(4.5 stars)“Am I lonelier nowThan when my sad imaginationHad him disappear?Heart torn,Loosing tiny dropletsOf sorrowNo tape can measureNo needle can mend.”I was ecstatic when I found out my library had a copy of Audition, as it was one of my highly anticipated books of the year. The greatest surprise was my library having a copy four days after its release date!! I wasted no time in downloading my copy (yes my great library does free e-books!!) and getting stuck in straight away. Let me tell you this book did not disappoint. Audition tells the story of Sara, who auditions for a dance scholarship and gets selected for a place to study at the Jersey Ballet. Initially Sara has a hard time fitting in with the other girls, she finds herself standing out from the other girls because of the style of her leotard, the colour of her legwarmers or she feels she’s always playing catch up as the other girls are more sleek and graceful in their positions and elegant in their posture and beauty.“While Simone and Madison,Who look high school age like me,Bonnie and Lisette,With their ballerina-straight backs, So where do I sit?”And then there’s Remington (Rem) one of the students/choreographers/ teachers, (he doesn’t really have a specific role, but sort of flits from one group to another). He has the confidence about him, the way he saunters around the studio and his brooding eyes always seem to distract Sara from her positions during rehearsals. Sara can’t help herself. She finds herself heating up at the slightest brush of his touch; her body has an unnatural aching for him that she can’t stop “Rem is like chocolate,Making me feel hungry and guiltyAlways and at the same time”And which she doesn’t really want to end. But does Rem have his own agenda for being with Sara?I really felt for Sara, she finds herself on a scholarship miles away from her close friends and family all alone. She doesn’t really talk much to the other girls or feel that she fits in, as they’ve been at the school longer than she has. And then her relationship with Rem, from first meeting his character I knew I wouldn’t like him, he just seemed really self-assured and full of himself and then how sometimes he didn’t even acknowledge Sara after they’d spent the night together infuriated me. I know that Sara was in a situation she hadn’t found herself in before, and that she didn’t have anyone, and that by spending time with Rem gave her a small amount of comfort that she had longed for. But I just wanted her to have the courage and stand up for herself and question exactly why she kept going back to Rem. Despite these minor irritations I did really enjoy reading Audition. This book gave me a huge insight into the life of a ballet dancer; about the extremely busy day to day schedules, the gruelling routines and techniques they have to learn, pushing their bodies to the furthest they could go and restricting their diets; “Dare I tell them that since I came here to danceI have been giving pieces of my body awayTo ridiculous diets,To repeated injuries,To Remington?And that maybeI thinkWith each bit of my bodyI lose a little piece of my soul”Also Stasia Ward Kehoe’s writing was beautiful, as you can tell from my review so far there were so many quotes that I adored and which left an aching in my chest. Audition was a book which I could have devoured in one sitting, but I took my time reading, so that I could savour the powerful verse. Audition has definitely left me with a longing for more verse books in the future. Also Stasia Ward Kehoe is very talented author; I look forward to reading what she publishes next! Some more of my favourite quotes (I know my review is already full of so many beautiful quotes, but I just couldn’t leave these out)“Today he will lift me into the air, Hold my hand, Support my back,And make me more beautifulThan I could ever be alone.”“Sitting in the back of a car behind a boy and a girlThe way I do each day in Jersey, pretendingThat I don’t ache all the time,That I’m not lonely,That such tenderness exists for meOutside my dreams”