Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond

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.

Reviewed by Leah on

4 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 30 June, 2016: Finished reading
  • 30 June, 2016: Reviewed