I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this book. Really. To the point that I stayed up way past my bedtime in order to finish it. 
 This takes place during the 20s (although it never actually mentions the year even once in the book and I would have been really confused if I hadn't read in the blurb that it was in the 20s), in the height of the circus' popularity. While I haven't been to a circus since I was a little girl, I was able to fall right into the genre and surroundings of the book. 
 The characters. Well, first off we have Laila, who is not exactly your typical feel-good MC, and that's a good thing. She's easy to root for, even when she's giving up. Dex is the character I felt most intrigued by. Chloe Kayne kept teasing the reader with little tidbits, brief appearances here and there, and by halfway through the book I was nearly tearing out my hair to get a good dose of him. 
 I'm sure there will be people who compare this book with Water for Elephants, for the setting and era, although it wasn't until halfway through the book that I really tried to make a connection. The writing style is completely different, as are the characters, so I never felt that this was anything other than unique. Although, I did find myself remembering the show Carnivale, which was a huge favourite of mine back in the day. 
 The pacing of the book is what really made it for me. There are parts of it that aren't thrilling, obviously, because that would detract from the parts that are. However, even the slower sections of the book were well laced with foreshadowing, pulling the reader forward. There are a number of pesky editing issues, but I found that they were well worth ignoring. 
 I'm sure every wannabe author has heard the words: Write what you know. In my case, it would never be anything even remotely interesting. But Chloe Kayne is, herself, an aerialist. I would love to get inside her head to see the complex routines she imagines for her characters. As a layman, I had an impossible time visualizing the twists and flips. Part of me wants to be her, glamourous as she is. The other part of me knows that if I ever twisted myself into a pretzel-ish shape, there is very little chance I would ever be able to get out of it. 
 Copy of book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.