Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard Spotlight + Giveaway!

Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard

YA retelling

Published March 1st 2014 by Boot in the Door Publications

Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.

Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.

Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.

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I cast about. Was he behind me?

“Van, are you messing with me?”

“Your technique is flawless, but you stifle your gift with it.”

To my left. He was behind the curtain to my left.

“Who’s there?” The voice had a gravelly edge to it. There was no way it was Van’s high-pitched, juvenile speech.

Rather than answer me, the guy continued his critique. “You worry too much about your form. You should trust your body to do what it’s trained to do.”

I trod over and yanked back a curtain. “Who’s there? Are you one of the Diamondbacks?” That of course was ludicrous, because the only formation they knew was on a football field.

Then it dawned on me. “Oh, you’re a security guard. Well, I was about to leave,” I explained to him. “I was looking for Evander Woodruff, and I—”

“I’m a dancer.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m a dancer.”

“Oh. A member of the company?”

“Not this company.”

“What company are you with?”

“I’m not.”

“You’re not making sense. And where are you?” I twisted my head like an owl.

“Behind the curtains.”

“Yeah, I got that.” It sounded like he’d moved so I did a one-eighty to follow his path. “But why?”

He hesitated. “It’s what works for me.”

“What?”

“Let’s just say I have my reasons.” His tone was superior and sounded strangely familiar. “But I saw your dancing,” he said. “And your technique really is outstanding, but you’re uptight and it shows.”

“Excuse me.” I sputtered.

“Don’t be offended.” He chuckled. “I just think some of your steps were stiff and it needed to be pointed out.”

“And you think you’re the one to do that.”

“Well, yeah. It doesn’t seem anyone at this ridiculous school knows how to help you.”

I'm not the typical author. I didn't always enjoy reading or writing. While in school, I found it to be a chore I'd just as soon skip. I would rather have been daydreaming, my favorite past time. It wasn’t until I grew up and didn’t have to, that I realized reading was fun. I soon discovered that reading fueled my daydreaming. So, remembering a short story I'd written in high school, I began imagining expanding that story into a book. Before long I found I had loads of ideas for not just the short story but other books and stories as well. Fast forward a few years, a lot of studying about writing, practicing my writing, studying some more, taking classes from people who knew what they were doing, studying and practicing yet more, and ta-dah, author! In the same way I had learned I loved reading, I learned I loved writing, too. It’s just that writing is a lot harder than reading.

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What previous reviewers said about Phantom's Dance:

Carmen (5 stars):

"I was enthralled and surprised by the plot twists."

Becky (4 stars):

"The chapters are very short, and the story moves along quickly--which was good, because I didn't want to stop reading once I got started!"

Stephanie (5 stars):

"The plot was excellent and I was devouring the last ten chapters like crazy."

Jenea (4 stars):

"Phantom’s Dance was suspenseful, with a sweet romance, an eerily engrossing phantom makes this present day twist to Phantom of the Opera is one not one to be missed."

Prize: 

One (1) e-book copy of Phantom's Dance by Lesa Howard either via Amazon or Smashwords

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