Summer '17 Book 12

The Circus by Olive Levez

This came in my special edition, Circus Freak Lit-Cube. I so wanted to like this book, but I would be lying if I said I did.

Willow is a seventeen-year-old girl. She lives with her wealthy father when she is not away at boarding school. She has a history of running away for attention because her father is one of those who buys her things, but doesn't give her the one thing she wants: time with him.

At the beginning of the book, Willow is planning to run away. It is her father's wedding day, and he is marrying his personal assistant who is half his age. Willow, being a snoop, found out that her future stepmother is pregnant, so she feels that her father will have even less to do with her than he already does.

Willow leaves before the ceremony, but not before she cuts the buttons off the wedding dress. She hitches a ride, and catches a train to Hastings. She has it in her head that she will join the circus. She also hopes that by doing this, she will find her mother, a circus performer, who left when Willow was very small.

Things don't go so well for Willow. She winds up with a girl named Suz who steals all her money. She finds Suz later, and befriends her. Suz teaches Willow how to be a fire-eater and juggler, which ultimately lands Willow a job with a small circus.

All the while, she keeps seeing herself on the tv and in the newspaper. She's been gone for quite a while and her father is pulling out all the stops to get her back. Willow doesn't feel she can ever go back.

Here's why I didn't like the book: Willow is too whiny. Oh no, she has a shitty father. Oh no, she's going to have a younger sibling. Boo freaking hoo. That's life. At seventeen, she should know that life sometimes sucks.