Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but then a terrifying fall shatters her leg — and her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it.

After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and binging ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the school musical. However, rehearsals offer more than she expected — namely Jude, her annoyingly attractive castmate she just might be falling for.

But to move forward, Alina must make peace with her past and face the racism she experienced in the dance industry. She wonders what it means to yearn for ballet — something so beautiful, yet so broken. And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else?

The Other Side of Perfect was one of my most anticipated books of this year – ballet and musical theater? What’s not to love? Plus, when I was in high school, I wrote my very own ballet-dancer-gets-injured novel, so I definitely had to pick this one up. It did not disappoint!

A book for both teenage me and current day me

The Other Side of Perfect is the kind of book that has left an impression on me because I know it’s exactly the kind of book I would have loved when I was younger/in high school. It’s the kind of book that I wish existed for me then. I’m so glad it exists now. It’s a quiet book and one that I also enjoy reading as current-day me, with the hindsight of looking back at my high school days, but that I know would’ve been a hundred times more impactful on me then.

Which is not to say that it didn’t impact me now, especially as a dancer (though nowhere near professional aspirations) who is taking a break to deal with chronic pain. It’s been a difficult journey for me, added on top of having the rosy glasses of my high school dance experience pulled off and realizing how much trauma I have from being the only person of color on my studio’s dance team in high school.

The Other Side of Perfect very much reminded me of Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Toney, which was a book I loved when I read it in high school. I don’t totally remember the plot anymore, but that was the book I read in high school that I felt like understood me.

The dance and musical theater aspects

As mentioned, I adored the dance/ballet and musical theater aspects. I had a brief stint in musical theater in 6th grade (I too was cast in a specific role as principle dancer but was otherwise just part of the chorus/background cast) – and am a fan in general – and of course, I am a mostly ballet trained dancer, so The Other Side of Perfect really had some of my favorite things already. On top of that, in the dance aspect, the book touches on so many different but interrelated issues – and handles them all delicately, realistically, and in a properly complex way. One aspect is Alina and Diya grappling with balancing (or not) dedication to the arts and an aspiring career in the arts with the toll it can have on relationships and friendships. People don’t always understand the sacrifices that are made, and well, high schoolers tend to be judgmental either way.

Exploring race and racism in ballet

Then, there was the added layer of race and racism in the arts, especially ballet. The book kind of dips in and out of it, but I know the author did some research and included the work of Final Bow for Yellowface. I still think the ballet world has maybe the furthest to go in terms of racial justice and equity, so it’s still a bit surface level/basic in how it’s grappled with in the book, but I appreciate the effort and still think it’s important. The book also connects the larger discussions about race and racism in dance to Alina’s own emotions and feelings as she realizes and understands more deeply the racism she’s dealt with. She struggles to come to terms with loving ballet while also seeing the ugly parts, and in the process she also learns how to speak up for herself and others, and that is really powerful.

Discovering modern dance

I also loved Alina’s exploration of modern and contemporary dance. I also started taking modern in high school, after years of only taking ballet, and I related to a lot of her journey with it. In more recent years, I’ve actually danced more modern and contemporary (and jazz) than ballet, but it’s still a work in progress for me. Anyway, I adored those parts.

Complex characters, relationships, and emotions

The book is also does an amazing job with the characters and relationships. Firstly, there’s the adorable romance and cute love interest. To be honest, he’s nothing super special and is quite cookie cutter, but I think it works for this story because it doesn’t overwhelm all the other things in the novel. If anything, the book focuses equally as much on friendship and family. In particular, Alina’s relationship with her sister felt deeply familiar to me. Additionally, I could relate to almost all of the main/major side characters, though in different ways. Some might find some of them and their choices to be frustrating at times, especially Alina’s, but I think they all made sense.

Exploring recovery, healing, and forgiveness

To that end, The Other Side of Perfect does not shy away from exploring and showing the difficult, at times ugly, parts of recovery, healing, and forgiveness (especially forgiving oneself). Again, this means that Alina’s actions can sometimes feel frustrating, but I think they’re an important and extremely realistic part of the story and her character arc. The author handles it all with grace and care.

All in all, it’s clear that I love The Other Side of Perfect, and it’s definitely one of my favorite reads so far this year. This one will likely become a comfort read and one that I will return to and recommend for people – especially dancers – for a long time. I treasure this book, both for teen me and for my current self. I highly recommend picking this one up