Review: Dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

Title: Dancergirl
Author: Carol M. Tanzman
Publication Date: November 15, 2011

From Goodreads:

Ever feel like someone's watching you? Me, too. But lately it's been happening in my room.

When I'm alone.

A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I'm no longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl. And suddenly it's like me against the world—everyone's got opinions.

My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he's acting weird. And some stalker isn't content to just watch anymore.

Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

My Thoughts:

Alicia Ruffino loves to dance. After school, she works at a dance studio in order to take free classes. It's all she has ever wanted to do. Aside from dancing, Alicia likes to hang out with her best friends, including Jacy, her closest friend for as long as she can remember and downstairs neighbor. When Alicia agrees to become Dancergirl, an online character, she never imagines that it will drastically change her life. Someone is now watching her and secretly recording her. It's up to her and Jacy to figure out just who it is before it's too late. 

This book had me hooked from the very beginning. In fact, I read this straight through in one sitting. Ali is a likable character, a seemingly normal teenage girl. She likes to dance, hang out with friends and party. She works hard and is responsible. Ok, maybe not completely responsible, but she doesn't give her mom a hard time and does as she is asked. 

What really drew me into this story was how believable it was. I don't think teens realize that once they put information out on the internet, it's there forever. Anyone can see it and anyone can find out who you are if they really want to. The Dancergirl videos blow up in a huge way and everyone wants to know who she is. How many times does this happen in real life? All the time. Every week there is some new video online that everyone just can't stop talking about. In Ali's case, someone has taken it upon themselves to start stalking her. Does this happen in real life? Oh, yes.

Aside from the believable story, the writing style grabs you immediately and doesn't let you go. The story flows so nicely that you think you are just listening to a friend tell you a story. You don't even realize you are reading. I was completely sucked into Ali's world and felt like I was there with her experiencing everything she experienced. Tanzman does an excellent job at keeping you guessing who the stalker is and every time you think you have it figured out she completely blows away your theory. 

The only issue I had with this book was all the dance talk. I'm not a dancer, so when Ali describes some of the moves she was doing I was lost. Even so, it didn't distract me from the story. 

If you are a YA fan like me, definitely check out this book. It has strong writing, believable characters and a thrilling mystery. 

*I received a digital copy of this book for free in exchange of my honest review. This did not influence my opinion of the book in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.