Nocturne by Alyssa Wees

Not quite traditional reading fare for me, but every so often a fairy tale seems like a good idea. A very adult fairy tale, of course, in content, but still…
And so, this gothic adventure/romance made its way onto my reading list.
Nocturne is essentially a mash-up of The Phantom of the…Ballet, Beauty and The Beast, and the myth of Persephone.
It’s nicely done, magnetically narrated, and of course, as is de rigueur these days, with a strong feminist message. And a strong female protagonist to boot.
Young as she may be, Grace Dragotta has dreams and the drive to follow through on them. She wants to be a prima ballerina and soon, suspiciously soon, gets her chance, albeit under a patronage of a mysterious dark figure.
Soon she ends up living with him and slowly but surely unraveling his secrets, while engaging in a complex emotional web of ambitions and desires.
The tale borrows entirely too heavily from its inspirations, so it’s difficult to speculate upon its originality, but it’s clever about mixing and matching its elements, well rafted, and reads quite nicely. Entertaining enough for something different. Thanks Netgalley.