior year so her parents decide the family should go to this camp to spend more time together before all of life’s changes commence. Kat has also become withdrawn from an experience that led her to quit ballet and her parents hope this time away can help return her to the girl she used to be. They were right, in that sense, as when Kat meets Jordan and Toni, her journey towards healing begins. At the beginning of the novel she is very sarcastic and morose, and has very low self-confidence. She enjoys being an observer to life rather than live her life. Kat is truly going through the motions. Thankfully Guillory doesn’t draw out Kat’s pain and we learn early in the novel what happened that caused her to quit ballet and we spend the rest of the novel with Kat as her heart heals and she finds joy in dancing and in herself. Of course the romance is sweet too. And is age appropriate as both Kat and Jordan are rising high school seniors, whereas in Dirty Dancing the age gap was concerning. Jordan is such a “cinnamon roll” as the kids say as he is very caring about others and is very open, which makes the reason why he leaves camp (if you’ve seen the movie you know) enraging. However, the injustice for why he leaves camp actually pulls Kat and her family together and makes the ending of the novel so satisfying aside from the usual romance HEA.
“It’s Only Dancing” was everything I expected it to be. It was a great re-telling of Dirty Dancing that accurately captured our modern life and will be a book that will resonate with today’s teens.