This is not a book for everyone, but I loved reading this.
Rating: 4.5/5
Janie Morgan is independent and a traveling loner until she meets Andrew, a like-minded dreamer with aspirations of constructing his invention. Their friendship strengthens as they team up and gig their talents for money to travel to Fimaldi Hunu, a place where each of them feel certain they’ll find optimal success and happiness.
By a serendipitous encounter on a train, they hear about auditions for a circus that pays wages and travel. And after taking inventory of Janie’s amateur aerialist skills and Andrew’s unique musicianship, they decide it’s worth a shot to try out and capitalize on the opportunity. Why not get paid and travel for free?
But this intriguing circus has some lore surrounding it, and the ringmaster runs a tight ship. Can Janie and Andrew survive the stops the circus makes in unusual towns, keep up with the seasoned performers of the troupe, and manage not to get kicked out? Or worse, Janie slowly realizes… separated.
I received an ARC from Wednesday Books. Thank you so much for this opportunity!
I will start this off by saying, this is not going to be a book for everyone. I ended up loving this one, but it was a very complicated, overly descriptive at times, frustrating, emotional read. Could I add any more adjectives? Probably, lol.
...it was a very complicated, overly descriptive at times, frustrating, emotional read.
But it was all worth it in the end!
I don’t want to even label this one. I feel like you should go into this blindly. It would create a much more shocking read that way. I kept thinking to myself, I thought this had… But it’s labeled… Ignore all of that. Go into this blindly! You will not be disappointed.
I don’t want to even label this one. I feel like you should go into this blindly.
If you must know something about this one. Or skip to the next paragraph! I will only say this, the premise follows a group of girls away at a naval camp. But this summer is different all because of what happened at the end of last summer during a storm.
I went into this with very little details, but a little more than what I just said above. But it was enough to make me feel confused shortly after I started. And that’s only because what I knew about this, and what I was reading, just didn’t match up with what I expected from this.
I only say this because after finishing this, knowing some of those details that I did, it spoiled some things for me. While I was reading this, I kept myself from searching up reviews of how others felt. And that’s because I was confused. But I decided against that in the end to avoid further potential spoilers.
I was only confused because of the writing style. This was nowhere near a simple timeline. We see several timelines. We jump around a lot especially as we get to meet our main character and their secret. It was hard to keep things straight at times. And it was especially frustrating as we follow our main character in first person, but they’re not exactly being forthcoming in what’s happened and what they know.
...it was especially frustrating as we follow our main character in first person, but they’re not exactly being forthcoming in what’s happened and what they know
As I mentioned, I don’t think this is going to be a book for everyone simply by how it’s written and set up. But I loved it. It gave me strong vibes of one of my favorite authors, Ellen Hopkins with the writing style, almost poetic. Occasionally repetitive. But for me, it worked. I can’t imagine reading this setup as a “normal” book.
I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys unconventional reads, female friendships, and summer camp vibes.