‘Watch Her Fall’ by Erin Kelly | @mserinkelly @readeatretreat @HodderBooks | #blogtour #bookreview

Delighted to host a stop on the blog tour for Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly today! Huge thanks to Katie at Hodder for the opportunity to join and for the wonderful review copy.

Author : Erin Kelly
Title : Watch Her Fall
Pages : 420
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date : April 1, 2020

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Swan Lake is divided into the black acts and the white acts. The Prince is on stage for most of the ballet, but it’s the swans audiences flock to see. In early productions, Odette and Odile were performed by two different dancers. These days, it is usual for the same dancer to play both roles. Because of the faultless ballet technique required to master the steps, and the emotional range needed to perform both the virginal Odette and the dark, seductive Odile, this challenging dual role is one of the most coveted in all ballet. Dancers would kill for the part.

Ava Kirilova has reached the very top of her profession. After years and years of hard graft, pain and sacrifice as part of the London Russian Ballet Company, allowing nothing else to distract her, she is finally the poster girl for Swan Lake. Even Mr K – her father, and the intense, terrifying director of the company – can find no fault. Ava has pushed herself ahead of countless other talented, hardworking girls, and they are all watching her now.

But there is someone who really wants to see Ava fall …

| MY THOUGHTS |

First things first. Do you require any knowledge whatsoever about the art of ballet or indeed Swan Lake? No, you do not. Will you end up wanting to watch a ballet performance? Probably, yes.

This isn’t an easy book to review. I’m weighing up every word I type because I constantly feel like I’m on the verge of spoiler territory so this might end up being insanely vague.

‘Watch Her Fall’ ticks so many boxes. There’s a bit of a mystery to solve. There is often the kind of tension you can cut with a knife and intriguing, multi-layered characters I couldn’t quite put my finger on. And all of it is knitted together with such incredibly delightful writing from Erin Kelly. But that’s not all. ‘Watch Her Fall’ also manages to lay bare the sheer ruthlessness behind the scenes of, in this case, the ballet world. Although I’m sure it’s something you’ll find in any competitive environment. As soon as you rise, there are people waiting in the wings to watch you fall. And as if that isn’t enough there are complex relationships to sink your teeth into, especially those involving Mr K. Good grief, what a character he is!

From the very beginning, I was swept away, utterly wrapped up in these characters’ lives. Nothing or nobody is what or who it seems. With every chapter, it felt as if everything I had read before that was turned completely onto its head. Every time I thought I was close to figuring out what was going, Erin Kelly managed to turn me around again and I swear I thought my head was going to explode. (/amateur dramatics)

Obviously, Swan Lake plays a big part in ‘Watch Her Fall’. It’s not just due to the performance the London Russian Ballet Company is preparing itself for. There is a rather more subtle thread about this coveted ballet that runs throughout the entire story but I’m going to leave that for you to discover on your own. It is incredibly well done, though. Truly impressive.

March was a weird month for me and, as many of you know, my reading has been all over the place for ages. So, in all honesty, the biggest compliment I can give ‘Watch Her Fall’ is that it absolutely captivated me from the very first page to the very last one and just did not let go. I flew through this story and it provided me with the perfect escapism that I so desperately needed.

‘Watch Her Fall’ is full of emotion and extremely insightful. It is also wonderfully immersive and evocative. Cleverly plotted and delightfully twisty, it is quite easily my favourite Erin Kelly novel to date. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely recommend it! Brilliant!

Watch Her Fall will be published on Thursday!

Amazon UK | Bookshop UK | Goldsboro UK | Hive UK | Kobo | Waterstones

| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

Erin Kelly was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex. She read English at Warwick University and has been working as a journalist since 1998.

She has written for newspapers including the The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Express and magazines including Red, Psychologies, Marie Claire, Elle and Cosmopolitan.