Finally, Natalie's turned fifteen. She's officially a grown-up (just tell her mother that) and ready for anything. School is out, and she and her best friend Sasha are going to be practicing with their dance team all summer.
Dancing is Natalie's passion—it's what got her through the break-up of her parents' marriage, and her father's move halfway across the country. Now she needs it more than ever as she tries to navigate the unpredictable world of older boys—specifically Kevin, Sasha's older brother—and learn the difference between love and lust.
When her friendship with Sasha goes on the rocks, her relationship with Kevin goes too far, and her mother reveals a shocking truth, Natalie finds strength in her dancing. Will it be enough? And what will happen when a new teacher introduces her to the world of modern dance—will she find the confidence to take it on?
I think I'd rate this 3.5 stars, if I could. I read this to fulfill a challenge task and found it a quick and easy read, but nothing particularly memorable. Natalie is a 15-year-old struggling with growing up in suburbia. Her parents are divorced, and her mother is struggling with her own sexuality. Natalie alternates between seeming older than her years (when she goes to a club and joins a professional dance team) and overly childish (when she whines about her dad moving away). She gets in over her head when her friend's 19-year-old brother decides he wants to date her, and she tries to help her best friend who is dealing with family issues. There are a lot of situations happening to her and around her, but the one constant is her love of dance. It was very satisfying that she was able to use dance for support and for growth, as well as using her dance contacts as mentors and for helpful advice. I didn't love it, but I found it very readable. It was light in that it was a very quick read, but the author also addressed some serious growing-up issues.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I received a copy of Leap from my high school for a summer reading program (I still have eight other books to read!) Due to the short page count (217 pages), I decided to open this one first, despite the fact that I'm not interested in the main topic -- dance.
The book focuses on a fifteen year-old girl named Natalie Ferguson, who thinks that she's a 'grown-up' now that she's fifteen. It's written in the form of her journal, as she tells the story of the summer bridging her grade 9 and 10 years. She's in a dance troupe with her best friend, Sasha, and several other girls. One girl, Lisa, becomes a part of Natalie's support system throughout the book. The problem? Natalie begins falling for Kevin, Sasha's bad-boy older brother, who is 19 (legal drinking age in Canada, where the book is set).
Despite what you may think, dancing actually isn't in the foreground of this book. In fact, the book is more focused on Natalie's 'coming-of-age' story; her relationship with Kevin threatens her friendship with Sasha, her mother is hiding a monumental secret from her, and her ten year-old sister, Paige, is going to Toronto without her to see their father, who rarely ever talks to them.
The characters are fairly realistic and likeable despite the fact that they make questionable decisions; Sasha's mother is an alcoholic, Kevin gets in a DUI accident, Natalie has unprotected sex with Kevin (however, unlike in most YA novels, there are repercussions for this choice; she has an uncomfortable pharmacy encounter while buying Plan B, and has to go for STI testing later on), and Sasha is a shoplifter.
The first portion of the story, up to about July 8th (30 or so pages) is very dry and slow-paced, and I found myself wondering if there was even really a plot to the story. The answer? No. There really isn't. It's just Natalie's day-to-day life and the struggles she faces as a teenager. However, it is a gritty, emotional read. If you're into that kind of thing, then this is the perfect book for you, but if you want a face-paced, action-packed story, maybe you should skip this one. It took me only one day to read, after about four consecutive hours of reading, so it is a quick read if you're looking for one.
Overall, it was a good book, despite my low expectations, but I can't see myself picking it up again to re-read it anytime soon.
This book was not really what I was expecting of a dance book but was still a decent read. The “coming of age” plot was a little intense for the main character turning 15, but I loved the dance aspects. I enjoyed seeing how the main character explores the modern dance style and talks about feeling your emotions through dance.
My first comment is that I really hope the back cover is completely different on the finished copy. At the top it says in huge writing “when life is changing, sometimes you have to take a LEAP of faith in yourself” and there’s a cheesy image to go with the cheesy words. Then the “blurb” tells basically the entire story, ruining any surprises the book may have offered, had I not read the back first. This is like when movie trailers give away the best jokes, it drives me crazy.
The book itself spent a lot of time making fun of books and readers. I thought that was a bit odd considering the medium of the story. Some of that was amusing, like the description of the library book sale;
“They’d traveled into beds, onto the backs of toilets, and under the edges of plates, to be water-marked and food-stained. Their plastic jackets were cracked and peeling, and their sides were stamped in red: Greater Victoria Public Library. Like tattooed convicts, they could leave the prison, but they would never really escape their past.”
Most of the parts about books involved Natalie comparing her mother’s reading to the binges of an alcoholic or person with an eating disorder. It rubbed me the wrong way, probably because I read about as much as her mother.
Truthfully, for the most part of the book I was very aware it was an adult writing about young characters. It didn’t feel like genuine teen dialogue and the cautionary tale of a good girl who goes very wild and then regrets it felt forced. Natalie was an inconsistent character, who seemed completely different one moment to the next. I liked the part where Natalie talks about how around fifteen we realize the adults in our lives don’t have everything under control, and we are left feeling like we have adult responsibilities without the resources adults have. That was about the only time where I felt connected with Natalie.
On the plus side:
•The dancing parts are pretty cool •this book makes teens aware of birth control and STI prevention, something I don’t think schools do enough •having things set in Canada was nice, I’m not used to recognizing locations so much •deals with divorce in a pretty realistic manner •deals with homosexuality of a parent, something not done enough in YA I’m giving away 2 advanced reading copies of Leap to Canadians fill out the form
I hate when I start a book and have certain expectations of how the plot will turn out because usually they don't come true. In the case of Leap, it really tainted my opinion of the book when my predictions didn't turn out and I feel really bad writing a negative review about it. I assumed the book would be about one summer when Natalie finally grows up and gains independence, but Jodi Lundgren put a different spin on "growing up" and extended the book into the school year which I wasn't really expecting. I also assumed that the main topic of the book would be self-discovery but instead there were many smaller topics never expanded on like legalization of marijuana, divorce, teenage sexuality, and LGBTQ parenting.
I'm really conflicted about the language writing style in this book. While it's true that there is no one "way" a teenager talks I'm annoyed when authors write only slang and swearing, because many of us actually have a vocabulary beyond that. I was really glad that Jodi Lundgren showed the repercussions of those words though because too often it goes uncritisized in YA literature. On the other hand, teenagers do use casual language and don't speak like "I did this and then I did this. It was jolly good."
I didn't connect to Natalie, the main character, at all. I found her to be a very naive, spoiled, disrespectful, and disobedient protagonist. While I'm glad that Jodi Lundgren didn't make her a "goody-two-shoes" I couldn't empathize with Natalie's lifestyle choices at all. I really struggled to conceptualize the dancing aspects of the book. As a non-dancer I didn't understand most of the vocabulary and found the descriptions of the dance sequences to be very long and melodramatic. I found it fascinating to watch dance affect Natalie in such a positive and inspiring way but I wish I could have fully understood and experienced that transformation with her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
In Leap, Natalie is an aspiring dancer with teenage problems that suck. It's summer and Natalie just turned 15. Her Dad divorced her mother to go be a workaholic and leave her and her younger sister, Paige. Her summer dance classes are about to start up again, but has time weathered some relationships between the dance team? Natalie begins to fall for Sasha's, her best friend, brother, Kevin, and Sasha is protective of her friends getting into a relationship with her brother after an incident. Will this destroy their friendship, or will Kevin destroy Natalie first? And will she leave her beloved dance studio behind?
I really liked this book! It progressed like so for me; about 30 pages in, I wasn't in love with it. About 50 pages in, it picked up, and by page 100, I was crying for Natalie! This was a very fast-paced book, what with the journalistic style of writing, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I felt like I read 200 pages, to look and see i read just 100. Another thing though is that this book is a wonderful break from the typical "Dancer/Eating Disorder" stereotype. There are times where Natalie wishes she hadn't eaten or opts for a smaller meal, but everyone does that! You have to feel guilt after pigging out on a 1/4 gallon of ice cream, or regretting eating more when you have to perform with a bunch of stick thin dancers. I love that Lundgren didn't give in and have her have an eating disorder and I could see how easily it would've been to write in an eating disorder. Having the book take place in Canada didn't bother me too much, either. I gave the book 4 1/2 stars because the style of writing through the time of the story out the window, and I wish Lundgren took the mother's secret farther. Recommended for Sarah Dessen lovers!
Natalie Ferguson just turned fifteen. Things are going to change, because, according to her, she’s a grown up now. To top things off, Kevin, her best friend Sasha’s brother, is suddenly interested in her and Natalie is thrilled. She jumps into the relationship with full force, but the honeymoon period can only last so long. While some days with Kevin are wild and amazing, others are awful. The biggest issue is she’s lost Sasha and has no one to turn to, not even her divorcee mother, who has decided she is now in love with a woman.
The only place Natalie has to turn is to her dance classes. She throws herself into them, despite the fact that her dance teacher appears to dislike her. That all changes when Petra, Ms. Kelly’s new assistant, sees something special in Natalie’s dancing. Through Petra’s choreography, Natalie is able to lose herself in this new (to her) style of dance, which helps her work out the other issues in her life.
Leap was a very nice read. I felt Ms. Lundgren accurately depicts the life of a young dancer. I loved the imagery invoked by her descriptions. I could practically see the dance unfolding before me. On the other hand, readers without a dance background or at least an understanding of various dance terms may be lost and confused over what is happening. Though I didn’t feel strongly about Natalie, I did feel she was a realistic character, dealing with realistic issues – divorced parents, absent father, distant mother who reads all the time and finds herself falling for another woman, a destructive friendship and a semi-abusive relationship – the list of issues is long and seemed to be almost a little too much. Still, the book is enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone who loves the art of dance.
(Review based on a paperback copy courtesy of the publisher. I received this book in exchange for an honest review)
Wow. I really liked this character (Natalie) from the first page, and I read it all in practically one sitting because I was so interested, not only in what would happen to her but in what she would say about it. The narrator kind of reminded me of a gentler Canadian Holden Caulfield in tights. I think her voice has a good mix of earnestness, bravado, irony, and fragility--very teen. I love the scenes in dance class, the interactions with dance teachers and peers--quite dramatic at times, sometimes funny, and very true. Also, I like the relationship with the mother. The daughter's mocking of her mother's bookwormism seems to me to show the author's (and the novel's) real engagement with books and literature, without preaching. The mother's comments on Tess of the D'Urbervilles are relevant to Natalie's own experience--not that she or Kevin (the best friend's older brother) are characters out of Hardy, but when her mother tells about Tess, Natalie feels better and feels that her experiences are part of a much larger picture. I think this shows a true appreciation of and understanding of literature--how it helps us get perspective on and understand our own human experiences, and those of others. This novel is a good read, well plotted, and engaging. Also, I really appreciate that while emotions sometimes ride high and people do things that maybe they shouldn't, all the characters (with one possible exception) are quite rounded, and they gain dimension as the tale unfolds.
I just never understood the protagonist of this novel. Her character jumped around too much- I never felt that her character was grounded. Same thing with her best friend and the love interest. Honestly, the minor characters of her sister and mom were the most believable in their actions.
I also think the novel was trying to do too much in one novel. Best friend issues, boy issues, dance issues, divorced parents issues, mom issues, identity issues... so much!
Also, the girl in this novel is only supposed to be 15, but I really think that she acted more like a 17 year old. Her mom leaves her home alone for nights, allowed her to go to the city to stay with an older friend, she went to a night club... I understand that this is something that could happen, but it just seemed normal and accepted in the book and it isn't in real life.
I do thin that some teen girls will like this book and it will have readers out there. There are also some girls who will need the book as it deals with some issues that they'll need to read about. But for me, it was just okay.
Natalie is a dancer. This forms the core of who she is, but when the events in her life compete for that she has to learn to allow her emotions to come out through her dancing. She misses her father who moved to Ontario and left her, her younger sister and mother back in B.C.. She falls for an older guy and lets her feelings control her actions. She is moving apart from her best friend, unable to help her with her home situation. Things are complicated, and yet, holding her together, is dance.
I picked this book up because I have two daughters who dance. I thought that the dance as a central theme in the novel would be a way of understanding their love of that art form.
I finished the book because I really liked the way the character of Natalie was written. She was dealing with so many difficulties, all of which were so realistic. I wanted to see how things resolved themselves.
I would recommend this to Tait, and to Michelle Y. Both are dancers and I think Natalie's story will offer them much to think about.
I loved this book, not only because it is about dancing (which made me pick it up in the first place) but it involved so many issues that in reality a teenager may face. Divorce, secrets, finding your talents and passions, finding out who your real friends are and saying no to a guy. It is all written in a diary like format which makes it actually to my surprise more interesting. Also, it takes place in Victoria, BC so the setting of it makes the story 10 times more interesting. Natalie (the main character of the story), learns that life can bring you twist and turns but sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. Like the book states: "When life is changing, sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith in yourself". A really interesting book, the only thing that's stopping me from 5 stars is that in some chapters in the book are a little to detailed.
Okay, so as I expressed to my friends, this book, at the beginning, had a bad writing style. Plus, the character was displayed to be quite stupid. Once I passed about two thirds of a way through it, the writing style seemed to improve and I liked it more. If the same style that was used in the ending of the book was used in the rest of it, I probably would have liked it more than I actually did. And even in the beginning, the situations that came into play were quite random....and sometimes very gross. Ay. I don't think I would read this again. But I did like the dancing part in Vancouver!
I gave it 50 pages, but it felt like this story starts in the wrong place. I'm not interested in Natalie at all because all we get is a string of events happening, and none of them are all that interesting. I wanted to know more about her dancing and more about her relationship with Kevin than I'm given. 50 pages in and I know nothing that the back cover promises the story holds. A little disappointing.
I really related to Natalie. I could see why she got attracted to the older guy, even though he was obviously trouble. I also felt for her when her friends and family let her down. She goes through a lot of ups and downs in this one summer. I had to keep turning the page to see how she would deal with the latest challenge. No matter what happens, she keeps right on dancing and pursuing her dreams. An excellent story with an inspiring message about finding your passion.
I won the ARC of this book on one of the book blogs. The books is a diary of coming of age summer of a teenage girl. First times drinking, weed smoking, sex, break-ups, as well as dealing with lacking love or attention from divorced parents, learning to accept and re-negotiate the relationships and dealing with a life full of questions, choosing what's right or doing things to please others, and finally taking a leap of faith - that is what this book is about.
Jodi Lundgren has a gift for creating resonant emotional situations layered with finely crafted physical details. I'm not a dancer (though I did start to take a modern dance class once) and my teenage years were very different, but she made her main character's experiences feel universal. A complex, carefully interwoven novel of trust, betrayal and love.
I was sort of interested for a while. But it took me about two weeks to get halfway through a 200 page YA book....last night I decided I really didn't care anymore. I had high hopes when I came across it in the YA section and read the cover. Oh well!
Meh. The ending was ok...not as horrible as the rest of the book. The only characters I liked were some of the super minor ones (ex. dance teacher, sister..). So yeah. I don't feel like rating the book haha.
I loved this book because I can connect with it. As a dancer I understood the struggle to connect and find yourself emotionally through dance. This book, for the dancing part was very inspirational