A mysterious, magical circus? Paris in the Jazz Age? Family secrets? What’s not to love?

Well, a few things, actually. This was a real mixed bag of a book.

The highlights for me – which I imagine will be shared with many other people, as it was the reason I picked up the book in the first place – were the storylines about Le Cirque Secret, a mystical circus that only appears to those who truly wish for it. No record of this circus exists; even pictures or drawings vanish the next day. The story follows Cecile, one of the daughters of the ringmaster, and her doomed romance with a painter. I really enjoyed all of her chapters; the story and characters were compelling, and the setting very evocative.

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Unfortunately we didn’t get to the actual circus until about a third of the way through, and the majority of the book follows Lara, a 21st-Century descendant of the theatre owners. There’s a strong, action-packed start – her fiancé goes missing on their wedding day – but after that we had a very long, drawn-out exposition where very little happened. It might have been better had some of the extraneous details turned out to be important at the end, but they didn’t. I’m not sure if we really needed that much world-building for a small-town in Virginia, when there’s a whole magical circus ready and waiting for us.

That being said, the way the two storylines came together at the end was really great; the last few chapters were easily the strongest of the modern storyline. There were a few writing moments that stood out as being a bit awkward, especially at the end, but it was a strong finish.

All in all, this was a very slow-paced book that, mostly, was not about the titular circus. But if you like your historical fantasy on the side of a small town mystery, this is one worth checking out.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.