Dancing, music, and teenaged angst are the focus of the sensuous new young adult novel, WHEN THE STARS GO BLUE by Caridad Ferrer.
For Soledad Reyes, life is all about dance. There is nothing she doesn't love about it and nothing she wouldn't do for it. About to graduate from high school, Soledad has her life planned out to include heading to New York to audition for a position in a top dance company. But that all changes when Jonathan Crandall begins to court her for a role of a lifetime -- a role that might change her life forever in more ways than one.
Jonathan is a fellow classmate who has adored Soledad from afar for years. He is a member of an elite bugle and drum corps group that is performing a new program called Carmen Revealed in a series of summer-long competitions. He thinks that Soledad would be perfect in the role of Carmen, not only does she has the body, she has the fierceness in her dance that would make her an unstoppable force on their team. Soledad isn't sure if this is what she wants to do for her summer, instead of teaching ballet. But, as she falls for Jonathan she falls for the idea of her being Carmen, the star of the show.
But not everyone is thrilled with Jonathan and Soledad's relationship, including Jonathan's father, who is plays a huge role in the drum and bugle corp. As the tour travels across the country, Jonathan and his father's battles escalate at every stop, causing friction between the teenaged lovers as well. When Soledad turns to a traveling soccer player from Spain for solace, Jonathan begins to lose his grip on reality causing darkness to overshadow every performance. Will the young lovers be able to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds or will their love be destine to flame out much like the lovers in the famed opera they are performing on the field each night?
Caridad Ferrer presents a fast-paced, emotional novel with WHEN THE STARS GO BLUE. Tapping into the drama and tension that are prevalent with teens who are also performers, Ferrer gives her readers the passion and suspense that will keep them enthralled to the very surprising ending.
Soledad Reyes decides to dance Carmen as part of a drum
and bugle corps competition, not knowing if it will help
or harm her chance of becoming a professional ballet
dancer but eager to pursue new options, including a
romance with the boy who invited her to audition.
A dancer driven to succeed.
A musical prodigy attempting to escape his past.
The summer they share.
And the moment it all goes wrong.
Dance is Soledad Reyesβs life. About to graduate from
Miamiβs Biscayne High School for the Performing Arts, she
plans on spending her last summer at home teaching in a
dance studio, saving money, and eventually auditioning for
dance companies. That is, until fate intervenes in the form
of fellow student Jonathan Crandall who has what sounds like
an outrageous proposition: Forget teaching. Why not spend
the summer performing in the intense environment of the
competitive drum and bugle corps? The corps is going to be
performing Carmen, and the opportunity to portray the
character of the sultry gypsy proves too tempting for
Soledad to pass up, as well as the opportunity to spend more
time with Jonathan, who intrigues her in a way no boy ever
has before.
But in an uncanny echo of the story they perform every
evening, an unexpected competitor for Soledad's affections
appears: Taz, a member of an all-star Spanish soccer team.
One explosive encounter later Soledad finds not only her
relationship with Jonathan threatened, but her entire future
as a professional dancer.