• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2022 February #2
  In 1983 Minnesota, 16-year-old Rosa is a talented ballerina who has different dreams from her parents when it comes to her dance career. She prefers edgier beats (Prince is her artistic hero) and longs to try different dance styles. But under the watchful eye of her abusive, alcoholic father, who is also the ballet master of the Minnesota Dance Company, she resigns herself to a life dedicated to ballet. Then, one day, Nikki, a boy of Puerto Rican heritage, enters her life, as does an opportunity to dance with Prince at a nightclub! Nikki shows Rosa the reality of her corner of Minnesota, where guys wearing makeup are harassed, AIDS is rampant, but hope never dies. While digging into the edgy punk scene of Minneapolis' Block E, the narrative lets Rosa embrace her Mexican American heritage in style, including the performance of some new, sensual dance moves and the realization of where her heart truly lies. Realistic with a beautifully hopeful ending, Torres' historical novel will dance its way into readers' hearts. Grades 8-11. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.
• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2022 February #2
  In 1983 Minnesota, 16-year-old Rosa is a talented ballerina who has different dreams from her parents when it comes to her dance career. She prefers edgier beats (Prince is her artistic hero) and longs to try different dance styles. But under the watchful eye of her abusive, alcoholic father, who is also the ballet master of the Minnesota Dance Company, she resigns herself to a life dedicated to ballet. Then, one day, Nikki, a boy of Puerto Rican heritage, enters her life, as does an opportunity to dance with Prince at a nightclub! Nikki shows Rosa the reality of her corner of Minnesota, where guys wearing makeup are harassed, AIDS is rampant, but hope never dies. While digging into the edgy punk scene of Minneapolis' Block E, the narrative lets Rosa embrace her Mexican American heritage in style, including the performance of some new, sensual dance moves and the realization of where her heart truly lies. Realistic with a beautifully hopeful ending, Torres' historical novel will dance its way into readers' hearts. Grades 8-11. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Vanessa L. Torres is a Latinx writer who has worked as a flight medic and currently works as a firefighter paramedic. She's a founding member of the B.R.A.V.E. Foundation, a volunteer organization that works with firefighting and medical personnel in developing countries and is the recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow award from Rotary International for her work in Guatemala. Vanessa is also the co-coordinator of The Olympia Writers Group, a critique group with one-hundred-plus members, and an active member of SCBWI and The Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Transplanted from Minnesota, she is married to another firefighter paramedic and they live in the Pacific Northwest with their nine-year-old daughter. This is her debut novel.