From Moscow to New York to L.A. to London—the professional dancer’s extraordinary journey to the glitzy world of ballroom

With his slick moves, calm demeanor, and brooding good looks, Pasha Kovalev has become a senation as a popular dancer. His talent and determination have taken him around the world, but as he shares here, it was the stark, grey landscape of his Siberian hometown, still reeling from the Communist regime, which provided the unlikely inspiration for his early love of ballroom dancing. With a strong desire to succeed, he moved to the U.S. in 2001 with his professional dance partner Anya Garnis and settled in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He auditioned for season three of So You Think You Can Dance in 2007, moved to L.A. in 2008, and he has since participated in all following seasons as either a choreographer or an All Star. From 2009-2011 he joined the cast of Jason Gilkison’s production Burn the Floor, one of the leading ballroom based shows in the world, during its stint on Broadway. In September 2011, Pasha joined the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing as the new professional dancer of the ninth season, being partnered in the 10th season with Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh. He speaks candidly in this heartwarming autobiography, on topics from romance to body image to the illness that nearly killed him. Most of all, he gives readers a glimpse behind the scenes of the flashy world of ballroom, and what really goes on beneath the veneer of sparkles and glamour.

Those who read the blog regularly know I do not often read Autobiography’s but then you also know my Dance husband as they say..so well exception made of course!

Pasha my story is a delightful and very fast read that gives you a fantastic insight into the life of growing up in Siberia and then finding ones calling so early in life. Pasha opens up and shares with the readers more then he usually does. He is notoriously known as a private person and so many of his fans call him an international man of mystery. This book gives us a peek beyond the curtain as it were and shows us the man behind the dancer. I did find however, even in this it was still kept at a level that kept most of his privacy. I admire that. Giving us the right information to know more, without comprising himself or seeming self serving. You truly follow the journey he takes from Russia to everywhere else in the world, all on hard work and talent. This really is a fantastic and inspiring read with some food for thought that will have you striving to reach out and grasp at your own goals in life.

My Gemstone Rating:

We have all heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty … and what curses accompanied Cinderella’s looks?

Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris’s path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household — and the treacherous truth of her former life.

This was an interesting read for me. I liked a lot of things about it the different take on things, and the wicked kind of flavor too it. However there were some things that I did not like about it as well, the flow was not as good as I had hoped mostly. So how did I feel about this book? Overall it was just kind of a meh feeling. I did not love it I did not hate it. Was a decent read but not one I can rave about.

My Gemstone Rating: