Wish: Indigo Ballet Series, Book #1

Grier Cooper

Dec 2014 · Dancing Poodle Press

About this ebook

For Indigo Stevens, ballet classes at Miss Roberta’s ballet studio offer the stability and structure that are missing from her crazy home life. At almost 16, she hopes this is the year she will be accepted into the New York School of Ballet. First she must prove she’s ready, and that means ignoring Jesse Sanders – the cute boy with dimples who is definitely at the top of Miss Roberta’s List of Forbidden Things for Dancers.

But Jesse is the least of Indigo’s concerns. When she discovers her mom is an alcoholic, it simultaneously explains everything and heaps more worry on Indigo’s shoulders. As her mom’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, Indigo fights to maintain balance, protect her younger brothers from abuse, and keep her mother from going over the edge. When the violence at home escalates, Indigo realizes she can no longer dance around the issue. At the risk of losing everything, she must take matters into her own hands before it’s too late.

 

Ratings and reviews

The story of Indigo, who's life is about to change in good ways and bad, "Wish" captures the moment when a girl transforms into a young woman. Hard choices must be made. Bravery is required. The descriptions of how it feels to dance and to perform are especially well done, detailed and compelling. The pacing moves along gracefully, as the book builds momentum moving into its dramatic final chapters. After finishing "Wish," I look forward to reading more about Indigo, her family, her ballet and her next adventures.

Some can dance. Others, like me, definitively cannot, but still find ourselves enchanted by stories about people who can. For those ballet aficionados, WISH is a must. It's got what you're looking for: family drama, a stern but fair instructor, a HOT romantic lead, and a cool protagonist you can get behind. If you've just blazed through four seasons of Dance Academy and are looking to fill your fix, read WISH immediately. Also, whoever did that cover is amazing. SO PRETTY.

As a former professional ballet dancer and a current ballet teacher of preteen/teens at a pre-professional ballet school, I know my students would relate to Indigo’s “Wish.” I am confident that my students would enjoy and appreciate reading a novel that exemplifies their serious work ethic and the push/pull that always comes with trying to balance a passion and discipline along with being a normal high school teenager. I strongly believe that “Wish” would be a great holiday gift for that tween or teen in your life. However, no matter your age, we can all identify with the highs and lows of Indigo’s journey and the honor and honesty in her character.

About the author

Grier began ballet lessons at age five and left home at fourteen to study at the School of American Ballet in New York. She has performed on three out of seven continents with companies such as San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, totaling more than thirty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer.

Her work has been praised as “poignant and honest” with “emotional hooks that penetrate deeply.” She writes and blogs about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area and has interviewed and photographed a diverse collection dancers and performers including Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Glen Allen Sims and Jessica Sutta. She is the author of Build a Ballerina Body and The Daily Book of Photography. Grier’s work has also appeared in Conscious Dancer,Discovery Girls, Skipping Stones, and Dance Advantage, among others.

Find out more on http://www.griercooper.com

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