Dancing With Butterflies

This year I had a goal of reading at least five books a semester. Sadly, I kept getting interrupted and was not able to finish the fifth, but I did find a book that I really enjoyed. :)

Dancing With Butterflies by Reyna Grande is a fictional novel about a dance group named Ballet Folklorico Alegria centered in Los Angeles. This novel is told by four narrators - Yesenia, Elena,
Adriana, and Soledad.

Yesenia is the director of Ballet Folkorico Alegria. Once she is told she has arthritis due to being overweight, Yesenia decides to go to Mexico for plastic surgery. Once she starts undergoing these procedures, she begins to become addicted to them, causing her to take money from the dance group. Her addiction leads to turmoil in her marriage.

Elena is a member of the dance group. However, once she becomes pregnant, she decides to leave the group to get married. Elena ends up losing her baby, which, in turn, causes problems with her husband. Elena separates from her husband, causing her to turn to one of her male students for comfort.

Adriana is Elena's little sister. Because she grew up in a household with an abusive father, Adriana never really understands the true meaning of love. This contributes to her unstable lifestyle, and she finds herself continuously changing jobs and guys.

Soledad is an older sister to one of the dancers in Ballet Folklorico Alegria. She is an illegal immigrant who works as a seamstress for the dance group. After the death of her grandmother, Soledad returns to Mexico, causing more stress to the dance group because of the uncertainty of her return.

With all the problems occuring in the dance group, they don't know if they will be able to save it.

I would definitely reccomend Dancing With Butterflies. I thought it was really good, because you're always wondering what's going to happen next. I found that I could relate to this book because it can happen in real life. I enjoyed it because I'm in a dance group and I could relate to it.