gaylic's Reviews (728)

4.5 stars but I rounded up as I think this is one of the most powerful female-centric stories I’ve read in a long time. Be cautious if you have difficulty with reading books dealing with sexual violence as it does not shy away from the emotional and physical turmoil of it. I was caught off guard, but was fortunately in a place where it didn’t impact me enough to stop reading. Amazingly tied together with the three stories and I felt like the ending was solid and hopeful, which a lot of these kinds of books lack.

Realistically, I’d rate this book more 4.5 stars than 5, but I enjoyed it too much for a 4 to be accurate. Like The Starless Sea, it is a very slow build, with the plot not really picking up until almost 300 pages into the book. The dynamics between Celia and her father, Marco and the guy who adopts him, and Bailey and Poppet were fun to read, and the imagery of the circus was gorgeously written which kept me through it. It’s highly predictable, but I still enjoyed seeing the plot play out.