Girl in the Shadows (Cirque American)

by Gwenda Bond

Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.

When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.

But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.

• ISBN10: 1503953939
• ISBN13: 9781503953932
• Publish Date: 5 July 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: Skyscape
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 380
• Language: English

Reviews

[ellieroth]

Original de: El Blog del Gato - El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Tengo tantos sentimientos encontrados con Girl in the Shadows y no del todo positivos. Lo que me gustó del primer libro fue la magia que recorría el circo, los misterios "normales" que me esperaba. Pero Girl in the Shadows me ha dejado con una sensación no sólo de decepción, sino también un poco de enfado.



Twitter || Blog || Pinterest || Tumblr || Instagram || Facebook

[Leah]

When I signed up to take part in the blog tour for Girl In The Shadows, I thought it sounded amazing, but by the time it came around to actually read the book, I wasn't entirely sure it would be my cup of tea, but, actually, this was a wonderful read. There are not many books about magicians around - or that I've come across, and I would absolutely love to read more, because I find the whole idea of magic tricks fascinating. It was also refreshing to see a girl magician, something that is a rarity. I cannot name one female magician, although I'm not much better for male magician's - there's Houdini, obviously, but the more recent ones are David Blaine and the absolutely fantastic Dynamo.

What I liked most about Girl in the Shadows is it blended illusion and real magic, to make a very captivating novel. I loved Moira from the word go - anyone who will defy their parents wishes, to make it on their own, gets the thumbs up from me. Especially since her Dad just seemed to be saying no for no reason (although as it turned out...???). Seeing her make her own way was fantastic and some of the illusions she pulled dazzled me. I genuinely wanted to see them being performed, they sounded that good. And the romance with Dez was cute. He charmed me from the very start, with his patter and rakish ways.

There was definitely a lot going on in this book (some of which was most likely covered in the first book Girl On A Wire, which I am desperate to read now!) and it seems like the mystery of the coin goes back to that book, too, and it added another dimension to Girl in the Shadows, and I really enjoyed losing myself in the story, it was like it was taking place in a different world and I lapped it up, being able to escape into a different reality is one of the greatest things about reading, and always will be. I really, really enjoyed Girl in the Shadows, and I am definitely going to have to go and read more of Gwenda Bond's books, she's a brilliant storyteller, and you just lose yourself in her books.

[readingwithwrin]

"The coffin might sound morbid, but I wasn't planning to die in it. I was planning to live. Forget college or a normal future. I wanted to be a magician: The Miraculous Moira."

See reviews first on my blog


Moira has always wanted to be a magician just like her father, but he refuses to let her do it, or even be a part of his act. So instead she does what any young woman would do, sneak around and learn tricks on her own until she is sure they are good enough to show and prove to him that she can be a magician to.
Once Moira becomes a part of the circus and gets her act going though, she realizes that something isn’t quite right and that maybe she really does have magic. Along the way she makes friends, and even gets a boyfriend, who is a smooth talker and potentially into dangerous things.
"Beware the smooth-tongued boys, the ones who flattery comes easy to. There's nothing wrong with wanting to believe it, even with believing what they say is true-you are beautiful, you are smart, you are unique, these are good things to believe- but it's foolish to assume it means anything beyond pretty words. Sweet Nothing was an apt phase. Taken seriously, sweet nothings become bitter regrets.”
She also starts looking for her absent mother who she has always wondered about, but never had been told much of anything. This causes problems as well, and makes the story even more interesting because of what her mother is involved in.
I was a bit apprehensive about reading another circus book, after being disappointed in the night circus. This was so much better than that though. I loved the characters, it was an easy read, and nothing got confusing. Moira is a strong female character who takes insane risks in order to do her magical acts and somehow talks her boyfriend in to being her assistant even when it means doing stunts that could kill her if she doesn’t make it out in time. When she was doing those magical acts, I couldn’t wait to see if she was able to pull it off and I couldn’t stop reading until the act was done to see if she was hurt or not. Plus the mystery behind his friends and what exactly the boyfriend was involved in was a nice spin on the story to.
"I keep telling you, where I come from, it's not like wherever you're from, lovely Moira. We believe in fairy tales. Magic coins, fair ladies, evil witches, tyrant kings, and benevolent queens."
The ending where Moira figured out what to do was amazing as well. She brought everyone together, in order to stop something bad from happening, and in the process realized who she really was and what she really wanted out of life.
"Maybe we would fail miserably. But we would do it together. For once, I was in a situation that seemed truly inescapable."

Overall I loved this book, and will recommend it to everyone looking for a good circus/magic book. In the future I hope to read many more books by her, including the first one in this series/duology. I don't think it is necessary to read the first one though, because I was still able to understand who everyone was.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.