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First Position: A brand-new spicy romance of forbidden love. A passionate and thrilling debut for 2023!

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From New York to Vienna and Paris, Sylvie is caught between the glamorous and dark side of ballet. Challenged, both professionally and personally, her ambition sparks a journey of redemption and sexual awakening as she embarks on an intense and passionate relationship that could be the making of her... or cost her everything... Well, I don’t know—how am I supposed to read that? In my head? Whose head should I be in?” He doesn’t answer before I rail on. “Maybe it’s just that she hates me, and it’s really that simple.” There was a lot of sex and also drug abuse and also how an artist abuse their body and soul. A lot of competitiveness. Some of the sex was steamy, some was on the cringeworthy side.

Melanie Hamrick on her steamy novel that 50 shades of ballet? Melanie Hamrick on her steamy novel that

First Position is a largely authentic portrayal of the world of ballet and the life of a dancer. It is often long hours, bleeding feet, minimal food, and a world dominated by suffering for their art. How much beauty this kind of environment creates is a testament to a dancer's commitment to the show and to dance. And this is precisely what you find in First Position. I’m surviving instead of breathing. I’m waiting for something, but what would it take for me to live again?’ Even though there is no sound, everyone can hear the scream from within me. So loud in my own head that I almost want to cover my ears. I almost lose my absent voice.’ I push through the outer stage doors and begin my walk of shame up the grand, red velvet aisle of the empty theater.

This is a book written by a ballet person for ballet people. There's no shortage of French ballet vocabulary. It's refreshing to see the terminology used correctly and playfully through out the book! First Position doesn't shy away from the gritty oftentimes toxic world of professional ballet. There's sex, there's drugs, and there's classical music. It's exactly what I needed it to be, but if you aren't a ballet person it might not be worth reading.

First Position by Melanie Hamrick: 9780593638149

I really, really enjoyed this read and would recommend it to anyone looking for a tense (re)becoming of age story about a Ballerina recovering from a toxic love affair, while falling for her ballet companies new star. I listened to the audio book narrated by Savannah Peachwood and Summer Morton. The audiobook is fabulous and I can not recommend it enough. At first his eyes stay on the stage, even as he turns his head toward me, and then with a slow blink, he looks me in the eye. She must see something more in you. If I had to guess, I’d say there’s a lot more to you than what I just saw.” There's one really good scene here--it's when we see a ballerina injure herself mid-pirouette and the main narrator basically says internally "awful, but great. now the rest of us have a chance"--and I found that tension to be delicious, and I wanted more of THAT. But instead, for most of this book, we follow Sylvie (mostly, sometimes Jocelyn) while she trains, does drugs, goes to sex clubs, doesn't feed herself, etc, etc--and maybe this IS a realistic portrayal of ballet life, but it does not a novel make. This NEEDED a through-line, some sort of plot, and it just didn't have that.He looks like Robert Graham in his younger days, but with a better hairline. He has a mischievousness to him. A playfulness in his eyes. All I can say is that I really enjoyed it. I listened to it in one day. The narration was done really well. I loved both narrators. One was vulnerable, one was bitchy and ambitious. I loved it. Jocelyn’s POV was mainly in the past. Sylvie, we get past and present. While the characters were fascinating, they author could have gone even deeper, especially when it comes to how to resolve the ending. I went into this mainly blindly. I had no expectations. I can’t judge how realistic this really was, but it gave me the vibes of how it could be behind the scenes? It turns out that it was written by a former Prima Ballerina. I won’t judge this on the level of realistic expectations. I take it as a fictional novel. As that, I enjoyed it immensely. I can get lost in a fantasy/illusion. L’Wren took her own life less than a month later, reportedly because of debts and business difficulties.

First Position by Melanie Hamrick | Goodreads

He turns away from the stage, toward me, and he comes closer, stopping two seats from me and sitting down. He has so much confidence, he’s so at ease. Coupled with that pretty cover, this would be a great beach read for this summer. Whether you’re headed on vacation or just headed outside on a walk, First Position is worth adding to your summer TBR.Asked if she ever saw herself married, Melanie said: “I don’t know, I’m kind of like, a live-in-the-moment type of person, so who knows.” Jocelyn joins the North American Ballet Company at the same time as Sylvie. She is a much different dancer, though – not blond or classically trained from when she could walk. Jocelyn's talent shows through her ability to emote rather than her unfailing technique. Sometimes rivals with Sylvie, and sometimes friends; she is always present in Sylvie's life. As a story about professional ballerinas, there is no one setting. Instead, the characters and readers with them find themselves in some of the most beautiful cities in the world. I loved this world tour and how it makes ballet seem that much more exotic. The pacing was slow and dragging, but the conclusion was well crafted. Nevertheless, I still had a hard time getting into the main story and connecting with any of the characters, which is why I decided to give a flat, uneventful, solid three stars. I wish I had enjoyed the book more than its alluring cover!

First Position by Melanie Hamrick | Goodreads First Position by Melanie Hamrick | Goodreads

Heather couldn’t help but notice it was a very nice ass … even by ballet standards, sitting high and round above hamstrings so defined they looked like bridge cables under his tanned skin. Whoever this guy turned out to be, she’d never be able to forget that under those sweatpants he had a perfectly sculpted butt.” What?” Then I remember that I had laughed out loud. Like a crazy person. “Oh, that. No. Nothing is funny.” What I didn't expect, however, was the aforementioned overabundance of spicy sexual scenes that took up SO much of the book that I often had a hard time remembering what else in the plot was supposed to be relevant. Between this and Sylvie's constant drug abuse (often for no reason at all) I got pretty frustrated trying to stay invested in her journey. The dialogue also at times felt very clunky and fake... one such scene had the 'alluring' older man watching Sylvie and best frenemy Jocelyn and urging them: "Have fun, girls-do not forget to have fun! For god's sake, you're on drugs!" The dual narrative of Sylvie and Jocelyn was fantastic, with incredible pacing! I so badly wanted to know what happened between all the characters and how Sylvie’s fall from grace came to be. I had moments of both fiercely loving and hating both the FMC’s and wanted so badly to be proud of where they ended up. This is definitely more of Sylvie’s story but it is ultimately about their relationship and what happened to and between them.

AP: Is that when you turned to writing?

Yes, just... then she was, but it’s fine.” I open my mouth to say more but lose all conviction one way or another. I shrug, not sure if I am actually defending myself or Diana. This timeline also bops around to THREE different points in time for absolutely no reason, and also has narratives from Sylvie AND occasionally Jocelyn: so unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. The one upside to this is at least Jocelyn's sections had a bit more energy and punch, although she's just as unlikable as Sylvie, if not moreso. To give you a bit more insight into the bulk of her personality, here's how Jocelyn's mind works: "He pushes his hips into mine and I remember again why I'm having this fling. He's got no personality but he's an amazing dancer with a huge d***" (Yep, this is ACTUALLY Jocelyn's inner monologue...such as it is.) Sylvie and Jocelyn have their own chapters where they tell their story to the reader on their own terms. Both describe their perceptions of their past and present – starting with when they first entered the NAB. It is never confusing and instead highlights the tragedy of what Sylvie went through. The pacing is consistently a medium pace that only slowed down on a few brief occasions, making this book a pleasant read in terms of pace.

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