First Position: A brand-new spicy romance of forbidden love. A passionate and thrilling debut for 2023!

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This is probably one of the best representations of ballet and the ballet world I have read in a fiction book.' nothing. That might be everyone else’s problem with it, but it’s exactly what I appreciate about it.

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I don’t know what I want anymore, and I used to know exactly what I wanted. I know that I did. Somewhere along the way that changed. And I know exactly when.’ Asked if she ever saw herself married, Melanie said: “I don’t know, I’m kind of like, a live-in-the-moment type of person, so who knows.” He gets up, and for a moment I feel a plunge of regret that I didn’t say anything interesting and instead sat here dumbly. But then he moves to the seat directly beside me.

From New York to Vienna and Paris, Sylvie is caught between the glamorous and dark side of ballet. Challenged, both professionally and personally, her ambition sparks a journey of redemption and sexual awakening as she embarks on an intense and passionate relationship that could be the making of her... or cost her everything... I can tell you have passion,” he said easily, clearly unaware of—or undeterred by—the turmoil of reactivity thirteen inches away from him. “I watched you for only a little while up there, not even alone, and I know you can be much better than you are. Even better, I should say.” The dual narrative of Sylvie and Jocelyn was fantastic, with incredible pacing! I so badly wanted to know what happened between all the characters and how Sylvie’s fall from grace came to be. I had moments of both fiercely loving and hating both the FMC’s and wanted so badly to be proud of where they ended up. This is definitely more of Sylvie’s story but it is ultimately about their relationship and what happened to and between them. All I can say is that I really enjoyed it. I listened to it in one day. The narration was done really well. I loved both narrators. One was vulnerable, one was bitchy and ambitious. I loved it. Jocelyn’s POV was mainly in the past. Sylvie, we get past and present. While the characters were fascinating, they author could have gone even deeper, especially when it comes to how to resolve the ending.

First Position by Melanie Hamrick: 9780593638149

She slid off him and knelt between his legs, relishing the view of his taut, muscular thighs. God bless every ballet teacher who ever made this man do pliés, she thought.” This is a book written by a ballet person for ballet people. There's no shortage of French ballet vocabulary. It's refreshing to see the terminology used correctly and playfully through out the book! First Position doesn't shy away from the gritty oftentimes toxic world of professional ballet. There's sex, there's drugs, and there's classical music. It's exactly what I needed it to be, but if you aren't a ballet person it might not be worth reading. She must see something more in you. If I had to guess, I’d say there’s a lot more to you than what I just saw.”

AP: Fair enough. This is more like erotic fiction, though?

There's one really good scene here--it's when we see a ballerina injure herself mid-pirouette and the main narrator basically says internally "awful, but great. now the rest of us have a chance"--and I found that tension to be delicious, and I wanted more of THAT. But instead, for most of this book, we follow Sylvie (mostly, sometimes Jocelyn) while she trains, does drugs, goes to sex clubs, doesn't feed herself, etc, etc--and maybe this IS a realistic portrayal of ballet life, but it does not a novel make. This NEEDED a through-line, some sort of plot, and it just didn't have that. I’ve been keeping work separate,” she said. “For me personally, I prefer that because then it’s kind of fun. L’Wren took her own life less than a month later, reportedly because of debts and business difficulties. What I didn't expect, however, was the aforementioned overabundance of spicy sexual scenes that took up SO much of the book that I often had a hard time remembering what else in the plot was supposed to be relevant. Between this and Sylvie's constant drug abuse (often for no reason at all) I got pretty frustrated trying to stay invested in her journey. The dialogue also at times felt very clunky and fake... one such scene had the 'alluring' older man watching Sylvie and best frenemy Jocelyn and urging them: "Have fun, girls-do not forget to have fun! For god's sake, you're on drugs!" Let’s go, let’s go,” Diana says, with snapping fingers. The pianist begins the music and I hear the gentle shuffle of the dancers’ feet as they scramble to places behind Jocelyn.

First Position - Kindle edition by Hamrick, Melanie First Position - Kindle edition by Hamrick, Melanie

There was a lot of sex and also drug abuse and also how an artist abuse their body and soul. A lot of competitiveness. Some of the sex was steamy, some was on the cringeworthy side. Well, I don’t know—how am I supposed to read that? In my head? Whose head should I be in?” He doesn’t answer before I rail on. “Maybe it’s just that she hates me, and it’s really that simple.”

AP: How has your family reacted to the book?

We are in such similar careers, to keep it separate is better. You’re working with the person all day, and then you’re with them at night. It’s like, too much.”