That Time I Joined the Circus

by J. J. Howard

After her father's sudden death and a break-up with her best friends, seventeen-year-old Lexi has no choice but to leave New York City seeking her long-absent mother, rumored to be in Florida with a traveling circus, where she just may discover her destiny.

• ISBN10: 0545433819
• ISBN13: 9780545433815
• Publish Date: 1 April 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic US
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 262
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I haven’t had much luck with circus books, at least not Fantasy ones. Maybe a realistic Contemporary is more up my alley? Well, That Time I Joined the Circus didn’t disappoint me for the most part! It was a very fast and cute read, but quite different than I was expecting.

Lexi is a self-proclaimed music sob. She’s one of those people who thinks listening to anything in the Top 40 is beneath them. I was worried I was going to hate her, since I generally cannot stand people like this, but I actually warmed up to her pretty quickly. Besides knowing everything about obscure music, Lexi is also a bookworm, good with kids, and can read tarot cards. Of course her many talents come in handy when she’s trying to earn her keep at the circus. I did have a couple of eye rolling moments, because it was quite convenient how each of these things came into play in various circus jobs.

That Time I Joined the Circus alternates between present and past. The present, of course, is Lexi at the circus searching for her mother. The past is the preceding months, and they aren’t as interesting. They don’t disrupt the flow of the story, at least for me, because they show us more of who Lexi is and the life she’s leaving behind. I did wish that there were less of these chapters, since the book is quite short and I wanted to see more of the circus life.

However, these flashback chapters make more sense at about the two-thirds mark. This is also where the story takes an unexpected turn. It seems like the ending focuses more on Lexi and her best friend, Eli, making amends after the events of the day of her father’s death. There really is hardly any focus on her mother. In fact, once Lexi arrives at Circus Europa, there are no more mentions of her mom until she finds her at the end. Even then the focus still seems to be on her and Eli.

Let’s talk about the romance briefly. Of course there is a romance. A really strange love triangle, at that. I was nervous that it was going to be a love rhombus, but one of the candidates is removed almost immediately. It still comes down to Nick and Eli though. I already mentioned that Eli is the best friend with which some drama occurred, but Nick is the super hot circus boy. It’s basically instalove, and I didn’t buy it. They had known each other for only a few weeks, so yeah. Not a fan of the romance in this one.

In the end, That Time I Joined the Circus was a delight to read despite my complaints. It’s definitely a unique story and loads of fun. There’s some serious parts as Lexi is missing her father and learns the truth about why her mom left. But overall it’s a pretty fluffy read with a great cast, and the cheesy ending left a smile on my face.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Ashley]

BookNook — Young Adult book reviews

This book is just adorable. I'm getting all warm and snuggly just thinking about it again. I will say that the cover fits this book PERFECTLY. It's warm, it's bubbly, it's sad at times, it's fun and games and new experiences. There is just something so, completely, and totally awesome about a book that takes place at the circus. I LOVE that!! Even though it is listed as romance, for me this book is more of a self discovery book.

And because Lexi is a Jane Austen fan, there's even a little bit of a typical Jane Austen twist: first impressions are not always what they seem. I loved that because at first I thought some characters were going to be Ice Queen Bitches, but they turned out to be some of my favourite characters instead.

For the most part, Lexi was a fabulous main character! I didn't always get along with her in some of the "flashback" chapters because she could be really self-deprecating, but I adored her in all the current ones. She's sweet, outgoing, and takes initiative. Even though she made a "huge mistake", she really is just a good person.

I only had two real issues with this book. First: it's told in alternating time periods—before the "huge mistake" and afterwards (at the circus). Sometimes I felt like all the jumping back and forth, and skipping ahead in dates made the relationship development lack a little bit, particularly with the romances. And the romances is where my second problem is. I felt like the romance was all over the place and I couldn't quite figure it out. First Lexi is kissing Jamie, then she's flirting with Nick, and one of her old friends is still half in the picture but half out.. There was just no strong, central romance for me. I didn't like how, at first, I thought Nick was going to be the main love interest. Then he ditched her and Lexi went back to Eli. I would have been okay with Lexi going back to Eli if I got the sense that she had feelings for him all along, but I never got that impression. The romance did have sweet moments, but ultimately I did feel a little disconnected from it.

Overall, That Time I Joined the Circus is a fun, cute read. Even though Lexi does have some big problems and there are a few heartfelt moments, I wouldn't really call this a gut-wrenching, emotional novel.. and that's not necessarily a bad thing! As the cover would suggest, That Time I Joined the Circus is all about pretty lights and trapeze artists. This is a book that I just really enjoyed reading. It was on the lighter side and it was certainly entertaining!