Stolen Luck: 2 (The Dario Quincy Academy of Dance) - Tapa blanda

"In this sequel to Leaping at Shadows (2013), the spotlight shifts from Madeleine to Kayley, another student at the residential ballet school. Under pressure from her family to excel, Kayley attempts to make up for her lackluster rehearsals by stealing a pair of legendary pointe shoes that are rumored to bring luck. Both her dancing and her fortunes improve, but simultaneously, her friends fall prey to freak accidents and injuries. Though the plot is predictable, the book will find an audience among reluctant readers attracted by the setting and the supernatural edge of the Dario Quincy Academy of Dance series." --Booklist Online

--Website

"Set in an elite residential ballet school, these stories focus on five students and their friendships, their classes, and the mysteries they encounter in the haunted old building. In the first book, teachers are caught holding cultlike rituals to ward off a curse on the school; in book two, one of the dancers, in a slump, steals a pair of antique pointe shoes from a display case in hopes of improving her luck, but she fears, instead, that she has put a curse on her friends. The plots are a bit far-fetched, but no more so than other popular mystery series such as those by R. L. Stine. The competent writing is suitable to the genre and will appeal to older reluctant readers. Characterization is strong enough to create interest in each of the main characters. The dance terms and ballet-centric subplots give the series special appeal to balletomanes, but they don't so overwhelm the story lines that they will restrict the audience." --School Library Journal

--Journal

"Quincy school lore tells that the shoes of a former school head, displayed in the academy's front hall, impart incredible luck to anyone who wears them. Kayley is struggling to compete, and she makes the drastic decision to steal the footwear. But as Kayley's dancing improves, terrible things begin happening to the girls around her. Now Kayley has to get rid of the shoes without letting anyone know she stole them and before something truly tragic happens"--