Phantom's Dance
by Lesa Howard
Release Date: 03/01/14
Summary from Goodreads:
Christine Dadey’s family uprooted their lives and moved to Houston for her to attend the prestigious Rousseau Academy of Dance. Now, two years later, Christine struggles to compete among the Academy’s finest dancers, her parents are on the brink of divorce, and she’s told no one about her debilitating performance anxiety and what she’s willing to do to cope with it.
Erik was a ballet prodigy, a savant, destined to be a star on the world’s stage, but a suspicious fire left Erik’s face horribly disfigured. Now, a lonely phantom forced to keep his scars hidden, he spends his nights haunting the theater halls, mourning all he’s lost. Then, from behind the curtain he sees the lovely Christine. The moldable, malleable Christine.
Drawn in by Erik’s unwavering confidence, Christine allows herself to believe Erik’s declarations that he can transform her into the dancer she longs to be. But Christine’s hope of achieving her dreams may be her undoing when she learns Erik is not everything he claims. And before long, Erik’s shadowy past jeopardizes Christine’s unstable present as his obsession with her becomes hopelessly entangled with his plans for revenge.
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EXCERPT
“I
don’t understand, Mrs. Zaborov. You want us to show football players how to
dance?” I asked.
It
wasn’t unusual for upper-level dancers to teach or mentor younger students.
Sometimes we did private tutoring, but that was with children.
“It
is quite simple, my dear Christine. Tomorrow afternoon, the director will bring
the football players, and you and Jenna will be here to greet them. Then we
will set a time for classes to begin and you will assist.”
Jenna’s
mouth moved but no sound came out. I was at a loss as well. But Ms. Zaborov,
pleased she’d meted out punishment suiting the offense, gave us a dismissive
snap of her head. “Now, I have a class waiting. You will excuse me.” Then she
proceeded, dainty and light-footed, out of the room.
In
the aftermath, Jenna sputtered, “What the hell just happened?”
“It
looks like we’re going to teach football players to dance,” I replied.
“No
way. Nuh-uh. Not me. I’m not teaching a bunch of knuckle-dragging no-necks how
to plié, much less pas de deux. Think what they’d do to our
feet!”
“I’m
not sure we have a choice.” We stared at each other a few seconds before
bursting into laughter.
“Oh
em gee!” Jenna mocked. “We’re going to have jocks in here!”
“I
know. Can you imagine?” I glanced at the clock on the wall and dropped the
laughter. “We’d better get moving, or we’ll be late to pointe.”
“Right,”
Jenna agreed. “Because if we’re late to another class they’re likely to make us
teach the chimps at the zoo to pirouette.”
Author
Interview
I'm not good with interviews. The
problem is I have an extremely eclectic personality—emphasis on extremely—so it
makes it difficult to answer some of the questions asked. But before I try, be aware Lesa Howard is a
pen name, so you may see my website and contact information with the name Lesa
Boutin, or even Lesa Howard Boutin. They're all me. Did I mention I'm a Gemini, which is
represented by twins? Add to that my eclectic tastes in everything from books
to food to home décor, and I could easily be described as octuplets rather than
twins. That said, here's my attempt to answer a few author questions.
Did I always
want to write?
I didn't start writing until I was
thirty. I'd dreamed of it, though, since tenth grade when I'd written a short
story which scored the highest in the entire sophomore class. The teacher had
raved about my imagination and the twists and turns in the story. So much so
that I was kind of surprised because I assumed everyone daydreamed like I did.
So why did you
wait so long to start writing?
I wanted to be a grown-up, which when I
look back on it is crazy, but I married and had children before pursuing a
career. And even then I secretly dreamed of writing for a looong time before
ever acting on it. I was terrified of letting anyone read what I wrote. Plus, I
thought I'd be laughed at for reaching for something outside the realm of my
abilities.
Umm, that didn't
really answer the question as to why you waited so long to start writing.
For me, writing turned out to be a
lesson in getting to know myself, and along the way I discovered something that
completely changed who I am, at least who I thought I was. When I finally
decided to wrestle my fears to the ground and choke the ever-loving-life out of
them, I started attending writing conferences, taking lessons, learning
everything I could about the craft, but I still had these horrible doubts about
my grammar. I never worried about coming up with a story or having writer's block.
My imagination is just too wild for that. But I knew that if there was anything
holding me back it was my grammar. It's not that I didn't know the
"rules" but sometimes I had trouble executing them. At this point,
I'd been immersed in the education field. I planned to get a degree and teach
junior high. Yeah, you read that right. I could be reduced to a quivering mass
when posed a grammar question, but I was working toward becoming a teacher.
Then at some point, I can't remember
exactly when, but whether it was a series of events or conversations with other
educators, I had an epiphany. I realized without a shadow of a doubt that I had
a learning disability and it had a name, Dysgraphia. When I read all the
symptoms of the disorder I was shocked. I'd suffered, dealt with, almost every
manifestation on the list of warning signs since elementary school. The
National Center for Learning Disabilities defines Dysgraphia as: a
learning disability that affects writing, which requires a complex set of motor
and information processing skills. Dysgraphia makes the act of writing
difficult. It can lead to problems with spelling, poor handwriting and putting thoughts on paper. People with dysgraphia can
have trouble organizing letters, numbers and words on a line or page.
I already
know what you're next question will be.
Why on earth do you want to be a writer if you can't do it?
I did try
not to. Honestly I did. I was going to school to teach math, or science, or
maybe even become a librarian. I even have the student loans to prove it. But I
couldn't get away from writing. Finally, I had to say, "To hell with it!
I'm already broke. Might as well be broke doing what I love." And I have
been blessed along the way to connect with people who help me. I rely heavily
on my critique partners and beta readers. They help me spot the mistakes I
overlook. Sure, that's what an editor is for, but I'm still obsessive about
trying to get it as right as I can on my own. So whether it's an issue of
incorrect punctuation (I seriously love commas) homophones (pair or pear?) or
missing letters (appl) I will keep writing. Even if I'm the only one who ever
reads it.
Top Ten Favorite Books
Broken
Down by Category
Children's Books:
Anne of
Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Knuffle
Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems
Young Adult (Tough Category)
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Holes by Louis Sachar
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Eleanor
& Park by Rainbow Rowell
Adult Novels:
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
****** Favorite book of all time******
About the Author
I'm not the typical author. I didn't always enjoy reading or writing. While in school, I found it to be a chore I'd just as soon skip. I would rather have been daydreaming, my favorite past time. It wasn’t until I grew up and didn’t have to, that I realized reading was fun. I soon discovered that reading fueled my daydreaming. So, remembering a short story I'd written in high school, I began imagining expanding that story into a book. Before long I found I had loads of ideas for not just the short story but other books and stories as well. Fast forward a few years, a lot of studying about writing, practicing my writing, studying some more, taking classes from people who knew what they were doing, studying and practicing yet more, and ta-dah, author! In the same way I had learned I loved reading, I learned I loved writing, too. It’s just that writing is a lot harder than reading.
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