I am so pleased with this book! The ending was nice and tidy and so happy! I can tell that I am going to have fantasies of running away with the circus for a time to come! The cover of the book I have describes this read as: "Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets"--- Perfect description! Underneath all the frill of sparkles, cotton candy and magic, is the dark vulgar world of red-lighting and the happenings in Barbara's dressing room! I won't give away more than that, but there sure are some colorful scenes in this one! The animals tugged at my heart strings and I grew to love the elephant named Rosie, and her human like eyes and emotions. I wanted to kill August every time he hurt that beautiful creature. I grew to love the old man Mr. Jankowski too, and wished with all my heart I could just reach in that book and hand the man a nice juicy steak and take him to the circus. When I read about his disappointments sometimes it was too much, and I caught my self tearing up. Great Read!