This book does very well with painting a vivid picture of every movement, person, or magical thing within the circus. However, this type of story-telling did not mesh well with me. This just felt like a movie script with bits of dialogue. I thought the bite-sized chapters were nice, but it took me forever to finish this book. The pacing was tortuously-slow, and I did not have the motivation to plow through it. It’s like I never got ahead with this book. I would read 20 pages straight and be no closer to the end.

Now, somehow, the last 100 or so pages caught my interest. No more riddles and mysteriousness about the rules of the game and the relationship between Celia and Marco finally makes progress. Basically, all the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together, and the end is fitting. It almost made me want to raise the rating, but I have to acknowledge how much I disliked the beginning and middle parts. Listen, make this a movie or a Netflix series, and I’m there!

To end this on a positive note, my lil’ romantic heart enjoyed the descriptions of Marco and Celia’s longing for each other. Their meaningful gazes, brushes of skin contact, unspoken words, and dramatic displays of love were all so cute to me! They’re such star-crossed lovers.

[rating purely from personal enjoyment] 2.5 stars

I like the utter randomness that happens here. Trouble seems to follow Johnny Hiro everywhere. His girlfriend Mayumi is pretty cardboard as a character, but she’s supportive and nice. Didn’t care for the cameos, but they add a dream-like quality to the story. The New York setting and the working just to survive gives me such post-college, hipster in a coffee shop vibes.

My library had the first 3 volumes on display, so here we go!

Well, childhood best-friend is not about to win her heart lol. I would be legit (pleasantly) surprised if she does not end up with Amemura.

Anywho, this is a cute story centered, or should I say focused – on photography. Mako’s a bit obsessed with taking Mr. Grumpy’s photo since he’s like the perfect model in her eyes. Unfortunately, he hates photos; His reasoning for that is believable. Of course, he cannot hide from his looks forever, and he relents on a few conditions. I thought this was charming so far.

So charming even when hitting typical shoujo cues.

3.5

Cassandra's limited speech and reliance on body language make her narrative equally awkward and unique. Although Erik is a cutie-pie, their initial attraction felt very quick. Overall, I thought this was nice with a few highlights.

“People who are going to kiss do it with their eyes first … You can see it coming a mile off” (pg 230)

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is charming at times though I thought Nina was dull. Still, I like that you can see when Nina’s thoughts drift in her narrative. I love reading, but so often characters who love to read are written so boring, pretentious, or a combination of the two. The humor here is peak white-girl-quirkiness with an ode to dicks and nudes, Harry Potter galore, and so many cheeky references to Africa/ns (child soldiers in Rwanda, omigawd guys).

Tom and Nina were okay, but I did not care about their relationship that much. Their friends trying to get them together was cute. Spoiler about the Tom and Nina drama:

low key: I don’t think Nina was super unreasonable. She just needed time to be alone and Tom kept pushing it. Tom was in his feelings! His pride was more hurt that she didn’t want his comfort than the fact she just had a panic attack. Sit yo biscuit-behind down! Dude… Why did Nina have to apologize?

Also, I totally understand how you can feel comfortable around a person and immediately click, but it’s going to rub some people the wrong way with how Tom basically nullifies her anxiety when he’s around.

The best part is learning about Nina’s family and friends. I liked her relatives and her dynamic with each one of them. Peter, Archie, Millie, and Lydia were interesting. In particular, I liked the conversation with Peter’s mom. I also liked the little spitfire Claire.

2.5

Very informative! This can be very wordy/text-heavy to the point where it’s occasionally not engaging, but I thought the book was well researched.

Began very confusing until it hits a stride where the story becomes interesting. As far as the story-telling, I felt like I was paddling with my hands until someone gave me an oar. I loved the idea but did not care for the execution.

2.5

I LOVED this movie and the detailed, meticulous thought process behind it. I wanted to see more character designs. Did everyone else know Miles was thirteen-years-old? I thought he was at least fifteen. :o