Variation: A Novel

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 15,981 ratings

Price: 4.99

Last update: 12-22-2024


About this item

Instant USA Today, Amazon Charts, and Publishers Weekly bestseller.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fourth Wing comes a new contemporary romance about the summer a celebrated dancer returns home and unearths years of family secrets and deep regrets with the Coast Guard rescue swimmer she never forgot.

Elite ballerina Allie Rousseau is no stranger to pressure. With her mother’s eyes always watching, perfection was expected, no matter the cost. But when an injury jeopardizes all she’s sacrificed for, Allie returns to her summer home to heal and recover. But the memories she’s tried to forget rush in and threaten to take her under.

As a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hudson Ellis knows that hesitation can mean the difference between life and death. He’s always prided himself on being in the right place at the right time, especially when it came to Allie Rousseau…until the night he left for basic. After the biggest regret of his life, the secrets he keeps mean he can never be with the one woman he wants more than his next breath.

When Hudson’s niece shows up on Allie’s doorstep, desperate to find her birth mother, Allie finds herself in an unimaginable position. Allie and Hudson’s past and present might be endlessly complicated. The thread that tied them to each other all those years ago may have unraveled, but the truth could pull them back together, or drive them apart forever.


From the Publisher

Love is worth the risk.

Top reviews from the United States

ReneeM
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful second chance love story
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024
Variation by Rebecca Yarros

4.5/5⭐️
2/3????️ (spice)
3/3???? (swoon)

•My Thoughts•
I loved this one. I adore Rebecca’s contemporary writing and am always immediately sucked into the story. I always adore a military MMC and Hudson was no exception - full butterfly swoon, friends! I loved our MCs second chance and how Hudson was ALL IN. Allie was a bit icy, super talented and showed such capacity for loyalty and kindness. I was rooting for her so hard! There were a few mysteries to unravel (shout out to Nikki for letting me ramble all my thoughts) and so much drama. I was extremely invested in the story even though it became a little over the top with everything that was going on. I absolutely loved the window into the world of ballet. It was woven in so beautifully and it was so interesting to follow the highs and lows of that world. The family dynamic was pretty complicated on both sides with past traumas and baggage. The sibling relationships were both beautiful and tough. There was at least one new character added to my *throat punch on sight* list and a few that I’m still side eyeing but over all a GREAT cast of characters and a couple I hoped so hard to make it. Loved this one!

????️Narration Notes????️
I mostly eyeball read this book but since the audiobook is included with KU, I did turn in occasionally. I thought Carly Robins and Teddy Hamilton did a great job. This might be one of my favorite Teddy performances, he did Hudson really well. Carly did a great job too and this will definitely go on my audio reread list!
literally_booked_
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Story
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024
????????????
????Review????
4.25????
????Book 72/100
???? Variation
????Genre:
Fiction/Romance
✍️Author:
Rebecca Yarros

????Synopsis ????
Allie is an elite ballerina who at the moment has to go back home to rest and do some rehabilitation. Hudson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, still carries a torch for her and learns she’s back in town. Do they work through their issues or do all the secrets keep them apart..????

????My Thoughts ????
This book was beautiful! I really loved Hudson and his niece so much. Allie was a pushover but she was still a very likable FMC. I couldn’t stand her mother, and it’s one of the reasons I could not rate it a 5. Allie lacked a backbone and let her mother control her life to an exaggerated extent. I also believe in faith but over a decade of waiting for the LOML doesn’t seem realistic, but I still loved this story. The plot was amazing and had so much depth which gave me The Notebook vibes. There was a lot of details into ballet and rescue swimmers which I appreciated. I loved the dual POV and loved his chapters the most, and I’m a sucker for second chance romance and fake dating stories. The grief part of losing a loved one was also a good addition to it because it gave it more sentiment.
Customer image
literally_booked_
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Story
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024
????????????
????Review????
4.25????
????Book 72/100
???? Variation
????Genre:
Fiction/Romance
✍️Author:
Rebecca Yarros

????Synopsis ????
Allie is an elite ballerina who at the moment has to go back home to rest and do some rehabilitation. Hudson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, still carries a torch for her and learns she’s back in town. Do they work through their issues or do all the secrets keep them apart..????

????My Thoughts ????
This book was beautiful! I really loved Hudson and his niece so much. Allie was a pushover but she was still a very likable FMC. I couldn’t stand her mother, and it’s one of the reasons I could not rate it a 5. Allie lacked a backbone and let her mother control her life to an exaggerated extent. I also believe in faith but over a decade of waiting for the LOML doesn’t seem realistic, but I still loved this story. The plot was amazing and had so much depth which gave me The Notebook vibes. There was a lot of details into ballet and rescue swimmers which I appreciated. I loved the dual POV and loved his chapters the most, and I’m a sucker for second chance romance and fake dating stories. The grief part of losing a loved one was also a good addition to it because it gave it more sentiment.
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Customer image
Cori / RomancingtheReader
5.0 out of 5 stars Might be my favorite Rebecca Yarros book yet…
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2024
You know how sometimes you have reading plans and you see a new book and it throws off your TBR? That’s how it is for me with my posting schedule. I have a plan, and then boom I read a book and I change plans because I just HAVE to tell you all.

???? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????: Variation by Rebecca Yarros

???? ????????????????????????: Standalone

???? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????: E-book and audiobook on Kindle. ???? on KU.

???? ????????????????????: Contemporary romance

???? ????????????????????????: Second chance, family drama, coast guard MMC, ballerina FMC, one bed, friends-to-lovers.

???? ????????????????????????????????: With her ballet career on the rocks, Allie returns to Cape Cod to rehab in private. But she doesn’t realize she’s sharing the same space as Hudson, her best friend who ghosted her after a grisly accident a decade ago.

???? ????????????????????????: Sigh, this was just such a well-written book.

If you have only read Rebecca Yarros as a romantasy writer, I highly highly recommend reading her contemporary work. It always slaps - excellent plot lines, great characters, always some harrowing moments or emotions, and the kind of romance that leaves your chest hurting.

Variation was all of that and more.

I loved the little world Yarros created. Deep inside the world of dance and its harsh realities. Deep inside the Rousseau family and their relationships. I loved the secrets and the (quite a few) twists and turns.

Most of all I loved Hudson’s hopelessly romantic POV, as he pined and pined for Allie. As he let Allie become who she truly should be. As he forged relationships with her family. It was so well done.

Bonus points that Teddy Hamilton and Carly Robbins did an excellent job with the narration.

????????????????????????: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

???????????????????? ????????????????????: 3/5 ????????????
DebS.
5.0 out of 5 stars I am in awe. The story is sooooo good.
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2024
As I write this review, I'm exhausted. The last two nights I was up well past my bedtime, consuming the pages of Variation. So well written. Even though I know nothing about the art of a ballerina dancer, I loved the storyline and the intensity of emotions, mostly withheld by the characters, but felt by the reader. I've finished the paperback, I've purchased the ebook and have already started listening on Audible. This is a story that kept me turning pages, but now that I'm done, I wish I had read slower pace to have savored the words and the emotions. Secrets are unraveled, even secrets that the reader glosses over until it is spelled out and then we ask ourselves how we missed that. The characters feel so real, that you find yourself thinking about them when you should be doing other things, like, at work, on the job. I am in awe of Rebecca Yarros. She has written a book that is so much better than any review I could write for it.
Natalya
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy and breezy romance
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2024
This was an easy read for me. It was not anything special, but as per usual, Rebecca Yarros language was so easy to read, and pages kept turning and turning and turning. Feel good, keep interested, good amount of spice.

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