The Ballerina by Nicolette Dane

The Ballerina
by Nicolette Dane
Pages: 126
Date: March 22 2016
Publisher: Dane Publishing
Series: None

Review
Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 20 2016

I should probably not have attempted this one. I picked up a longish time ago because it was free, looked vaguely interesting (if my memory of way back when is correct), and is lesbian fiction. Then took a really long time before I tried this or any of the other free books I'd picked up by this author. I still should not have probably attempted this one (at least first).

Then again, that's one of the troubles of adding something long ago, having a vague feel of the story then, then turning seemingly years later (months?) to what's on the Kindle to read next, spotting something, not really recalling what it was, then diving in. So I didn't know this was a teacher-student story (or having the vibe of that, without actually including teachers/students). I do not really 'do' those type of stories, or I mean, they never really seem to work for me.

And this one everything that I dislike about the concept, though I need to immediately note something. I keep calling this teacher student, because one of the women is a lot older and works as something like a teacher/though more correctly as a dance choreographer (assistant); while the other is like a student, but in reality is a semi-junior (there are people lower down the scale) member of a dance company. So this is even worse in my mind, since I also have trouble with what the book actually is, in addition to the heavy teacher-student vibe that doesn't normally come up in employee-employer stories.

I found this icky. Creepy. Disturbing. The older woman is and has been lusting after the younger one for months, maybe six (I do not wish to open the book again to see how long). There is something like a 10 year age difference - more actually, since the older is somewhere north of 30 (at or just before the age of 30, the older woman in the story was pulled aside and told that she could remain as a dancer, but never advancing, or move over to the production side; and it has been some unknown bit of time after that, so 30+), and the younger is exactly 20 (because her age is explicitly stated as 20).

The older uses terminology in her lust that is super creepy. Seeing her in her mind, then later treating her in person as a small doll like figure; edging towards 'child-like figure' but I do not think it actually got that creepy/icky. Then the older woman started an affair with the younger with thoughts in her own mind, and words spoken by both parties that wobble on the edge of sexual harassment. Since the older woman has the power to greatly impact the younger woman's career.

So we have the super creepy icky older woman lusting after another woman who they somewhat see as child-like (both in how she sees the other, and the 'cute-sey' way of the younger woman acting naive (emphasis on acting) and super innocent-like); while at the same time massive vibes of sexual harassment vibrate the story (both have either words or thoughts indicating that the older has power over the younger in work; and that there might be advantages/disadvantages of conducting an affair - the older even has the younger lie about where the younger is when she is with the older woman when she talks to her coworkers/fellow dancers).

'Granted' - there are issues indicating that the younger might be desirous of 'getting with' the older woman; though more in terms of how it might advance her career. Ickiness from the other side of the equation. heh.

I've rated this 2 instead of anything less than 2, like I might have otherwise done with a story like this, because the author does seem to have a way with words, and with conveying 'things'. And the story did seep into me (ickily).

I will probably go ahead and read at least one more story by the author, I just need to make certain that it is in a genre/theme/etc. that I do not find icky.

August 20 2016