Young Adult
Pages: 458
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: October 13, 2011

When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she's deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem's muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she's chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.

Audition is one of those magically poetic book where the writing and verse is so delightful it doesn't even matter what it's about. But seeing as it was about ballet-- a theme I can admittedly say I have not read about before, but that I love nonetheless-- it becomes even more appealing. Ever since I watched Center Stage and fell completely in love with it, I've been wanting to read about ballet. That movie is exactly what I had in mind while reading this.

Stasia's amazing verse writing is as dreamy as it gets. While the theme is a bit more dull than what my verse-reading has been until now, and the boy was admittedly a bastard and I hated his guts during the whole book and I just wanted to slap Sara until she realized it, I could still feel the drastic realness of it all. An honest and true story about having to live through something until you can realize what you really want. And Sara was an amazing character, very well done.

Audition was overflowing with beautiful imagery, and it made me wish and long for more YA verse authors to come join the scene. It must be incredibly hard and so much more rewarding picking the right word to make every sentence a perfect one. I will definitely be in the lookout for whatever Stasia writes next!

If you enjoy verse novels you must read this, and if you're undecided this might change your mind. Ballet lovers should also make this a must.