>>>Title: "Butterfly," by V.C. Andrews (famous for stories of kids and young teens being terrorized by almost c0mically screwed-up parents and/or guardians. See "Flowers in the Attic.")>>>ISBN: 0-671-02029-3>>>In a Nutshell: Orphaned girl of fourteen gets adopted. New Ma is former Prima Ballerina now confined to a wheelchair (car accident,) New Pa is well-meaning chap who unfortunately, was driving, and escaped unscathed. See where this is going? Girl is forced to undergo total-immersion dance instruction, despite inhuman levels of exhaustion and illness. Makes debut, screws up, dance lessons get even more draconian. Ma goes predictably nuts, begins smashing wheelchair into wall, can't be stopped. Pa, despite affection and c0ncern for adopted daughter, decides it's best for her to make herself scarce.>>>Best moment for guys like us: Janet meets her practice partner-"His tights fit him like a second skin, so that there wasn't much left to the imagination..." Now, they're both Under-Boopola, so that kinda threw cold water on the whole deal, but in a V.C. Andrews, you apparently have to take what you can get. I mean, at least there wasn't a tortured description of, well, torture (which the rest of the book is rife wif. Girls like this stuff?)>>>Cover Art: Back cover features our heroine, looking WAY too sultry for a girl her age, in a tutu, tights, and pointers, all pink.>>>Verdict: A drag. Partner spends a few lines leering at our gal, and at one point starts undressing her, but the age thing makes the whole deal creepy and fairly stupid-sounding. It's also hinted at that the main character does her classes bare-legged (You've just read the only mention of tights in the whole book, though leotards and pointe-shoes are all over it.) Lurid descriptions of ballet classes run by a driven maniac go to almost hilarious extremes. Dodge it, (though you may like the cover!)

>>>Next: The Bantam Romance "Dance of Love," by Jocelyn Saal (Who, trust me, is probably in reality an SF writer cadging a few bucks off the romance market!)-Depon (Black Danskin Plus, Green long-sleeved Thermal T.)