I give this book 4/5 attempts to escape a straight jacket.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read for an honest review!
Moira Mitchell is determined to prove to her famous magician father that girls can do magic too! Well, slight of hand and illusions at least. There's no such thing as real magic! ...Right? When an attempt to perform for her father and earn some respect as a young female magician goes terribly wrong, Moira does the next best thing; run away to the circus! "Girl in the Shadows" takes place through Moira's eyes as she joins the Cirque America and tries to work her way up to having her own opening act or spotlight show doing daring escape acts. She gets more than she bargains for when she begins to do actual magic! At first determined that it was a trick, then later finding that she actually has magic in her blood, Moira travels with the circus making some intriguing friends, and learning a lot about her mother, who abandoned Moira as a child, and what her mother had her father hide from her for years. Add in a cast of illusionists, tightrope walkers, missing magical relics, and daring escapes when rogue magic makes a dangerous situation even more dangerous, and you've got the makings a great story! Plus that intriguing young man who may or may not be on the bad guys team doesn't hurt either!
This story really piqued my interest in the magician version of magic stories. I've read plenty of 'true magic' stories, think Harry Potter <3, but never one like this. Moira was really easy to bond with and understand, her story was funny, scary, amazing, and suspenseful all in one. I would certainly recommend this one to my fellow magic lovers out there! I didn't realize that this was part two in a series, but I will certainly be going back and reading part one: "Girl on a Wire".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Synopsis~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~About the Author~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m an author of young adult books. My latest are Lois Lane: Fallout, which brings the iconic comic book character front and center in her own YA novel, and Girl on a Wire, about a daredevil heroine who discovers magic and mystery lurking beneath the big top. Coming in 2016 are Lois Lane: Double Down and Girl in the Shadows, a new novel of the Cirque American. It’s possible that I escaped from a classic screwball comedy. I live in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with my husband author Christopher Rowe, and our menagerie.
Website: http://www.gwendabond.com/